Garden Route Spiders
The Garden Route has a variety of spider species that are imperative to controlling the insect population in our ecosystem.
Spiders that you might encounter in your home, garden, and on hikes:
Wall Spider – Flattie (Family Selenopidae)
Habitat: The Flattie is the most common of all spiders. They are found in homes, garages, and around large boulders. In the home, they live on the walls or upside down on the ceiling.
Characteristics: They are normally brown to grey with bands and stripes. They can reach the size of an R5 coin.
Diet: Insects such as flies, mosquitoes, and moths.
Toxicity: Harmless to humans and pets.
Jumping Spider (Family Salticidae)
Habitat: These spiders are small and charismatic. They are commonly found in and around human dwellings, in the garden, on walls, and around sink areas in the home. They are free-living, don’t build webs, and have great eyesight for hunting.
Characteristics: They come in a huge variety of sizes and colours and are usually smaller than a pea. They are quite intelligent and calculate the distances between objects before jumping. They can jump about 30cm.
Diet: a variety of insects, especially flies and mosquitoes.
Toxicity: Harmless to humans and pets.
Scorpion Spider (Family Trochanteriidae)
Habitat: They are wanderers and don’t build webs. They are found under stones, the bark of trees, and pot plants. They are very secretive and will escape as fast as they can when encountered.
Characteristics: These are rather strange-looking spiders, which are flattened, normally black with orange legs. Adult reach between 4-9mm depending on species.
Diet: Insects such as crickets, cockroaches, termites, and locusts.
Toxicity: Harmless to humans and pets.
Bark/Field Spider (Family Araneidae)
Habitat: These are small spiders that are commonly found in gardens, around human dwellings, and encountered on hikes. They are messy web builders and build at night between the vegetation. They destroy their web in the early morning and rebuild again at night.
Characteristics: They are normally a pale brown or grey and have a very hairy appearance. Some field spiders have a red marking under the abdomen. Adult reaches between 50 – 200mm.
Toxicity: Harmless to humans and pets.
Golden Orb Spider (Family Nephilidae)
Habitat: These large spiders boast magnificent golden webs that often span a large area between bushes. The web is strong enough to trap small birds.
Characteristics: A fully developed adult can reach up to 10cm. The females are large, and the web often contains multiple spiders. They usually have black legs and a yellow to white abdomen.
Diet: Small insects such as flies, moths, beetles, wasps, and mosquitoes. Some of the larger orb weavers eat small frogs and hummingbirds.
Toxicity: Harmless to humans and pets.
Rain Spider – (Family Sparassidae)
Habitat: The rain spider is the most common and widespread species, that is native to Southern Africa. These spiders are known to habitat indoors when it rains.
Characteristics: They are brown in colour with dark and light bands on the underside of their legs. A fully developed adult can reach about 10cm with their legs included. They are very docile and only aggressive if they feel threatened or a female on her nest.
Diet: They feed on small vertebrates and insects in and around your home.
Toxicity: Their bite, similar to a bee sting, may be quite painful and the itch can last for a while. You might also experience a mild headache but there is no need to visit a doctor.
Baboon Spider (Family Theraphosidae)
Habitat: The Baboon spider is primitive and in the same category as Tarantulas. Males often search for females, who habitat large silky burrows in the ground.
Characteristics: Adults are bulky and hairy and can reach up to 15 cm. Their fangs are large, often reaching over a centimetre in length.
Diet: small rodents, small reptiles, and insects.
Toxicity: They are generally docile and will lift their front legs into the air when they feel threatened or disturbed and they will not hesitate to bite at this stage. The venomous bite is severely painful, lasting 10-40 hours. Pain medication is all that is required. It may be lethal to 20% if pets are bitten.
Black Button Spider (Family Theridiidae)
Habitat: These spiders are commonly found in natural habitats and tend to shy away from human dwellings. They hide under logs, rocks, and in bushes. They are messy web builders and there are often one or two large white egg sacs. These sacs are about the size of a pea and smooth.
Characteristics: These spiders are pitch black, often with red on the top of the abdomen. The Abdomen is large and has red infusion above the spinneret – not under like the Brown Button Spider. Males are small, from 3-6mm, and females have a body length of 7-16mm.
Diet: Wide range of crawling and flying insects.
Toxicity: They are not aggressive and will simply drop to the floor in a tight ball with the legs tucked in when disturbed.
Their bites are rare, however, the venom is highly neurotoxic and causes pain, sweating, nausea, disorientation, and shortness of breath. A bite is treatable and anti-venom is available.
No deaths have been recorded.
Brown Button Spider (Family Theridiidae)
Habitat: This spider is often found around human dwellings. They reside in garages, under window sills, and even in the swimming pool pump box. They are messy web builders and have large white, spiky egg sacs.
Characteristics: They are a brown colour with darker bands on the joint of each leg. The abdomen is grey to white, with a series of dots. The characteristic hourglass shape under the abdomen is orange to red. Males have a body length of 4-7mm and, females, 8-14mm.
Diet: Wide range of crawling and flying insects.
Toxicity: They are not aggressive and will simply drop to the floor in a tight ball with the legs tucked in when disturbed. Bites are rare and usually occur when the spiders are squashed by accident.
The venom is highly neurotoxic and causes pain, sweating, nausea, disorientation, and shortness of breath. Even though a bite from a Brown Button Spider is unpleasant, it is easily treatable. You should seek immediate medical assistance, especially in the case of children.
The venom is less lethal than that of the Black button spider.
No deaths have been recorded.
Sac Spider (Family Miturgidae)
Habitat: These spiders are often found in houses or in plants. They spin a silk sac in which they lay or hide their eggs.
Characteristics: They are cream-white to pale yellow or reddish-brown with distinct black or dark mouthpieces. They are two-clawed, medium-sized spiders. Their eyes are in two rows, and the front legs are the longest.
Diet: Other spiders, agricultural and garden pest insects and their eggs. If food sources are limited, they are known to become cannibalistic and consume their own eggs
Toxicity: These species possess a cytotoxic venom and a bite can result in tissue damage and should be treated as an open wound. If the wound goes necrotic or septic, it is best to go on a course of Prophylactic antibiotics.
No deaths have been recorded.
Violin Spider (Family Sicariidae)
Habitat: A free-living spider that does not build webs. They are commonly found under rocks, logs, in caves, and in dark areas. They habitat homes and garages and are very shy of humans, scuttling off as soon as they see you.
Characteristics: Their appearance is similar to the Daddy-Long-legs, however, the legs are not as long or thin. The South African Violin spiders are brown or grey and have spots or markings on the abdomen.
Diet: Small insects and other spiders
These species possess a cytotoxic venom and a bite can result in tissue damage and should be treated as an open wound. If the wound goes necrotic or septic or necrotic it is best to go on a course of Prophylactic antibiotics.
No deaths have been recorded.
Spider bites
Spider venoms contain potentially toxic elements. Fortunately, very few spider species have large enough and strong enough fangs to make them a threat to adult humans. However, young children and pets can be vulnerable to their bites.
Deaths caused by spider bites are rare, and no deaths have been recorded in southern Africa to date.
If you are bitten and unsure about the type of spider that bit you, then seek medical assistance. All envenomations are treatable, once a diagnosis has been made. Anti-venom is the last resort administered in a medical facility.
There are no first aid measures. However, dabbing some neat Lavender Essential oil or Acetone (Cutex removal) on the area is great for neutralising any unforeseen reactions.
A guide on how to treat spider bites at home.