Spiders
SPIDER VARIETIES
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SPIDER CONTROL
A range of spider species are regarded as pests in Australia. Their pest status can either be based on genuine health risk (eg. red-back spiders and funnel webs); nuisance (eg. the webs created indoors by daddy long-legs), personal phobias (numerous species) or a combination of all of these.
One of the most important things to be aware of in relation to spiders is their different behaviours in relation to capturing prey; this has a profound influence on where they are found. Sedentary spiders living in silk-lined burrows leap out to capture passing insects (eg. funnel web and trap door spiders); web-spinning spiders lie in wait and trap their prey (eg. black house spiders and red-backs); hunting spiders go in search of their prey (eg. the wolf spider) and others simply lie in ambush on plants, tree-bark or on the ground (eg. huntsman).
All these situations commonly occur in commercial and domestic enviroments and as such many individuals feel a need to reduce the risk of spider bites by removing spiders from their premises. The application of an effective low-dose insecticide is one of the most efficient means to achieve this. The products which are used for spider control need to have both a good level of residual activity and present very low risk for residents and the operator. Such chemical application would be concentrated in cracks, crevices and harbourage areas.