Try not to give them a place to conceal themselves, and they'll conceal somewhere else. They often hide in dry, sheltered places such as garden sheds, mailboxes and under toilet seats. This will definitely keep the redbacks under control. Clear down any forming webs when you see them.
Redbacks tend to dwell around building foundations and on the exterior of buildings. One of the most common redback nesting spots is near outside window frames. If your property has piles of outdoor storage materials or piles of scrap, rocks or wood, be aware that there may be nests lurking underneath.
Redback Spider webs consist of a tangled, funnel-like upper retreat area from which vertical, sticky catching threads run to ground attachments. The Redback Spider favours proximity to human habitation, with webs being built in dry, sheltered sites, such as among rocks, in logs, shrubs, junk-piles, sheds, or toilets.
Despite their potent venom, redback spiders aren't particularly aggressive. They prefer to hide from threats. Most bites occur when humans accidentally disturb their hiding places and possibly dislodge them.
Around the home they prefer dark, dry and sheltered spaces such as underneath the floorboards and in roofs, sheds and garages. Garages and sheds are where you're most likely to encounter a redback as they like to hang out in cars, children's toys, bicycle helmets or gardening equipment.
Best Treatment for Redback Spiders
To control spiders in the home, spray Yates Long Term Control Barrier Spray. This product is designed to kill on contact and provide a control barrier for up to 12 months indoors and 3 months outdoors.
Water: Redbacks require very little water. Mist spray lightly within the spider's web once a week at most – it will drink the droplets if required. Redbacks don't like damp humid conditions, so ensure watering is not excessive.
The redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti) is found across Australia. Being common in urban areas it is one of the most frequent causes of spider bites. Control and prevention is relatively straightforward through a pest control spray treatment.
Modern-day redback spiders rely on humans. A quick glance at the distribution of redbacks in Australia reveals it correlates well with populated areas. The spiders are most often found in or around human homes, with only a small proportion located outside urban areas.
Redback spiderlings are grey with dark spots, and become darker with each moult. The female red stripe also develops through this process, starting as a red spot, then multiple spots which later merge. Juvenile females have additional white markings on the abdomen.
The redback spider is commonly found in close proximity to human residences. Webs are usually built in dry, dark, sheltered sites, such as among rocks, in logs, tree hollows, shrubs, old tyres, sheds, outhouses, empty tins and boxes, children's toys or under rubbish or litter.
For most spider bites, symptoms should only persist for a day or so, although occasionally they can last significantly longer – up to 2-3 weeks in rare cases. Redback spider bite symptoms generally last around 24 hours on average and rarely last more than a week.
Reproduction. Female redback spiders take about 2-3 months to mature and can lay 3-8 egg sacks between September and May. Each sack can contain up to 300 eggs. However, most of the hatchlings do not survive because they are eaten by their siblings and are very prone to wasp parasitism.
Why? Redback spiders, found throughout Australia, love places that are dark, dry and warm. It's common to find them inside children's toys like Tonka trucks that are left out in the back yard and sand pits. Inside shoes or garden sheds, letterboxes and cubbies are also places redback spiders are found.
Without redbacks, our ecosystem would quickly get out of balance and become overrun with pests. The next time you hear someone complaining about redbacks, ask them if they are willing to eat cockroaches, moths and flies for a living.
While both the redback spider and the black widow are poisonous, there is a common misconception that the redback spider is as deadly as the black widow. In reality, while both spiders can cause serious health effects, the black widow is much more venomous.
Spiders really don't like strong scents such as citrus, peppermint, tea-tree, lavender, rose or cinnamon. Add 15 to 20 drops of your chosen essential oil or a couple of capfuls of Zoflora fragrance to a spray bottle filled with water, and spritz around the house.
The color that spiders tend to hate is light blue. People don't just paint their porches light blue for the aesthetic. Painting your porch ceiling in this shade is a pretty effective way of keeping spiders away. The color is also known to repel wasps.
The female Cupboard Spider could easily be mistaken for a Redback Spider, but lacks the distinctive red stripe on the back. Both spiders are from the same family, Theridiidae (also known as comb-footed spiders), so they are closely related.
Males often have white markings on the upper side of the abdomen. They further differ in appearance from females in size, measuring about 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 inch) in body length, compared with 1 cm (0.4 inch) in females. Males also are shorter-lived, surviving several months to the females' two or three years.
A bite from a red back spider may not be life threatening for a large dog but will be a major threat for a small dog or cat. The animal may appear distressed and begin vomiting. They may display muscle weakness and perhaps even lapse into a coma. Apply a cold compress to the bite and seek veterinary advice immediately.