Black widow spider crawls out of grapes - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Otto-matic · 07-31-2007, 08:05 PM

http://www.canada.com/victoriatimesc...0-3855ed456aa0

Quote:

A potentially deadly black widow spider crawled out of a bunch of grapes bought by a Calgary couple at Costco.
Jeremy Paylor, 24, purchased the California-grown, red seedless grapes then left them overnight on his kitchen counter.
The healthy spider with its tell-tale red hourglass markings only emerged when the plastic container was opened Friday.
"It was alarming to see a spider of this breed in my house," Paylor said.

Well I was about to buy those grapes from costco this weekend, good thing I forgot to pick them up.

Azure · 07-31-2007, 08:09 PM

I hope he killed it...

GreenTeaFrapp · 07-31-2007, 08:12 PM

I used to work in a grocery store and the produce staff had plenty of stories about spiders, of all different types, climbing out of banana and grape boxes.

Ro · 07-31-2007, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I used to work in a grocery store and the produce staff had plenty of stories about spiders, of all different types, climbing out of banana and grape boxes.

Yeah, me too. All sorts of insects, spiders, bats, geckos. Even a small lizard.

Well maybe not the lizard.

rubecube · 07-31-2007, 08:39 PM

The other day my roommate found a black widow in the window next to the shower. We quickly drowned it.

ricoFlame · 07-31-2007, 08:42 PM

i found a dead black widow in some grapes years ago. it's pretty much impossible to guarentee spider-free imported grapes. just inspect and thouroughlly wash 'em i guess.

JohnnyB · 08-01-2007, 08:04 AM

I've got quite an enormous black widow in the basement here in Penticton, and I've also found a couple in irrigation boxes around the yard this summer. They're pretty non-aggressive spiders, and from what I understand it's only the really big ones that would be capable of injecting enough venom deep enough into your skin to be at all dangerous.

Muta · 08-01-2007, 08:28 AM

After working in produce in my high school years, and seeing ALOT of what comes through in the boxes, I can say that it is VERY rare to have a live spider crawl out of your grapes - and a black widow, no less.

I've seen some pretty ridiculous stuff, anywhere from someone's smelly sock in Venezuela to a dead monkey.

Cowboy89 · 08-01-2007, 08:36 AM

Although it is rare in my grocery days it happened once every couple of months. Usually they weren't black window spiders though and they certainly weren't ever put on the shelf with a spider still in the bag. That's the rare part.

Muta · 08-01-2007, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

Although it is rare in my grocery days it happened once every couple of months. Usually they weren't black window spiders though and they certainly weren't ever put on the shelf with a spider still in the bag. That's the rare part.

All it takes is one pimply-faced kid who didn't give two sh*ts about his job.

Wait, that sounded like me.

J pold · 08-01-2007, 08:47 AM

How big was this thing I wonder…

BlackArcher101 · 08-01-2007, 08:56 AM

Hell, it could have come from within Costco itself, not the origin of the grapes.

transplant99 · 08-01-2007, 10:00 AM

I got bit by one of these little darlings 4 summers ago....and it was absolutely the most uncomfortable 2 weeks after I have ever experienced.

The bite was bad and the symptoms were awful, but it also paved the way for an infection that just compounded everything.

And the area bitten in question? The nether regions.....very top of the inside of my thigh.

I kill these things EVERY signle time I see one now.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Brown Recluse.

Cowboy89 · 08-01-2007, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

I got bit by one of these little darlings 4 summers ago....and it was absolutely the most uncomfortable 2 weeks after I have ever experienced.

The bite was bad and the symptoms were awful, but it also paved the way for an infection that just compounded everything.

And the area bitten in question? The nether regions.....very top of the inside of my thigh.

I kill these things EVERY signle time I see one now.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Brown Recluse.

And how may I ask did this happen in the first place?

Muta · 08-01-2007, 10:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

And how may I ask did this happen in the first place?

Foreplay.

transplant99 · 08-01-2007, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

And how may I ask did this happen in the first place?

Running some wire under a house..in a crawl space.

Crawled up my shorts and I didnt know it.

PowerPlayoffs06 · 08-01-2007, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

...
The bite was bad and the symptoms were awful, but it also paved the way for an infection that just compounded everything.

...

I found one of those in my shower once a few years ago and had never seen one before, so I looked it up online and read up on what they can do. You can tell if it's a brown recluse by the little fiddle-shape patch on it's body.

Man, I feel for you. The bites from those things are NASTY. Did it heal up well?

Ugh, just looking at the photo gives me the heebee-jeebees. <shudder>

Anti-Hero · 08-01-2007, 11:06 AM

I love grapes, and about a year ago after washing some I put on in my mouth and there was some weird thing on it, so I simply spit it into the garbage thinking it was part of the stem, or perhaps some skin from another grape. I grab another grape and inspect it, Small, wet spider. There were tons of spiders all over the entire bag of grapes. Although I still love grapes, I didn't have any for about a week after.

Azure · 08-01-2007, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

Running some wire under a house..in a crawl space.

Crawled up my shorts and I didnt know it.

And then....

Actually...nevermind...

Bobblehead · 08-01-2007, 11:54 AM

I still shudder when I think about those pictures of the camel spider Dion posted a while ago.