General information, not medical advice. In an emergency, call Triple Zero (000). The NSW Poisons Information Centre gives advice on bites, stings and poisons on 13 11 26.
Three spiders, side by side
The Poisons Information Centre names two spiders in Australia as the only ones to cause harm to people: the redback and the funnel-web. The Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network adds the mouse spider, which is often confused with the funnel-web and gets the same first aid as other big black spiders.
| Spider | What it looks like | Where it lives | First aid for a bite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funnel-web | Black or dark brown, shiny, around 1.5 to 3.5 cm long. Rears up on its back legs when threatened. | Burrows in and around logs, rocks, dense garden shrubs and holes and rotted parts of some trees. | Call 000, move the person away from danger, keep them still, and apply a pressure bandage over the bite and the whole limb. |
| Mouse spider | A shiny, plump spider around 1.5 to 3.5 cm long. Colour: black, dark blue, or black with a pale grey or white patch on top. | Burrows, often near riverbanks, creeks and gardens. Less common. | As for a funnel-web and other big black spiders: move the person away from danger, call 000 and follow any instructions given over the phone, apply a pressure bandage, and keep them as still as possible until the ambulance arrives. |
| Redback | Black or dark brown with a red stripe, round body, long thin legs. Females around 1 cm; males 3 to 4 mm. | Webs in dry, sheltered places: rocks, logs, rubbish piles, bushes, sheds and toilets. | Wash the bite and keep it clean. Don’t use a pressure bandage. Ring the Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26, and go to the nearest hospital if symptoms are severe. |
A funnel-web bite usually causes severe pain, nausea, sweating and vomiting, difficulty breathing and muscle twitching, the Poisons Information Centre says. The children’s hospitals’ factsheet adds that it is hard to tell which spider has bitten, so a bite from any big black spider is to be handled as a medical emergency, without waiting for symptoms.
Where funnel-webs are found
The Australian Museum puts the main range of the Sydney funnel-web from the Central Coast south to the Georges River. Inside that range it turns up in bushy suburbs as well as open and closed forest and woodland, typically in a shady gully or on a slope facing south or east. It digs silk-lined burrows beneath logs and rocks, where the air stays cool and humid.
The ones people meet are often males on the move. Males leave their burrows and wander, mostly over summer and autumn, looking for females. They wander into backyards, fall into swimming pools, where they can survive many hours, and sometimes get trapped in houses. At dawn they look for somewhere dark, moist and cool to hide: a cavity under a rock, or a shoe left outdoors.
Habits worth keeping near the bush
- Wear gloves when gardening or digging.
- Leave alone the rocks and logs where funnel-webs and mouse spiders live.
- Take extra care after heavy rain, which can flush funnel-webs out of their homes.
- Don’t touch spiders in water, even if they look dead: they can survive for hours.
- Take care cleaning outdoor areas, including pool skimmer boxes.
- Wear closed shoes, long sleeves and pants for bushwalking.
The pressure bandage, step by step
The Poisons Information Centre uses a pressure bandage for bites from all Australian snakes, for funnel-web spider bites, and for blue-ringed octopus and cone shell stings. It does not use one for any other spider bite, but if in doubt, treat the bite as a funnel-web’s. First call 000, move the person away from danger and keep them still. Then the centre’s first aid page sets out the bandage in five steps, summarised here in order:
- If you can, lie the person down. Bandage firmly over the bite itself, ideally with a wide elastic bandage.
- Keep wrapping to cover the whole limb, from the fingers up to the shoulder or the toes up to the hip. It should be tight.
- Splint the limb with something rigid: a piece of wood, a branch or rolled-up paper.
- Bandage the splint on as firmly as you can, and keep walking to a minimum.
- For a bite on the hand or forearm, bandage up to the elbow and use a splint and a sling.
For children, the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network’s factsheet says to wrap firmly but not so tight that the child feels numb or their skin changes colour, and that clothing, towels, socks or stockings can stand in for an elastic bandage. It also says to call Triple Zero (000) even if you are out of phone reception, to travel to the nearest emergency department if you cannot call, and to give CPR if the person collapses or stops breathing. The Australian Government’s Triple Zero page adds that if there is no mobile coverage on any network, a mobile phone will not reach Triple Zero. So always try 000, and if you cannot get through, the factsheet’s advice is to go to the nearest emergency department.
In hospital
Funnel-web venom has a neurotoxin component that attacks the human nervous system, the Australian Museum says, and the bitten person should be taken to hospital and given antivenom if necessary. In the worst cases it can cause death, though there have been no deaths since antivenom was introduced.