What is a Quenda?
Quendas are marsupials that are roughly the size of a rabbit. In Western Australia, we have six species. The most common species found in urban areas is the Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus fusciventer).
Quendas are listed as a priority 4 species under the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016, which means they are rare due to a reduction in numbers, largely from habitat clearing and predation. They are active mainly at dusk when they go out hunting for food but have been known to be active during the day, especially in winter. They feed mainly on invertebrates but will also eat lizards, fungi, fruit, and roots. Digging for food helps aerate the soil and assists with dispersing fungi spores. Quendas have a backward-facing pouch to prevent soil from getting inside while they dig for food. They are territorial and stick to their home range; they are also solitary.
How do I know I have Quendas in my garden?
Signs you may have quendas in your garden:
Evidence of Digging: Quendas create cone-shaped diggings, resembling their noses. In contrast, rabbits make larger, square-shaped holes. If you notice small, conical excavations in your garden, it could be a sign of Quenda activity.
Droppings: Quenda droppings are usually found near the digging sites. They are cylindrical and may contain bits of insects. In comparison, rabbits leave round pellets. Keep an eye out for these distinctive droppings.
Visual Identification: Sometimes, quendas are mistaken for rats. However, there are key differences:
- Shape: Quendas have a stouter shape than rats.
- Tail Length: A quenda’s tail is much shorter than a rat’s. Rat tails are approximately twice as long as their bodies.
- Climbing Ability: Rats can climb trees and fences, while quendas cannot.
How to encourage Quendas in you Garden
While quendas can live within urban areas, they are at risk from domestic pets, vehicle collisions and pest control if people mistake them for rats. Quendas need vegetation with a dense understorey to provide a retreat in the daytime and protection from predators, tips for a quenda friendly garden include:
Provide Vegetation Cover: Quendas need a dense understorey for daytime retreat and protection from predators. Plan your garden to include larger species like banksias and bottlebrushes, which provide overhead protection from owls.
Create Nesting Sites: Densely plant strappy-leaved grasses and sedges such as Dianella, Poa, or Lomandra species. These plants create ideal nesting sites for quendas. Additionally, planting prickly shrubs like prickly moses (Acacia pulchella) can offer protection against predators.
Attract Invertebrates: Encourage invertebrates by planting flowering plants. Logs, branches, and rocks also attract insects and worms, which are part of the quendas’ diet.
Fences: Solid fences can inadvertently trap quenda. If possible, leave small gaps in boundary fences or in chicken mesh to allow quendas to escape if needed.
Exclude Pets: Keep pets away from areas where quendas might nest or forage.
Quenda Bungalow: For those interested in a construction project, consider setting up a “Quenda Bungalow” made from an untreated wooden pallet. You can find instructions for building one on Gardening Australia’s website: Bandicoot Bungalow – Gardening Australia (abc.net.au).
A quenda friendly garden will also attract native pollinators and birds which will enhance the biodiversity of your property.
Other ways to Help
Keep Cats Inside at Night: Cats are one of the biggest threats to quendas. By keeping them indoors during the night, you reduce the risk of them preying on these marsupials.
Control Dogs: When visiting bushland areas, use extender leads for dogs. This ensures that they don’t disturb quenda habitats or chase them.
Choose Humane Pest Control Methods:
- Catch and Release Traps: If you need to control pests, consider using catch and release traps. This allows you to relocate pests without harming them.
- Deterrents: Use natural deterrents to discourage pests from your garden.
- Reduce Pest Abundance: Limit access to food waste, which can attract pests.
- Baits: If you need to use baits, opt to use first generation ones such as Ratsak Double Strength as pets and wildlife are able to better cope when ingested through unintentional secondary poisoning. Place baits up high as quendas cannot climb.
Injured Wildlife:
- If you come across injured native wildlife, contact WA Wildlife at (08) 9417 7105 or the Wildcare Helpline at (08) 9474 9055. They can provide guidance on how to assist injured animals.
Report Quenda Sightings Along Roadways:
- If you see quendas along roadways or encounter roadkill, notify your local council. They may be able to place wildlife crossing signs to alert drivers and promote awareness about quendas in the area.
How to discourage Quendas
Here are some ways to discourage quendas from your garden:
Exclusion Mesh Fence: Consider placing a small 50cm-wide exclusion mesh fence made of aviary wire around your lawn or gardens. This physical barrier can prevent quendas from accessing certain areas.
