No Products in the Cart
The redback spider (Latrodectus hasseltii) is a species of venomous spider indigenous to Australia. The adult female is easily recognised by her shiny, spherical black body with a prominent red stripe on the upper surface of her abdomen and an hourglass-shaped red/orange streak on the underside. Females have a body that is about 10 millimetres long, while the male is much smaller, being only 3 to 4 mm.
The female redback lives in an untidy web in a warm sheltered location, commonly near or inside human residences. Her web consist of a tangled, funnel-like upper retreat area from which vertical, sticky catching threads run to ground attachments. Male redback spiders do not produce a web, but may be found on the fringe of a female's web, especially during the summer mating season. The spider preys on insects, other spiders and small vertebrates that become ensnared in its web. It kills its prey by injecting a complex venom through its two fangs when it bites, before wrapping them in silk and sucking out the liquefied insides. Male spiders and spiderlings often live on the periphery of the female spiders’ web and steal leftovers.
Other species of spider and parasitoid wasps are known to prey on redbacks. They are one of a few arachnids which usually display sexual cannibalism while mating. The sperm is then stored in the spermathecae, organs of the female reproductive tract, and can be used up to two years later to fertilise several clutches of eggs. Each clutch averages 250 eggs and is housed in a round white silken egg sac. The redback spider has a widespread distribution throughout populated areas of Australia, and it has spread from here to New Zealand, Japan, and to some greenhouses in Belgium.
The redback is one of the few spider species that can be seriously harmful to humans, and its preferred habitat has led it to being responsible for the large majority of serious spider bites in Australia. More than 250 cases receive anti-venom each year, with several milder poisonings probably going unreported. Only the female bite is dangerous. Predominantly neurotoxic to vertebrates, the venom gives rise to pain around the bite site in humans, which typically becomes severe and progresses up the bitten limb and persists for over 24 hours. Sweating in localised patches of skin occasionally occurs and is highly indicative of the redback venom. Generalised symptoms of nausea, vomiting, headache, and agitation may also occur and indicate severe poisoning. An anti-venom has been available since 1956, and there have been no deaths directly due to redback bites since its introduction.
Red-back spider control requires thorough inspection of a property and then spot treatments of infestations with a suitably registered pesticide, rather than control by a general spray treatment.
For effective control look into our range of Insect range including Py Aerosols and insecticides.
