If someone is bitten
If they're very unwell, have trouble breathing or collapse, call 000. For first aid advice, call the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26, any time: redback first aid is different from a funnel-web bite, so ask rather than guess.
How to tell it's a redback
The female is the one people notice: a round, glossy black body about the size of a pea, with a red or orange stripe along the top and often an hourglass mark underneath. Males are much smaller and brown, and rarely seen.
The web is a messy tangle rather than a neat orb, usually with sticky lines running down to the ground. Look in letterboxes, under outdoor furniture, in stacked pots, along fence rails and under the rims of bins.
When they're about
Redbacks are found right across Australia. The Australian Museum says they're less common in winter, and bites happen most often over the summer months, when people are outside, gardening and moving things that have sat still for a while.
Around the house
You can
- Wear gloves when you move pots, timber or anything stacked outside.
- Shake out shoes and gardening gloves left outdoors.
- Clear clutter from under decks and around the shed.
- Check under outdoor chairs and play equipment before children use them.
Leave to a pest business
- A general outdoor treatment if you're finding redbacks often.
- Spiders in places you can't safely reach, like under a deck or in the roof space.
Our take on the redback spider
One redback under the outdoor setting is common and not a reason for a treatment; tidy up its hiding spots. If you keep finding them around play areas, a general outdoor treatment is worth asking about: tap Spiders or ants.
Want someone to look at it?
Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.
