Birds and Possums in Your Gutters: What Gutter Mesh Can Do

Because an open gutter makes an easy nest site. It's up high, and it's often lined with leaf litter and twigs. That's where most birds build, so our gutter bird proofing starts there. Mesh covers the gutter, and there's no open channel left to nest in along your roofline.

Some birds get past the gutter, too. One CHOICE Community owner said cheap gutter strips didn't stop some birds getting into the eaves and the ceiling space. The firmer meshes they'd fitted did better when they went in well, with no gaps at the corners.

Taking a nest away may not be the end of it, either. Another CHOICE Community owner, with pigeons on a two-storey roof, paid to have a nest removed. The fix lasted three days.

Not while a protected bird is using it, unless you've got approval. Queensland's wildlife rules say you must not remove or tamper with a nest like that without a reasonable excuse. That means a nest a protected animal is using to sit on eggs or raise its young. And all native birds are protected in Queensland (opens in a new tab).

The rule covers more than you might think. To tamper means to damage, destroy, mark, move or dig up the nest. A nest counts as in use from the time birds start getting it ready, and while they breed in it or raise chicks there. It also counts if they've raised young there before and they're a kind known to come back to the same spot every breeding season. So an empty nest isn't always fair game.

To take away a nest that's in use, you need the right approval first, such as a damage mitigation permit. The Queensland Government says you need one to remove and relocate wildlife. The rules say it can cover a nest, too. If you don't know what kind of bird built it, treat the nest as protected and leave it be. The rule is section 335 of the Nature Conservation (Animals) Regulation 2020 (opens in a new tab).

Once you know a nest can come out, a gutter clean clears the old nesting material out with the leaves and sludge. And don't climb up to pull it out yourself, especially on a second storey.

Something that covers the gutter itself. With mesh fixed over the gutter, there's no open channel left to nest in along your roofline. Taking a nest away leaves the spot open for the next one. One owner tried spikes on some ledges, and other fixes too. Pigeons still walked the roof and the gutter edges.

That's the idea behind our mesh for birds and possums. It's the same aluminium mesh we fit for leaves, in 3 mm expanded or 2 mm woven, both 1 mm thick, and it's fixed along the gutter line. Small openings that give pests little to work with.

Whatever goes on has to stay put. The CHOICE Community owner with three kinds of guard at home said cheap strips were hard to keep in the gutter. Possums or birds could pull them out.

Mesh isn't right for every home, though. Here's who gutter guard suits, and its downsides.

It helps with one way in. Our mesh is designed to help keep birds, possums and other pests out of your gutters and roofline. A possum can squeeze through a small gap where the roof meets the gutter, so covering that line matters. But it's only one of the ways into a roof.

The Queensland Government's possum guide (opens in a new tab) shows a brushtail possum coming out of just that kind of gap. The guide says if a brushtail can get its head into a space, it can probably squeeze the rest of its body in too. Older homes often have openings into the roof that are big enough for possums.

Gutter mesh covers the gutter line. A gap anywhere else in the roof needs its own fix. The guide also says to trim back branches that hang over the roof, since they give possums a way to other openings. At the free quote, we check where pests are getting in along your gutters and roofline.

Rats follow the same paths. A fixed aluminium barrier along the gutter line helps keep them out of the roof cavity too. If rats or mice are already inside, the Queensland Government says to call a licensed pest control expert (opens in a new tab).

Listen to how it moves. The Queensland Government says rats, at no more than a few hundred grams, tend to scurry. A brushtail possum can weigh up to five kilograms and thumps about in the roof even when it's walking slowly. Rats also gnaw loudly, and a noise inside a wall is most likely a rat.

Droppings help too. The guide puts rat droppings at about 7 mm long and a brushtail possum's at more than 15 mm. A brown stain that suddenly shows up on the ceiling can mean a brushtail possum is using your roof space as a toilet.

Brushtails end up in roofs because suburbs have few old trees with hollow branches left, the guide says. So they've moved into our ceilings instead. One might sleep on a nest of leaves up there, or just bed down on the insulation.

No, you can't just catch one and move it. The Queensland Government says possums “are protected wildlife and their removal can only be carried out by licensed commercial possum relocators”. A relocator must release a possum within 25 metres of where it was caught. That way it isn't dropped into another possum's patch.

Moving a possum out isn't a quick fix, either. The guide says if the den isn't sealed off, it'll just be moved into again. Another possum will soon fill an empty den. The guide's advice is to ask your relocator to seal off every way into the roof space. And to put up a nest box while they're there.

Mesh helps with that sealing job along the gutter line. It's a barrier that helps keep animals out of the gutter. If a possum's living in your roof right now, that's one for a licensed possum relocator. And the guide warns to make sure a possum isn't trapped inside when a gap gets sealed.

Call someone if the nest or the gap is on a second storey, or you'd have to get onto the roof to reach it. That's ladder work at height. A Queensland study (opens in a new tab) looked at 177 people who came to two emergency departments after a ladder fall. The typical patient was a man over 50 on a home ladder.

There's more on why ladder work is risky in our guide to gutter cleaning safety.

For the gutters themselves, get a free on-site quote. We'll look at the whole gutter line and suggest the mesh that suits your roof, and every install starts with a free gutter clean.