A sack of tarantulas was left on a grass verge outside an animal rescue centre in freezing temperatures.
The exotic spiders, dumped inside rubbish bags outside Raystede Centre for Animal Welfare, have now been rehomed by the RSPCA.
One sadly died before the RSPCA could take them on, but the others were brought to its reptile facility in Brighton on December 10.
There, they recovered from their ordeal and all of the spiders have been rehomed with owners who were able to demonstrate expertise, as well as possessing suitable accommodation to meet the needs of the invertebrates.
While tarantulas are often viewed as low-maintenance pets, they have very specific requirements, which includes being housed in enclosures at certain temperatures and humidity depending on the species because they come from a tropical/sub-tropical environment.
Head of Reptiles at Brighton, Fred Bark, said: “Tarantulas are fairly hardy, although the one that passed away was of a species that can be particularly affected by cold temperatures.
“Generally we know fairly quickly whether they are going to be okay when they come in to us.
“The intake was a mix of old and new world tarantulas, so they were different species from different parts of the world, which meant each one needed specific care. Most of them were not fully grown, but they were still big spiders.
“There are quite a few people who keep tarantulas in the Brighton area and once we established they were going to survive we notified some potential adopters.
“Owners need the right enclosures and the knowledge to care for them and once they’d satisfied us they could meet their needs we were able to rehome them all fairly quickly.”
Manager Jenny Eden said: “It was important these tarantulas got the careful rehabilitation which we are able to provide our reptiles here at Brighton – we are the only dedicated RSPCA reptile rescue in England and Wales.
“Fortunately, whoever abandoned them also left the vivariums they were being kept in, so our staff were able to use them to care for them as they made their recovery.”
