Across the northside
Wetlands on the bay
Boondall Wetlands is Brisbane's largest, at about 1,150 hectares between Boondall, Nudgee Beach and Shorncliffe. Tinchi Tamba Wetlands at Bald Hills adds more than 380 hectares of tidal flats and mangroves. Brisbane City Council says a big high tide or heavy rain can set off a mass hatching of saltmarsh mosquitoes.
A green corridor
The Mountains to Mangroves Corridor runs from the D'Aguilar Ranges to Boondall Wetlands and Moreton Bay. Reserves along it, such as the Chermside Hills, list possums and gliders among their residents.
Older timber homes
Traditional Brisbane houses, generally built in 1946 or earlier, were typically raised on stumps, and the council says one reason was to guard against termites. The character overlay covers some streets of older suburbs, so plenty of them are staying.
Ants on the record
Business Queensland has recorded yellow crazy ants at suburban Kedron and an industrial estate at Pinkenba. Brisbane City Council takes those reports through its own channels. Fire ants go to Biosecurity Queensland within 24 hours, by law. Neither is a pest job.
Possum removal on the northside: what's lawful
If you searched for possum removal, here's how it works in Queensland. Possums are protected, so catching one takes the right licence, and it has to be released within 25 metres of where it was caught. It's staying on or near your block either way.
That's why the way in matters more than the catching. Queensland Government advice is that another possum often takes over if the gap stays open. Brisbane City Council suggests stuffing paper into suspected gaps by day: after dark, the possum pushes through and shows you the entry. Then come repairs, and a nest box nearby. Our Brisbane possum page has the steps.
Stumps, and what an inspector looks for
Stumps make termites easier to spot, not impossible for them. An inspector checks the stumps and the timber above, and that's harder if the area under the house has been built in or filled with storage. Clear what you can, and leave any mud tubes exactly as they are.
The QBCC advises having your property inspected and reported on every year, or more often where termites are more active. Buying instead? A building and pest inspection takes both a pest licence and a building inspector's licence, whether that's one person or two.
What's yours to do, and what isn't
You can
- Tip out pot bases and clear gutters before the warm months.
- Clear storage away from stumps and under-house timber.
- Trim branches that give possums a bridge to the roof.
Leave to a pest business
- Termite inspections and treatment.
- Lawful possum catch and release, and proofing.
- Rats, cockroaches and wasp nests.
Our northside shortlist
If you live in an older timber house, we'd put the termite inspection first, then find out how the possum's getting in before anyone sets foot on the roof. Mosquitoes near the wetlands are the council's job at the source and yours in the yard.
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.