Bright Lights: Flood your garden with bright lights. Quendas are nocturnal animals, and well-lit areas may discourage them from foraging in your garden.
Chicken Manure or Dynamic Lifter: Quendas dislike the smell of ammonia. Adding chicken manure or dynamic lifter to your garden can help deter them.
Relocation of quendas is not recommended.
34 Responses
We have had Quendas living in our yard for years and love the fact that they do. I have always believed that while they are omnivores they don’t attack and eat other large(ish) animals. This afternoon I witnessed a Quenda attack, and carry off an injured dove that was sheltering under our veranda. When I went to check that the dove was not suffering i found that the Quenda had not just killed it but was eating it. My question, is this normal Quenda behavior? Thank you.
Hi Geoff, thank you for your comment. That behaviour does sound unusual as while they are known to eat small skinks, they mostly feed on seeds, fruit, fungi and invertebrates. The males do defend their territory usually from other males so that may explain the behaviour but killing and eating a dove is not something I have heard them doing before.
We are at present enjoying two baby quendas playing in our patio. Our nightly entertainment watching them run around under the large mat. They both slept under the mat most of today. We have had quendas in our back yard for a few years now.
Oh that sounds amazing! So wonderful to hear!
We have recently got small holes such as a quenda might dig, but also eaten are pansy flowers in tall strawberry pots as well as strawberries. I’m told quenda don’t climb. Maybe there are rats and quenda? I live in Willetton opposite a small winter lake park.
Yes correct Quenda don’t climb so it makes it one of the ways to tell them apart from rats if you see them in your garden. Definitely sounds like you might have Quenda with the diggings and your location
I am presently renovating my house and have no kitchen floor. Quenda have been jumping from the ground below where the kitchen is to the back verandah floor, a height of about 40cm. My daughter and I watched one that got too close to the cat, (the cat doesn’t seem to care about them one way or another generally, but this one came up and sniffed her), the cat gave it a quick whack and the quenda jumped straight up in the air, at least 30cm.
So while they can’t climb, they can certainly jump.
Love this story, especially the cat not caring. Thank you for sharing.
We have had a large adult hanging around who I now haven’t seen for weeks but we do now have a baby who runs around at all hours of the day and night hunting.
I have a little family of quendas that live under a bush in my garden in town in Margaret River. I saw 3 babies under there come out together which was amazing! Recently I seem to have acquired a wild rabbit in the garden and haven’t seen the quendas. Has the rabbit scared them away? If so how do I get the rabbit to go so that they come back?
The quenda family (families) seem to come and go at different times of the year. The first Dad was huge and we have a video of him just casually foraging past us outside on the patio area.
Oh wow, that is so special! I believe Quenda try to avoid rabbits and will alter and timing and duration of their foraging if they are living in the same area. Quenda can become active later at night if rabbits move in but they will still live in the same area. Hopefully you see them again soon. You can plant certain plants that deter rabbits (lavendar, garlic, marigolds, chillies etc) but might be best to talk to the Shire about their recommended control.
I have both rats and quenda( evidenced by Quenda holes), rat droppings and all my apples being eaten…..eating the peanut butter bait in the trap….but not being caught!) But the Quenda also are burrowing into my recently planted bulbs, have absolutely haircut my 3 parsely plants and now seem to be denuding my chrysanthemums….is that likely?
Thank you for your comment, yes bandicoots do eat a range of plants so are likely to be eating your parsley and flowers. Chrysanthemums contain a natural pesticide called pyrethrin, which is toxic to rodents and acts as an repellent so rats would be staying away from them.
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We have sighted an adolescent quenda in our backyard over the past few months.
We r confused as the literature states they do not climb.
We have seen what we thought were rats running on top of the fence line at night.
Question. Can rats and quenda co exist?
How exciting having a Quenda in your backyard! They can jump but won’t climb trees or fences like rats do. They do co-exist with black rats in urban areas, even though they may compete for food sources. Recently, an interaction between the two was captured on a night vision camera and showed a rat and Quenda having a conflict, ultimately the rat ended up leaving the area where a Quenda was foraging. This Quenda appeared to be an adult however, a younger Quenda may come off second best in a similar situation.
