Is Ross River virus a pest control problem?

It's a health one, and WA Health tracks it and gives the advice. A pest business can treat around the yard, but clearing standing water and avoiding bites (long, loose, light coloured clothes and repellent, healthdirect says) matter more.

Do you cover Australind and Capel?

Yes. Start with what you've seen and your postcode, wherever you are around Bunbury.

How do I tell a European wasp from a paper wasp?

DPIRD describes the European wasp as bright lemon yellow with black stripes, yellow legs and black antennae, about the size of a honey bee, and easy to mistake for a yellow paper wasp. Our Perth wasp page has a side by side.

Pest control Bunbury: mosquitoes, termites and bees

What's different around Bunbury

The highest mosquito virus risk in the south

WA Health names the coastal plain between Mandurah and Busselton, which takes in Bunbury, as the highest risk area for Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses in southern WA, during spring and summer. People living within three kilometres of salt marshes or brackish wetlands are at greater risk.

A season that starts early

On 29 October 2025, WA Health reported the season's first Ross River virus detection in South West mosquitoes, and six of the state's 24 notifications since July had come from the South West. The viruses are most active from September to May.

European wasps turn up here

DPIRD lists Bunbury, Australind and Capel among the regional towns where European wasp nests have been found, and in the 2025 to 2026 season the City of Bunbury was one of 14 local government areas with nests found and destroyed. If you suspect one, contact DPIRD or use MyPestGuide Reporter, and leave the nest alone.

Mosquitoes: whose job is it?

Mosquito-borne virus is a public health matter, and WA Health is the place for health advice. A pest business can treat around a yard, but no treatment can promise to keep a virus away.

The part you control is standing water. NSW Health says mosquito eggs need it for about a week, so tip out pot plant bases, buckets, toys and bird baths at least weekly, keep gutters clear and screen rainwater tanks. Our mosquito control page covers what a yard treatment involves.

Buying a home in Bunbury

A building and pest inspection is two jobs. The building inspector looks at the structure; the timber pest inspector looks for termites and the damp, clutter and timber-to-soil contact that invite them. Ask who does which half.

WA's Consumer Protection recommends a White Ant Certificate clause in the Offer and Acceptance when you buy an existing home. Our pre-purchase inspections page explains what the report should cover.

Bees: swarm or squatters?

A swarm hanging from a branch or a fence post is usually resting on its way somewhere else, and a beekeeper is the usual call if it stays. Bees flying in and out of one gap in a wall, eave or roof have moved in, and that's a job for a pest business.

Either way, keep children and pets back, and don't hose or smoke them. Call 000 for anyone stung who then struggles to breathe, or whose tongue or throat swells.

Around a Bunbury house before summer

Tip out water from pot bases, buckets, toys and blocked gutters at least once a week.
Check flyscreens on windows and doors, and the mesh on rainwater tank openings.
Keep garden beds and mulch from banking up against the walls and weep holes.
Book the yearly termite inspection that WA's Building and Energy recommends, if it's due.

If it were our house in Bunbury

We'd get the water out of the yard before spring and the termite inspection booked before summer. Anything you can see, hear or find in the wall, 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?