Arachnids

• Once the female has mated, she can store sperm and use it over a period of up to two years to lay several batches of eggs.
• She spends much time producing up to ten round egg sacs (1cm diameter), which are white, changing to brown over time.
• Each egg sac contains approximately 250 eggs. Only 1-3 weeks need to pass before more eggs can be laid. These sacs are suspended within the web.
• The young spiderlings hatch in 2-4 weeks.
• Spiderlings are cannibalistic and will eat unhatched eggs and other spiderlings.
• The spiderlings scatter by ballooning to another suitable nest site on long silk threads that are caught by air/the wind.
• Females mature in about four months. Females may live for 2-3 years, whereas males only live for about 6-7 months.
• The smaller male matures in about 90 days.

• Redback spiders are found Australia-wide and will live almost anywhere as long as there is enough food, a sheltered web site and is warm enough for breeding. They are especially common in urban areas.
• The Redback spider favours close proximity to human habitation, with webs being built in dry, sheltered sites, such as among rocks, in logs, shrubs, junk-piles, sheds, pot plants or toilets.
• Redback spiders are less common in the winter months.
• Redback Spiders eat other insects but have been known to capture larger animals, such as male trapdoor spiders, king crickets and small lizards, if they become entangled in the web.

The Redback spider is beneficial to the environment as they control the numbers of other pests such as cockroaches, earwigs and millipedes.

Although they are beneficial to the environment, Redback bites occur frequently to humans, particularly over the summer months. However, since Redback spiders rarely leave their webs, humans are not likely to be bitten unless the web is disturbed. More than 250 cases receive antivenom each year, with several milder bites probably going unreported. Only the female bite is dangerous.

Common early symptoms are pain (which can become severe), sweating (including local sweating at bite site), muscular weakness, nausea and vomiting. Antivenom is available. No deaths have occurred since its introduction.

Apply an ice pack to the bitten area to relieve pain. Do not apply a pressure bandage (venom movement is slow and pressure worsens pain). Collect the spider for positive identification. Seek medical attention.

This species of spider is native to Australia and beneficial to the environment. They are good to have in the garden as they control other pest insects and spiders.

A natural way to control spiders around the home is to control their food source. Spiders eat other insects, therefore, reducing other insects in/around your home will reduce their food source, spiders will be less interested in hanging around.

• Indoors – In the house, they feed upon household pests. These spiders tend to be build webs under furniture/in dark places.
• Outdoors – Keep healthy pest free plants/garden maintenance.

If possible, catch and release is the best form of control, always wear gloves/garden gloves when attempting to catch a spider:

• Place a glass over the spider, then slide a piece of paper in-between the wall and glass, securing the spider inside the glass. Then take the spider outside and release.

If a chemical treatment is required, use a registered insecticide that has the spider symbol/image on it.

Note: When using a registered pesticide, always follow the directions on the label. If poisoning occurs, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 131126.

Engaging a professional Pest Controller is another option.

• The male spiders reach the reproduction age in one year and usually die after mating, the female can live for about 3 years.
• Daddy long-legs spiders’ cam breed throughout the year.
• Female lays about 20 to 30 eggs, which are clumped together with a few strands of silk. The mother then carries this clumped mass of eggs in between her jaw.
• The eggs are attached to the web. It takes about 2 – 3 weeks for the eggs to hatch, and the young spiderlings are also carried by their mother in between her jaw. The spiderlings have to go through a series of molts, during which they shed their skin, after several moltings, they finally reach adulthood. They leave their mother when they master the skill of catching preys.

• The Daddy-long-legs spider is found throughout Australia. It is a cosmopolitan species that originates from Europe and was introduced accidently into Australia.
• Daddy-long-legs spiders are found in most urban areas, in particular houses. They make a thin, tangled web in sheltered positions were they are unlikely to be disturbed, such as under furniture, behind doors, in the corner of the ceilings, in sheds, in garages and under decks. Its successful use of these human-made structures has made it one of the most common spiders in Australia.
• If the Daddy-long-legs Spider is disturbed in the web it responds by setting up a very fast, spinning motion, becoming a blur to anyone watching.

The Daddy-long-legs spider is beneficial to the environment as they control the numbers of other pests such as cockroaches, silverfish and earwigs.

This is an introduced species to Australia but is still beneficial to the environment as it has not impacted our native species. They are good to have in the garden as they control other pest insects and spiders.

A natural way to control spiders around the home is to control their food source. Spiders eat other insects, therefore, reducing other insects in/around your home will reduce their food source, spiders will be less interested in hanging around.

