Just found this nest behind my dogs water tub! Anyone know what it is and how I get rid of it without burning down the house?! Its in a semi damp spot in the back yard usually covered by his water tub. I'm in Uralla, NSW (Northern Tablelands) if that helps? I've tried google and i've narrowed it down to maybe a funnel web, mouse spider or trap door spider? Any one know if it can injure/kill my dog? How do I get rid of it? LOOK AT THE EGGS!!! OMG. *panic*
UPDATE: Just had another look and its out of its nest, it looks like a normal redback? Is there another species that looks like this? And again.. how do I kill it and its eggs? (Sorry if anyone is anti killing spiders but honestly I cant sleep with this thing a metre from my back door and my curious kelpie sniffing around everywhere).
This does appear to be a redback; I have seen our native Latrodectus sp. in a similar situation. The simplest way to dispose of it and he eggs would be to pour a kettle of boiling water over the nest area.
Sorry to hijack your post. Does anyone know what Spider this is? It's made a huge web at our front door in Queensland. Thanks.
Thanks Flapdoodle! Yeah i squished it with a shovel, then sprayed a can of mortein on it, then drenched the whole area with boiling water haha
No worries Kristen1988, I don't know much about spiders but maybe that is an orb spider? Interesting pattern on it!
Thanks for your help. I just googled some orb spiders and some of them look weird like this one does but I couldn't find the same one. I think you could be on to something though.
He has been there for a few months and has grown bigger and bigger. When he first built his web I felt bad that he had gone to so much effort so I just left him but now his web has gotten much bigger and so has he! I don't want him there but I don't want to kill him either. I could move him I guess but I don't want to go too close to him now as he looks creepy lol
Just FYI, Kristen1988 - all orb weavers are harmless to humans. Orb weavers in the genera Eriophora and Neoscona are noted for the large size of their webs, but the pattern of your specimen does not match any of the Australian species in those genera that I am familiar with. I suspect that it might be an Araneus sp.
Thanks for your reply. Here is a picture of it from underneath
And the top.
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I found a spider that looked similar on the internet last night, Southern Cross spider?
These views were more helpful. Am now confident that it is in the genus Argiope - see http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=2535 for an example.
