Spider Control: Which Spiders Matter and What Works
Benefit Pest Management provides spider control across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie and the Hunter. A general treatment covers the inside and the outside of the house with water-based products that are safe once dry, and most treatments hold for three to six months. We also offer de-webbing as an extra, a couple of weeks after the treatment. Our head technician holds pest management technician licence 5083379, issued by the New South Wales EPA.
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What spider control can and can't do
Most of the spiders living around a house will leave everyone alone, and a few of them eat the ones that won’t. Only a handful are a real worry. Spider control starts with knowing which is which, because a black house spider in the window frame and a funnel-web in the garden bed are separate problems with different answers.
If a spider has turned up and nobody in the house will go near it, send us a photo and we’ll tell you what it is.
The treatment goes where spiders live and hunt, inside the house and out, and de-webbing deals with the webs you can see. No treatment is likely to clear a house of spiders for good, because keeping them away from an area for long is close to impossible. Spider control is a repeat job rather than a one-off.
Funnel-web spiders, redbacks and the ones that matter
These three can give a bite that needs medical help, so it is worth knowing what they look like.
Funnel-web spiders. The funnel-web around Newcastle has a name of its own. In January 2025 the Australian Museum announced that what had been called the Sydney funnel-web is really three species, and the largest of them, the Newcastle funnel-web (Atrax christenseni), is found only in the vicinity of Newcastle. The classic Sydney funnel-web ranges from the Central Coast through the Sydney Basin, and a tree-dwelling funnel-web lives in the forests north from the Watagans.
Funnel-webs are glossy and dark, black to brown, with no obvious pattern on the body. They live in burrows in moist, shaded ground: rockeries, dense shrubs, logs and leaf litter. The males are the ones people meet. They leave their burrows mostly over summer and autumn to find females, and they wander into backyards, fall into swimming pools and sometimes end up inside houses.
A funnel-web bite is a medical emergency, and the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network says any bite from a big, black spider should be treated as one. Call Triple Zero (000), wrap a pressure bandage over the bite and along the limb, and keep the person still. Antivenom has been available since 1981, and it works against all three Sydney-region species.
Redbacks. You will find them right across Australia, very much at home around people. The female is the one to know: black, with an orange to red stripe along the top of the abdomen. The Australian Museum says hers is the only dangerous bite. They build tangled webs in dry, sheltered places such as sheds, under steps, among junk piles and logs, in letterboxes and under the seat of an outdoor toilet. The museum’s advice for a redback bite is an ice pack and medical attention, not a pressure bandage.
Mouse spiders. Often mistaken for funnel-webs, mouse spiders have a bulbous head and big jaws. The males wander looking for females from late summer into autumn, some of them in daylight. Bites are rare and seldom severe. First aid is the same as for a funnel-web bite, and funnel-web antivenom works on them.
For advice on any bite, the Poisons Information Centre is on 13 11 26.
One of oursA male funnel-web we found under bark on a job.
Spiders you can usually leave alone
Almost every spider lives on insects, which makes spiders some of the most useful creepy crawlies around a house. The common ones below pose little risk to people.
Black house spiders make the messy, lacy webs in window frames and wall crevices, with a funnel-shaped retreat at the back. That funnel is why they get mistaken for funnel-webs. They are shy and seldom bite. They also kill and eat redbacks.
White-tailed spiders turn up in bathrooms and laundries, where they hunt other spiders, black house spiders in particular. White-tails are ground spiders, and they go after the small spiders on the clothesline too, so give the washing a good shake as you bring it in. Their bites have a fearsome reputation, but the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network says they usually cause mild symptoms. Like funnel-webs, they need a specific soil treatment.
Huntsmen live under loose bark and wander into houses and cars, where they are notorious for hiding behind the sun visor. The fright is out of all proportion to the risk. They are fast but not normally aggressive, and inside a house they work as natural pest controllers.
Daddy long-legs have fangs so small they are unlikely to get through human skin, and they kill other spiders, redbacks included.
One of oursA large spider on a brick wall, found on one of our jobs.
