Living at the foot of the ranges
Forest on one side, farms on the other
Yarra Ranges Council says Healesville sits at the foothills of the national park and is surrounded by rural areas. Parks Victoria calls the park around town a heartland for some nocturnal possums and gliders, and says around 40 native mammals are known there, including the critically endangered Leadbeater's possum in the wider ranges.
Natives that pass for pests
The council warns you to make sure you've identified your pest correctly before reaching for a trap or bait, because the antechinus is protected. Bush rats and swamp rats are Victoria's most abundant native rodents, and rakali (water rats) may turn up too. Size, tail length, and ear shape and position are what separate them from introduced rats.
Snakes near water
The council says snakes are typically found in bushy areas near water, and they're protected under the Wildlife Act 1975. For one on private property, it says to contact a licensed snake handler. It won't remove snakes from public land.
Termites are a building rule here too
All of Yarra Ranges is designated as prone to termites, so new building work in Healesville has to be protected. That's about construction. It doesn't say anything about the timber in your place.
Something's in the roof or shed. What now?
Watch from outside
Note when you hear it, and watch the roofline from the garden at dusk.
Take photos, not samples
Photograph droppings, tracks or the animal from a distance. It helps a technician tell an antechinus from a mouse, or a bush rat from a black rat.
Hold off on traps and bait
Wait until you know what it is. A guess can hurt a protected animal.
Put food away
Store pet food and animal feed in sealed tins, and clear fallen fruit.
Then call the right person
Tell us what you've found, or go to a snake handler or beekeeper if that's the job.
Wasps and bees around town
Yarra Ranges says a European wasp nest on your property is one for a professional. Keep people and pets well away, and call 000 if someone stung has trouble breathing. Our wasp nest page explains what the treatment involves.
Bees get gentler handling. The council doesn't remove them unless they pose a serious risk to public safety, and a swarm is usually a beekeeper's to collect. See our bee page for Melbourne for when a colony in a wall changes that.
What we'd do in Healesville
Don't assume. Work out what it is, then match it to the right person: a pest business for rats, mice, wasps and termites, a licensed snake handler for a snake, and a beekeeper for a swarm. If you're not sure which you've got, tell us what you saw and we'll start there.
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.
