Spider Lays Eggs In British Man’s Toe During Holiday In France

A British man reportedly returned from holiday to find a wolf spider had laid eggs inside his toe.

The man who was on a cruise ship in France with his wife to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary claims he woke up to find one of his big toes had turned purple.

Following a visit to the ship’s doctor, he reportedly found out he had been bitten by a wolf spider.

“My wife thought it may be because I had new sandals and they were rubbing on my big toe and that was causing it to be red,” he told BBC Radio Scotland.

Four weeks later he discovered a “foreign body” in his foot. 

 “One of the spider eggs hadn’t been flushed and must have hatched,” he said. “They believe the spider was making its way out, eating its way out of my toe. I did ask if I could keep it, but they said no.”

However, the audacious claim has been challenged by Arachnologist Dr Sara Goodacre asserting no European wolf spider could “really penetrate the skin”.

“I can’t possibly see how it could be true at all because I know about their biology… [Egg sacs] take quite a while to spin. The spider venom is not necrotising, it is designed to paralyse a fruit fly.”