The City Bowl is the CBD and the older residential suburbs packed into the bowl formed by Table Mountain, Devil's Peak, Lion's Head and Signal Hill. Pest work here is a mix of restaurant and office contracts in town and older homes and flats up the slopes, with rats tying the two together.
Stored Product Pest Control by suburb
We cover all 26 suburbs on our City Bowl & Atlantic Seaboard route. Each suburb page covers what we find there and what works for those streets and buildings.
- Bantry BayStored Product Pest Control
- Bo-KaapStored Product Pest Control
- Camps BayStored Product Pest Control
- CliftonStored Product Pest Control
- De WaterkantStored Product Pest Control
- ForeshoreStored Product Pest Control
- FresnayeStored Product Pest Control
- GardensStored Product Pest Control
- Green PointStored Product Pest Control
- HiggovaleStored Product Pest Control
- Hout BayStored Product Pest Control
- Imizamo YethuStored Product Pest Control
- LlandudnoStored Product Pest Control
- Malay QuarterStored Product Pest Control
- Mouille PointStored Product Pest Control
- OranjezichtStored Product Pest Control
- Schotsche KloofStored Product Pest Control
- Sea PointStored Product Pest Control
- TamboerskloofStored Product Pest Control
- Three Anchor BayStored Product Pest Control
- University EstateStored Product Pest Control
- Upper WoodstockStored Product Pest Control
- VredehoekStored Product Pest Control
- Walmer EstateStored Product Pest Control
- WoodstockStored Product Pest Control
- ZonnebloemStored Product Pest Control
The local picture in City Bowl
Restaurants, bakeries, delis and coffee roasters need routine monitoring for flour beetles, cigarette beetles and moths. At home, pantry moths in flour and dried fruit are the usual story.
In the CBD you have office towers, heritage buildings, hotels and hundreds of restaurants and cafés. Up the slopes are Victorian and Edwardian semis with wooden floors and corrugated iron roofs, along with newer apartment blocks. Old buildings have gaps, voids and old drains that rodents and cockroaches use, while flats share ducts and refuse rooms.
Rats are the big one, living in old drains, restaurant lanes and the Company's Garden. German cockroaches are common in restaurants and flats. Pigeons on buildings and bed bugs in hotels and rentals round out the main issues.
How to tell you have a problem
- Silky webbing clumps cereal, nuts or pet food together, sometimes with small caterpillars inside.
- Small brown or reddish beetles walk along pantry shelves or across the kitchen counter.
- Small moths flutter out when you open a cupboard, and rest on the ceiling at night.
- Grains of rice or maize have tiny round exit holes, or the bag has fine dust at the bottom.
- Pheromone traps or glue boards in a warehouse catch more beetles or moths each week.
- Flour has a greyish tint, a musty smell or moves slightly when you look closely.
A note from the field
In homes with small children and pets, we lean on clean-out, sealed storage and pheromone traps rather than chemical treatment near food.
What happens when we come out
The first and most important step is finding and removing every infested product, because no treatment works while the insects still have food. Shelves, cracks and crevices, and the gaps behind and under cupboards and racking are vacuumed out to remove spilt product and eggs. We then apply a targeted residual treatment into cracks and crevices, and an insect growth regulator where the pest is a moth or beetle that keeps cycling through. Pheromone traps for moths and beetles go in to monitor for survivors and new arrivals. In warehouses, mills and food factories, larger infestations of bulk commodities may need fumigation, which we plan and carry out separately under the right controls.
Want the full step-by-step? See how our stored product pest control service works.
Stopping a repeat visit
- In commercial stores, rotate stock on a first-in, first-out basis and keep pallets off walls so you can inspect behind them.
- Move flour, rice, cereal, pasta and pet food into sealed glass or hard plastic containers as soon as you get them home.
- Store birdseed and pet food away from the kitchen, as these are common sources of pantry moths.
- Buy dry goods in amounts you will use within a month or two, rather than letting big bags sit at the back of the cupboard.
- Put new bags of flour or grain in the freezer for a few days if you have had weevils before, which kills eggs inside.
What affects the price
For homes, the cost depends mostly on how big the pantry is and how far the insects have spread into other cupboards. For commercial sites, the size of the storage area, the type of commodity, the level of infestation and whether fumigation is needed all affect the price. Food businesses that need regular monitoring and audit paperwork are usually best on a service contract, and we quote free after an inspection.
In a home pantry, throwing out infested food, a thorough clean and sealed containers fixes most problems, and we will happily talk you through that over the phone. Spraying insecticide in a cupboard full of food is a bad idea, so please do not. Where you need a professional is when the insects keep returning after a clean-out, or when you have a commercial store, bakery or factory where losses and audits are at stake.
Questions we get asked in City Bowl
What are pheromone traps?
Small sticky traps baited with a scent that attracts a specific moth or beetle. They show whether the insects are still around and help us measure how well the treatment worked.
Do the rats in the City Bowl come from the Company's Garden?
The garden does carry a lot of rats, but homes and businesses further away are usually dealing with rats from old drains and restaurant lanes. We find where they are actually living, then bait outside and seal the gaps they use to get in.
Can I spray inside the pantry?
We would not recommend it. A thorough clean-out and sealed storage do more, and any residual treatment should be targeted into cracks, not sprayed over shelves that hold food.
Do you come out to City Bowl for stored product pest control?
Yes. City Bowl is part of our regular City Bowl & Atlantic Seaboard route, along with Gardens, Tamboerskloof, Oranjezicht, Vredehoek. Most bookings are done within about 48 hours, and after-hours visits can be arranged.
Why does my Gardens or Vredehoek flat keep getting cockroaches?
Usually because German cockroaches are moving in from neighbouring flats through shared plumbing risers and electrical ducts. Treating the units around yours at the same time, and sealing gaps around pipes under the sink, gives a far longer result.
Are these insects harmful if I eat them by accident?
They are not known to be dangerous in small amounts, but infested food is contaminated and should not be eaten or sold.
Office 021 012 5825 · WhatsApp 074 697 2254