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Redback spider under men's basin at Pines


ajfclark

10-Dec-2009
4:45:03 PM

On 10/12/2009 wallwombat wrote:
>Actually, the male Funnel Web is a lot more dangerous and agressive than the female, which is very unusual for any species of spider.

Isn't because the male spiders are out hunting for a root that they are more aggressive?

>Holy heck! I actually remebered something from uni besides how to drink beer and get into fights with agriculture students. How amazement!

Isn't because the male students are out hunting for a root that they are more aggressive?


evanbb

11-Dec-2009
6:01:35 AM

http://australianmuseum.net.au/Sydney-Funnel-web-Spider


pmonks

11-Dec-2009
6:50:11 AM

On 11/12/2009 evanbb wrote:
>http://australianmuseum.net.au/Sydney-Funnel-web-Spider

"Males leave their burrows and wander over summer and autumn to find females and mate."

Sounds like simey!


Climboholic

11-Dec-2009
9:13:35 AM

Speaking of Whitepointers. Check out this satellite picture of sharks just metres from swimmers at Bondi Beach.

http://www.australiancoastalwatch.com.au/index.php/news/bnshark14432tx.article.html


jkane

11-Dec-2009
4:58:01 PM

I've got funnel shaped webs on the outside of my house. Last night, I tickled one of the webs with a longish piece of grass. A big shiny black spider came out and then ducked back in - maybe it was one of them mouse spiders. Spiders give me the creeps man!

I'll try to get a photo of one before I "remove" them.

Wendy

11-Dec-2009
5:23:35 PM

Actually ON your house? Black shiny thing in a thick web with a tunnel entrance on a window frame or other squishy corner place sounds like a black house spider. She won't eat you. And it is on the outside.


jkane

29-Dec-2009
3:44:35 PM

Yes, that's what they turned out to be but I had to spray anyway because there are so many of them that the webs are everywhere and making the place look like a set from a cheap horror film. The picture I got is rubbish because I got the exposure wrong and he wouldn't do his trick for me again. This one was very agressive, came straight out and sank his jaws into my stick.

(actual size)


Twitch

30-Dec-2009
9:37:31 AM

its not a mouse spider. me thinks its just a black house spider but the photo is quite blurry.

The Keeper

2-Jan-2010
3:36:48 PM

Frankly, I recommend letting the critter live - simply relocate. I would be more concerned about a gnarly Queen'sland climbing vixen - the latter is a no hoper - brain goes to mush and your destination is subterranean neath ant hill in the ghastly blank.

Which all goes to sustain my perspective that there is method to winter climbing at Araps - all ( okay - minus the Boonah species of the opposite gender) of the gnarlies are lying low. Having visited the iconic Pines loo - I must admit I was seriously impressed by the depth and variety of dessicated carcasses ( absence of those related to shy, innocent Canuck lads was noteworthy) and other random body parts. I recall thinking this must be action central for some predators in season!

But the more time I spend down under, my perspective changes - it is more important to be thinking about what is higher in the food chain - what is taking down down the
red backs, white tips, brownies etc. That is what you want to be more worried about!!!!
This was vividly brought home to me on the Gold Coast where I bivied on the couch of a friend who had a nice piece of quasi-backyard jungle. After being rudely awakened by the local avian fuana at an ungodly hour, I parted the shades to review the jungle -only to spot something moving on the lawn. Away I went with camera to investigate - only to find one humongous spider wasp carting one next- to -dead large Huntsman. The gnarly dude carted its prey across the lawn, up a vertical wall, around a 90 degree corner and when I got close for the photo op - I was on the receiving end of some seriously loud hisses. I proclaimed my Canadian innocence - arguing that if it was taking down dudes like the Huntsman it was going to have no trouble with me!
This did up my sympathy for the poor Huntsmans though - can you imagine being the target for these spider-wasps 24-7. Yikes, too much like the predation pattern of Queen'sland climbing vixens!!! In any case, when another showed up on the bathroom wall of my friends place, it donned a Croc Hunter persona and with the help of a plastic container and sheet of paper - managed to corral the beast and relocate it to some adjacent property.
So if the Red Backs don't hassle me , they get good respect in return. But what about White tips? A Rotary guy in Perth told me at lunch about his wife lying in bed and a white tip dropping down fromt the ceiling and sinking its fangs into her. Her arm took a severe hit -semi -necrotizing etc. Now that is nasty!
East of Perth in a roadside motel on night, I came across some seriously large roaches - I did the green thing - recyle, relocate etc. Down the toilet into the Indian Ocean to provide sustenance for the Great Whites. Strategic thinking goes a long way - if the predators are well fed and satisfied then they are less likely to park you in the great hereafter or way beyond the black stump. Same applies to the Queen'sland climbing vixens - free passes to hair salons and Parisean designer clothes go a long way!