Where they live around a house
| Where | Who is usually there |
|---|---|
| Window frames, wall crevices and eaves | Black house spiders, in lacy webs with a funnel at the back |
| Sheds, under steps, letterboxes and outdoor toilets | Redbacks, in tangled webs |
| Rockeries, dense shrubs, logs and leaf litter | Funnel-web burrows |
| The swimming pool | Wandering male funnel-webs and mouse spiders |
| Bathrooms and laundries | White-tailed spiders |
| Under loose bark and in the car | Huntsmen |
A few habits help whatever else you do. Put shoes on before walking outside at night, and teach the kids to look but not touch. Check the pool before anyone reaches in, because a funnel-web can survive in the water for many hours.
Treating for funnel-webs is another matter. They live in the ground, and ground-dwelling spiders need a specific soil treatment, not the general spray around the house. If funnel-webs are the worry at your place, ring us and we can remove them.
Small mud nests on a wall usually belong to mud daubers, wasps that stock their nests with spiders. Wasp nest removal covers those.
What a spider control treatment covers
A spider treatment is a general treatment, inside and out. Spiders are treated with repellent products in the same pass that does the big cockroaches. Outside is where most of the work goes: the eaves, the window and door frames, the weep holes in the brickwork, the subfloor and the shed. Inside, the treatment reaches the laundry, the wardrobes, along the skirtings and into the roof void where there is access.
Our general treatments are water-based and safe once dry. The detail on kids, pets and the veggie patch is on our residential pest control page.
Most treatments hold for three to six months, longer in undisturbed spots. General treatments come with a six month warranty, provided the preparation and after-care advice is followed, and subject to the weather.
De-webbing: the part of the job you can see
Most of a spider treatment is invisible. De-webbing is the part you notice from the footpath.
It is one of the property care jobs we offer as an extra alongside our treatments. The timing matters: the webs should stay up for a couple of weeks after the spray, and then they come down. The old webs come off the eaves, the gutter line, the window frames and the corners of the verandah, and the house looks cared for again.
De-webbing sits with gap sealing, gutter cleaning and pressure washing on our integrated pest management page.
Where we do this
We work from our base at Caves Beach across Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, the Hunter, Port Stephens and the Central Coast, with no call-out fee.
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FAQ
The short answers on spiders
Is the spider with the funnel-shaped web on my window a funnel-web?
Probably not. A silk funnel in a window frame or wall crevice, with lacy webbing spread around it, is the black house spider’s work. Funnel-webs live in burrows at ground level or in tree holes, and the two aren’t related at all. Either way, leave it alone and send us a photo.
Why do funnel-webs turn up after heavy rain?
Their burrows flood. Heavy rain drives funnel-webs out of the ground, and the males are already wandering over summer and autumn looking for mates. Wet weather in the warmer months is when people find them on the patio, in the pool or inside.
Has anyone died from a spider bite in Australia lately?
No funnel-web deaths have been recorded since antivenom became available in 1981, and the Australian Museum records no redback deaths since redback antivenom came in either. Bites still need the right first aid: a pressure bandage and Triple Zero for a big black spider, an ice pack and a doctor for a redback.
How do I keep spiders out of the house?
Start with fly screens on the windows and wall vents, which stop climbing spiders getting in. After that, keep the eaves and window frames clear of webs, and have the outside treated again when the last treatment wears off.
Can I knock the webs down myself?
Yes, for most of them, though after a treatment leave them up for a couple of weeks first. A broom or a stick does the job on a black house spider’s web, with the spider put outside. For a redback’s web, wear gloves, check the spot before a hand goes anywhere near it, then push a stick into the back of the web and twist. Leave alone anything you think could be a funnel-web or a mouse spider, and keep the kids back while you work.
Will the spiders come back after a treatment?
Eventually, yes, as the treatment wears off. Most treatments hold for three to six months, longer in undisturbed spots, so that is roughly when to think about the next one.
Next step
Eaves you can look at again
The eaves come back clean. If the webs are what’s bothering you, mention de-webbing when you ring.
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