Think it might be fire ants?
Leave them alone: don't spray, dig or try to catch them. Take a clear photo or video and contact the NSW Biosecurity Helpline, or use the NSW Government's online form. If someone stung has trouble breathing, use their adrenaline autoinjector if they have one and call 000.
Ants in Sydney right now
Enfield, October 2026
The NSW Government reported a fire ant nest at the Enfield Intermodal Logistics Centre in the inner west on 13 October 2026, likely arrived by shipping container, and the nest was treated. Biosecurity control orders covering a 2 km radius took effect on 26 October 2026, with treatment of public areas running from 19 October to 30 November 2026, weather permitting.
Zones change, so we don't name suburbs
We won't tell you whether a street is inside or outside a fire ant area; the response can grow or shrink. Report anything suspicious and let the NSW Government decide.
Prohibited in NSW
Fire ants are prohibited matter under the NSW Biosecurity Act 2015, so they're never a job for a pest business. The NSW Government says an earlier incursion at a Botany port site in 2014 was successfully stamped out.
Singapore ants
WA's agriculture department lists the Singapore ant as established in NSW. Victoria's Health department says Singapore ants can nest in power sockets and chew wiring, and have caused electrical fires.
The everyday ants, side by side
| What it looks like | Where it nests | |
|---|---|---|
| Black house ant | Intensely black, 2.5 to 3 mm, strong smell when crushed | Paths and rockeries outside; ceilings, wall cavities and subfloors inside |
| Argentine ant | Slender and brown, 1.5 to 3 mm, no smell | Outside, moving indoors in wet weather; trails up tree trunks |
| Coastal brown ant | Shiny brown, with big-headed soldiers | Soil under lawns and paving |
| White-footed house ant | Shiny black, 2.8 to 3.5 mm | Wall cavities, behind cupboards and skirtings |
| Sugar ant | 5 to 15 mm, orange-brown middle, black head and abdomen | Soil and moist, rotting wood; rarely inside |
Your bit, and the technician's
You can
- Wipe benches, store sweet food in sealed containers and rinse the recycling.
- Follow a trail back to where it enters, and photograph a few ants close up.
- Hold off on surface sprays: for some species, such as Pharaoh's ants, Victoria's Health department says spraying splits the colony and makes things worse.
Leave to a pest business
- Nests in wall cavities, ceilings or under the slab.
- Ants coming out of power points or appliances.
- Argentine ants, which can move back into a treated area from next door within two weeks.
Where we'd start with ant control in Sydney
Small black ants on the bench: clean up and give it a week. Ants coming out of a power point, or trails that keep returning, are worth a visit: tap Spiders or ants. Anything that could be a fire ant goes to the NSW Biosecurity Helpline, not to us.
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.
