This 7-Inch Tarantula Caused Pure Mayhem For This Mother

According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of arachnophobia is the “pathological fear or loathing of spiders.” That is exactly the word to describe what you will be feeling when you look at the pictures of this enormous tarantula this woman found lurking around in her home!

32-year-old mother Lyndsey Herlihy thought the spider was a toy…but then it moved its giant legs. “I am scared of spiders anyway so spotting this creature was terrifying,” Lyndsey explained. “It’s left me absolutely scared to death.”

Lyndsey spotted the enormous tarantula in a utility room while taking out the trash at her home in South Ruislip, West London. She immediately grabbed her two young daughters Megan and Elsie to get them away from the spider.

Instead of trying to kill the beast, she called the RSPCA and also her husband who raced home from work. Lyndsey recalled, “My husband had size nine work boots on but he wouldn’t stamp on it in case he missed it.”

When the RSCPA officer arrived, Lyndsey stated that even she “go the jitters.”

Once caught, the spider was identified as a Gooty sapphire ornamental tarantula. The breed of spider is venomous and is critically endangered in the wild in India. It has three-quarters-of-an-inch long fangs to go with a very painful bite, as you might imagine.

Lyndsey and her family have no idea where the spider came from and that she has “been asking on Facebook if anyone lost a pet in the area and nobody has replied.” She continued, “I now think it might have come in on a ship from India and managed to survive in our British summer and it’s just got bigger and bigger.”

“I always thought if I ever went on ‘I’m A Celebrity’ or one of those shows where you have to do challenges that I would be OK — but after this I’ve realised absolutely not,” Lyndsey concluded.

Check out the gallery to see pictures of this massive spider!

How would you react if you saw a spider this big in your home?

[H/T Daily Mail]