Redback Spiders! Share your stories.

moo on 22/11/2016 - 01:45

With summer approaching, there will be more and more spiders popping up. Came across this video of a guy 'harvesting' Redbacks for his spider aquarium. Some pretty innovative ideas there?

Video link: http://digg.com/video/redback-spider-infestation

I've had an interesting experience with Redbacks a while back, where a massive one nested below the dining table. The egg sacks eventually hatched and all the 'spiderlings' where literally all over the room with their tiny webs (looks invisible to the naked eye) all over the place like strings of confetti. Shudders

Keen to hear your thoughts on Redbacks (or any other spiders) and if you are for or against them?

Any interesting or horror stories which you'd like to share?

Poll Options

  • 6
    Big fan of spiders!
  • 32
    Exterminate by any means possible!
Home & Garden

Comments

  • tomsco on 22/11/2016 - 07:31
    +4

    Once found on in my house… have not been back there since.

  • lupiter on 22/11/2016 - 08:04

    My brother-in-law just cleaned a bunch off his outdoor furniture this weekend. Not fun.

  • try2bhelpful on 22/11/2016 - 08:07
    +4

    I'm usually scared of spiders, but only ones above a certain size and if they are hairy. Sort of limits what parts of the world I can visit. However, redbacks fall under the size and hairiness limits. When I was a kid there were some in a drain across the road from my house and some in a woodpile we had. We just gave them a wide berth and left them to it. Boring, but the best way to deal with most things :)

    • Euphemistic on 23/11/2016 - 07:42

      I'm much the same. Big hairy spiders give me the creeps. Especially when there is a chance of them touching me. I can comfortably hold a jar with a huntsman in it, but really struggle with getting rid of a huntsman off a wall, or if I've walked through a web with a great big garden spider in it. Red back are easy though.

  • Clear on 22/11/2016 - 08:39

    I dug up their nests once when I was 10. I got detention for it :(

  • tomleonhart on 22/11/2016 - 08:52

    Moved to out new house with a yard 2 years ago. I found:

    • Shit lot of who knows what spiders on the fence
    • 2x red back in the shed
    • 3x red back in my BBQ !!!!!

    I think i bought half of woollies insect spray supply and blew the whole shed up :P

  • [Deactivated] on 22/11/2016 - 08:58
    +2

    there was a redback on the toilet seat ;-)

    • tomleonhart on 22/11/2016 - 10:29

      WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

  • Sweet3st on 22/11/2016 - 10:00

    I once ordered a Christmas tree (the growing variety) from somewhere out west (I live in a Sydney apartment). It was delivered wrapped in plastic, and I started to set it up in a bucket of sand in the lounge room, when suddenly there were redback spiders running everywhere :((( There was a huge nest near the base of the tree. I managed to kill most of? the spiders, dragged the tree onto my small balcony and emptied a tin of Mortein onto it. When I rang to complain, the guy was very offhand, said yeah they'd had lots that season, and he just squashed them with his thumb!!!

  • doctordv8 on 22/11/2016 - 10:10

    Ahhh memories. I got bitten by back in '81 at RAAF Amberly opening hanger doors. Fortunately it was a polite lady RB and caused much swelling and itching but not particularly poisonous to cause pain. My elbow was twice the size in just hours and lasted less than a week. All part of the 'been there done that' bucket list.

    But on the other hand, payback is a bitch, bugs like this get fried up as snacks in Asia.

  • GDavid on 22/11/2016 - 10:33

    They are know fans of the "pepper tree" (which I can attest to having had one in the back yard for 3 years and saw many redbacks whilst living there). Quite unsettling with 2 toddlers in our home…

    "Daddy long legs" are also one of their main predators, so we "encouraged" the DLLs as I don't like using chemicals/pesticides believing we share our ecosystem.

  • airzone on 22/11/2016 - 10:40

    I had a redback who was nesting under some outdoor furniture catch a 10cm long skink lizard. The lizard put up a good fight, but the spider won. Then after a few hours of being entertained, I won.

    I also found one who set up a nest inside one of the kids shoes overnight - which I used as an example to drive into the kids to always check first.

    Redbacks are one of the few things I will actively eradicate from my property…

  • cashless on 22/11/2016 - 11:21
    +1

    Work for a co that exports manufactured product globally in shipping containers.
    Got a complaint from French Quarantine officers. When they opened a container to inspect they found a redback.
    It almost closed down the whole port as the Frenchies started panicking "if someone gets bitten, there's no antivenom in Europe" and similar outlandish nonsense.
    Eventually we had to pay for some specialist to go in and use a generic insecticide to spray all containers.
    Those poor French dockers were scared out of their pants!
    Still have to provide certificates saying we've sprayed before shipping to France.

  • Bigmaxy on 22/11/2016 - 11:25
    +3

    Redbacks and Whitetails are not cool IMHO. Most other spiders are alright (We don't have funnel webs were I live).
    I've heard about DLL's being natural predators etc but have found them living quite happily along side the redbacks around here. Must have signed a peace treaty or something. /shrug

  • daydream on 22/11/2016 - 11:26

    Just squash them (they don't move fast like some others) but leave the other spiders as predators.

  • Voldox on 22/11/2016 - 11:30

    When I lived in SA I cleaned our outdoor seats after winter, killed 26 redback spiders in them (Between cushions, underneath etc). Glad I didn't sit down until they were cleaned.

  • outlander on 22/11/2016 - 12:01

    We've got a few, but they're in low enough numbers that I couldn't really care about them. What does really aggravate me though is mosquitos and flys. Any enemy of that enemy is my friend

    As a kid I kept one in a jar and fed it flies. It got huuuuge

  • dlf73 on 22/11/2016 - 12:33

    I once got into a fight with 2 guys at a Diner. One of them asked me if I knew what that was. I said an arm? He said no, the tattoo……….

    • moo on 22/11/2016 - 22:42

      I don't get it…lol :)

      • dlf73 on 23/11/2016 - 17:23

        Them's Black Widows

  • blackmanshade on 22/11/2016 - 12:55

    a good spider is a dead spider, just like a good snake is a dead snake. two creatures i fear the most.

  • rompastompa on 23/11/2016 - 17:31

    I catch and release most spiders, except redbacks and whitetails. They get poisoned or popped.

    Ulcers and necrosis have been attributed to the bites, but a scientific study by Isbister and Gray (2003) showed these had other causes, mostly infections. The study of 130 white-tailed spider bites found no necrotic ulcers or confirmed infections. Source

    The missus had been bitten by a redback a few years ago. Sore, red burning sensation for a week.
    A couple of years ago, she had been bitten by a whitetail and slight itchiness for a day, and that was all.

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