Spider Control & Treatment

The black house spider is a common species found throughout much of Australia. This spider is dark and robust with the female growing up to 18 mm in length and with a 30 mm leg span. Males are smaller, growing in length to about 10 mm. They are dark brown to black and the abdomen is charcoal grey. The webs of black house spiders are messy-looking in irregular sail-like shapes. Inside homes, they are often found in corners, around windows and doorways, or other light sources that may attract prey insects. They are venomous but are not considered dangerous. 

The female redback spider is venomous. The female is easily recognised with her black body and prominent red stripe. Females have a body length of about 10 mm. They lay egg sacks containing about 250 eggs, up to 10 times over 6 months. The female spider lives in an untidy web in warm sheltered locations, and preys on insects and that it entraps but it can live for over 100 days without food. The male Redback is not venomous and is 3 to 4 mm long. It is light brown in colour, with white markings on the upper side of the abdomen and a pale hourglass marking on the underside. Young Redback spiders are grey with dark spots and become darker with each moult. The Redback stays concealed during the day, and the female spins a web during the night, usually in the same location for most of its adult life. The Redback is one of the most dangerous species of spider.

Download fact sheet: Redback Spider

White-tailed spiders are common in southern and eastern Australia. They are so named because of the whitish tips at the end of their abdomens. They are slender spiders having dark reddish to grey, cigar-shaped body and dark orange-brown banded legs. The female grows up to 18 mm in length and males up to 12 mm. The legs span approximately 28 mm in diameter. Living in gardens and inside houses, the white-tailed spider can also be found beneath bark and rocks, in leaf litter and is often found in the folds of clothes, towels and shoes. They do not build webs and are most active at night. Their bites cause local pain, a red mark, local swelling and itchiness. 

Funnel-web spiders are medium to large in size, with body lengths from 10 mm to 50 mm. They are darkly coloured, ranging from black to blue-black or plum to brown. They are commonly found in suburban rockeries and shrubberies. A Funnel-web’s burrow characteristically has irregular silk trip-lines radiating from the entrance. Australian Funnel-web spiders are found in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland.