Tarantula found in store grapes


The tarantula was found in grapes bought in Asda


A tarantula was spotted lurking in a bunch of grapes - as a father prepared to give them to his four-year-old boy.

Kevin Hudson, 40, of Elmswell, Suffolk, found the spider in the grapes he had bought at Asda, in nearby Stowmarket, as he washed them for son Rhys.

He caught the 2.5in (5cm) creature and took it to his local vet and it is now being housed at a local reptile centre.

"Naturally if this has caused the customer any distress we are of course very sorry," said an Asda spokeswoman.
Spiders don't bother me too much, although it would have been a different story if my wife had been washing them


Kevin Hudson


Mr Hudson said he was washing the grapes when the spider crawled out.

"I was a little bit shocked," he said.

"Spiders don't bother me too much, although it would have been a different story if my wife had been washing them."

The spider, docile after two days in the fridge, was caught in a plastic box and taken to a local vet, and is now housed at Abbey Aquatics and Reptiles.

"It's just a small Chilean Tarantula with a lovely black abdomen and pink zebra markings on the back," Colin White, of Abbey Aquatics and Reptiles, said.

"We get about half a dozen calls a year from various supermarkets and grocers about the area to come and pick them (creatures) up.

"More often then not they are just frogs that have come in on bananas but we do get a few tarantulas - we have even had a couple of snakes over the years."

An Asda spokeswoman said the firm sold more 30 million bags of grapes a year and had never had a report of a tarantula on a bunch.
"It's highly unlikely that a spider of this size could have hitched a ride as we have strict procedures in place to stop this sort of thing from happening," the spokeswoman said.
"It is for this reason why we need to get the spider back to accurately identify what variety it is, its country of origin and how it got into the grapes."



Source: BBC NEWS | England | Suffolk | Tarantula found in store grapes [Online]



Might shop there more if I get free frogs and stuff

Sami

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Do you think he will ever buy grapes again hmmmm

Id love to find something fun in my shopping XD

Reminds me of an incident a few years back where a tarantula (i never did find out what species) was found in the bananas at the local Tesco, they evacuated the shop and called the police, bloomin' wimps haha

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clicky


Member number 4746!

we had a trantula turn up on grapes once when i worked at sainsbury's. They wouldnt let me keep it. Took it ouy the back, froze it and then sent it off for analysis. Bastards.

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keeper of:lizards, geckos, snakes, beetles and other insects

must be sainsburys then as the same thing happened near mne a while back
African spider bites banana shopper | UK news | The Guardian

shiver me timbers... used to keep alot of spiders but even still, free wondering tarantulas is something to worry about...

Whether or not it's true or not, my Dad new a guy who use to work at a pet shop in Guides Bridge, Manchester and apparently he had a contact with aldi, and he always passed animals that came through with the shipping.

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