Pest Control Canberra

Ants are one of the main nuisance pests in Canberra. “Black ants” are the most frequent ant invading homes, typically one of two species – black house ants or white-footed house ants.

Outdoors coastal brown ants (also called big headed ants) can cause a problem where they dig up soil in between pavers. They can also find their way indoors looking for food.

Green-head ants are the main biting ant found in lawns. Their painful and itchy bites means a lawn ant treatment is required to keep the lawn ant free for children and pets to play.

Outdoors, Argentine ants can invest garden beds and meat ants can be a problem in rural blocks.

For ant control in Canberra, pest managers will generally use a combination of spray and bait products to eliminate ant problems. For black ants inside the home, the objective is to kill the nest – so baits are a key component to the control program. For coastal brown ants and Argentine ants outdoors, its more a question of management, as these invasive ants can form super colonies covering large areas – a combination of sprays and baits are required to keep numbers down.

Outdoor ant problems often require regular treatments as ants can always re-invade from surrounding areas.

Birds nesting in and around homes and businesses can cause a nuisance – not only do their droppings make a mess and damage buildings, but they carry diseases and parasites… and can make a lot of noise!

The main pest birds in Canberra are pigeons and the Indian myna.

Homeowners also need to be aware that birds can cause significant damage to solar panels and their droppings can decrease the output from the panels. Bird proofing solar panels and getting the panels cleaned annual is a great way to protect your investment.

Cockroaches are common problem for homeowners and businesses in  Canberra.

Large cockroach species, such as the American and Australian cockroaches generally live outside – under houses, in drains and rubbish and come inside looking for food. 

Small pest cockroach species, such as yhe German cockroach only live inside, most commonly in kitchens. It is a big problem in the food industry.

For cockroach control in Canberra, the type of treatment a professional pest manager will use depends on the species of cockroach present. For large cockroach species, spraying the outside of the building (to prevent them entering) and spraying or dusting other hotspots are the key activities. Occasionally cockroach baits may be used as well. For German cockroaches, which are smaller and a lot more difficult to control, the main treatment involves the use of cockroach baits. When using baits it may take several days to reduce the population and with German cockroach treatments, more than one visit may be necessary to eliminate the problem.

To prevent a cockroach problem developing, good housekeeping / hygiene is essential – clear away dirty dishes and food spills, and make sure garbage is but in sealed bags and placed into bins away from the building.

German cockroaches love cardboard boxes so check any incoming boxes for cockroaches or their egg cases.

Fleas problems are more common when it is warm and humid, but they can be a problem year round. 

In terms of preventing a flea problem, the best action is to keep the pet flea treatments up to date. But sometimes a treatment is missed, and that’s when you could experience a flea infestation.

Most homeowners struggle to eliminate a flea problem using supermarket “flea bombs”. This is because if flea infestations occur inside and outside the building. To completely eradicate a flea infestation, it is necessary to treat both indoor and outdoor areas where the pet has been resting. A pest professional will know all the places to look and apply the correct products.

There are number of flies that cause for homeowners and businesses in Canberra. The main group are the filth flies, which includes the common housefly, but there are also the drain flies which are small flies found in kitchens and bathrooms.

Filth flies and housefly problems occurs if there is garbage, pet faeces or manure around for them to lay their eggs on – the maggots love any organic matter! So to prevent filth fly problems around your home is it vital to eliminate fly breeding spots. A professional spray to surfaces to target fly resting places and the use of fly traps will eliminate any remaining adults.

Drain flies are the small flies that you can find in bathrooms, laundries and kitchens. They typically feed on rotting fruit or vegetables or in the slime found in drains. If you have a problem with these annoying flies try and find any rotting food and clean out the drains before calling your pest professional. They can breed in the smallest of food sources in cracks and crevices, so you need to look everywhere!

The house mouse is one of the  common pest rodents found in Canberra. They will often nest inside in wall void and behind or indeed inside furniture. They carry diseases and parasites, which can be transferred when they urinate on surfaces and food.

To deliver safe and successful pest control of mice needs knowledge and expertise. Simply throwing bait into the roof often won’t work as it is important to place the bait in where the rodents are foraging.

Safety is also important to protect children, pets and native wildlife. Your pest manager will know where to place the bait to avoid accidental poisoning and in many cases will use lockable bait stations.

There are two pest rats in Canberra, the smaller roof rat and the larger sewer rat. Rats typically live outdoors coming inside to find food, although roof rats in particular will take up residence inside homes. This is more likely in winter when they are looking for warmth and shelter. They carry diseases and parasites, which can be transferred when they urinate on surfaces and food.

Although it is tempting to use baits from supermarkets, they are very toxic to humans, pets and non-target wildlife, like possums. As such, for rat pest control in Canberra, it is always best to pay a pest professional to carry out the treatment to ensure the baits are placed in the best locations to deliver results and prevent accidental ingestion. Pest Professionals will use lockable bait stations in most areas.

Rats can also be difficult to control due to their intelligence and the neophobic behaviour – they are frightened of new things. Using a pest control manager  who understands rat behaviour will get the quickest results.

The key spiders in Canberra are the black house spider, redback spider, white tail spider and huntsman spider.

Some people correctly point out that spiders are “beneficial” in that they do help eliminate insect pests. However, the bites from these spiders are health threat to your family and pets.

Spider control in Canberra  depends on whether the spider problem are due to  web-building spiders (such as redbacks) or hunting spiders (such as huntsman).

Spider treatments from pest control companies for web-building spiders, such as the black house spider and redback spiders involve a “spider spray”, when the outside of the building, obvious webs and spider hiding places are sprayed. Sometimes insecticide dust may be blown into cracks and crevices. These treatments can be quite long lasting, typically 6 months or longer in protected areas. After a spider spray, it is important to brush down any webs and not hose them down, to avoid washing away the residual insecticide.

The spider treatments for white-tail and huntsman spiders is more difficult, as they don’t have a fixed location. A comprehensive spider spray treatment to the external perimeter of the building can work well, although any spiders walking across a treated area may not die immediately, so they may still find their way inside.

However, spider sprays will also eliminate other insect pests, making your home far less attractive to these hunting spiders as there will be no food for them to eat. As a result, they are likely to go elsewhere to look for a meal!

In terms of preventing spider problems, other than an annual spider spray, keeping vegetation trimmed back from the external perimeter of the home will help.

Termites are major concern for homeowners in Canberra. With termite damage not covered by standard home insurance, homeowners need to have an active termite management plan to protect their home. Apart from making your home less attractive to termites, homeowners should have annual termite inspections to check for any issues and a  termite treatment to provide the long term termite protection.

Wasps, especially the dangerous European wasp, are a significant pest in the Canberra area. They are an aggressive wasp and their stings are very painful and can cause allergic reactions and sometimes anaphylatic shock.

Wasps are a problem throughout the warmer months and into Autumn, when their nests reach the maximum size. Although many nests will die off in Canberra over winter, some nests survive and get bigger year on year, turning into super nests of up to 100,000 wasps!

Eliminating European wasp nests is a job for a professional pest controller, as they have all the necessary safety gear and specialist products to eliminate the wasp nest.

Pest managers will generally remove the wasp nest too, if it is accessible. But in fact, around 80% of European wasp nests are built underground.