Seen a snake near home?
Back away, keep children and pets clear, and don't try to catch or hurt it. It's illegal to harm snakes in Victoria, and this is a licensed snake catcher's job, not a pest business's. If someone's bitten, ring 000. While you wait, put on a pressure bandage, keep them still and leave the bite unwashed.
What's different by the bay
A termite zone that stops partway
Hobsons Bay says Williamstown, Newport and Spotswood are its declared termite prone areas, and that some of those suburbs are only partly zoned. So check with the council's Building Department before new work or a purchase, because two streets may differ. It's a building rule, not a termite map.
Jawbone
Jawbone Flora and Fauna Reserve runs from Bayview Street to Maddox Road, south of Kororoit Creek Road, with two wetland lakes and a salt marsh and mangrove conservation area. In 2023 Parks Victoria described a vibrant population of highly venomous tiger snakes there, adding that they usually just want to get away from people.
Salt water mosquitoes
Victoria's Department of Health says a salt water loving mosquito along the coast can spread Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses, and that coastal areas start their season earlier and finish later than inland. No yard treatment reaches a salt marsh, so repellent and covering up at dawn and dusk do the work.
Spring swarms
Hobsons Bay says bees swarm in spring, often in football sized clusters on trees and shrubs, and have been known to cover parked cars. They generally move on with a change in the weather. If one stays, it's a beekeeper's job.
Who deals with what in Hobsons Bay
Residents and landowners are responsible for bee hives and wasp nests on their own properties, the council says. It will remove them on reserves and roadsides if there's a risk to community safety. So a nest on your fence line is yours to arrange with a pest controller of your choice, and one in a nearby reserve is the council's.
Buying or building in Williamstown
Ask the Building Department whether the property sits inside the zone, then book a timber pest inspection whatever the answer. Consumer Affairs Victoria says buyers should consider a professional pest inspection and be wary of reports offered by the agent or seller. A building inspection is a separate job, done by a different profession.
Termites are noticed through damaged wood and mud tubes far more often than wings. If you find either, leave them undisturbed and photograph them from where you stand.
What you can do, and what to hand over
You can
- Empty pot bases, buckets and blocked gutters so container mosquitoes have nowhere to breed.
- Keep grass short and clear rubbish from around sheds and back fences.
- Store timber off the ground and away from the walls.
Leave to a pest business
- Inspecting for termites and reporting in writing.
- Treating a wasp nest on your property.
- Finding how rats or possums are getting into the roof.
If it were our house in Williamstown
Ring the council's building team about the zone, then get the inspection done regardless. For anything you can see or hear inside, tell us what it is and your postcode. Anything with scales goes to a snake catcher.
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.
