Widow's Peak
Posted on 17th October 2007
Suspected Black Widow found in grapes from Tescos
How close have you been to a Black Widow spider? <--- This close (see photo)? Although it's not yet been confirmed by the RSPCA, we suspect this is an immature female Black Widow spider. A colleague bought some grapes from our local Tesco on Gloucester Business Park, and was rather shocked to see this little beauty crawling around. Searching the internet, it would seem this isn't the first time Tesco has been caught out by giving their customers a free pet with their grapes.
Unfortunately I didn't have my usual camera with me, so had to make do with the camera on my phone, but you can see enough detail to see that it's similar to the image we found on the web. The arachnid has now been taken away by the RSPCA, and should hear back from them once they've been able to confirm the species. My colleague has already contacted Tesco, so we'll see what their official response is once he relays the details from the RSPCA.
The bag the grapes originally came in has no country of origin, which I thought wasn't allowed these days, but we suspect it's from America. I've heard of instances like this, but this is the first time I've seen it first hand. I'm intrigued to see what happens next.
Comments
Not black widow
Not a black widow. Legs too thick, body not spherical enough.Posted by awanabug on Friday, 14th December 2007
Me too
I just had one of these crawling around my bedroom floor and just threw it out the window. Came online to try to find what it is; I just did a google image search for a small black spider and this looks exactly like my culprit. Any luck in identifying it?Posted by Gary on Wednesday, 17th December 2008
Omg
Thats CrazyPosted by Bean on Thursday, 26th March 2009
hoyaaa
omg same i found one in my hamburger in macdonalds verry bad, not tastey!!Posted by LIsa on Saturday, 28th March 2009
??
I stoped shopping at tescos a little while back now. It is disqusting when such a big name does things like this is shouldnt be able to get away with things so easily. Tescos also test products on animals( cosmetics).Posted by Charlie on Monday, 30th March 2009
spider
hey what kind of spider is this? i just found one.Posted by matt on Wednesday, 29th July 2009
that same spider
That same spider just bit my foot. I was in the closet and felt something crawling on me. Trying to figure out what kind it is, i know for sure it looks exactly like that.Posted by marcus on Monday, 24th August 2009
Spider
pretty sure that this is a spider called steatoda borealis, not a black widow, look it up, it seems like I found the right onePosted by matt on Thursday, 17th September 2009
other creatures
I found a catterpillar in my raisans. When i complained they gave me a gift vouvher for 5 pounds. I brought some more raisans (i make lots of cakes for a company) and found a daddy long legs squashed in them!Posted by Matt S on Friday, 6th November 2009
Its a steatoda borealis
matt is right Its a steatoda borealis, you can tell because of the thick legs and spherical body, but more importantly the orange tinge on it's legsPosted by Bob on Thursday, 11th March 2010
steatoda borealis
It is not an immature black widow, but a steatoda borealis or "False Widow" Sometimes they are a plain black/dark brown, and sometimes they have light markings like the one you have here. They are all over the world, and are generally harmless. There have been a few cases of people going to the hospital because of allergies. In fact they are great to have around because they have been known to eat black widows. I have some in my house. I'd never wish for them to be gone, because they eat the harmful insects/arachnids.Posted by Sarah H. on Friday, 3rd December 2010
eeuugghhh
I HATE SPIDERS!!!Posted by kathryn on Thursday, 16th June 2011
spider
your right sarah its not a black widow otherwise the spider would be blackand red not black and brown all its just a flase widow spider besides itsgood because they eat black widows and other harmful insects though i agree with sarah i also agree with kathryn I HATE SPIDERS TO!!!!Posted by hollie gordon on Friday, 27th April 2012
