One Costco shopper got way more than she was looking for in the produce aisle, and it definitely wasn’t on the shopping list.
TikTok creator Heather Sumrall (@heartofheather) posted the now-viral video, which has pulled in over 415,000 views since it hit the app on Oct. 18.
What started as a grocery run has since turned into a full-blown PSA for anyone grabbing grapes at Costco or any major retailer. The clip zooms in on a bunch of green grapes, and right there, crawling between them, is the signature red hourglass on the shiny black body of a large black widow spider.
The on-screen caption tagged Costco and warned other shoppers, then jokingly included, “At this point I’ll just eat a Little Debbie.”
How Often Are Spiders Hiding in Grapes?
Apparently, this isn’t anything new. Black widows, which are notoriously venomous, have been showing up in grocery store grapes for years. Back in 2015, a woman up in Vermont was hospitalized after one crawled out of her bag of grapes and bit her.
Every year, reports pop up about wandering and huntsman spiders, known as “banana spiders,” found in store bananas, along with black widows hiding in bunches of grapes.
The reason is simple. Grapes make the perfect hiding spot for spiders. Vineyards are packed with fruit-eating bugs. Grape arbors give spiders plenty of space to settle in and spin their webs.
The comments were a mix of jokes, spider trauma, and straight-up nightmare fuel.
“Donuts would never do this to you,” one person joked.
Another warned, “Wait until you are looking through the bananas and find a huge banana spider.”
“New fear unlocked omg! [loudly crying face emoji],” someone said.
Other viewers added even more fuel to the fire by displaying advanced insect knowledge.
“Hi, so they actually use black widows in a lot of vineyards to help with natural pest control,” a person wrote. “This is like the 8th post I’ve seen in the last couple months about this.”
Another chimed in, “As a retired inspector, that’s very common.”
Sumrall declined to comment for the story. We also reached out to Costco for a statement.
@heartofheather Not Ai Blackwidow spider 🕷️ in my grapes @Costco Wholesale @COSTCO FINDS 🛍️ ♬ Halloween ・ cute horror song – PeriTune