A terrified mother was left speechless after she found a tarantula the size of her hand scurrying across her front garden.
Sarah Rodmell, 30, spotted the enormous spider after she was alerted by builders who’d stumbled upon the eight-legged critter while carrying out renovation works on her home in Stapleford, Nottinghamshire.
Despite being terrified of spiders, the mother of two nudged the curled-up critter, now thought to be an aggressive species native to South Africa, causing it to move.
She then courageously scooped up the tarantula into a container before moving it into the kitchen and calling reptile experts to come to take it away.
Ms Rodmell, who works in a school, said it was 9 am and the builders were doing work on the roof and they left some of their materials outside on the front.
She said they saw this thing on the front curled up, but they didn’t know what it was but as soon as they found out it was a tarantula they all stepped back.
She said that she kind of gave it a little nude and it got on its feet and started wiggling, so they got a box and they poked it into it. She said it was a bit surreal to see it chilling in a box in her kitchen, and every time she stepped into her kitchen, it was like ‘Oh my God, I’ve got a tarantula in my house’.
It was later established to be an Orange Baboon tarantula, which has an incredibly painful bite and is native to Angola and other regions of Africa.
Ms Rodmell’s 13-year-old daughter Kacie identified the creepie crawly after noticing the unique markings on its back.
Her three-year-old son Rudi decided to call the giant spider Dobby and begged his mum to keep the lost spider.
Ms Rodmell added that she’s terrified of spiders but she worked in a care home and they brought snakes and a tarantula in, so she beat her fears of them, but said that she wouldn’t be going near any other spiders anytime soon.
She said that thankfully Washington’s Relentless Reptiles in Loughborough collected the spider straight away, and then a man got in touch with her after she put it on Facebook that he’d lost an Orange Baboon tarantula a while ago.
She said he lived on the same street as her but moved house in July. Somehow it survived until now, he just couldn’t locate it, so it must have escaped, but who would want a pet which is notoriously aggressive in nature and is known to have an extremely painful bite?
I guess I’ve described the average human being, some dogs and presumably all cats, but it doesn’t prevent most from keeping them as pets or as human companions. Although, I must confess I don’t actually like seeing creatures like this in captivity.
The guy said that he lost his tarantula in a house move. Did he not think to warn the appropriate authorities seeing as it was dangerous or that at least it was missing? Clearly, this man wasn’t extremely responsible, and if people can’t look after or care for their pets properly and keep them safe and protected then they shouldn’t have them.
Tarantulas are lovely and extremely clever critters, but if one dashed across my front lawn, I’d have to leave the planet, and why are people allowed to import these critters, it’s not much life for them living in a tank, it’s almost like being in prison, so it’s not surprising they want to escape, and with Britain warming up they can now endure our environment.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 