Parliament House refit stirs up rats in the ranks

They have endured a leadership spill, poison and months of uncertainty. And on Monday, upper house president Bruce Atkinson denounced the vermin of Melbourne’s Parliament House as a growing problem that needed to be fixed. ‘‘There are rats and mice [everywhere]. In our own homes I’m sure we’ve all got little colonies somewhere,’’ he told a parliamentary hearing. Mr Atkinson said recent renovations to the sweeping front steps of Parliament House had disturbed the vermin, sending them scurrying through the grand old building. The revelations have confirmed what many have known for a long time – there are indeed rats in the ranks. Henrietta Cook

Cool nights bring rats, mice

As the weather begins to cool in much of Australia, some of our most hated house guests – rats and mice – are busy searching for a warmer spot to sleep, and many will find it in a wall cavity, snuggled up in ceiling insulation or curled behind a fridge.

In Sydney, pest controller Rodrigo Matamala says he's seen a spike in calls in recent weeks, mostly from people concerned about rats in their rooves.

He normally receives calls about rats from May to July, but this year the phone started ringing in March.

"We've been experiencing about a 300 per cent increase in calls – just for rodents," says Matamala, owner of Easy On Earth Pest Control.
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"They are mammals, just like us, so they're ... looking for shelter.

"They tend to pee and poo and breed in the same spot, and because the [ceiling] insulation is so thick, a lot of people have really no idea that they have been living with them until the gyprock in the ceiling collapses or the smell is really bad."

In Melbourne, Simon Dixon, owner of Exopest, says he's been getting more calls from people seeing mice in their homes.

"It's the small house mouse we're seeing coming inside," Dixon says.

"[There's been] no real increase in rats yet, but the mice are normally first in, they feel the cold the most."

Good growing conditions for plants over the summer and autumn means there is plenty of food around for rodents, says Dixon.

"There's ideal breeding conditions," he says.

The major challenge with keeping rodents out is they can fit through surprisingly small holes.

"A mouse can get through a hole the size of a pencil," says Dixon.

Rats, explains Matamala, have "very flexible bones" and common black rats – often called roof rats – can squeeze through a finger-width hole.

Matamala says the first thing all householders should do is check entry points and seal them up. He prefers a strong mesh (available from hardware stores) to block holes in areas such as the walls and eaves.

Chicken wire has traditionally been used to try to thwart rats but Matamala says it is too weak.

"From my experience a lot of the pest controllers try to push it into a gap but these creatures are quite smart so what we've been finding is that when we do the inspections ... the creature has grabbed the whole mesh and just ripped it apart and put it to the side, and then used the same gap again.

"Half of their family might be still in the cavity so then they're trying to save them, so they'll go the extra mile to actually remove the mesh if it's not properly screwed to the wall."

Matamala says timber is no good for blocking holes as rats can gnaw through it, just as they can with plastic.

Dixon says steel wool can be used to block smaller holes.

"Steel wool is very good, they won't gnaw through that – it's too sharp," he says.

If using steel wool, Dixon says it's important to "stuff it in quite hard as rats can pull it aside".

Dixon also recommends spray-in expandable foam.

Matamala favours using chemical treatments – in the form of rodent baits in tamper proof stations – only when physical barriers fail or entry points can't easily be sealed up.

Dixon, however, says it's a good idea for homeowners to strike pre-emptively as we head towards winter. He suggests baiting areas including the ceiling cavity, behind the fridge and under the dishwasher before rodents have a chance to set up home indoors.

Get rid of unwanted pests before you buy a property

It's going to be a boom year for termites (aka "white ants"), so if you're planning to buy property, find out if these mini wood-munchers are already in residence.

Simon Dixon, an entomologist and director of pest control company Exopest, was recently named Australian pest manager of the year. He advises buyers to invest between $350 and $550 on a prepurchase timber pest inspection

"The secrets of a house lie underneath and future buyers don't go underneath," Mr Dixon says.

"This country has the most voracious, aggressive species of termites in the world. Conditions in Melbourne this year are ideal for termite infestation because there's a lot of moisture in the ground. It's therefore easier for them to forage and tunnel to find food."

Mr Dixon says Exopest inspects for termites, borers and fungal decay during an inspection normally arranged through the selling agent.

"We look for structural insect pests that threaten the integrity of the house. Too often we see people having to spend $20,000 or $30,000 to replace subfloors because of termites, or decay through poor sub-floor ventilation."

"We often find ducted heating that's broken or chewed into by rodents, disconnected sewers and even shower basins that were never connected in the first place.

"We don't like tick-box reports. We do a full, hand-held report on PDA [palm computer] with digital photos. You get a lot of bang for your buck."

Mr Dixon says Melbourne's termite hot-spots include the bayside suburbs, where termites can forage easily in the sandy soils, former orchard and market-garden areas such as Croydon, Doncaster and Donvale and green-wedge suburbs where large gum trees still stand.

It's more lilkely to be rats in the belfry, possums

IF YOU live in one of Melbourne's older suburbs or near the bay, that scratching noise in your roof or walls could be a possum or a bird - but given the time of year it's more likely to be a rat.

