Possums- Heartbroken and Homesick

Possums naturally grow a strong bond with their home and whether it be a tree trunk in the bush land, or the hollow space in your roof. Research has shown that removing possums from their home more often than not results in their death as they either die trying to return to their home, get attacked by predators or the trauma of being removed becomes too much. ANT-EATER Pest Control by law is not allowed to remove any invading possums more than 50m from their home, however this doesn’t mean you have to put up with them living in and around your roof!

For information on how we solve your possum problem, visit our website.

http://www.anteater.com.au/PestInformationandSolutions/Possums.aspx

 

Ant highway to your home

Are you having trouble with ants in your home? No matter how many you get rid of they just seem to keep on showing up? This is due to the fact that although you may squash a hundred ants and spray another thousand, ants work as a unified entity, a hive mind, and can all move into your house at once. Not only this but ants leave chemical trails when they find a source of food that other ants can find and follow. This means that no matter how many times you spray them, the ants have a highway that leads right into your pantry. These chemical trails can be found and followed by other insects long after the ants have moved on meaning that ant infestations can lead to all kinds of bug related problems.

For more information on ant infestations visit our webpage devoted solely to ants
Click HERE

Female Daddy Longlegs and her recently hatched spiderlings

The female Daddy Longlegs from our previous post has hatched her eggs, as you can see she is surrounded by her spider babies.

More information on spiders here 

Termite control – Conducive condition for termite attack

Nigel gives us a valuable insight into how termites enter the home. Watch out for these conditions around your home, if you stay vigilant and have regular checkups, you can avoid thousands of dollars in home repairs

Daddy Longlegs- Venomous or not?

This is a photo taken of a Female Australian Daddy Longlegs spider. As you can see she is holding an egg sack of 20 to 30 eggs in her jaws. The popular urban legend surrounding the Daddy Longlegs spider is that their venom is the most potent among the worlds Arachnids, but their fangs are too short to penetrate human skin. This is untrue. The average Daddy longlegs fangs measure 0.25 mm and can penetrate human skin, however their venom produces a mild burning sensation to humans, nothing more. The urban legend sprung from the Daddy Longlegs practice of preying on Redback spiders and Huntsmen, the Redback being highly venomous.

St Andrews Cross Spider

The St Andrew’s Cross spider can be seen with its habit of sitting in its web with its legs in the shape of a cross.
The Australian species, Argiope keyserlingi and A. aetherea (this one taken on the Gold Coast in Queensland) are often recognised by their  large white zigzag in the centre of its web. It’s called the stabilimentum or web decoration. It’s suggested that the web decoration reflects UV light and is used to attract prey and provide visibility to larger animals so they don’t destroy the web.

This spider sits in the middle of its web by day and if preyed on will drop off its web, retreat to the edge or shake it’s web. Males are smaller than females and the male will build its web adjacent to the female in mating time. The female’s eggs hatch in Autumn but the spiderlings spend winter inside the sac emerging in spring.

The St Andrew’s Cross spider is harmless to people although they might bite if handled.

For more information on how to control spiders in your area, visit

http://www.anteater.com.au/PestInformationandSolutions/Spiders.aspx

Termite Control- Baiting a house in Avalon, Sydney

A sneak peek inside the world of termites as well as a demonstration of their destructive power. If this is something that concerns you take a look at our website.