Top 10 Common Australian Household Pests

Common Australian Household pests

One time or the other, you have to deal with unwanted animals in your home, and you know how frustrating it can be if they keep coming back. Common Australian Household pests invade, cause damage, contaminate your food, and carry diseases. Once you identify the problem, there are several ways you can deal with the pests with over the counter products and do it your home solutions.

Ants

Ants are the Common Australian Household pests and originated from wasp-like ancestors about 140 million years ago, there are over 22,000 species of ants in the world, but only 12,500 are classified. 1,300 out of the 22,000 live in Australia including:

• Argentine ants
• Black house ants
• Bull ants
• Carpenter ants
• Coastal brown ants
• Flying ants.

The best way to keep them away from your home is spraying pure lemon juice around openings, drawing a line around entry points with chalk, mopping the floors with a vinegar and water solution, and pouring cinnamon around areas where ants are getting into the house.

Cockroaches

Have you ever woken up at night to grab a glass of water, and just as you turn on the lights, cockroaches scatter all around, looking for the darkest corners to hide? Well, if you have, you know how horrifying it is. 450 species of the world’s cockroaches are found in Australia, but only three are common in households including the:

• Australian cockroach.
• German cockroach.
• American cockroach.

The best way to rid your home of roaches is by maintaining constant sanitation, eliminating the food source for the cockroaches (leftover in dirty plates and dustbin), getting rid of their water source (un-dried sinks and leaking pipes) and sealing all cracks around the house.

Fleas

If you have pets, you have most probably had to deal with fleas. These external parasites usually live in mammals and birds. The parasites survive by feeding on their host’s blood. They have sturdy hind legs that are adapted to jump distances up to 50 times their body size. In Australia, cat fleas and dog fleas are the most common species.

To keep fleas away from your home, you should first establish where they seem to be coming from, then you can use a flea and tick pesticide to clean your house and when washing your pets. Cleaning and vacuuming the house regularly also ensures that the fleas do not reproduce and spread in your home.

Ticks

Ticks are in the same class as the spider, Arachnida. 2 species of all are known to carry a variety of tick-borne diseases for humans and animals, including

• Bovine Babesiosis commonly referred to as Texas Fever
• Flinders Island spotted fever
• Lyme disease.

Ticks are parasites that live on the bodies of mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. They feed on their host’s blood and are commonly found in warm, humid climates. Australia is home to 70 species, with 16 of them having been identified to feed on human blood. The most common species in Australia is the paralysis tick, which spreads tick-borne diseases.

You can use different methods to keep ticks away from your home, with the most effective one being dusting your house with pesticides and protecting your pets by spraying them with proper medication.

Bedbugs

Bedbugs are found all around the world and are known to be human parasites. They spend a lot of their time in dark and hidden locations, and they can survive up to a year without feeding.

There are 90 species of bedbugs, however, only three species – Cimex lectularius, Cimex hemipterus, and Leptocimex boueti – feed on human blood. Only two species of the wingless insect are found in Australia, the common bed bug and the tropical bed bug.

Bed bugs can be tough to control and treat. Still, they can be eradicated by multiple treatments using pesticides, targeting their hiding areas such as mattress seams, and between sofa cushions.

Silverfish

The silverfish is a small nocturnal insect that has a fish-like appearance and movement. They inhabit moist areas and are most likely to be found in basements, attics, bathtubs, kitchens, showers, and sinks. The species common in Australia is the firebrat, which is similar to silverfish but has molted gray and brown bodies.

There are many ways you can keep silverfish from your home. These include sprinkling boric acid in any areas in which you find them, making sticky traps with flour paste, water, and boric acid, fixing damp spots (leaking pipes, etc.), and frequently vacuuming the house.

Spiders

Like most, you probably feel chills run down your spine whenever you encounter a spider, don’t you? Spiders are found everywhere around the world except for Antarctica. Over 800 species are found in Australia, including the ambush hunters, Australian tarantulas, and cave cobweb spinners, etc.

Spiders can be controlled around households using insecticides and reducing favorable conditions like clutter in the yard and crawl spaces, which invite spiders.

Termites

Termites are in the same order as cockroaches, and studies show that there is a possibility they evolved from cockroaches. There are about 3,100 identified species around the globe, 360 of them, including the giant northern termite and subterranean termites, are found in Australia.

Liquid termiticides are used to prevent termites from entering your house, you can also clean your floors with vinegar to repel the insect, and you can pour borates around their entry points as well.

Wasps

If you have experienced a wasp sting, you know how excruciatingly painful it is. Wasps use the sting for defense and prey capture. The insect is in the family Vespidae, majority of wasp species are solitary. In Australia, there are about 10,000 species, which have different valuable roles in our eco-system. Out of the 10,000, only a few become household’s pests such as the European wasp and the English wasp.

A combination of clove-geranium-lemon grass oil blend mixed with a few drops can be sprayed around the house to keep the wasps away.

Rodents

Rats and mice will inhabit places such as sheds, garages, inside houses behind boxes, and shelves. These rodents can be a real menace in the house contaminating food and generating unpleasant odors. You can keep mice away from the house using traps and rodent poisons.

Conclusion

Pests can be very annoying to have in the house, but as you have seen there are several easy and straightforward methods you can use to keep Common Australian Household pests away from your house.