What's local to Pascoe Vale
The council's role
Merri-bek says it doesn't provide pest control services or sell pest control products. It does want to hear about bees or wasps on council property.
Pascoe Vale South is on the Buruli ulcer list
Better Health Channel and the Department of Health both name Pascoe Vale South. Pascoe Vale itself isn't named, but Better Health Channel says its list may not be complete, and the two suburbs share postcode 3044.
The timing catches people out
Merri-bek says people are most often exposed during the main mosquito season, early November to late April, and it usually takes 4 to 5 months to develop. So a sore that shows up in winter or spring can trace back to summer.
Moonee Ponds Creek
Merri-bek has sealed and extended the walkway along the creek from the Avoca Street footbridge, near Tate Park and Esslemont Reserve. If you walk it on summer evenings, wear repellent, since dawn and dusk are peak biting times.
Wasps and bees: what not to do
Merri-bek's advice on a wasp nest is short: never remove it yourself. If you're worried about a bee swarm, it says to contact an apiarist (a beekeeper). A nest in the ground is easy to step on, so mark the spot from a distance and keep kids and dogs off that part of the yard.
Anyone stung who has swelling of the face or throat, or trouble breathing, needs an ambulance on 000.
Who does what on your block
You can
- Reduce mosquitoes by emptying anything that holds water. Merri-bek says that lowers your risk of infection.
- Fit or fix insect screens on doors and windows.
- Keep bins closed and food put away, so rats and mice have less to come for.
- Take a photo of the nest or droppings from a distance.
Leave to a pest business
- Treating a European wasp nest.
- Working out what's in the ceiling, and how it got in.
- Proofing a roof against possums, within Victoria's rules.
Before a treatment
Better Health Channel says to stay away while pesticide is mixed and applied and until it's dry, generally four to six hours. Move pets out too. Ask for the full chemical name, and mention pregnancy, young children or allergies. Our before and after guide has the rest.
If we lived in Pascoe Vale
We'd sort the water in the yard before November, and leave any nest for someone with the right gear. If the sore or the sting is the worry, that's your GP or 000. For the pest itself, tell us what you've seen 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.
