'World's Deadliest Spider' Found in Whole Foods Produce Section or was it?

nycdfan042 · Mar 21, 2009

One of the most deadly spiders in the world was found in the produce section of an upscale Oklahoma grocery store.

Or was it?

An employee of Whole Foods Market in Tulsa discovered what an expert said was a Brazilian wandering spider in a bunch of bananas from Honduras on Sunday and managed to catch it in a container.

The spider was given to University of Tulsa animal facilities director Terry Childs, who identified the arachnid and said that type of spider is one of the most lethal in the world.

Childs said a bite will kill a person in about 25 minutes, and while there is an antidote, he doesn't know of any in the Tulsa area.

But a Tulsa Zoo official disputed the findings, saying his analysis through video and photos he'd seen led him to believe that it was a Huntsman spider — which is harmless to humans.

"There's pretty definitive evidence it has been misidentified," said Barry Downer, the zoo's curator of aquariums and herpetology.

Downer said the spider should have been preserved for study, but he was told that the body would not be made available.

"It doesn't make any sense to me why it wouldn't be saved," he said.

Childs said Wednesday night that he had destroyed the spider at the urging of a university administrator because of safety concerns.

A school spokesman said Thursday that the university is looking into how and why the spider was destroyed.

Richard Grantham, director of the plant disease and insect diagnostics lab at Oklahoma State University, also said the arachnid didn't appear to be a Brazilian wandering spider and should not have been killed.

"We preserve it," Grantham said. "We don't destroy it."

In addition, Downer and Grantham disagreed with Childs' characterization of the danger of a Brazilian wandering spider.

Death from its bite is rare, and only victims with compromised immune systems, such as babies or older people, would be at risk, they said.

Spiders often are found in imported produce. A manager at Whole Foods says the store regularly checks its goods and that's how the spider was found.

Oddly, the Brazilian spider delivers more than a painful bite that sends most victims to the hospital. Researchers have found its venom also stimulates an hours-long erection in men.

Patients not only experience overall pain and an increase in blood pressure, they also get an uncomfortable erection.

In Brazil, emergency room staff can immediately spot the victims of a bite.(NO SHIT?)

"The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and discomfort," said study team member Romulo Leite of the Medical College of Georgia, presumably speaking only about male bite victims.

"We're hoping eventually this will end up in the development of real drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction."

LOL

Mrs.Babba · Mar 21, 2009

lol nycd!...The new Viagra huh???? yikes!!..I wonder what it does to women

nycdfan042 · Mar 21, 2009

LOL lets not find out the hard way ! Icmaggers all over the world do not attempt at home without the supervision of a professional!!!!

nycdfan042 · Mar 21, 2009

Spiders are not just cool critters they can help your flacid dong! so dont kill them!!

Mrs.Babba · Mar 21, 2009

no worries here nycd!! ...spiders scare the hell outta me!! with our without supervision

VirginHarvester · Mar 21, 2009

There's an easy way to get rid of an uncomfortable erection, you don't really have to go to the hospital.

nycdfan042 · Mar 21, 2009

me too mrs B! i remember i stayed in a villa in costa rica(this is before i realized villa in costa rica means SCORPION DEN OF DEATH) and it was infested by scorpions. Scary thing is they are just like spiders they can crawl and climb anything at anytime, an apparently we had the "agressive" kind in our area, one had its babies on her back crawling on a towel i almost wrapped around myself after a quick shower....yea scary shit!! needless to say ill never go back to that "villa" resort

LOL virgin, ice cold water, just dip your affected area in there

BiG H3rB Tr3E · Mar 21, 2009

There's pretty definitive evidence it has been misidentified," said Barry Downer, the zoo's curator of aquariums and herpetology

ouch, doubted by mr.downer the herpetology expert?

KMK0420 · Mar 21, 2009

Mrs.Babba said:
lol nycd!...The new Viagra huh???? yikes!!..I wonder what it does to women

im guessing it makes them roll over and say "im not in the mood"?

its420 · Mar 21, 2009

Holy Crap, there is a whole Foods in Oklahoma? Wow, that in itself is awesome.

Not surprised at all of some stoopid okie saying 'Look Enus its one of them Brazilian wax job spiders harharhar, kill it n say it was dangerous so we can get on TV!' or the response of the intelligent community saying- 'You make a claim like that and then destroy it? Shenanigans!'

Lol, they got their TV time, this was 'big news' somehow, lol.

Wow there's a whole foods in OK? Amazing! Like they know wtf Kombucha is in oil country, lmfao.
PEACE
420

Sammet · Mar 21, 2009

Roar!

Now something odd is going on here... :chin:

""There's pretty definitive evidence it has been misidentified," said Barry Downer, the zoo's curator of aquariums and herpetology.

Downer said the spider should have been preserved for study, but he was told that the body would not be made available.

"It doesn't make any sense to me why it wouldn't be saved," he said.

Childs said Wednesday night that he had destroyed the spider at the urging of a university administrator because of safety concerns.

A school spokesman said Thursday that the university is looking into how and why the spider was destroyed."

Sounds like a big cover-up. :chin:

(Probably covered up by

to stop any new natural Viagra entering the market. Even as we speak - www.SpiderMag.com growers forums are up in arms about not being able to grow their own spiders simply for personal recreational use. Pfizer's increasing dominance and huge cash-guzzling allow them to keep campaigners for "Keeping Spiders Illegal" in government where they can enforce anti-spider law.

Legalize Spiders! :wink

nycdfan042 · Mar 22, 2009

yea something sounds fishy for sure there... arachnophobia! oooh

bongasaurus · Mar 22, 2009

i used to work in a produce dept.

unloading banannas one day i got bit by a spider. didnt even notice it when it happened but my hand blew up pretty bad. turned out to be nothing serious, but definitley a little scarry hearing like stories this

GreenThumbelina · Mar 22, 2009

if only something could be done about all those erections...

Sammet · Mar 22, 2009

bongasaurus said:
i used to work in a produce dept.

unloading banannas one day i got bit by a spider. didnt even notice it when it happened but my hand blew up pretty bad. turned out to be nothing serious, but definitley a little scarry hearing like stories this

Aww for a second I thought you were going to tell us when you got home you started shooting webs and climbing up the walls

Agent-Smith · Mar 22, 2009

Sammet said:
Aww for a second I thought you were going to tell us when you got home you started shooting webs and climbing up the walls

LOL

nycdfan042 · Mar 23, 2009

yea did you get a raging boner?

tenotoge · Mar 23, 2009

so i'm getting bit by spiders every morning at 6am?
:yeahthats

Marick23 · Mar 23, 2009

Sammet said:
Aww for a second I thought you were going to tell us when you got home you started shooting webs and climbing up the walls

Shooting something at the walls!

'World's Deadliest Spider' Found in Whole Foods Produce Section or was it?

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