It is believed that the insects were Brazilian wandering spiders

Mar 11, 2014 13:11 GMT  ·  By
Family was forced to flee home after finding a cluster of spiders in a bunch of bananas
   Family was forced to flee home after finding a cluster of spiders in a bunch of bananas

A family of four from Hednesford, Staffordshire, were forced to flee their home after it had been practically invaded by hundreds of potentially deadly spiders.

Jamie and Crystal Roberts got really scared and called in pest control specialists when the cluster of spiders swarmed out of a bunch of bananas bought from a local store.

At first glance, Jamie thought the white patches on the bananas he had purchased from the OneStop Store were mold, but after a closer inspection he realized they were actually webbing from spiders.

Pest controllers advised the family to leave their house immediately, so Jamie and Crystal along with their two children fled their home.

“It was like something out of a horror film because suddenly the window sill was moving with hundreds of these spiders,” Jamie said, according to Daily Mail.

“It was terrifying - especially for me because I have a phobia of spiders. We bought the bananas from the local shop and there were in a fruit bowl on the window sill in the kitchen,” he added.

The family was allowed to return home only three days after it was fumigated.

It is believed that the insects were Brazilian wandering spiders, or banana spiders, a species which has venom deadly enough to kill humans, but this has not yet been confirmed.

The Roberts are now waiting for pest controllers to confirm whether the spiders were indeed the deadly species or not.

OneStop Stores also issued a statement about the incident saying, “As soon as our customers contacted us about this issue we took all necessary precautions, including organising pest control to visit the house and arranging for our customer and his family to stay in a hotel while the fumigation took place.

“We’d like to reassure all our customers that such instances are extremely rare and we are carrying out a thorough investigation into how this happened.”

In the Guinness World Records from 2010, the Brazilian wandering spiders appear as the most toxic species of spider on earth. Its venom is said to be 30 times more powerful than that of a rattlesnake. However, an effective antivenom is available and few fatalities were recorded throughout history.

The spiders of this species can grow to have a leg span of 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in), while their body length ranges from 17 to 48 mm (0.67 to 1.89 in). They wander the jungle at night, and during the day they hide inside termite mounds, under fallen logs and rocks, and in banana trees.