Shropshire Star

Halloween horror at Telford's Exotic Zoo as hundreds of black widow spiders are born

It's a Halloween horror bound to send a shiver down the spine of arachnophobes everywhere.

Published
Scott Adams from the Exotic Zoo in Telford with some of the baby spiders

Telford's Exotic Zoo may have become the first zoo in the UK to successfully breed their black widow spiders – and there's currently between 100 and 200 of the tiny creatures at the attraction.

But far from the thrill of seeing the infamous creatures up close, the zoo's owner Scott Adams says he's hoping people take the time to learn more about these often misunderstood spiders.

"A lot of it is based on people's fears," Scott said. "That's a big thing with spiders in general – people pick things up from seeing their parents scared or through old wives' tales.

"Black widows have got a venom that could be potentially fatal, but the bite isn't as deadly as people think. They're such a tiny spider. They're trying to get food, they're not an aggressive animal.

"We take the opportunity to tell people the truth and help people get over their fears."

At first, staff at the zoo didn't pay much attention to the black widow egg sack.

Hatch

But soon after, up to 200 of the tiny insects began to hatch.

"We weren't sure if it was fertile or if it would hatch," Scott said. "Then boom, 100 to 200 black widow spiders. We don't know how many there are, because they're very small and we can't count them individually.

"I've been trying to find out if there's any news about other successful breeding in the UK and so far we've not been able to find anything."

Survived black widow spiders will replace the older spiders at the zoo, or be sent to other spiders around the country.

Scott said he's expecting them to be a hugely popular attraction this Halloween.

"People are scared of them," he said. "Everybody knows the name black widow. You can go to any pet shop and see a tarantula these days, but these are something you can't see anywhere else."