Jamie and Crystal Roberts were horrified when the suspected Brazilian Wandering Spiders – the world’s deadliest – suddenly appeared in their home
A terrified family fled their home after hundreds of potentially deadly spiders swarmed out of a bunch of bananas.
Jamie and Crystal Roberts were horrified when the suspected Brazilian Wandering Spiders – the world’s deadliest – suddenly appeared in their home.
Shocked Jamie, 31, who bought the fruit from his local corner shop, spotted white patches covering it and assumed it was harmless mould.
But when he took a closer looks at the bananas he realised they were infested with a spider nest containing hundreds of the creepy crawlies.
Jamie, who suffers from arachnophobia, and his wife Crystal, 30, rang pest controllers who advised them to leave their home immediately.
The couple grabbed their kids – Georgina, seven, and five-year-old Joshua – and some belongings and fled the property.
Pest controllers told the family they suspected the creatures were the deadly Brazilian Wandering Spiders.
Workers spent three days fumigating their home in Hednesford, Staffordshire, and making it safe for them to return.
The civil servant, said: “It was terrifying and especially for me because I have a phobia of spiders.”
He added: “I knew something was wrong because then I noticed the white patches were all over the window sill and the curtains.
“I could see tiny legs and realised they were spiders. At that point, I wasn’t too concerned because I thought they looked dead.
“I started to sweep the patches into the bin but then they all started moving.
“It was like something out of a horror film because suddenly the window sill was moving with hundreds of these spiders.
“My wife and I rang the shop where we bought them and they asked us to drop them round to them.
“When we did they called pest control and they told us to get out of the house.
“They said they couldn’t be sure what kind of species of spider they were because you can only do that when they are fully grown.”
Crystal added: “I unpacked the bananas from the cellophane wrapper and put it in the bin so it’s possible the ‘queen spider’ may have been in there.
“I looked up different types of spiders online and found they looked identical to Brazilian Wandering Spiders.”
Guinness World Records lists them as the most toxic spider on earth and its venom is said to be 30 times more powerful than that of a rattlesnake.
Humans bitten by one can suffer an irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, vomiting and eventual death.
The spider’s scientific name is ‘phoneutria nigriventer’ – the first word being Greek for ‘murderess’.
In 2005 a Somerset chef was bitten by a Brazilian wandering spider in his pub kitchen after it emerged from a bunch of bananas.
He was only saved after experts were able to identify the creature from a picture on his mobile phone and give him anti-venom.
