Car enthusiast finds nest of deadly black widow spiders in vehicle

A CAR enthusiast got a horrifying extra when he bought a vintage Ford Thunderbird – a nest of deadly black widow spiders.
Marc Lang, 57, who works for Anchor Vans, Padworth, made the creepy discovery when he was working on the vehicle, currently being stored at a property in Silchester.
He managed to capture one of the spiders in a jam jar before taking it to the firm’s managing director Simon Joyce, who identified it as the potentially lethal arachnid.
It gets worse. Mr Lang has since spotted two male spiders in the car,but has so far been unable to capture them...
Mr Joyce said: “I had first-hand experience of black widow spiders from when I was living in Canada and managed to identify it because of its beautiful red underbelly.
“The female is far more deadly than the male, so I’m glad Marc brought it to me in the jam jar, I certainly wouldn’t have fancied handling it myself.”
After identifying the venomous spider, Mr Joyce got in touch with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Environment Agency in an attempt to house it, but was told that the creatures are not on the list of exotics that must be reported.
However, he has since managed to get the spider re-located to a new home at Bristol Zoo.
Mr Lang, from Grazeley, said: “I got the car from eBay and only picked it up the other week.
"I was minding my own business, then looked up to see the spider staring back at me. I recognised that it was a foreign species,but didn’t realise exactly what it was.
“I’m not a massive fan of spiders and wouldn’t like it too much if one was crawling up my arm while I was driving, but I wouldn’t want to see one hurt.
“Everyone keeps asking me if I was scared but I wasn’t, they are very small and, for the most part are defensive rather than offensive. If you leave them alone they generally don’t bother you.”
The venom in a black widow’s bite can cause muscle aches, nausea,increased blood pressure and fever and in some cases, even death.
Mr Lang said that the car was shipped into England from either California or Mexico, the native habitat of the species.