Living next to Mt Coot-tha
The forest up the hill
Brisbane City Council says Mt Coot-tha is mostly open eucalypt forest, and lists echidnas, tawny frogmouths, owls, gliders, possums, microbats and koalas among the animals there.
The cemetery edge
Toowong Cemetery, Brisbane's largest, sits on the slopes of Mt Coot-tha and borders the botanic gardens and Brisbane Forest Park, so green space runs right into the suburb.
Sawmill timber
Charles Patterson set up his Toowong Sawmills on Sherwood Road in about 1891, and his weatherboard house from around 1895 is on Brisbane's heritage register. Old weatherboards are a good reason to keep termite inspections current.
Before you call it a pest
Brisbane City Council says all native species are protected under Queensland's Nature Conservation Act 1992, and that harming them in any way is a serious offence. So the first job with a noise overhead is working out what it is.
Introduced rats and mice are an ordinary pest job, and Queensland Government advice is to use a pest control business for them. Possums, gliders and microbats are a different conversation, and nobody should be blocking a gap until they know what's behind it.
Possum removal in Toowong
What people call possum removal in Queensland is really catch and release. An operator licensed for the work can catch a protected possum, then must let it go within 25 metres of the catch point.
A new possum often moves in, so Brisbane City Council's advice is to find the gaps, repair them, and hang a nesting box or hollow log in a nearby tree. It also strongly advises against feeding possums, because human food can be dangerous to them.
What's yours, and what isn't
You can
- Watch the roofline at dusk to see what comes out.
- Keep pet food inside overnight.
- Clear stored timber away from the house.
- Note the time and place of any noise.
Leave to a pest business
- A pest inspection on a house you're buying.
- Possum proofing, and lawful catch and release on your property.
- Rats, mice and cockroaches that keep coming back.
A pest inspection on a Toowong house
If you're buying, a building and pest inspection means two licences: the QBCC says a residential building inspector does one side and a pest controller does the termite side, and one person can do both only if they hold both. On a sloping block, ask how much of the subfloor they could reach.
Report any suspected fire ants before anything else: to Biosecurity Queensland, online or by phone, within 24 hours, under Queensland law.
If we lived under Mt Coot-tha
We'd work out what's in the roof before paying anyone to deal with it: an evening watching the roofline tells you a lot. Then we'd fix the way in and keep termite inspections up to date. If it's still a mystery, tell us what you've heard.
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.
