A schoolboy is convinced he has found the world’s deadliest spider in a box of insects he was about to feed to his pet bearded dragon.
Charlie Wade, 12, from Fulham, London, buys a box of locusts every week for Dopey to eat, and recently came across what looks like a Brazilian wandering spider.
His parents did not believe him when he told them what he had found, but his father examined the insect and admitted it did resemble the deadly breed.
Charlie Wade, 12, (pic) from Fulham, London, buys a box of locusts every week for Dopey to eat, and recently came across what looks like a Brazilian wandering spider
Mr Wade, the chairman of governors at Fulham Boys School in London, said: ‘Every week, Charlie buys several boxes of locusts from a pet shop to feed his giant lizard.
‘He noticed that in one of the boxes, all of the insects were dead, so he looked inside and he found a spider.
‘He came to me and was excited to have found the spider that, in his mind, had killed his locusts.
‘So he went online, did lots of research and came to me with his conclusion that it was this deadly spider.’
Mr Wade, 46, continued: ‘I’ll be honest, I totally ignored him, but I was glad he was excited and encouraged.
‘Then he pointed out one of the features to me, comparing the two spiders, and I had to agree there was some similarity. There was enough similarity for me – not to reach a conclusion – but to say don’t play with it.’
Charlie’s parents did not believe him when he told them what he had found, but his father examined the insect (pic) and admitted it did resemble the deadly breed
The family have since been told by their local pet shop that the locusts they purchased were from the UK, which would seem to rule out Charlie’s conclusion.
Mr Wade continued: ‘I was fine with that and was thinking do I let the boy dream on or do I tell him the reality? In any case I was totally relaxed.
At this stage the spider (pic) is still only small – some 2cm across – compared to the 10cm leg span of an adult Brazilian wandering spider
‘But then a local journalist spoke to me and asked for some photos, so I said ‘yeah, I’ll take some’.
‘As we did, the spider – even though it looks tiny – went up on its rear legs like what my son had shown me in the pictures of this poisonous spider.’
He added: ‘I totally believed the pet shop and I asked my son to show me why he was so convinced, and it certainly has a remarkable resemblance to the spider he showed me.
‘If someone could come forward and tell us what it is, that’d be great. If it’s a common spider, no problem, but if it’s something more than that it’d be great to know.’
At this stage the spider is still only small – some 2cm across – compared to the 10cm leg span of an adult Brazilian wandering spider.
What is the deadly Brazilian Wandering Spider and when have they been seen in Britain?
The Brazilian wandering spider appears in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most venomous arachnid. Its scientific name – Phoneutria – is Greek for ‘murderess’.
They are known as the wandering spider because they do not build webs, but instead walk the jungle floor at night looking for prey.
Brazilian wandering spiders are nocturnal, and so find places to hide during the day. This is why they are so dangerous, because they hide in houses and cars, where they are easily disturbed by humans.
Brazilian wandering spiders are nocturnal, and so find places to hide during the day. File photo
They may be considered the most toxic spider, but they are not the biggest. Their leg-span reaches up to five inches.
When the spiders are defending themselves, they lift their body up on their hind legs in a defensive display.
Bites killed 14 people until an antidote was found in 1996.
The venom causes extreme pain and inflammation, loss of muscle control and breathing problems, resulting in paralysis and eventual asphyxiation.
The spider’s bite can also cause an unwanted erection in men, sometimes lasting for four hours.
In one case, a single spider killed two children in São Sebastião, Brazil. In 2005, a British man spent a week in hospital after he was bitten by a Brazilian wandering spider that had travelled to the country in a shipment of bananas.
In 2005, a British man spent a week in hospital after he was bitten by one of the spiders that had travelled to the country in a shipment of bananas.
A Tesco in Chatham, Kent, was closed after one was spotted in 2008.