The spiders tell themselves that they’re keeping the tiny frogs around because they’re killing pests and also kind of cute but, really, there is a brain parasite in the frogs’ feces - tiny amounts of which are all over the floor of the spiders’ burrows - which makes the spiders believe this.
But do they pet them?
Tenderly
Spider frog! spider frog! Does whatever a spider frog does!
If a frog had the proportional strength, speed and agility of a spider, would that be an upgrade or a downgrade?
The videos of it are cute too. The little frogs follow the spiders around and do a little squishy squishy underneath them where they’re safe and protected by their big strong spider pals.
Hunting spiders are very smart animals, even the little jumping spiders. They all know very well what they are doing, because they have to make plans and strategics to catch their prey, something what the spiders with webs don’t need.
There is a very cool sci-fi novel called Children of Time in which jumping spiders are accidentally uplifted and evolve into an intelligent species.
