Everyone split!
A supermarket in Austria shuttered this week after a venomous Brazilian wandering spider was spotted wandering in the bananas, TMZ reported, citing fears that a bite from the deadly creature can cause long-lasting, painful erections.
The Penny market in Krems an der Donau — which is about 45 minutes west of Vienna, the nation’s capital — has reportedly been closed since Tuesday.
The store manager allegedly rang the fire department after spotting the 4-inch black-and-red creepy crawly. Helpers sealed the store’s banana crates, but the spider is still at large, per The Mirror.
The Brazilian wandering spider’s venom “stimulates” an erection that lasts for hours, according to Live Science.
Those who are bitten by the spider can suffer high blood pressure and pain throughout their bodies.
“The erection is a side effect that everybody who gets stung by this spider will experience along with the pain and discomfort,” said Dr. Romulo Leite of the Medical College of Georgia, who has studied the spider.
“We’re hoping eventually this will end up in the development of real drugs for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.”
In 2012, Smithsonian Magazine suggested the spider could work as the next Viagra, to help men who have erectile disfunction. But it doesn’t seem like this idea has legs, as of yet.
This is not the first time this type of venomous spider has wandered to Europe.
In May 2017, “hundreds” of the spiders infiltrated someone’s bananas they had purchased from the supermarket Asda in the UK, according to The BBC.
The spiders spurred the family to evacuate their home.
In the spring, a UK man reported finding a painful and venomous — but not deadly — Huntsman spider in his bananas from the Tesco grocery store.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a shock horror reaction like it before. I was completely gobsmacked to discover it,” Craig Harrison told Caters, adding it “gave me the fright of my life.”
