World of the Bizarre

UK man finds huntsman spider in his garden

By T.K. Randall
May 29, 2017 ·  24 comments

You don't expect to see this in England. Image Credit: CC BY-SA 3.0 Mikeybear The man, who lives in Sevenoaks, Kent, couldn't believe his eyes when he noticed the spider clinging to the brickwork on the outside wall of his house earlier this month.

When animal collection officer Louise Horton from the RSPCA arrived on the scene, she determined that it was in fact a huntsman - a species that is not indigenous to the UK.

"I honestly expected to get there and find a big house spider or a toy spider or something silly but it was a huntsman," she said. "It wasn't a giant huntsman but was big enough, it was about the size of the palm of my hand so it wasn't the usual spider you'd expect to find in your house !""It was clinging to the outside wall of the man's house and he said it had barely moved since he first spotted it. I removed it, confined it in a box and took it to experts at Heathrow's Animal Reception Centre to be quarantined. "

While the species is not known to be dangerous, it can still give a nasty and painful bite.

It isn't clear exactly where the spider came from or how it ended up in Kent, however it is likely that it arrived in the UK in a crate of fruit or some other import from abroad.

Huntsman spiders are native to Australia, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (24)

Tags: Spider, Huntsman