'Only in 2020': Horrified mum finds a giant spider with a huge sac full of eggs lurking in her Woolworths Christmas gingerbread house
A mother was 'horrified' to find a large spider and egg sac inside the packaging of her Woolworths gingerbread house.
Sydney mother Katie Gompertz posted pictures of the spider and her eggs inside the gingerbread house box to Facebook on Monday.
Pictures show the female huntsman spider had made a web inside the box and is clutching a sac off eggs that contained her babies.
Sydney mother Katie Gompertz posted pictures of a female huntsman spider and her eggs inside the gingerbread house box to Facebook on Monday
'Wait Woolworths this isn't what I ordered? Only in Australia, only in 2020,' Ms Gompertz captioned the post.
'Buy a ready made gingerbread house they said, it'll be easier than building one they said! Seriously I don't say this often but: why me?'
The $5.50 fully decorated gingerbread house is described by Woolworths as 'a gift that is bound to spread some cheer'.
Recalling how she noticed the spider, Ms Gompertz said 'it was like a horror movie'.
'I was making myself a cup of tea, I glanced up at the gingerbread house thinking "Hmm, I wonder if I can sneak a piece off without the kids noticing",' she said.
'Then I saw it, the tip of a leg, and then another leg and then another, and then the body, carrying a mother trucking egg sack. I’m done!'
Woolworths' official Facebook page commented on Ms Gompertz's post, saying the gingerbread house 'should not have passed quality control'.
Ms Gompertz said 'it was like a horror movie' when she first saw the spider's legs inside the gingerbread house box. She was considering opening the box to have some gingerbread with her tea but quickly changed her mind
'Thanks for letting us know, and we apologise for the scary surprise. After all, it's Christmas, not Halloween,' the page wrote.
'Please feel free to return the gingerbread house to our store service desk for a replacement - one without an added houseguest!
'We'll also be following this up with our supplier, as this certainly should not have passed quality control.'
But Ms Gompertz declined the offer, saying 'I am not sticking that (the infested gingerbread house) in my car'.
'Obviously it'll hatch it's tiny little offspring x 200 as soon as it gets into my car,' she said.
Woolworths again replied, this time offering to deliver a new replacement gingerbread house free of charge to Ms Gompertz's address.
'Perhaps you can let your little friend (and her many babies) run free in a garden somewhere far, far away from your house, or any other gingerbread houses for that matter,' the page wrote.
Ms Gompertz said she had left the box outside and was planning to release the mother spider and her babies into the wild.
Woolworths replied to Ms Gompertz, offering to deliver a new replacement gingerbread house free of charge to her address