Do you cover Noosa and the hinterland?

You can send an enquiry from anywhere in Australia, so Noosa, Caloundra and the hinterland towns are all fine. Give your postcode with what you've seen.

Can a pest business stop biting midges?

Be wary of anyone who promises that. Midges are tied to the mangroves and tidal flats near you, so ask what a treatment can realistically change before paying for one.

Who deals with fire ants on my block?

You report them to Biosecurity Queensland first, within 24 hours, by phone or online. Our form doesn't take fire ant jobs, so please don't send them to us.

Pest control Sunshine Coast: termites, midges, fire ants

What's different on the Sunshine Coast

Fire ants have turned up here

Sunshine Coast Council says fire ants have been found on the Coast, with treatment covering an area up to 5 km out from each detection. The council asks residents to report suspected ants and nests to Biosecurity Queensland within 24 hours.

Soil, hay and mulch

The council also asks people to restrict moving soil, hay, quarry and landscaping products. If you're bringing in turf or giving away fill, look at the ground first, and report anything that looks like a fire ant mound before the load goes anywhere.

Mosquitoes are the landholder's job

The mosquito breeding season here peaks from September to May, and numbers rise after wet weather or tide triggers. Sunshine Coast Council doesn't spray adult mosquitoes around homes, and breeding on residential land is the landholder's responsibility.

Midges near the mangroves

Biting midges are most active between September and April, the council says, particularly in suburbs close to mangroves and intertidal zones. If that's you, ask any pest business plainly what a yard treatment would change before you agree to one.

Termites in mud galleries

Business Queensland lists Coptotermes acinaciformis and Schedorhinotermes species as termites found throughout Queensland that tunnel above ground in enclosed mud galleries to reach a house. That's why inspectors spend so long where the slab, stumps and timber meet the soil.

What people on the Coast ask about

Termite work leads: inspections, treatment, and the termite half of a building and pest inspection for buyers. See termites on the Sunshine Coast and pre purchase pest inspections. After those come rats, mice and possums in the ceiling, cockroaches, spiders and wasp nests, which are covered on our possums and rat and mouse pages.

Spring to early summer is when bees swarm in Queensland. A swarm hanging off a branch or fence is usually something a local beekeeping club can advise on; bees moving in and out of a wall or roof are a pest business job.

Two councils, the same state rules

The Sunshine Coast is split between Sunshine Coast Council and Noosa Shire Council. The pest rules don't change at the boundary, because they're Queensland's: a pest management licence from Queensland Health to apply pesticides for a fee, and QBCC licence classes for termite management work on buildings.

Fire ant reporting is state law too. Anyone who knows of fire ants in Queensland must report them within 24 hours, wherever on the Coast they live. Our Queensland page has the licence and wildlife rules in full.

Before the wet season

Walk around the house looking for mud leads on stumps, piers and the slab edge, without touching any you find.
Clear gutters and tip out pot saucers, trailers and boat covers that hold water after storms.
Stack firewood and leftover building timber off the ground and away from the walls.
Leave soil, mulch and hay where they are if you've spotted suspect ants, until you've made the report.

Where we'd start with pests on the Sunshine Coast

If the house hasn't had a termite inspection in the past year, we'd start there, because that's how often the QBCC suggests having one. Mosquitoes and midges are mostly about where you live and the season; for anything you can see or hear, tap it 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?