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Sometimes rats and mice can cause concern for residents.
There are some precautions that can be taken to prevent or deter rodents from your property.
Rats and mice have the potential to transmit diseases and contaminate food and utensils. They can also damage buildings by gnawing conduits and wiring.
Rodents are constantly looking for shelter and food sources. For this reason, they are not limited to any one area within the Northern Grampians municipality or one type of property.
Signs of mice or rats on your property:
Rats can be discouraged and controlled by denying them food and shelter. This information is supplied to help residents assist council to reduce rodent activity. However, it does not guarantee the total elimination of rodents in the Northern Grampians Shire area.
These simple precautions will prevent or help get rid of rodents:
If you have been baiting at your property and a problem continues for more than a couple of weeks, you may want to speak to adjoining property owners about this ongoing neighbourhood problem. If you are not sure how to approach your neighbour about this issue, there is helpful information at the Reaching Agreement website.
You may want to contact a pest control professional if you have an ongoing issue with rodents on your property.
We can provide advice on how to reduce or treat a rodent problem on your property.
If the problem is ongoing and you can not reach an agreement with your neighbour, we can assist you.
For liability reasons we cannot provide bait to residents, and can not engage the services of a pest control contractor on private land.
If you wish to make a complaint regarding rodent activity please contact our public health team on 03 5358 8700.
The Victorian Government and Northern Grampians Shire Council are working together to reduce mosquito numbers.
Council has joined 16 other higher risk and flood-affected councils across rural Victoria to combat the spread of mosquitoes this summer.
The councils have received a special funding package to expand mosquito control activities and help prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
Heavy rainfall over the winter months creates ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes that can spread disease. High numbers of mosquitoes will continue over the summer months across rural Victoria.
Mosquitoes can carry diseases such as Ross River virus, Barmah Forest virus, and Murray Valley Encephalitis (MVE) – all serious, infectious and potentially life-threatening in the case of MVE.
We are taking action to reduce mosquito numbers by expanding our annual surveillance and mosquito management activities and community education programs.
Council is conducting activities ranging from trapping mosquitoes to identify types and estimate numbers, to using control agents such as larvicides to stop mosquito larvae from growing.
The annual ‘Beat the Bite’ campaign urges all Victorians to take simple steps to protect themselves and their family from mosquito bites.
The campaign’s top tips to ‘Beat the Bite’ are:
Limit outdoor activity at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active.
If you have any concerns about your health, talk to your doctor or call NURSE-ON-CALL on 1300 606 024. For more information visit, Better Health Channel.
Some information on fruit flies and how to avoid infestation.
By summer (December to February), fruit flies are likely to be at their most active. In warmer regions, they might have already completed a full life cycle or more, while in cooler areas they might only just be becoming active.
At this time of year, adult flies are feeding, breeding, searching for suitable hosts and laying eggs in suitable host crops. If unabated, eggs are larvae develop in fruit and vegetables.
Pick the fruit with maggots present and place them in a black plastic bag in the sun for two to three days. Then dispose of the plastic bag in the general waste bin.
Preventative measures may include purchasing traps or netting. Fruit fly or insect proof netting is much finer than bird netting and can be bought from some specialist garden centres and online retailers.
Additionally, to stop the fruit flies from penetrating fruit it may be beneficial to pick the fruit a little unripe as it is much more difficult for the fruit to be penetrated and infested. Allow for the tomatoes/fruit to ripen inside.
Wasps and bees can be a problem at certain times of the year. If they are on your private property then it is your responsibility to control or remove them. This usually requires engaging a private pest controller at your own expense.
Once again, it is the responsibility of the land owner to control the problem and make the area safe. Council monitors public areas for infestation of wasps and request that new swarms or nests be reported to us for monitoring and treatment.
Some seasons are worse than others and early reporting of infestations is critical for treatment to be administered. If you see any unusual activity on public land please report it to council's environmental health team to be followed up on 03 5358 8700 or by emailing health@ngshire.vic.gov.au.