If someone is bitten
healthdirect says to treat a bite from any big black spider as a medical emergency: call 000. For a redback bite, wash it, use a cold pack for 15 minutes, see a doctor if symptoms are bad and go to hospital if the pain is very bad. healthdirect says the immobilisation bandage is only for funnel-web or mouse spider bites, not redbacks. For first aid advice in Perth or anywhere else in Australia, ring 13 11 26, the Poisons Information Centre.
Spiders in Perth through the year
Redbacks peak in summer
Redbacks are found Australia-wide and are especially common around houses and disturbed ground. They're less common in winter, and the Australian Museum says bites happen most over the summer months.
White-tails wander in over summer and autumn
One white-tailed spider species lives across southern Australia, Western Australia included, and they're often seen indoors in summer and autumn. They build no web and hunt other spiders at night, often in bathrooms and laundries.
Huntsmen get into houses and cars
Huntsmen are widely spread across Australia. They come in under doors at ground level and are known for hiding behind car sun visors. The Australian Museum says they're not considered dangerous and are quite reluctant to bite.
Which spider is it, and is it a job?
| Redback | White-tailed spider | Huntsman | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Looks like | Female about 1 cm, black with an orange to red stripe on the back | Cigar-shaped, dark reddish to grey body with a white spot on the tail tip | Large, long-legged, grey to brown, legs spread sideways like a crab |
| Where you find it | Sheds, under steps, letterboxes, around pools and junk piles | Bathrooms, laundries, under bark and leaf litter | Walls, behind curtains, under loose bark, in cars |
| Worth a treatment? | Yes, if they keep coming back near children | Rarely; they hunt other spiders | Rarely; a broom and an open door usually do it |
What a spider treatment can and can't do
A treatment targets the places spiders shelter: eaves, window frames, under decks and around sheds. The Australian Museum says getting rid of spiders for good is almost impossible, because young spiders arrive on the breeze on strands of silk. So think of it as keeping numbers down where people sit and play.
Better Health Channel advises against outdoor insecticides for spiders, saying they may drive spiders indoors. That's why where the treatment goes matters: ask the technician where they'll treat, why, and how long until the area can be used again.
Before you book anyone
You can
- Wear gloves to move pots, timber or anything stacked outside.
- Clear junk from under the deck and around the shed.
- Fit draught strips to doors and flyscreens to windows and vents.
- Shake out shoes and gardening gloves left outside.
Leave to a pest business
- Redbacks that keep returning near play equipment or the outdoor setting.
- Spiders in a roof space or subfloor you can't get into.
- A larger outdoor treatment around the house and shed.
Our take on spider control in Perth
One redback under the barbecue is a glove and a tidy-up, not a treatment. If you're finding them every week around where the kids play, tap Spiders or ants and ask for the outside of the house and the shed.
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.
