Is Gympie in the fire ant zone?

We don't say whether any town or suburb is in or out of a zone, because zones change. Gympie Regional Council says fire ants have been found just south of the region. Check the current zone with the National Fire Ant Eradication Program.

Can a pest business treat fire ants?

Report first; that's the law in Queensland. Logan City Council lists hiring a pest manager as one treatment option, but the report always comes before anything else, and our form doesn't take fire ant jobs.

Do you cover the Mary Valley and Cooloola Coast?

Yes. Tell us your postcode and what you've seen, from the Mary Valley to the coast.

Pest control Gympie: fire ants, termites and possums

Think you've seen fire ants?

In Queensland you must report suspected fire ants within 24 hours. Contact the National Fire Ant Eradication Program or report online, and keep children and pets away from the nest. Our form doesn't take fire ant jobs and doesn't replace that report.

What's different around Gympie

Fire ants just to the south

Gympie Regional Council says fire ants have been found at sites just south of the Gympie region. We can't tell you whether any address is inside a biosecurity zone, because zones change; the report line can.

How to recognise them

Business Queensland describes fire ants as small, 2 to 6 mm long, with a coppery brown head and body and a darker abdomen. If you see ants like that, photograph them from a distance and make the report.

Rainwater tanks breed mosquitoes

The council warns that rainwater tanks can give mosquitoes and midges ideal breeding conditions. Keeping every tank opening screened, and the screens intact, is the household fix.

Termites are state-wide

The subterranean termites that damage Queensland houses, Coptotermes and Schedorhinotermes, occur throughout the state, Business Queensland says. They reach timber inside enclosed mud galleries, so the first thing you'd notice is usually damage or a mud tube.

Bringing in soil, mulch or hay

The council says fire ants move easily in soil, baled hay or straw, mulch, manure, quarry products, turf and potted plants.
Ask your supplier where the material came from.
Check deliveries and new turf over the following weeks for ant activity.
If anything looks like fire ants, report it to the National Fire Ant Eradication Program before you spread or move it.

Possums in the roof

Possums are protected in Queensland. Where one is caught and let go by an operator allowed to do it, the release has to be within 25 metres of where it was caught, and the Queensland Government says another possum often takes its place, so the entry points need repairing. That's why proofing the roof is the real job.

Rats and mice are different: Queensland Government advice is to call a pest controller for non-native pest animals like these.

Buying in the Gympie region

The QBCC says a pre-purchase building inspection and a termite inspection need different licences, but both can be done at the same time by someone who holds both. It also says a building inspection isn't a warranty against future defects. Ask exactly what each report covers before you book.

If it were our block in Gympie

We'd report anything that looks like fire ants the day we saw it, screen the tank, and book a termite inspection if it's been more than a year. Possum in the roof or rats in the shed? 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?