red backs in fence and shed

[macklin]

Thank you all for your help, have taken note of all replies. I set off 3 mortein flea bombs, will see how it goes and then progress thro the above lists.

Thank You

John macklin

[groverwa]

This is probably no help whatsoever with your problem, but ...

I used to have a lot of redbacks in my garden shed, always finding them on the mower or any garden tool I picked up. Then one day I started to notice a few daddy longlegs taking up residence. Within a short time, the redbacks for all gone.
Not sure if the daddy longlegs ate the redbacks or if the redbacks just felt the neighbourhood had gone to hell and moved out.

My son was working at a mine site up north in WA and the dongas etc were sprayed for spiders. Did a good job for a short time but red back spiders populated the place until they imported daddy long legs back into the site and the red back spiders were killed by the daddy long legs.

.
The daddy long legs can not bite us as their mouth/ fangs are small but the female red back spiders can inflict a very dangerous bite, especially to children and the anti venom can be nearly as bad as the red back venom. My youngest got bitten years ago and had to have constant supervision by a nurse for about 24 hours because of the above mentioned anti venom treatment.

On a lighter note- ensure that you do not reincarnate as a male red back spider beause the Redback spider is one of few arachnids which display sexual cannibalism while mating

[bsrlee]

The 'Roach Bomb' devices - usually come 3 cans in a card wrapper - are just a can of Butane. When you push the knob in, you get a 'spray' of vapourizing butane out the top. Some of them claim to have extra goodies to stop eggs hatching but for cockies a second go 14 days later is just as good for the eggs & it also gets any that have moved in.

These things work by suffocating EVERYTHING in the closed space, not by a residual 'poison'. So they also work on spiders, wasps, mice, rats, people. The other thing to note is the 'turn off all electrical appliances' warning - butane is flammable, and in the right concentration, explosive. See Mythbusters on what not to do.

My method is to use 1 can per 'room', starting in the morning. Lay them out, open all cupboards & close all windows. Starting at the furthest corner of the house from the front door, start each can going. Leave the house, have a nice day out wandering, lunch, shopping etc. Come home & open up the house - the gas dissapates in about 4 hours from the start time & does not stink the place out or stain wood, curtains etc. Some brands are better than others, I've used Mortein with success.

[Poppa]

I've found the Mortein surface spray works fine for redbacks. Daddy long legs kill other spiders, so importing them into your shed will probably get rid of the redbacks too, but the Mortein will kill them as well. Mortein does not work on funnel webs - just makes them mad. Funnel webs are far worse than redbacks - more aggressive and more poisonous - and much harder to kill. Petrol and a match works on funnel webs, but is not good for sheds...

[hughie]

I found when I turned alot of Camphor nothing much wanted to come into the shed.