Pest Control in Electric City

Living with pests in Electric City

The original houses are small brick units, and over the years most have grown sideways and backwards with extra rooms, carports and wendy houses. Every add-on leaves a join between old and new roof sheeting, and those joins are where roof rats and pigeons find their way in. Wendy houses sitting straight on sand give rats a dry floor to tunnel beneath. With walls almost touching, a cockroach colony in one kitchen does not take long to reach the next.

This is flat, deep Cape Flats sand, the kind that drains fast in summer and then turns soggy in low spots once the winter fronts arrive. Summer wind lifts litter and sand into corners against walls, which is exactly where rats like to dig. Open veld strips and stormwater ponds on the edges of the Blue Downs area give rodents somewhere to live between raids on the houses.

The pests we get called out for most in Electric City

Norway rats burrowing under outbuildings are the call we take most, with mice a close second once it gets cold. Kitchens in older units often carry German cockroaches that have been there through several tenants. In summer it turns to fleas, house flies at the bins and ants marching across the stoep.

Rats and mice

Look for fresh burrow mouths along the base of the boundary wall and under the wendy house floor, usually with a smooth, packed-earth run leading to them. Baiting your yard alone works, but baiting three or four yards in a row works far better.

Cockroaches, ants and other crawlers

German roaches hide behind fridges and in the warm motor housings of appliances, and they travel between attached units through gaps around pipes. Black ants and Argentine ants nest in the loose sand and come indoors after sweet things in summer.

Flies, mosquitoes and wasps

House flies peak when bins sit full for a few extra days in the heat. Mosquitoes use the stormwater ponds and anything left holding rain in the yard, such as old tyres or buckets.

Fleas and bed bugs

Most flea calls start with a dog that sleeps outside on the sand, then the fleas move indoors onto carpets and couches. Bed bugs usually arrive in second-hand mattresses or furniture, so check seams before bringing anything home.

Wood borer and timber

Brick homes here seldom have borer trouble, but the pine in wendy houses and roof purlins can be attacked. The beetle certificate inspection on a sale covers roof timber, so it is worth a look before you list.

Pantry pests

Bulk bags of maize meal, rice and flour bought at month-end are where weevils turn up, often weeks later. Spaza shops with stock stored in back rooms benefit from regular checks for both weevils and mice.

Hygiene and disinfection

Creches, home-based day care and small churches ask us to disinfect, often on the same visit as a cockroach treatment. Spaza owners also like a sanitise of counters and storage areas.

Birds

Pigeons squeeze under loose roof sheeting where extensions meet the main house. Once they leave, bird mites can drift down into rooms, so we close the gap only after the nest is cleared.

How a visit works

We start with an inspection, because the right answer for ants is different from the right answer for rats, and guessing wastes money. Where we can, we go least-toxic first: gel baits for cockroaches and ants, tamper-resistant bait stations and snap traps for rodents, and insect growth regulators that break the breeding cycle. Residual sprays and dusts are applied only where they are needed, such as wall voids, cracks and roof spaces, not sprayed across every surface. Proofing is part of the job, so we point out or seal the gaps that let pests in. You get a post-treatment report so you know what was used and where.

Everything we treat in Electric City

Questions from Electric City

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