A PAIR of teenagers had something to brag about when they turned up at their local with a potentially lethal Australian Redback spider.

Toby Hounslow, from Stockbridge, and Rob Floyd, from Kimpton, found the spider during a Monday shift at Hampshire Flexitanks in Stockbridge.

The two 19-year-olds were loading a container that had recently returned from Australia, when Mr Hounslow became entangled in the spider's web.

They saw the dangerous eight-legged female and scraped it into an empty sandwich box with some cardboard, before taping the cardboard to the container and pricking holes in it to allow the creature to breathe.

Mr Hounslow, who was brought up in Australia, said: "We knew where the container came from and so we decided to get the spider out of there.

"I recognised it was dangerous straight away because it had the red hour glass shape on its back, and I thought it was either a red-back or a black widow."

Joe Pollard, the works manager at Hampshire Flexitanks, which makes containers, said he had never seen anything like it before.

"The container had just come back from the docks and it was important that we loaded it up as we were working to deadlines.

"Toby and Rob are very sensible lads and they did very well to capture it without putting themselves in too much danger."

The pair, regulars at The Vine in Stockbridge, where Mr Hounslow also works part-time, then took it to the pub after work.

Mr Hounslow said: "It is our local, so we thought we would go there and show it around. We thought they would like to see it."

Landlord Fred Lundberg enjoyed the busiest spell of the afternoon, as people came in from the streets to look.

"It's one of the most deadly spiders in the world so we couldn't just let it go in the wild," Mr Lundberg said.

"But it was getting quite an audience in the pub."

He called the RSPCA who advised him to phone Marwell Zoo.

The lads then took it to the zoo and its identity was confirmed on Tuesday.

Geoff Read, head of the tropical house at Marwell, said: "It will be available for people to come and see.

"Crowds are absolutely fascinated by them. I'm over the moon that it's here -- it's amazing.

"The lads did absolutely the right thing.

"They brought it somewhere safe where people know a lot about them."

The female Redback has a round body about a centimetre long, with long, slender legs.

It is related to its more infamous counterpart, the Black Widow, which can be found in America, but is smaller.