Mum fails to nuke killer spider nest from orbit A shaken British mother has recounted how she and her family narrowly escaped death at the fangs of the feared South American eight-legged death machine which is the Brazilian wandering spider. Mum-of-four Laura Horsfield, 31, bought a bunch of bananas from a Tesco in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, on the perfectly reasonable …
That would have done the job. Could probably use the defrosted banana for banana bread too.
Does Britain fumigate bananas and other produce before they are sold? I worked in a grocery store during college, and we found dead tarantulas in the banana boxes occasionally, but they had died because the bananas were fumigated once they entered the U.S.
> the bananas were fumigated once they entered the U.S.
In the early nineties, National Geographic reported that one of it's own New York-based staffers had discovered a new species of spider. It too had hitched a ride to New York on some fruit.
Perhaps not all U.S-bound fruit was fumigated then.
A friend of my family's was off work for months after being bitten by a spider at her workplace in England. She was working in the fruit and veg department of a supermarket. Its bite did her leg some serious damage.
Does Britain fumigate bananas and other produce before they are sold?
Probably not. Most bananas sold in Europe come from the French overseas departments such as Martinique and Guadaloupe. Since these are "départements outre mer" (DOM) they are officially part of France, and hence are in the EU. Such bananas may not be considered as imports under EU free trade rules. It's bananas, all right.
My mom told me when she was a kid in rural Kansas, they'd have entire stalks of bananas delivered to the general store. It wasn't uncommon to find a tarantula hiding somewhere in there, when they did they'd put it on display in the front window under a bell jar.
Stories from dockers working at Tilbury unloading banana boats would say probably not. They used to tell me how they would all line up near the doors and open them to a warehouse full of bananas with an army of large spiders running for freedom, which they would all then proceed to hit with bits of wood.
Clearly you've never been to Cleckheaton .... it's grim up north, don'tcherknow (and I ain't kidding - here in the Vale of York it's more like bloody November than June at the moment)
I, for one, welcome our venomous, bananaphilic arachnid overlords.
(fire, and lots of it ... it's the only thing that works)
That is the second worst thing I have read about spiders today!
Context: from down under
(and in case you are curious)
If you'll check the linked article:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/mother-attacks-worlds-most-venomous-5927056
You'll notice the spiders were identified by none other than the distinguished entomologist Chris Tosney, in reply to the frantic mum's Facebook post.
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