Red Back Spider

Red Back Spider
Originally uploaded by thisperthlife.

Someone from the UK was asking me the other day if they would recognise a red back spider if they saw one. The answer is yes! This is a small one - it's in a normal sized muffin case (why my husband decided to bring it into the kitchen, pop it into a muffin case and then take a photo of it, I'll never know) to give you an idea of the size.

This is a female. The males are smaller, not as poisonous and don't have the red on their backs.

Red backs like heat so your meter box is a great place for them for instance. They also like the very top of colourbond fences.

What you need to do is have some handy insect/spider spray for both inside and outside which you can buy at Bunnings (for anyone from the UK it's the B&Q equivalent). The outside spray comes in reasonably large sizes and you basically just go arond the whole house squirting the spray. You need to go all around the windows, the eaves of the house and along the bottom of the walls. It lasts for 3 months although my husband tends to have a go every 6 weeks or so. It creates a barrier if you like and kills everything that walks across the barrier including any bugs like crickets, cockroaches etc.

The inside spray isn't as strong obviously and is just to kill the odd creature that will get inside your house but it is handy to have in your broom cupboard!