What shapes pests in Mooroolbark
A termite rule that reaches your extension
Yarra Ranges says it's designated as an area where buildings are prone to termites, and all building work must be protected, with garages, carports and non habitable outbuildings left out. If you're adding a room, raise termite management with your builder early. It's a building rule, though, so it tells you nothing about what's in your own walls.
Brushy Creek, mostly out of sight
The council's 2011 structure plan called Brushy Creek a largely hidden creek system, with much of it piped and lost to view. The trail still runs 5km from Maroondah Highway to the station. If your fence backs on to that corridor, keep rubbish and standing water away from it, because rats like creek banks and mosquitoes like still water.
Sheds, scrap and compost
Yarra Ranges says black and brown rats nest in floors and walls and turn up in sheds, piles of scrap materials and compost heaps, and it lists shrubs, hedges and roofs too. Most of those are in your control, which is the good news.
Homes beside industry
The council describes Mooroolbark as residential, industrial and commercial, with industry generally in the north east, and Greenslopes Reserve, Hookey Park and Esther Park as its main open spaces. If rodents keep coming back, ask the technician to look past your own fence line as well.
A weekend walk around the yard
- Check beside the compost for burrows, and keep it covered.
- Clear scrap timber and old boxes out of the shed, or lift them off the floor.
- Cut hedges and shrubs back from the walls, so nothing can shelter against the house.
- Pick up fallen fruit and feed pets indoors, two of the council's own tips for keeping European wasps away.
- Look along the slab edge and weep holes for mud tubes, and leave any you find alone.
If it's a wasp nest
On your own land, Yarra Ranges says to call a professional, because wasps can sting repeatedly, especially if the nest is disturbed. Keep kids and pets away in the meantime. Anyone stung who struggles to breathe, or whose face or throat swells, needs 000.
On council land, the council will treat a nest if it can be found and isn't too high off the ground. It needs the exact spot, since wasps can fly a long way from home. Our wasp nest page for Melbourne covers what a treatment involves.
What we'd do about pests in Mooroolbark
If an extension is coming, sort out termite management with the builder before work starts. If something's scratching at night, tidy the shed and compost first, then tell us what you're hearing with your postcode, and a technician can work out whether it's rats, mice or a possum.
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.
