Ants are highly developed social insects that live together in colony nests. Australia is home to more than 1300 different ant species.

Several different species of ant are commonly found in the Brisbane area. Depending on the species, ants can nest in soil, timber, under pavers, in wall cavities and roof voids. 

Ants will travel long distances in search of food.

Ants are most active in summer and after rain as they are in search of food to store for the colder winter months.

Bedbugs are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of animals or humans.  After feeding, however, their bodies swell and are a reddish color.  Female bedbugs may lay hundreds of eggs, each of which is about the size of a speck of dust, over a lifetime. 
Immature bedbugs, called nymphs, shed their skins five times before reaching maturity and require a meal of blood before each shedding. Under favorable conditions the bugs can develop fully in as little as a month and produce three or more generations per year.
Although they are a nuisance, they do not transmit diseases.

Whilst bees are not normally classified as a pest, if they build their hives insde your wall cavity or outside of your house they can cause a lot of damage and there is a high probability of being stung. Professional treatment may be required to remove bees from places such as cavity walls, letterboxes etc.

Cockroaches are cold-blooded insects that thrive in warm, humid conditions. This is why buildings in Queensland are particularly prone to infestations.

Cockroaches eat a wide range of food, including rotting garbage, and it is believed that they spread a number of diseases to humans including salmonella and gastroenteritis. There is now some evidence that they can also cause allergies.

Fleas are tiny dark brown parasitic insects that infest the coat and skin of pets. They have an amazing skill allowing them to jump up to 150 times their own length. That's like a human jumping over 300 metres.

Their remarkable jumping skills allow them to transit easily between hosts and the surrounding environment.

5% of fleas live in the environment as an adult, 95 % of fleas live as eggs, larvae or pupae.

Fleas can carry and transmit several potential illnesses of importance to humans, including typhus and plague. 

Mosquitoes are a family of small, midge-like flies. 

Like all flies, mosquitoes go through four stages in their lifecycles: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. In most species, adult females lay their eggs in stagnant water; some lay eggs near the water's edge; others attach their eggs to aquatic plants. 

Some species of mosquitoes can develop from egg to adult in as few as five days, but a more typical period of development in SE Queensland climatic conditions would be some 40 days or more for most species. 

Native Australian rodents (for example Hopping Mice) pose little or no threat to public health and should be left alone as they are protected species. However introduced rodents may infest residential and agricultural areas and carry disease. Rodents can carry fleas or ticks which can harm pets or humans and can damage food containers, wood, particle board, insulation and wiring through gnawing.

Silverfish are a common pest species throughout Australia and prefer to eat items with a high starch content: cotton fabrics, silk, paper, glues, starch in book binding, some synthetic fabrics but they usually avoid woollens.

Silverfish are fairly harmless, but these silvery grey-blue, serpentine creatures aren't pleasant to have around the house. They feed on books, dead skin cells, and other starchy materials and thrive in dark, wet spaces.

You can get rid of silverfish by trapping them, repelling them, killing them with insecticides, or making your home less hospitable. 

Spiders are probably the most feared and hated animals on Earth but most of them are not dangerous to humans. Many spiders have fangs that are too small to pierce human skin and most spiders are timid creatures, only striking as a last resort. Most Australian Spiders are no threat to humans and function well as natural pest controllers themselves. 

However if you come across a spider, always proceed with caution! 

Spiders are commonly found in crawl spaces and unexcavated areas beneath the house, under stones and rocks in the garden and in garden and tool sheds so take care in these areas.

Subterranean Termites or "white-ants" are a highly destructive timber pest, causing major structural timber damage to domestic and commercial buildings throughout Australia. 

There are several different species of termites with slightly different characteristics but they are all very destructive to timber. In fact Termites cause more damage to homes in Australia than fire, floods, storms and cycones combined. 

In Australia there are approximately 35 species referred to as paper wasps. They all build paper nests but the size and shape varies considerably. The ones typically found in the Ipswich and Brisbane areas include;

Common paper wasp - small circular nest

Yellow paper wasp - large paper nests 

Brown paper wasp - small vertical hanging down nests

The Paper wasp is not a destructive insect to people’s homes. Their nest is not invasive and does not cause significant noticeable damage to the structure or walls.