male redback spiders

**mythreelittlemonkeys** · 25-02-2007 11:10

Hi
Looking for some experienced advice here...I am new to Australia and its wonderful 8 legged celebrities...yesterday I was hosing down the outside chairs and found what I now know to be a male redback...I mistook it as although had red mark I have seen pics of redback and looked nothing like it...(didnt realise big black ones were females only)
SO MY QUESTIONS ARE:
Is it poisonous too?
Does it mean there are some horrid deadly females about?
Where would I need to look for them?
and apart from spraying can you kill them any other way??
I have so far been so lucky with our house (it is old one) as I have only seen a couple of house spiders (big but not too scary) and lots of daddylonglegs and money spiders.
Now I am freaking about redbacks...so any advice gratefully received!!

**polony** · 25-02-2007 11:15

Is it poisonous too?
I saw a doco on them yesterday and apparently the males are 10 times more poisonous than the female!
Does it mean there are some horrid deadly females about?
Maybe, but I would be more worried about the males
Where would I need to look for them?
Corners, under eaves, in cracks, anywhere hidden away reallyand apart from spraying can you kill them any other way??
I step on them (wearing shoes!)

If anyones knows who to kill them naturally, I would love to know too! Oh and there are over 10 species of redbacks so they can look different...

**Shazbutt** · 25-02-2007 13:25

Natural way of killing them - squash 'em when you see 'em! That's what i do...i don't wait around for spray to work....at least i know if i've squashed it, it's dead.

Females are more capable of biting people, being much bigger then the males, but i think the males may be more venomous if you actually get bitten by one. You are very unlikely to be bitten unless you actually put your hand etc right on them, as they rarely leave their webs.

**iluvmeboyz** · 25-02-2007 13:33

i think the males are more dangerous then the females i would just squash it of hit it

**mythreelittlemonkeys** · 25-02-2007 13:57

thanks everyone!! I will squish the buggas if I see them...to be fair I was disturbing its haven (ie the chair) but would hate to be bitten on the bum whilst sitting on it...or one of the kids to be bitten...

**CJJHRA** · 25-02-2007 14:02

I dont know too much about spiders, but I have found if we have daddy-long-legs about the house, they keep away the redbacks.

**bigglet** · 25-02-2007 14:14

Originally Posted by CJJHRA

I dont know too much about spiders, but I have found if we have daddy-long-legs about the house, they keep away the redbacks.

Yup that is true... I don't like spiders of any kind but daddy long legs are territorial and will kill any spider in its domain so I rather have one of those than any other spider!!

**MrsMiggins** · 25-02-2007 14:17

Here are some handy links for you that you might find helpful:

Identifying Redback Spiders
CSIRO Fact Sheet

Interestingly, one of the bits of info I found stated that male redbacks were very rarely seen & that more often than they were actually immature young, being mistaken for males.

BTW, because of the places redbacks are inclined to hide, we've found the best way to control them is with regular spraying by a licenced pest control company. There are several around who use environmentally friendly, child-safe, pet-safe sprays. We had a bit of a surge in redback numbers up here a few years ago. Apparently because the weather had been drier than normal, the wasp which is it's best natural predator had not bred in large numbers, so the redback population blew out of all proprtion!

**Fizzgig** · 25-02-2007 15:15

My DF is a pesty & he said that the males are more toxic but they don't bite so watch out for the female.

From personal experience, I've been bitten by one (stood on it, how unlucky) and the pain is excrutiating! Went to the Dr & my bloodpressure was soaring.

Apparantly the anti-venum can cause a lot of reactions so my friend was told not to leave my side & if I showed signs of distress to take me straight to hospital. Needless to say I had a very unsettled day.

**sarahs** · 25-02-2007 17:27

The other important thing about spraying is that it only kills the spiders not the eggs. It is important a few days after spraying to look for the egg sacs - their little white balls that look a bit like a bean bag bean only bigger - you squash those so that you don't end up with baby spiders. From memory each egg sac can hold up to a couple of hundred spiders, so it's really important to destroy the egg sac.