Humungous Redback

[John Saxton]

Have'nt been out in the shed for over a week and had to go out last night for a tape measure for use in the house,opened the door turned on the light and there was this flamin' great momma of a Redback curling a web across the access from the lathe to the workbench!!!

I know they're nocturnal but I've never come across one in the shed before particularly across the entry way and at a height where it would be embarrassing to get bitten as I only had real short shorts on.

I believe in letting most creatures alone and to themselves however this momma had to go.:eek: :mad:

Would have walked into this sucker If'n I'd barged in as i tend to as the door sticks and if i had'nt turned on the light being nightfall.

Did a course recently on behaviour based safety with awareness to your surroundings but nothing in the course allowed for big momma redbacks...R.I.P.

Cheers

[ozwinner]

I suprised one last week.
It was trying to stear clear of the little black ants that were trying to eat it.

I scared it into their path......oooowwwhhhhh bugger went the red back.

Humam or ants, ants or human. :confused:
I made the choice for it.
One squished reddie for the black ants.

Al

[DavidG]

Red back bit me once.:eek:

Man! do you have some pain in the joints for a while after.:mad:

ps : it is only the female that is poisonous and only when in full colour and even then they only inject poision about 10% of the time. So the doc told me.

A good redback is a 'stain' about 20c in size.

[Groggy]

Agree, it came into your space so remove it.

Back in the early eighties I was running through some bush in another country and went face-first into the biggest spider I've ever seen in my life. With its legs it was bigger than my face (I could feel its legs touching both of my ears) and it took some struggling to get out of the web. I was informed later it was a Nephila Maculata, or Giant Wood Spider. The web was so strong I didn't even break it.

In fact, the only thing that broke was my bladder and the speed record back to camp. I still get the heebie jeebies thinking about it - uurrgggghhh!

[Slow6]

like David I've had the pleasure of being bitten by a redback.. I was playing with pipelines in a vineyard (and getting hidiously underpaid) and the bugger crawled up my jeans and got me on the ankle.. it hurt but didn't stress me out untill the pain had moved up my leg and was making my balls ache

twas off the the hospital quick smart for me. no anti venom tho, the buggers just kept me in there untill they were happy that I wasn't going to keel ever and sent me home.. turns out a shot is worth a couple of hundred bucks and they dont hand em out willy nilly :S

[John Saxton]

I also have been bitten but by a smaller model than this one ..that's why I'm wary of the buggers.

Over 30 yrs ago built a new home in Perth and was sinking a bore for water for the gardens and the sandshoes I was wearing must of got wet.Anyhow in the morning when I slipped my feet into them felt a pinch between my 1st & 2nd toe on my right foot.took the shoe off and out crept this flamin' Redback lookin' as pleased as punch :eek: with itself ..needless to say its also RIP.

Foot went numb and the localised area was swathed in ice as the missus made me keep foot up for a while(quite so)....with forced ministarations of appropriate libations from the fridge as the cricket was on the telly at the time ...bore had to wait for another day!!!

However I keep a wary eye on the sods these days wherever I am ...lifes short and cant be wasting it watchin' cricket .

Cheers

[Auld Bassoon]

Jeepers mate,

If my nether regions were being affected, I'd just give the blighters the money and insist on the antivenin

[Ashore]

Are you sure it was a red back, as most if they do spin a web spin it close to the ground , usually you find them between layers of timber iron etc
I have never heard of a red back who shun a web that someone walked into , then again .......... as long as I didn't walk into it , cause I have a dissagrement with spiders..... Big time!!!!

[DavidG]

Sorry Ashore but mine was spun from a bottom shelf of a cupboard to the floor and I kicked it with bare feet. One bite on top of foot.:eek:

[bsrlee]

They also react well it having a bunch of flaming newspaper held under their web, so it burns the webbing away & they drop in. My mum was bitten as a girl & had some odd reaction - permanent lumps on the leg, so we have had a 'Zero Tolerance' approach for 2 generations now.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

I used to work in an Aussie Native Nursery and the li'l buggers loved living under the lip of those black plastic pots. Being bitten by reddies wasn't an unusual event but the boss only cared when a newby (lots of seasonal casual workers) got bitten the first couple of times. No hossie trip, just a dose (of what I have no idea! :eek: ) and an hour or two of rest. A few never turned up for work again. Funny that.

Apparently our south-eastern reddies don't grow as big or as venomous as their northern counterparts... although I've seen some scarily big blighters. I certainly don't want to put whether I still have any tolerance to the test! Not even for our "little" buggers.

A good redback is just another stain.

[Termite]

Are you sure it was a red back, as most if they do spin a web spin it close to the ground , usually you find them between layers of timber iron etc
I have never heard of a red back who shun a web that someone walked into , then again .......... as long as I didn't walk into it , cause I have a dissagrement with spiders..... Big time!!!!

Mate the most unusual one I've seen was at a factory, hanging about 10 feet down from the ceiling on a single strand of web. :eek:

[Knurl]

The females are the big ones and eat their little mates after sex. They tend to live under leaves of plants close to the ground - preferably in close contact to moisture in the earth. The babies are skinny spiders that were completely unrecognisable as reddies. BTW the bigger the spider the bigger the bite, ie the little fellows can't get a grip!

I've found funnel-webs around the shed in shoes and cosy spots where you're likely to put your hand. The reddies doen't seem to come indoors so I'm more scared of funnels. Gardeners are far more in danger than woodworkers.

The aniti-venin people (to whom we delivered six reddies last month) say that nonone seems to die from spider bites these days because most people get attention quickly and anti-venins are in ready supply in big cities. They do say the bite hurts like buggery!

[DanP]

Got bitten by a Reddie on the guts. Hurt like buggery but the pharmacist told me not to worry as per DavidG's comment. He had just taken a job there after 30 odd years in the country, dealing with them every day.

I kill about 10 - 15 a month. Don't want them around the kids.

Dan

[John Saxton]

Are you sure it was a red back, as most if they do spin a web spin it close to the ground , usually you find them between layers of timber iron etc
I have never heard of a red back who shun a web that someone walked into , then again .......... as long as I didn't walk into it , cause I have a dissagrement with spiders..... Big time!!!!

Absolutely mate no question about it,I've been dealing with these little sods for years and I know a Redback when I see one.There's just a preponderance of the buggers here wherever you go in the West let alone the rest of the country,mind you those Funnel Webs would be a different concern altogether that you folk over yonder have to deal with.

This was one of the biggest I've seen and very red and at the height of her maturity I'd say. not anacrophobic but I also have a decent book identifying Oz spiders as well but wellll ....2*4 piece o' timbers tend to give 'em a bit of a headache

Cheers