Huge tropical spider with venomous bite is discovered stowed away in package from South America
Staff trapped the giant creepy crawly before it was safely removed by the Scottish SPCA, who are now appealing for a specialist to look after it
A TROPICAL spider with a venomous bite came to the UK in a shipping container and frightened workers who opened the crate to see it scuttle out.
The female huntsman spider is searching for a specialist home after it was found in Aggreko's manufacturing premises in Dumbarton.
Staff at the Scottish base trapped the giant creepy crawly before it was safely removed by the Scottish SPCA.
Arnold Bretman, development engineer, was brave enough to catch it after colleagues ran for the hills.
He said: "It was about five inches across the legs, so fairly obvious that it was no ordinary local spider.
"It was scurrying around the factory and people were hopping around to avoid it, so I collected it.
"The Scottish SPCA girl turned up with a small plastic tub, but the spider was too big to fit.
"It was identified as a Chinese Huntsman that probably got into one of our containers in China, which had been at sea for at least a month.
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"How it survived for that length of time and then in our climate, is amazing."
Huntsman spiders are native to tropical regions in Australasia, Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, and the Americas, and can grow a legspan up to 12 inches.
Their venomous bite, which is used in the wild to immobilise prey, is not deadly to humans but can be "extremely painful".
Scottish SPCA Chief Inspector Fiona Henderson said today: “An arachnid expert identified it as a Huntsman spider.
"We believe that due to a yellow stripe on its abdomen that the spider is female.
"It would be hard to say where it is from exactly due to the fact it arrived here in a shipping container.
"It must be a tough little spider as it has done well to survive living in a cold container for so long before arriving in Scotland.
“If a Huntsman spider bites you it will not kill you but it does contain venom. If you do get bitten by one it can be extremely painful.
“Because it’s a Huntsman it’s not native to this country, so we can’t release the spider anywhere in Scotland.
“The spider appears in good condition and is already an adult so we are going to try to find a specialist home for it.”
Anyone who discovers an exotic creature should call the Scottish SPCA animal helpline on 03000 999 999.
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