What's different in Croydon
A termite designation across the whole city
On 14 April 2005, Maroondah City Council designated its entire municipality as likely to be attacked by termites. It's a building rule: structural work has to protect against termites under AS 3660.1-2000, unless it's a detached garage, carport or similar outbuilding. It says nothing about whether your street has them.
Look for the notice near the meter box
Council says a durable notice goes on the building once barriers are in, in or near the meter box, telling occupants the system should be inspected and maintained. Just bought in Croydon? Go and find it. Council also points out that barriers don't stop termite activity on the block itself.
Bush at the end of the street
Grandfill Reserve on Webster Avenue is a 1.5 ha sanctuary in Croydon's birdlife corridor, and Barngeong Reserve links to the Brushy Creek Trail. Maroondah says ringtail possums love stringybark eucalypts and are feeding hard enough to add to canopy dieback, so seeing them in the garden isn't unusual.
Who looks after what here
Maroondah doesn't help with pests on private land and suggests a pest control company. It can step in on Council land where bees, wasps or mosquitoes may put health or safety at risk. Bees or wasps on a power pole go to SP Ausnet.
Mosquitoes are partly on you: Council says an owner or occupier must take reasonable steps to control any breeding ground on the property. Rats are more of a street conversation. Council doesn't bait parks or drains, and it says working with your neighbours is how rodent problems get sorted.
A spring walk around a Croydon house
- Find the termite notice, and any record of when the system was last inspected.
- Keep mulch and garden beds below the weep holes (the small gaps low in a brick wall).
- Tip out saucers, buckets and anything else holding rainwater in the yard.
- Watch for branches that give a possum an easy bridge onto the roof.
What we'd do in Croydon
If the house has a termite system, we'd book the inspection that notice asks for before anything else. For whatever you can hear or see today, tell us what it is and 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.
