spiders

WXYZ

Big Box Stores Blamed For Giant, Terrifying Spider

A woman was recently terrified by a very large, very scary spider she found in her toddler’s bedroom learned that it didn’t walk in there on its own — it probably hitched a ride with a big box store. [More]

puuikibeach

“Aggressive” Tarantulas Get Loose On Flight, Everybody Freaks Out

In the latest installment of our Arachnids On A Plane series* comes Spiders On A Plane: 2 Fast 2 Be In The Cabin. It’s the second occasion we’ve heard of spiders, specifically tarantulas, getting loose on a plane. But unlike the previous incident, this time the little suckers were scurrying around in the cabin. Otherwise known as, “where all the passengers sit.” [More]

Ford Improves Its Anti-Car Spider Technology, Keeps Them Out Of Fuel Lines

Ford Improves Its Anti-Car Spider Technology, Keeps Them Out Of Fuel Lines

Spider webs are more than cute Halloween decorations: usually they’re nets that catch pesky insects and maybe something to knock out of place when dusting. Yet there’s a species of spider that loves to build webs in the fuel lines of cars, affecting fuel pressure and the life and performance of the vehicles. One automaker now has an actual solution meant to keep the creatures out. [More]

Good News: Loose Tarantula That Freaked Out Petco Shopper Was Just A Shed Exoskeleton

Good News: Loose Tarantula That Freaked Out Petco Shopper Was Just A Shed Exoskeleton

Last week, we shared a reader’s story of encountering a cool spider just hanging out on a cart in the middle of the store while shopping at Petco. Yes, Petco does sell tarantulas, but they live in habitats. Are spiders really supposed to just hang out on the cleaning cart while their habitats are cleaned? [More]

Delta Flight Delayed Three Hours After Tarantula Escapes From Carrier

Delta Flight Delayed Three Hours After Tarantula Escapes From Carrier

Idea for a new movie: All Your Nightmares On A Plane, featuring every kind of creepy, crawly slithery thing that’s ever gotten loose on a plane and freaked the heck out of everybody. Joining that old standby of a snake on a plane — and we’ve seen a few of those — and its pal in arachnid creepiness, the scorpion, is a familiar fuzzy guy that might make your skin crawl: a tarantula, who got loose from its carrier and delayed a recent Delta Air Lines flight while humans scurried around trying to find it. [More]

(Renee Rendler-Kaplan)

Customer Finds Black Widow Spider In Grapes Bought At Target

It seems like it was just last week that we last heard about a grocery customer bringing home a venomous black widow spider on a bunch of grapes…because it was. Last week, a woman in Vermont was hospitalized after a black widow spider hiding in the grapes bit her. This weekend, a man in Illinois found one in the grapes that he purchased at Target, and headed right back to the store to return the fruit. And the spider. [More]

(frankieleon)

Woman Hospitalized After Bite From Black Widow Spider Hiding In Grapes From The Supermarket

Just because we’ve heard of people finding black widow spiders in their grapes doesn’t make it any less icky this time around: A Vermont woman was reportedly hospitalized after a stowaway arachnid hiding in her produce bit her. [More]

(kyle tsui)

Deadly Spider Hijacks Grocery Store Bananas, Gnaws Off Its Own Leg To Escape Capture

If you haven’t been eyeing those bunches of grocery store bananas suspiciously after past spider ambushes, this most recent incident might make you pay attention. Not only did a deadly, venomous Brazilian Wandering Spider jump out of a bunch of fruit delivered by a shopping service in the UK, but it was so dedicated to getting away from captors that it gnawed its own leg off. [More]

Actual house and spiders not pictured. (Scott Lynch)

Family Abandons Home Due To Massive Spider Infestation

There’s a lovely home near St. Louis that was once worth around $450,000, and now sits abandoned and in foreclosure. The last owners won a lawsuit against the previous owners for failing to disclose one really, really important thing about the house: it is infested with thousands of brown recluse spiders. [More]

Have You Experienced An Infestation Of Car Spiders?

Have You Experienced An Infestation Of Car Spiders?

After posting about today’s recall of Suzuki Kizashi sedans that are susceptible to cracked fuel lines due to spider webs, we learned that the problem isn’t limited to Mazda and Suzuki vehicles. There have been reports of other spider-infested ventilation systems from at least two other companies, Honda and Hyundai. [More]

(M 93)

19,000 Suzuki Sedans Recalled Due To Spider Infestation Risk

Today, Suzuki announced the recall of with fuel lines that are somehow irresistible to spiders. The spiders build webs in the cars’ fuel lines, which lead to negative pressure in the fuel tank and can crack fuel lines, which in turn could lead to fires. Yes, spiders could be trying to set fire to your car, garage, and home. [More]

(frankieleon)

Oh Good: 46,000 More Mazdas Susceptible To Spider Infestation

Hey, remember when a bunch of Mazda 6 vehicles were recalled back in 2011 because spiders had a tendency to infest the fuel lines and build webs, resulting in a few cracked fuel tanks and lots of nightmares? Well, it’s happening again: 46,000 more Mazda6 vehicles have been recalled. (Warning: there is a larger-than-life photo of the relevant spider species inside this post.) [More]

Great, Now We Have To Worry About Black Widow Spiders Hiding In Grapes

Great, Now We Have To Worry About Black Widow Spiders Hiding In Grapes

And you thought you only had to worry about bananas infested with deadly spiders. Ha! Silly you, because now bunches of grapes are the new cool hangout spot for venomous critters, specifically Black Widow spiders. It’s the latest in extreme eating. [More]

(SHOTbySUSAN)

Deadly Spiders Ambush Family From Within A Bunch Of Supermarket Bananas

It’s looking like a bad week to be a banana: Either you’re getting slathered in mustard and cheese and stuck in an oven, or a family of spiders decides to nest all over you and freak a family out. [More]

(frankieleon.)

Postal Worker Can’t Deliver The Mail Until Someone Removes That Scary Spider Web

Over here on this side of the pond, the U.S. Postal Service has a thing about not letting weather conditions keep carriers from their job. But over in England at least one carrier quailed at the sight of not rain, sleet, snow or even a big dog — a spiderweb kept the mail from delivery one fateful day. [More]

(KSHB.com)

Just When You Got Over ‘Arachnophobia’: Spiders Attack Kansas Air Traffic Control Station

I was in a basement. I don’t remember whose basement it was, but someone had the bright idea that instead of watching Mannequin for the 14th time we should watch Arachnophobia. After that, I had no memory of watching that movie. UNTIL NOW. Thanks, spider infestation at Kansas Air Traffic Control Station. Thanks a lot for bringing that terrifying childhood memory blazing back into my brain. [More]