Will the shire spray if the mosquitoes are bad this summer?

Not at your house. East Gippsland Shire says it won't spray private homes or buildings, and it treats larvae at breeding sites around the larger townships rather than spraying adults.

How often should a Bairnsdale house have a termite inspection?

Ask the termite inspector what suits your house, block and history. If there's a termite notice in the meter box, it states the installer's recommended inspection frequency, which is a good starting point.

Pest control Bairnsdale: mosquitoes, wasps and termites

What's different around Bairnsdale

Larvae, not adult mosquitoes

East Gippsland Shire Council treats breeding sites around its high-density townships while the mosquitoes are still larvae, using biological larvicides. It doesn't spray adult mosquitoes.

Your house isn't on the spray list

The shire says it won't spray private residences or buildings for mosquitoes, so anything around your own home is up to you.

A coastal season

Victoria's Department of Health says mosquitoes near the coast usually start earlier and finish later than the inland November to April run, and a salt water loving species along the coast can spread Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses.

What's left for your yard

Standing water is the part you control: pot bases, buckets, boat covers, tyres and gutters that hold water after rain. Fly screens on doors and windows keep the evening ones outside.

A pest business can treat around a yard to bring adult numbers down for a while. It can't prevent Ross River or Barmah Forest virus, and health questions belong with your GP. If you do book a yard treatment, ask for the product's full chemical name and what to cover, such as fish ponds, clotheslines and outdoor cooking gear, as the Better Health Channel suggests.

Termite control: start at the meter box

If your house was built with a termite management system, the National Construction Code requires a durable notice fixed somewhere prominent, often the meter box. It should name the system, give the date it went in, and set out the installer's recommended scope and frequency of future inspections. For a chemical system, it also shows the life expectancy from the product's register label.

No notice, or one that's years past its life expectancy? That's a question for a termite inspector, not a reason to panic. And if you find damaged timber or mud tubes in the meantime, leave them be: CSIRO says disturbing termites can spoil the control options that rely on finding them active. Our termite barriers page explains the systems.

What a termite treatment record should show

The product's full name, and where it was applied.
The date of the work and who did it.
Any re-entry or drying time before people and pets go back in.
When the next inspection is due, and what any warranty covers, in writing.

Wasps: under the lawn or inside the walls

European wasp nests are mostly underground, about 80% of them according to Victoria's Department of Health, and most of the remainder are inside buildings. If you keep seeing wasps at the same patch of grass or the same gap in the cladding, that's your nest. Keep everyone clear and let a pest business treat it; our wasp nest page explains what happens.

What we'd do about pests in Bairnsdale

Tip out the water, fit the screens, and check the meter box for a termite notice this weekend. If the notice is missing or you find a wasp nest, tap it with your postcode.

Want someone to look at it?

Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.

What have you seen?