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Comments & ID Thoughts
Hi. I don’t know anything about spiders. Found this in a banana box from Tesco. Is it dangerous. What should I do with it?
- Submitted by:
- Submitted: Feb 20, 2020
- Photographed: Feb 20, 2020
- Spider: Unidentified
- Location: Cirencester, United Kingdom
- Spotted Indoors: Other
- Found in web?: No
- Attributes:
This is a Giant Crab Spider, one of the Heteropoda species in the Huntsman Spider family Sparassidae. Heteropoda venatoria is a species that has become cosmopolitan in distribution due to accidental shipping and is often found in shipments of bananas. Because of this, some people also call them Banana Spiders. They are relatively shy and not aggressive.
Many thanks. Can they survive in the UK? Should we let it go?
They would not likely survive outdoors in the UK, and it is best not to release exotic species. I have heard of people keeping them as pets for extended periods.