• herrcaptain@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    6 days ago

    Well, crap. Now I’m going to be irrationally afraid of a run-in with an illusive grape-riding Black Widow.

    I did know about foreign spiders hitching a ride on produce. I just didn’t know that these dudes could take root in our cold wasteland. Nonetheless, thanks for the link!

    • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      5 days ago

      No worries, if your heart is in decent shape, you’re actually not in much danger from a black widow, as far as I know. It’s mostly the elderly and the really young who die from their bites these days.

      • herrcaptain@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        5 days ago

        Good to know. Nevertheless, I hope to never be in a situation where I get to find out. I’m guessing they’re suuuuper rare here. I checked the iNaturalist app and there were no observed sightings of either type mentioned in that article.

        There’s probably just a colony in the back of a supermarket somewhere.

        • SturgiesYrFase@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          5 days ago

          I’m from Vancouver, and there was definitely a few that lived out back of my dad’s house when I was a teen. TIL my dad’s house was a supermarket!

          • herrcaptain@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            5 days ago

            I can see them surviving in the wild in Vancouver, but here in MB it regularly gets to -30 to -40 for several months in the winter. I’m not sure they’d like that too much.

            That said, maybe your dad’s house is a supermarket. Does he have lots of food in it?