Darling Downs editionFive reportsChecked 8 October 2026
The Toowoomba pest report: mice, termites and the roof
Five plain reports on pests in and around a Downs house: a mouse plague and the clean-up after one, the termites that damage timber in Queensland, the thing moving about in the ceiling, and bed bugs in a guest room.
A guide published by Dotto from the sources listed at the foot of each page, chiefly Queensland Government pages and NSW Health’s factsheets.
Figures from the sources
- ~10
Native subterranean termite species that damage timber in Queensland, by Business Queensland’s count.
- 7 / 15 mm
Rat droppings run to about 7 mm long; a brushtail possum’s to more than 15 mm, says the Queensland Government’s possum page.
- 4
Kinds of illness people can catch from mice, as NSW Health’s mouse plague factsheet lists them.
- 2013
The fourth edition of Australia’s bed bug code of practice, the one this site describes, was published in March 2013.
The five reports
- Report 1Mouse plagues and the household
Who in a house is most at risk in a plague, what to mention to a doctor, the difference between a farm bait and a house bait, and keeping mice out of the tank.
- Report 2Cleaning up after mice
NSW Health’s clean-up steps quoted whole, the reason behind each one, and what to do about a mouse in a rainwater tank.
- Report 3Termite species in Queensland
Coptotermes, Schedorhinotermes, the giant northern termite and the drywood species: where in the state each is found, and how an expert tells them apart.
- Report 4Rat or possum in the roof?
A scurry or a thump, a nest or none, droppings by the millimetre, and a sheet of newspaper that shows where it gets in.
- Report 5Bed bugs in accommodation
For anyone who lets rooms, from a motel to a guest house: what the code of practice asks of the business before, during and after a guest finds a bed bug.
Black soil, and why it does not let a house off
The Queensland Government’s fact sheet on subterranean termites has one sentence a reader on black soil will want to see:
“The physical characteristics of heavy soils such as the black earths of inland Queensland (that crack deeply and widely in dry conditions and become waterlogged after rain), do not favour termite survival.”
Subterranean termites in Queensland, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2019
The same fact sheet does not let anyone stop there. Species that damage timber in buildings occur throughout the state, it says, and in practice any structure containing wood is exposed to possible subterranean termite attack, in a city, a suburb or out in the country, unless protective measures are taken. One of the two most serious pest species in Queensland, Coptotermes acinaciformis, occurs throughout the state. Report 3 sets out the species and where each one lives.
One state’s rule, named as that state’s
This is a Queensland site, so the rules on termites and possums here come from Queensland’s own pages and laws. On mice, the household advice used here is NSW Health’s factsheet on staying healthy during a mouse plague; the two mouse reports name it as NSW Health’s each time it is quoted, and add Queensland Health’s pages where they speak to the same point.