November 9, 2013

Black widow spider in a container of grapes at a Milwaukee supermarket.

"I saw the legs moving frantically... I've seen bugs on fruit before, and I thought, 'That is a very big spider.' Nothing I'd ever seen before."
Black widow spiders, which build webs in grape vineyards to capture insects, have occasionally been found in supermarket grapes since the mid-1990s. That's when growers came under pressure to cut back on insecticide use because of high levels of pesticide residue on grapes...

Reports of black widow spiders on grapes have popped up in the past few months in Missouri, Michigan and Minnesota.

14 comments:

Sorun said...

They left out the part where she screamed.

Richard Dolan said...

Well, it would have made a lovely and devoted pet.

Anonymous said...

Kill it. Eat the grapes. Sigh.

Paco Wové said...

Black widows aren't that big, as spiders go. Not even North American spiders.

Paddy O said...

Black widow spiders give me the willies. And I live in an area where they're pretty common. Always wear gloves when poking about outside!

Hagar said...

Also beware of brown recluses, though I think black widows are more common.

Anonymous said...

I found a North American hippie in a bunch of locally sourced kale we bought.

Big Mike said...

Coupled with Althouse's post a couple days ago about highly-venomous Brazilian Wandering Spiders on bananas, I'd say she's trying to tell us that fruits are bad for us. Eat your veggies!

Marc in Eugene said...

I think Professor A. is trying to tell us that we-- who should learn to remain at home rather than go gallivanting about-- should learn to live with only locally grown fruits.

Alex said...

Well thanks Althouse, I just really needed THIS article. Like really bad. Thanks a lot.

Heartless Aztec said...

Hahaha...in the grapes. Hell, I used to date one. Escaped by the skin of me teeth.

Levi Starks said...

I remember finding them in my grandma's basement when I was about 6 years old. My cousin and me would flip them over and admire the hourglass and then smash them, because we knew they were dangerous.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Come on. Black widows will only kill you a little bit.

John Cunningham said...

You can thank the imbeciles in the enviro movement for this, along with the bedbugs rampant in many cities.