• Indoors – In the house, they feed upon household pests. These spiders tend to be build webs in undisturbed areas, e.g. corner of the room (ceiling & floor) and under furniture.
• Outdoors – Keep healthy pest free plants/garden maintenance.

If possible, catch and release is the best form of control, always wear gloves/garden gloves when attempting to catch a spider:

• Place a glass over the spider, then slide a piece of paper in-between the wall and glass, securing the spider inside the glass. Then take the spider outside and release.

If a chemical treatment is required, use a registered insecticide that has the spider symbol/image on it.

Note: When using a registered pesticide, always follow the directions on the label. If poisoning occurs, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 131126.

Engaging a professional Pest Controller is another option.

• The male wolf spider attracts the female by waving its pedipalps (are the two appendages on the front of a spider’s head) and front legs in the air. As long as these signals are carried out correctly, the female does not regard the male as being the next potential meal.
• After mating, the female produces a silk mat into which she deposits around 100 eggs. The silk is then rolled into a protective ball which she then attaches to her abdomen and proceeds to carry it around with her until the eggs hatch.
• After hatching, the babies crawl onto the mother’s back and remain there until their fat reserves have been used up and they need to start finding their own food. This process may take several months.
  Male wolf spiders probably don’t live more than a year, but females of some species can live for several years.

• Wolf Spiders are found throughout Australia. They are strong, agile hunters that live on the ground in leaf litter or burrows. They are often found in lawns and gardens.
• Most Wolf spiders are wanderers but some build burrows, either open or with a trapdoor, while others may make temporary retreats in vegetation.
• According to the Queensland Museum, two Wolf spider species are known to be predators of cane toads. Lycosa lapidosa will take small toads and frogs while L. obscuroides has been noted to biting and killing a large toad within one hour.

The Wolf spider is beneficial to the environment as they control numbers of other pests such as cockroaches, earwigs and millipedes.

If bitten by a Wolf spider, symptoms of a bite are usually minor, restricted to local pain or itchiness. Less commonly, symptoms can include swelling, prolonged pain, dizziness, rapid pulse and nausea.

Seek medical attention if symptoms persist.

This species of spider is native to Australia and beneficial to the environment. They are good to have in the garden as they control other pest insects and spiders.

A natural way to control spiders around the home is to control their food source. Spiders eat other insects, therefore, reducing other insects in/around your home will reduce their food source, spiders will be less interested in hanging around.

• Indoors – They are not generally found in the house, but may be seen indoors when wet weather occurs.
• Outdoors – Keep healthy pest free plants/garden maintenance.

If possible, catch and release is the best form of control, always wear gloves/garden gloves when attempting to catch a spider:

• Place a glass over the spider, then slide a piece of paper in-between the wall and glass, securing the spider inside the glass. Then take the spider outside and release.

If a chemical treatment is required, use a registered insecticide that has the spider symbol/image on it.

Note: When using a registered pesticide, always follow the directions on the label. If poisoning occurs, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 131126.

Engaging a professional Pest Controller is another option.

• The White-tailed spider makes temporary silk retreats and spin disc-shaped egg sacs, each containing up to 90 eggs.
• On hatching, the little spiders scatter to find their first meal.
• Life span of White-tailed spider is about 1 year.

• White-tailed spiders are wondering hunters that live beneath bark and rocks, in leaf litter, logs and detritus in bush, gardens and houses.
• They are most active at night when they wander about hunting for other spiders, their preferred food.
• During summer and autumn White-tailed Spiders are often seen in and around houses where they find both shelter and plenty of their favoured black house spider prey.

The White-tailed spider is beneficial to the environment as they control numbers of other spider species.

White-tailed Spider bites can cause initial burning pain followed by swelling and itchiness at the bitten area. Occasionally, there are unconfirmed reports of weals, blistering or local ulceration.

A debate continues about the involvement of White-tailed Spider bite in cases of severe ulcerative skin lesions seen in patients diagnosed as probable spider bite victims. Typically, in such cases no direct evidence of spider bite is available. The available evidence suggests that skin ulceration is not a common outcome of White-tailed Spider bite.

If systems persist or worsen, seek medical attention.

This species of spider is native to Australia and beneficial to the environment. They are good to have in the garden as they control other pest insects and spiders.

A natural way to control spiders around the home is to control their food source. Spiders eat other insects, therefore, reducing other insects in/around your home will reduce their food source, spiders will be less interested in hanging around.

