SEATTLE -- A black widow spider that hitched a ride in a bag of red grapes has found a new home at the Woodland Park Zoo.

Iris Hagermann, of Ballard, was getting ready to wash the grapes when she found the spider. Instead of killing it, her husband trapped it in a plastic container and it was taken to the zoo where it's now in the care of keeper Sue Andersen.

"It's not uncommon that the public will call us and they will have found a black widow, or something what they think is a black widow," Andersen said.

But there's no question that the latest addition to the zoo's collection, dubbed "Scarlet," is indeed a black widow. "Yes, it does have the beautiful red hour glass on its abdomen."

Andersen said the zoo usually gets a few black widow spiders each year that people find in produce or other packaging.

"A lot of times they've been in the refrigerator and they're cool, so they don't move until (people) start to wash the grapes or take them apart, then they see the black widow."

Andersen said spiders given to the zoo often haven't had food or water in days, so zoo staffers will slowly nurse them back to health.

"Sometimes they're in pretty bad shape after being shipped around," she said.

"The first thing we do is make sure they're put in a secure container. We're very careful here with any of what we call a 'hot' or venomous animal. Although the chance of a black widow biting someone is extremely low."

Andersen said black widow spiders don't like to be on humans, and usually when someone is bitten it's because a person has put their hand on the spider, making it feel threatened.

Only about one percent of human black widow spider bites are fatal, Andersen said.

"Usually it's someone who's already compromised, perhaps has a heart problem, or someone that's very young... or very old and infirm."

Andersen said the spiders sometimes get into bunches of grapes because of their reclusive nature.

"Grapes are perfect because a clump of grapes has enough hiding spaces inside and these guys don't make a big orb web, they make a very tangled web to catch their prey," she said. "They're not after the grapes - they're after the insects that are attracted to the grapes."

Despite the long journey to Seattle, "Scarlet" was happily attending to a captured cricket Monday in her new home at the zoo.

"It's a beautiful animal," Andersen said. "And luckily the son was able to convince his parents instead of just killing the spider to be able to identify it and bring it to the zoo where it will live out its life, be taken care of, loved and maybe one day put on exhibit for everyone to appreciate and learn from."