Black widow spiders found in car in Britain

Two black widow spiders found in a car imported from the USA have been given a new home at Bristol Zoo.

The pair had been nesting inside a 1964 Ford Falcon, which was imported into the UK last January, but were only discovered when restoration work started last week.

Mechanics at Bicester-based firm Damax found the first under the fuel tank and the second behind the dashboard.

After using the internet to confirm the arachnids’ identity, they then set about trying to find a new home for them.

Manager Robin Ward said he although he was not scared of spiders, he had quite a shock when he discovered the pair were black widows.

“We brought the car over in January and it had been stored in a garage until last week when our mechanic started getting it ready to work on.

“We found the first spider tucked under the fuel tank and carefully put it in a plastic container and looked on the internet to try and identify it.

“Fortunately I’m not scared of spiders, but I had quite a shock when we first suspected it could be a black widow. We continued stripping the car with a great deal of caution, and couldn’t believe it when we found a second spider under the dashboard.”

“We were advised to phone a few organisations which might be able to take the spiders but none were able to help, as I wanted the spiders to be rehomed rather than killed.

“We would have never found either of the spiders had we not completely stripped the car but we’ve finished it now and are 100% certain that there are no more.”

The 1.5in-long (3.8cm) spiders have now been donated to Bristol Zoo.

Mark Bushell, the zoo’s assistant curator of invertebrates, said black widow spiders were not as deadly as people thought.

“Having said that, they could still do some quite serious harm and their bite would certainly cause health problems,” he added.

Bristol Zoo’s latest arrivals have come at the right time, as its previous black widow spider died of old age in October. One of the spiders is now living in the zoo’s black widow spider exhibit – a replica outside toilet – in Bug World.

The second spider is being kept safely under lock and key in the zoo’s off-show venomous invertebrate cabinet.

Black widow spiders live for about two years and are native to the US.

Their venom causes cramps and fever although their bites are rarely fatal because of the small amount of venom released.

Only the females are venomous and are called black widows because they eat their male partners after mating.