11 May 2018
 Categories: , Blog

In other parts of the world, Australia tends to have an unsavory reputation for being riddled with deadly venomous spiders, and for the most part, this notoriety is a little exaggerated. While Australia may play host to a wide variety of unnerving arachnids, only a few species are dangerous, but when encountered on your property, these unpleasant outliers should be dealt with as swiftly as possible.

Redback spiders are probably the most widely-feared poisonous spider in the country, largely due to their resemblance to the notorious black widow spiders that inhabit the Americas. While these spiders aren't quite as dangerous as their New World contemporaries, they can still deliver painful bites that can be particularly hazardous to children and the elderly and/or infirm.

The warm, well-ventilated confines of the average garage make for an ideal redback habitat, and if you find one or more redback spiders in your garage, they must be removed as quickly as possible to ensure the safety of you and your family. Calling in professional pest control services is the safest and most effective way to deal with redback infestations, and these services can use a variety of methods to remove redback spiders from your garage:

Pesticide spraying

Spraying liquid pesticides on areas where redbacks breed and make their webs is your first line of defense and can be very effective if the spiders in your garage aren't yet fully grown. Male redbacks, which are smaller and weaker than the females of the species, are particularly vulnerable to liquid pesticides, and while males are non-venomous, removing them will prevent the spiders in your garage from breeding and worsening the infestation.

However, liquid pesticides aren't as effective against many spiders (including the redback) as they are against insects such as ants and termites, and mature females can often survive prolonged exposure to spraying. As such, you may have to take more robust measures to completely remove an established redback colony.

Pesticide powders

Female redbacks generally nest and spin their webs in the same location for their entire lives. Pest control companies often take advantage of this trait by spreading pesticidal powders in the areas where redbacks nest; these powders remain lethal for far longer than sprayed pesticides, causing poisons to accumulate in the bodies of these relatively static spiders over time until even the largest and strongest female spiders succumb. If you opt for this approach, make sure to keep your children and pets out of the garage for as long as the powders are in use.

Search and destroy

Particularly bad redback infestations are often resistant to both sprayed and powdered pesticides, as redback spiders like to make their homes in dark, secluded crevices such as wall cavities, gutters and roof eaves where thorough application of pesticides can be impossible. To make absolutely sure that not a single redback remains in your garage, you may wish to contract your chosen pest control company to perform a full building inspection.

During these inspections, pest control personnel will use their intimate knowledge of redback behaviours and habits to root out the most likely hiding spots for the most elusive spiders. Once these hiding places have been uncovered, the redbacks within are destroyed using powerful pesticides sprayed directly onto the bodies of the spiders, as even the largest females cannot survive direct spraying