Are there European wasps in Perth?

Not as a settled population. DPIRD finds and destroys nests each season, most of them in metropolitan Perth, and asks you to report a suspected nest rather than treat it. Paper wasps are the ones a pest business deals with; our Perth wasp page shows the difference.

Is there a register of WA pest businesses I can search?

Not publicly. The Chief Health Officer doesn't have to open the register for inspection, but may share its information on request. You can ask the business for its Department of Health registration number, which should also be on the vehicle.

Do you cover Mandurah and the hills?

Yes. Start with what you've seen and your postcode, wherever you are in the metro area, the hills or down to Mandurah.

Pest control Perth: termites, spiders and the wasp rules

What's different in Perth

A termite inspection every year

WA's Building and Energy recommends a termite inspection by a pest controller at least once a year, and a look around your own place every six months. The first sign is often a wafer thin mud tunnel running over timber.

European wasps are the state's job

DPIRD, the state agriculture department, has kept European wasps from settling in WA since 1977, and 95% of the nests it has found were in metropolitan Perth. Report a suspected one to DPIRD or through the MyPestGuide Reporter app. Paper wasps are an ordinary pest job.

Rats and mice are the occupier's duty

WA Health says property owners and renters are legally responsible for keeping rats and mice from living on the property, under the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1911. A pest business can help you meet it.

Mosquitoes in some years

WA Health says Ross River and Barmah Forest virus risk in southern WA can reach parts of the Perth metropolitan area in some years, mostly between September and May. That's a health matter for WA Health; emptying standing water is the part you control.

The jobs Perth asks about

Termite inspections and treatments come first, then inspections for people buying a home, bees that have moved into a wall, ants, rats and mice, paper wasp nests, spiders, possums in the roof, pigeons and cockroaches. Each one has its own Perth page with what to ask and what the job usually involves.

The metro area is big, from Wanneroo and Joondalup in the north to Rockingham and Armadale in the south and Mundaring in the hills, and some suburbs have their own page too. Mandurah and the Perth hills are two of them.

Summer spiders, and which ones matter

Redbacks are less common in winter, and the Australian Museum says bites happen most over summer, when people are out in the garden and moving things that have sat still. White-tailed spiders wander indoors through summer and autumn; one species lives right across southern Australia, Western Australia included.

A huntsman on the lounge room wall isn't a reason to call anyone. Redbacks building up around a sandpit, the shed or the outdoor setting are. Our Perth spider page goes through which is which.

How WA licenses pest work

In WA, a technician needs a pest management technician licence, endorsed with the kinds of treatment they're qualified to do, and they must work for a business registered with the Department of Health. Every vehicle used for treatments has to show the business name and registration number, in letters at least 50 mm high.

WA's business register isn't open for public inspection. WA Health suggests asking the business for its registration number and looking at the back of the technician's licence card, where any conditions are listed. The WA rules page has the detail.

Getting the house ready for a Perth technician

Move anything stored against the outside walls, so the slab edge and weep holes can be seen.
Agree which parts of the house and yard get treated and which don't; a quick sketch of the block helps.
Cover or bring in outdoor furniture, toys and pet bowls if the treatment is outside.
Ask how long people and pets should stay off treated areas, and what activity is normal for the next few days.

Our take on pests in Perth

If your Perth house hasn't had a termite inspection in the last year, that's where we'd begin, because termites work out of sight. For everything else, tap 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.

What have you seen?