According to experts, Melbourne is entering its ''rat season'' when cooler weather sends the rodents scurrying indoors.

Paul and Maruta Rodan of Malvern have seen plenty of rats recently. For a while, their 12-year-old cat Chloe was bringing one home every night.

''In our part of the world every time a house is bought it is more often than not demolished and most houses have some rats that have to go somewhere and many of them go straight down the cat's mouth,'' Mr Rodan said.

Chloe has been happily making the most of it, catching rats to her heart's content. ''Over the course of a couple of weeks there would have been eight or nine, sometimes it was virtually every night.''

Ms Rodan said rats preferred to call leafy suburbs like Malvern home.

''In the so-called better suburbs, there are more rats here than in the ones with concrete gardens,'' she said.

Nigel Williamson has been ''dealing'' with rats for 25 years. The former RSPCA employee runs an animal rescue business and he gets many calls to deal with possums in roofs. But more often than not it's rats.

Mr Williamson said 95 per cent of homes he visits in Melbourne show evidence of rats. His experience is backed up by figures released by Archicentre last year that revealed up to 90 per cent of houses inspected in some council areas contained evidence of rats or mice.

''Now that the heat of the summer has gone, the weather has changed and the rats are now going into people's roofs; our work load has certainly increased threefold,'' Mr Williamson said.

He said rats cause millions of dollars worth of damage. ''I reckon there should be a massive baiting program going on around Australia to eradicate rattus rattus out of Australia, which is an introduced species,'' he said.

He urged home owners to set baits. ''You have got no idea you have got rats until something goes wrong; they have chewed a wire, an electrical light or a power point doesn't work any more,'' he said.

Mr Williamson said older suburbs and those close to the beach or with lots of greenery were more likely to have rats.

''Look at the green wedge belt that goes from St Kilda all the way down the coast to Mornington; there is a green corridor down through Brighton, Sandringham, Beaumaris, Black Rock, that has always been our number one area for rats - two to three kilometres from the shoreline of Port Phillip Bay,'' he said.

Kingston Council has been setting baits for rats for 16 years in 12 sites along the 13 kilometres of Kingston foreshore. Port Phillip council and the City of Melbourne are also believed to bait rats. Malvern has Chloe.

Mice in kitchen? No worries, stay open for 5 months

Mice in kitchen? No worries, stay open for 5 months By RICHARD BAKER
AGE INVESTIGATE UNIT

A DEAD mouse in a home-made trap, rodent droppings, cigarette butts and uncovered food in a filthy refrigerator were just some of the things City of Glen Eira cadet enviromental health officer Lachlan Northey found when he inspected Glen Huntly's Gourmet Inn last year.

Click here to view full report >>

Operators of Chinatown restaurants in hotpot over poor hygiene

Operators of Chinatown restaurants in hotpot over poor hygiene
By STEVE BUTCHER

The propietor of a popular Melbourne Chinatown restaurant has been fined $40,000 for food, cooking and hygiene conditions a magistrate said "you would not find in a kennel".

Click here to view full report >>

There's a cockroach in my soup (but don't tell the neighbours)

There's a cockroach in my soup (but don't tell the neighbours)
Get a grip - it's the drought bringing in the roaches, not bad housekeeping or dirty habits, writes PAUL HEINRICHS.

The meek will inherit the Earth but they won't have it to themselves: cockroaches, say the boffins, are many times more capable of surviving an atomic bomb than mere humans. But it turns out that the unsavoury critters are struggling with climate change, too.

Small price to pay for peace of mind

Small price to pay for peace of mind
A pre-purchase inspection can prevent lots of headaches, reports David Adams.

Try as we might to be emotionally detached, when most of us are looking to buy a house or an apartment, the property's overt attractiveness is often a big part of the appeal.But it's what we can't see - whether the home is structually sound, whether there is rising damp in the walls and whether the wiring is up to standard, for example - that can cause the biggest headaches.

Hard nosed business relies on local software

Hard nosed business relies on local software. Many people confuse the terms, "regimentation" and "discipline" and tend to use one when they mean the other.

Simon Dixon, owner and technical director of Melbourne based Exopest, understands the difference and knows which philosophy he values most highly: strive for excellence.

Exopest was formed in July 1985 when four pest managers, Simon Dixon, Laurie Agan, Bob Rennie and Greg Donnison, left Antipest (formerly Rentokil) to strkie out on their own.

Termites early on the bite

Termites early on the bite
HOME owners face millions of dollars of damage from an early attack of termites.

Warmer weather and drought conditions have brought termite season froward this year.

And authorities have revealed Melbourne's six worst suburbs for termite infestation.

One in five homes in Wantirna, Newport, Monbulk, Armadale, Frankstone and Greensborough has a termite problem, building advisory service...

Eaten away by non-existent problem

Eaten away by non-existent problem
Termites are attacking the suburbs but some councils won't admit it, writes Clay Lucas.

VICTORIA'S termite problem has become so bad the whole state could be designated termite prone, a move that could push up new home prices.

The building Commission, the state government body that oversees building laws, is investigating the alarmingly high levels of termite attacks in the state. Each council has the legal discretion to declare a termite proble.