Red Back Spider

Latrodectus Hasselti

Appearance

• The female red-back is black with a distinctive red or orange marking on its back, although this may sometimes be absent. These markings may be broken into spots in front and, sometimes, this white lines may be visible
• The female can grow up to 15mm long. Males are very small and usually only grow up to 5mm long
• The male has more complex markings than those of the female, incorporating white and sometimes yellow markings

Lifecycle

• Female red-backs take about 2-3 months to mature and can lay 3-8 egg sacs between September and May. Each sac can contain up to 300 eggs. However, most of the hatchlings do not survive because they are eaten by their siblings and are very prone to wasp parasitism
• Females may live for two to three years, whereas males only live for about six or seven months

Habits

• Commonly found in logs or under rocks in the bush as they tend to reside in dark, dry areas. In suburban regions, the re-back has been known to live under roof eaves, floorboards, shelves, flower pots or in garden sheds
• The web is a triangle of dry silk. The trap lines are sticky to assist with catching their prey
• Re-Back spiders are carnivorous eating almost any small insects that are caught in their webs. They will also eat skinks and even juvenile mice, snakes and frogs.