Stowaway spider spooks Devon bike shop, finds new home

Oh. My. God.

Judy Hartlon got the scare of her life this past Halloween after an unlikely stowaway, a black widow spider, hitched a ride all the way from Moab, Utah to her bicycle repair shop in Devon.

After travelling more than 2,000 kilometres, the poisonous cargo made its big debut the day before Halloween.

Fear not, this tale we're spinning has a happy ending. 

It was a routine morning at Shift Happens Bicycle Repair. Harlton and her daughter were unpacking boxes when things went south quickly, turning into "complete chaos": A client had unwittingly shipped them something venomous after a recent trip to Utah.

"I pulled out the front wheel of the bike, and it was covered in cobwebs. So I proceeded to take the cobwebs off, not thinking too much about what was coming up next," said Hartlon, who knew instantly it was a black widow.

"I pulled the second layer of foam out of the box and almost put my thumb on the spider, and that's when it jumped onto the next layer of foam, and I jumped out of the part room."

Hartlon said the spider had been inside the bike box for at least 10 days, and had somehow slipped past custom agents who inspected the package at the border.

Black widows, also known as "comb-footed" or "tangle-web" spiders, can grow up to 10 mm in diameter, and are best known for their bite. Their venom is 15 times more poisonous than that of a rattlesnake, but Harlton wasn't too worried.

"It probably wasn't hungry, because I think they can go for quite some time without food, but it was thirsty for sure."

After the initial shock wore off, and the spider was plucked from the shop floor, Harlton warmed to the idea of having a resident arachnid.

Harlton named the spider Malaise, and the critter was soon put up in a cozy mason jar terrarium, complete with twigs, fresh sand and live crickets.

"She was quite a celebrity in Devon for the time that she was here," said Harlton during a Wednesday morning interview with CBC radio show Edmonton AM. 

After five days as the official shop spider (and the talk of the town), Malaise is on the move again.  

The black widow will live out her days at the Royal Alberta Museum and will be part of its invertebrate zoology program.

It was a sad goodbye for Harlton, who was prepared to keep the spider for good.

"I had a hard time letting go; I was getting quite attached to the little lady . . . . It ended up being a real happy ending."

Listen to Hartlon as she introduces her unexpected stowaway. But be warned, the following video contains explicit language.