Is my suburb in the fire ant zone?

We don't say whether any suburb is in or out of a zone, because the response area and orders can change. If you see small, coppery brown ants with a mound of loose soil, report them to the NSW Biosecurity Helpline rather than to us.

Will the council deal with pests on my property?

Generally not. The City of Sydney, for example, baits rodents in public spaces but says vermin on private land are the landowner's responsibility. Councils across Sydney set their own programs, so check yours for public land.

Who can treat termites in NSW?

Anyone who got or renewed a NSW pest licence after 17 December 2021 needs the timber pest management technician licence to treat timber pests. An inspection that uses no pesticide doesn't need an EPA licence at all, so ask about qualifications and insurance too.

Do you cover all of Sydney?

Yes, from the Northern Beaches and the Hills to the south-west and the Sutherland Shire. Tell us your postcode with what you've seen.

Pest control in Sydney: roaches, termites and funnel-webs

A big black spider bite is an emergency

Call 000 for a bite from any big black spider in Sydney, and keep the person lying down and still until help arrives. Our Sydney spider page has the full funnel-web first aid.

What's different in Sydney

This is funnel-web country

The Sydney funnel-web's main range runs from the Central Coast south to the Georges River, with some records from the Blue Mountains and Wollongong. Males wander over summer and autumn looking for females, and the Australian Museum says they often fall into suburban pools.

Fire ants at Enfield

On 13 October 2026 the NSW Government reported fire ants at the Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre in the inner west, where a nest was treated. Control orders covering a 2 km radius came into effect on 26 October 2026. If you think you've seen fire ants anywhere, leave them alone, take a clear photo and contact the NSW Biosecurity Helpline.

The cockroach that won't quit

The Australian Museum calls the German cockroach the hardest pest cockroach to get rid of and the most troublesome in Sydney. It's the small amber one that lives in kitchens, not the big brown one that flies in on a hot night.

Saltmarsh mosquitoes

In the 2024 to 2025 season, the saltmarsh mosquito made up 61.5% of the 70,250 mosquitoes NSW Health trapped in metropolitan Sydney; many trap sites sit near major saltmarshes. NSW Health watches mosquitoes and the viruses they carry from November to April each year.

European wasps are settled in

European wasps are firmly established across metropolitan Sydney, the Australian Museum says, and they usually nest out of sight, in the ground or in a wall.

What Sydney asks about

Termites lead, especially for homes near bushland or with timber close to the ground; see termites in Sydney. Then come rats and mice in the roof, possums, German cockroaches and inspections for people buying a home, each with its own Sydney page below.

Smaller jobs follow the seasons: wasp nests from late summer, bee swarms in spring, and spiders turning up in garages and bathrooms through the warm months.

Apartments and strata blocks

In NSW, whoever arranges pest work in the common areas of a residential complex, including a strata managing agent, must give residents a pesticide use notice at least 5 working days before. Emergency work on biting or dangerous pests, such as rodents, wasps, bees, venomous spiders or fleas, can go ahead sooner if a notice is displayed and records are kept.

In NSW, the licence belongs to the person

The NSW EPA licenses individual pest technicians, never a business or business name, and every licence goes on a public register. Before work starts, the EPA suggests checking the technician's photo licence card, that the photo matches the person in front of you, and that it hasn't expired.

Our take on pests in Sydney

For most Sydney houses, a regular termite inspection is the one pest job worth booking before anything shows up. Everything else can wait until you've seen it: tap it, add your postcode, and the job goes to a nearby business that handles it.

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?