Deadly black widow spiders found in Barton-upon-Humber

Four black widow spiders were found by workers in North Lincolnshire after hitching a ride in a consignment of jet engines from the US.

The venomous visitors dropped out of the engines close to an engineer at TC Power in Barton-upon-Humber.

Managing director Stuart Elliott said they had to stop work as soon as the spiders were discovered.

The firm has put the spiders in a glass container and are planning to rehome them with local spider experts.

"One of our engineers was actually underneath the engine," said Mr Elliott.

"One of his colleagues had noticed that a black spider had appeared out of the bottom of the engine frame and was reared up on his back legs. So we pulled everybody off the engines at that point."

Staff identified the spider on the internet by the distinctive red hour glass marking on its abdomen.

The Black Widow is one of the world's most venomous spiders. It is native to North and Central America.

Fed with flies
Their name derives from the belief that the females eat the male after mating, something naturalists say rarely happens in the wild.

The females are twice the size of the male and possess a powerful venom designed to kill much larger prey.

Craig Gledhill from the Jungle Zoo in Cleethorpes was approached by the firm for advice on dealing with the spiders.

He said that a bite could prove fatal for some people.

"A healthy human, although it would be a very serious incident if they were to be bitten, if they received quite quick medical treatment they most likely would survive.

"If the individual bitten was elderly or a small child or anybody with a heart or respiratory problem, then they would be in great danger from the neurotoxic venom."

The animals are currently housed in a glass container and are being fed with flies by the workers. The company plans to give them to local zoos and other spider specialists.

Aussie Gets Cozy With Poisonous Spiders

AOL News

(Nov. 15) -- Is there a limit to what you'd do to raise money for charity?

An Australian man who fancies himself a real-life "spiderman" is spending three weeks trapped in a storefront window with hundreds of poisonous spiders, hoping to break a record for habitation with creepy-crawlies and raise money for a local children's charity.

Nick Le Souef, a 67-year-old opal miner from Melbourne, stepped into the 12-by-4-foot window of his downtown shop today, where he plans to spend the next three weeks sleeping, eating and working alongside some of Australia's most deadly arachnids -- redbacks, tarantula-like huntsmen and black house spiders.

Real life "spiderman" Nick Le Souef holds a bird-eating spider Monday before he enters a shop window front to live with hundreds of deadly arachnids for the next three weeks to raise money for charity in Melbourne.

It's all part of a campaign to raise $50,000 for the local children's charity Variety.

And this isn't even the strangest thing Le Souef has done. According to his fundraising website, he currently holds the Australian records for living in a snake pit, in a shark tank and in a cage with a redback black widow spider -- all three weeks.

"I've been bitten by snakes, and I've been stung by stingrays and poisonous fish. But I've never been bitten by a spider. So there you go," he told Agence France-Presse, laughing.

Le Souef plans to live in his opal shop window with the spiders for more than 23 hours a day for the next three weeks, with just a half hour respite to take a shower, Australia's Herald Sun newspaper reported.

There were about 400 spiders in his window before an "arachnid massacre" when the creatures started eating each other, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Le Souef had to throw a few crickets and cockroaches into the mess to keep the spiders' appetites in check before he entered the window himself.

Aussie Gets Cozy With Poisonous Spiders

AOL News

(Nov. 15) -- Is there a limit to what you'd do to raise money for charity?

An Australian man who fancies himself a real-life "spiderman" is spending three weeks trapped in a storefront window with hundreds of poisonous spiders, hoping to break a record for habitation with creepy-crawlies and raise money for a local children's charity.

Nick Le Souef, a 67-year-old opal miner from Melbourne, stepped into the 12-by-4-foot window of his downtown shop today, where he plans to spend the next three weeks sleeping, eating and working alongside some of Australia's most deadly arachnids -- redbacks, tarantula-like huntsmen and black house spiders.

Real life "spiderman" Nick Le Souef holds a bird-eating spider Monday before he enters a shop window front to live with hundreds of deadly arachnids for the next three weeks to raise money for charity in Melbourne.

It's all part of a campaign to raise $50,000 for the local children's charity Variety.

And this isn't even the strangest thing Le Souef has done. According to his fundraising website, he currently holds the Australian records for living in a snake pit, in a shark tank and in a cage with a redback black widow spider -- all three weeks.

"I've been bitten by snakes, and I've been stung by stingrays and poisonous fish. But I've never been bitten by a spider. So there you go," he told Agence France-Presse, laughing.

Le Souef plans to live in his opal shop window with the spiders for more than 23 hours a day for the next three weeks, with just a half hour respite to take a shower, Australia's Herald Sun newspaper reported.

There were about 400 spiders in his window before an "arachnid massacre" when the creatures started eating each other, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Le Souef had to throw a few crickets and cockroaches into the mess to keep the spiders' appetites in check before he entered the window himself.