Months after the biggest floods on record wiped out north-west Queensland, swathes of mice and rats are overrunning regional properties while residents in the north fear a dangerous fire season.
Increased numbers of rats and mice are bothering communities and farmers from the south-west and the south-east of the state up to the north-west and Tablelands regions.
"We are averaging 25–30 dead rats a night thanks to our dogs," said Jody Davis, who lives on the main street in the north-west town of Julia Creek.
"They're living in our drains and have started coming into the house.
"They show no fear of humans."
She said the rats had been chewing through dishwasher hoses and electrical cords.
Janine Clifford, from Malanda in the Tablelands region, said she had upwards of 40 rats dead every morning in the pool.
Quilpie resident Nick Kliese said the community had been dealing with an increased number of rats since the 2020–21 plague.
"We've had wiring in bikes and Toyotas chewed," he said.
"Some weeks we have to do a water run every two days because they get stuck in the water troughs and die."
Mr Kliese believed the rat population was moving north.
"They must be heading up that way from here."
'Prepare now', leaders urge
Community leaders, such as the mayor of the Richmond Shire Council in the state's north-west, have been urging residents to get proactive with traps and baiting.
"It's been a long time since we've had a rat plague but it appears they are coming and people need to prepare now to get on the front foot," Mayor John Wharton said.
In southern parts of the state, an abundance in food off the back of last year's bumper winter crop had given rise to mice populations on farms.
CSIRO researcher Steve Henry urged farmers to constantly check paddocks and put rodent control measures in place to prevent any major threat to the crop season.
"We're getting reports of hoards of mice on a paddock-by-paddock basis," he said.
Dalby agronomist Angus Dalgliesh said that while numbers appeared to be increasing, there was no need to panic yet.
"We're not seeing proportions like we did in the 2021 plague and it's probably not a reason for a whole heap of concern just yet," he said.
"But we are certainly on alert, considering we're coming into a pretty important time of year when we're starting to sew our winter crops."
North-west braces for fires
While dealing with an influx of rats, north-west residents were worried about bushfires after the big wet season supercharged the growth of grasses earlier this year.
Community leaders were concerned about the dangerous mix of dry land and strong south-easterly winds, despite widespread mowing and landholders being encouraged to use excess grasses in hay bales.
Cr Wharton believed if a fire started, it could burn "right through to the Gulf of Carpentaria".
"You won't be able to fight these fires," he said.
Richmond Shire Council was urging landholders to coordinate with them to run back-burning operations near highway corridors.
"We're hoping we can get some areas burning near the Flinders Highway and run that for 30 to 40 kilometres per burn to reduce the risk," Cr Wharton said.
Leaders in the neighbouring Flinders Shire, however, were concerned the grass had become too dry to carry out controlled burns.