• Indoors – They are generally found in the house. Most sightings are at night, as they are nocturnal, and in the warmer months.
• Outdoors – Keep healthy pest free plants/garden maintenance.

If possible, catch and release is the best form of control, always wear gloves/garden gloves when attempting to catch a spider:

• Place a glass over the spider, then slide a piece of paper in-between the wall and glass, securing the spider inside the glass. Then take the spider outside and release.

If a chemical treatment is required, use a registered insecticide that has the spider symbol/image on it.

Note: When using a registered pesticide, always follow the directions on the label. If poisoning occurs, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 131126.

Engaging a professional Pest Controller is another option.

• The female Huntsman produces a flat, oval egg sac of white papery silk, and lays up to 200 eggs. She then places it under bark or a rock, and stands guard over it, without eating, for about 3 weeks. During this period, the female can be quite aggressive and will rear up in a defensive display if provoked. Some species will even carry their egg sac under their bodies while moving about. Incubation periods vary and are probably influenced by climatic conditions.
• The mother stays with the spiderlings for several weeks. Young Huntsman spiders are pale. They undergo several moults while still with their mother, hardening to a darker brown, and eventually separating.
• Huntsman spiders, like all spiders, moult in order to grow and often their old skin may be mistaken for the original spider when seen suspended on bark or in the house.
• The lifespan of most Huntsman species is about 2 years or more.

• These species are generally widely distributed throughout Australia.
• Huntsman spiders are found living under loose bark on trees, in crevices on rock walls and in logs, under rocks and slabs of bark on the ground, and on foliage.
• Huntsman spiders of many species sometimes enter houses. They are also notorious for entering cars, and being found hiding behind sun visors or running across the dashboard.

The Huntsman spider is beneficial to the environment as they control numbers of other spider species and insects.

The bite of Huntsman Spiders is of low risk (nontoxic) to humans. They are a non-aggressive, however, a large individual can give a painful bite. Beware in summer when the female Huntsman Spider is guarding her egg sacs or young.

This species of spider is native to Australia and beneficial to the environment. They are good to have in the garden as they control other pest insects and spiders.

A natural way to control spiders around the home is to control their food source. Spiders eat other insects, therefore, reducing other insects in/around your home will reduce their food source, spiders will be less interested in hanging around.

• Indoors – They are generally found in the house. Most sightings are at night, as they are nocturnal, and in the warmer months.
• Outdoors – Keep healthy pest free plants/garden maintenance.

If possible, catch and release is the best form of control, always wear gloves/garden gloves when attempting to catch a spider:

• Place a glass over the spider, then slide a piece of paper in-between the wall and glass, securing the spider inside the glass. Then take the spider outside and release.

If a chemical treatment is required, use a registered insecticide that has the spider symbol/image on it.

Note: When using a registered pesticide, always follow the directions on the label. If poisoning occurs, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 131126.

Engaging a professional Pest Controller is another option.

• Males reach sexual maturity at four years of age, females are a year later.
• Males leave their burrows and wander (roam) over summer and autumn to find females to mate with.
• When the weather conditions are suitable, i.e. after heavy rain when the ground is soaked and the air is humid, the mature male starts wandering in search of a mate.
• Females spend almost their whole life in their burrows and await the arrival of a potential suitor.
  The male then takes his life in his hands by attracting the female out of her burrow and soothing her to allow him to mate rather than becoming her next meal!
• The female produces an egg-sack containing a hundred or so eggs and stores it in her burrow until the spiderlings hatch.
• Males usually die 6-8 months after reaching maturity, while females may continue to breed for several more years.

• The Sydney Funnel-web Spider are found in New South Wales, from Newcastle to Nowra and west to Lithgow.
• They especially favour the forested highland areas surrounding the lower, more open country of the central Cumberland Basin. This includes the Hornsby Plateau to the north, the foothills of the Blue Mountains to the west, and the Woronora Plateau to the south.
• Funnel-web sightings are low in much of central-western Sydney, and also the sandy coastal parts of the eastern suburbs and the Botany Bay area.
• Funnel-webs burrow in sheltered areas, such as under logs and rocks where they can find cool and humid climate. Funnel-webs charge out of their burrow when potential prey, such as beetles, cockroaches, small lizards or snails, walk across the silken trip-lines that the spider has placed around the outside of its burrow. They then return to their burrow to eat their meal.

The Sydney Funnel-web spider, although very dangerous to human beings, are beneficial to the environment as they control the numbers of other pest insects, such as cockroaches, earwigs and millipedes.