Not too many folks dying from the country cousins to the Red Backs over here - Black Widows of the insect kind - pretty much have their niche and do their thing. They have their place and control some other insect irritants to be sure.

Happy New Year from Up Over!

Wendy

12-Jan-2010
7:30:55 AM

I think I outdid this one last night. Redbacks in outdoor toilets, fine, but when you get up in the night to find one on the mozzie net over your bed, really not so fine.


evanbb

12-Jan-2010
8:31:23 AM

I've been watching a Redback near my woody at home get bigger over the last few weeks. There's a dead male in her web and she's doubled in size. Might be up the duff? Could someone please come and end this nightmare?

Wendy

13-Jan-2010
7:36:26 AM

It just gets better around here. This morning I took a swig from the water bottle next to the computer and had to spit out an earwig. I think all the bugs are taking refuge from the weather in my house.


evanbb

13-Jan-2010
8:41:58 AM

On 13/01/2010 Wendy wrote:
>It just gets better around here. This morning I took a swig from the water
>bottle next to the computer and had to spit out an earwig. I think all
>the bugs are taking refuge from the weather in my house.

The earwigs are going absolutely sick at our place. They're everywhere! Also these weird red bugs. And mice. Chooks are assisting with the earwig problem, but they're yet to get the taste for rodents.


Richard

13-Jan-2010
1:06:11 PM

Jim, looks like a black house spider to me also. We get a fair few of those funnel shaped webs - thats what they make.

I kill all spiders (excpet huntsmen because they eat spiders), because non venemous spiders attract venomous spider-eating spiders, such as white tails. We get 3 to 4 of these a year in our place. White tails like to hang around on the architraves, in the corner of the ceiling. They will circle the whole room, looking from spiders nesting at the top of the wall. They have this trick, when they realise you have spotted them, they will fall to the ground, to escape. One minute they are on the roof, the next minute there gone - unless you know to look on the floor directly below where they were. White tails also like to hide in clothing left on the floor. Don't.

I am somewhat amused at the original posting in this topic - I am sure there's redbacks often in the toilets. I've seen one in the disabled toilet. (not sure if it was entitled to be there, but since I killed it, I guess it was post-humously disabled.) If araps was in Africa and you were reporting a bull elephant, OK.

widewetandslippery

13-Jan-2010
1:27:53 PM

Theres nothing like cramping, vommiting, shaking and the comfort of that antiV.


jkane

13-Jan-2010
4:18:08 PM

On 13/01/2010 Richard wrote:
>Jim, looks like a black house spider to me also.
Yep, definitely black house spiders. That's what I meant when I said "that's what they turned out to be". I was answering Wendy's post but should have included a quote to make it clearer.

I sprayed around the eaves and windows which interestingly made them come out into the open for a while before they died. This finally allowed me to get decent photo (but obviously showing non-typical behaviour).

The Keeper

15-Jan-2010
2:16:38 AM

Chillin on rest days - what better then to grab a brew and watch the laws of the jungle unfold. Best escapes - in Penticton (Skaha next door) - watched a spider wasp hunting (24-7) for spiders (one single species - each wasp is wired on only one kind) - it finds
one in a silk nest just overtop of the door of my motel room. The wasp spends a lot of time trying to get into the nest ( it obviously knows there is prey isnide) but can't (wonder what the spider's thinking?) The wasp is bouncing around outside - cruises around but keeps coming back to the den - in one
brief second of respite the spider darts out along the door sill and sits completely still -
wasp still back at next - then bingo spider pulls off an amazing zippy rap descent to the ground and in a blink of an eye gets under a crack in the bottom of the door sill. Lucky dude! The wasp keeps crusin the wall lookikng for more of same.

So what's the deal with sleepin on the ground outside of a tent with all of the gnarly little things crawlin around and into you sleeping bag? - sounds like a recipe for some
epic encounters or is it that you sleep in shifts and the sleeping partner has the job at keeping things at bay - snakes, spiders, scorpions , whatever. Or you just post some guard stumpies!

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