We live in Margaret River and during autumn/winter often sighted Quendas in both the front and back garden, our lawns looked like a moon scape with their conical holes all over, but we love the Quendas and think it is a privilege to have them here. My question is, since the weather has warmed up and the ground has become harder, we no longer see those tell tale holes and sadly haven’t see any Quendas for some time. Will they still be around foraging for other foods, or will they have moved on?
Hopefully they are still around, they are territorial and tend to forage within their home range, however this can be up to 5ha depending on their size (larger males have larger home ranges) and habitat connectivity of the surrounding area.
That is amazing, knew they were territorial but didn’t realise that their home range could be up to 5ha!
We thought we had a pair, as the one we used to see in the back garden was a bit larger than the one in the front, or so we believed, but maybe we were mistaken and it was the same one! Hopefully he or they are still around 🙂.
Anyway, thank you for the information Michelle.
Kind regards
Gayna.
We have an animal in our backyard that we thought was a quenda but I have seen it climb up the fence (at the join). It comes out at dusk and is about the size of a rat but has a pointier head. It jumps into pot plants and I have seen it hopping across the ground. It loves eating out dog’s poo – dog is fed natural foods not commercial pet food. Could it be a young quenda? Or some kind of hopping rat? We are in Perth, south of the river.
Hi, sounds like a rat from the behaviour and size. Rats are agile and known to be attracted to and eat dog poo.
Hi, I love bandicoots. I have been blessed to see adults and babies on my porch. However, my neighbour hates them snd periodically traps them and relocates them, is this legal? I am so devastated when he does it and I mourn not seeing them all because they dig holes in the lawn! I just despair.
Hi native animals can not be trapped and relocated without a permit from DBCA, see this information sheet: https://www.dbca.wa.gov.au/media/2147/download
Unfortunately, the chances of survival of a relcated Quenda are low. Quenda are territorial and defend their territory so a relocated Quenda may get into a dispute with an existing resident and be more vulnerable to predators or collisions with vehilces while it tries to find a new suitable territory.
It is likely that a new Quenda will just move in again too so it is best if your neighbour tries to deter them from their garden, as opposed to removing.
Hope this helps.
Hi,
Thank you so much for the information.
I couldn’t imagine it would be legal, nit least because of the covert way he’s gone about it.
I’m so sad that they will probably not survive. I just love them to bits.
I love all of the animals in my garden, even snakes, though I’m not keen to see them.
I’m not Australian but I love this country and it’s wonderful, diverse animals, flora and fauna.
It sickens me at what he has done but what to do about it to stop him is another thing. He doesn’t even live there half the year.
Sorry, it’s a rant because I’m so upset. And you’re absolutely right, a new lot will move in because he did this last year. I saved one adult last year who had a plastic ring around her.
Anyway, thank you again for the information.
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I have a lot of quendas at my place. They eat my chicken food and they eat my eggs. They are active day and night don’t even run away when I’m in garden or chicken yard. They dig holes in garden and are absolute pains in the you know where. That being said we still love seeing the fat mama and new little ones.
We live in Craigie and behind us is bush. Quendas are living in our garden for years and bringing their baby’s, mostly 3. We noticed that all of the baby’s start missing part of the tail and one has no tail at all anymore. One baby has been attacked recently by something. Patches of hair and tail missing, scratches on its backside. Do rats attack the little ones?
I have seen videos of Quenda getting into fights with other Quenda but not with rats as they tend to avoid them when in the same area
I have a quenda living happily in my garden in suburban Perth for over 6 months. I don’t know if it is a male or female but am pretty sure there is only one..
I also have a terrible rat problem. Prior to knowing there was a quenda I had cat/dog proof rat bait boxes around the property perimeter. Are they safe to continue to use with our quenda ?
Unfortunately, Quenda can eat rat bait if they are able to access it. The best option is to place it in an elevated position if possible as they can’t climb up trees/fences like rats can.
We live in Vasse in a lifestyle village and have just notice small burrows under our house – there is a large void under the house – neighbors have some also – there are small scratching around the garden near plants
People here have seen Quendas in there yard – would this indicate we have them under the house ?
The digging around the garden suggest there may be Quenda present and they may shelter under the house but tend to generally nest in shallow burrows under dense vegetation. Are there any scats that are cylindrical shaped in the vicinity? That might help determine what is living under the house. Some libraries hire out wildlife cameras which you can set up to see what is in your garden.