Funnel-web bites are dangerous and first aid should be given immediately using the pressure bandage/immobilisation technique (same as a snake bite) and the victim taken to hospital and given antivenom if necessary. The venom has a neurotoxin component that attacks the human nervous system and, in the worst cases, can result in death. However, there have been no fatalities since the introduction of antivenom.

Contract the Office of Environment & Heritage, NSW Government:

Funnel-web Spider Collection

• The female black house spider never leaves her web, unless forced to. She stays in her web constantly repairing it.
• When a male is ready to mate, he will go in search of a female in her web. To attract the female’s attention, the male plucks at her web. Once the female has become receptive, the male can safely approach her and inseminate her with his palps. They may stay together for several days and mate several times again.
• The female black house spider constructs several white silk egg sacs which are attached within the web. The female stays with the eggs until they hatch.
• Once hatched, the spiderlings disperse. The spiders mature during summertime and live for about two years.

Arthropod-feeder, carnivorous, insectivorous and a predator.

Enemies of the Black house spider include, the White-tailed Spider, as well as parasitic wasps and flies.

• The Black house spiders web is untidy with a funnel-like entrance.
• Black house spiders are found on tree trunks, logs, rock walls and buildings (in window frames, wall cracks/crevices, etc). They can also be found indoors, in undisturbed areas.

The Black house spider is native to Australia and beneficial to the environment.

Badumna species of spiders are found mainly upon lose or rough barked trees which provide adequate shelter for their webs, e.g. cracks in the bark of the tree. Unhealthy trees that have been attacked by wood-boring insects, e.g. Longicorn beetles, are extremely attractive due to the sap flowing from the bored holes; this attracts an array of insects such as, beetles, flies, butterflies, ants and bees, in which the spider can prey upon easily.

Black house spiders are timid, and bites are uncommon. The bite of a Black house spider is poisonous but not lethal, it may be quite painful and cause local swelling. Symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, sweating are occasionally recorded. In a few cases, skin lesions have developed after multiple bites.

A cold pack may relieve local pain, seek medical attention if symptoms persist.

This species of spider is native to Australia and beneficial to the environment. They are good to have in the garden as they control other pest insects and spiders.

A natural way to control spiders around the home is to control their food source. Spiders eat other insects, therefore, reducing other insects in/around your home will reduce their food source, spiders will be less interested in hanging around.

Indoors – In the house, they feed upon household pests. Spiders tend to be build webs under furniture/in dark places.

Outdoors – Keep healthy pest free plants/garden maintenance.

If possible, catch and release is the best form of control, always wear gloves/garden gloves when attempting to catch a spider:

• Place a glass over the spider, then slide a piece of paper in-between the wall and glass, securing the spider inside the glass. Then take the spider outside and release.

If a chemical treatment is required, use a registered insecticide that has the spider symbol/image on it.

Note: When using a registered pesticide, always follow the directions on the label. If poisoning occurs, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 131126.

Engaging a professional Pest Controller is another option.

• The female Woodlouse spider will seal herself in her nesting site with her eggs until they hatch, once the spiderlings hatch, they will remain with their mother at first before moving out on their own.
• The Woodlouse spider takes one and half years to fully mature and can live between 2-3 years.
• Mating occurs in the spring.

• The Woodlouse spider is mainly found in gardens, for example, in the shade of logs, under rocks and rubbish and sometimes found under old brinks/pavers.
• They are nocturnal and catch their prey at night.

• The Woodlouse spider is thought to have been introduced into Australia from Europe, it has been recorded to only occur in the south-eastern part of Australia.

Although an introduced species (not invasive and this may be due to a strong aversion to ants, which may limit its distribution in Australia), is quite beneficial to the environment as they control numbers of pests such as slater, earwigs and millipedes.

The bite of the Woodlouse spider is not considered dangerous, but the large jaws can give a painful bite and may cause local redness and swelling.

Most encounters with the Woodlouse spider occur in the garden, wear gloves when gardening, this may minimise the risk of being bitten.

A cold pack may relieve local pain, seek medical attention if symptoms persist

A natural way to control spiders around the home is to control their food source. Spiders eat other insects, therefore, reducing other insects in/around your home will reduce their food source, spiders will be less interested in hanging around. e.g. keep healthy pest free plants, garden maintenance.

If a chemical treatment is required, use a registered insecticide that has the spider symbol/image on it.

Note: When using a registered pesticide, always follow the directions on the label. If poisoning occurs, contact the Poisons Information Centre on 131126.

Engaging a professional Pest Controller is another option.