Pest control along the Maitai: rats, wasps and borer
Maitai follows the river's northern bank, with town-belt reserves along it and the valley road heading east into the hills. Homes on a green corridor like this see rats in winter and wasps as summer peaks, and older houses carry borer. Richard deals with all three.
Richard under a house when the phone goes? Someone still picks up, and he calls you back.
Roof to subfloor
Roof space: Up through the hatch, Richard follows droppings, runs across the insulation and chewed cable to the nest, and finds the gap they came in by. He checks the rafters for borer holes and the eaves for wasps.
- Where
- Eastern edge of the city, along the Maitai River
- Postcode
- 7010
- Common jobs
- Rats, wasps, borer
What to send Richard
- A photo of the holes, droppings or nest
- Where you’ve seen them: roof space, inside, under the floor or outside
- How long it’s been going on
- Who’s home: kids, pets, or a business open to the public
- For borer: the rough age of the house
- Work
- Borer, rats and mice, wasps, household pests
- Area
- Nelson, Stoke and Richmond
- Experience
- 15+ years in pest control
- Quotes
- Free inspection and quote
- Phone, or fill in the formPictures of what you’ve spotted help.
- Richard rings youHe asks what you’ve seen, and where.
- Free inspection and quoteRoof space, subfloor and section, then a price.
- Treated where they’re workingThen he checks back that it’s done the job.
Rats, wasps and borer by the Maitai
Something running in the ceiling on a cold Maitai night is a rat or a mouse, and the riverbank and reserves give them a road right to your fence. In late summer the same green edge brings wasps, nesting in banks, walls and eaves. Richard treats rats and mice, wasp nests and borer across Maitai and up the valley road, and the ants, spiders and fleas that turn up in any home.
Richard goes up into the ceiling first, finds the nest and the paths the rats use across the insulation, and sets bait right on them. Then he checks underneath and around the walls for the way in. If wasps are the problem, he finds the nest itself, treats it there and checks the garden and boundary for a second one. After the job, Richard checks back with you.
How Richard works in Maitai
Tell Richard what you’ve found
Call, or send the form with a photo of the holes, droppings or nest and where you saw it.
A free inspection
Richard comes out and goes through the ceiling cavity, the subfloor and the section, to find where they’re working and how they get in.
A clear quote
He shows you what he found and quotes the treatment before any work starts.
Treated where they work
Bait stations on the runs, the nest itself, the timber the borer is in: each pest is treated where it lives.
He checks in afterwards
Once the treatment has had time to work, Richard gets back in touch to see that it has.
The river, the reserves and the beech up the valley
Reserves along the river change the job in Maitai. Branford Park, the Maitai Arboretum, the river esplanade, Sharland Hill Reserve and Sir Stanley Whitehead Park are among its town-belt reserves, and Nelson's Halo trapping reaches up into the Maitai catchment. Trappers work the bush and cut the numbers there; a rat that has already moved into your roof space is where Richard comes in.
Near the city the river is lined with podocarp forest, and further up the valley beech becomes more common. Beech forests at the top of the South Island hold the highest densities of wasps in the world, on average 12 nests a hectare. Around the houses, nests turn up in sunny banks, eaves and roof spaces, and a single one raises thousands of workers before it reaches its biggest in autumn.
More of Maitai's houses date from the 1950s than any other decade. Anything framed before boron treatment went in untreated, so a look under the floor for borer is part of every Maitai inspection.
Very good service did a great job, would happily recommend 3D Pest Control to anyone.
Tips for Maitai
- If your section backs onto a reserve or the river esplanade, keep a covered trap along that boundary through winter.
- In the low light at dusk you can see the line wasps fly home. Follow it with your eyes from a distance to find the nest, then keep clear.
- Pick up fallen fruit through late summer and autumn. It feeds rats on the ground and draws wasps.
Maitai questions
We're well up Maitai Valley Road. Does Richard come out that far?
Yes. Richard covers Maitai from the city end right up the steep, winding valley road, including the homes near the reserves and the motor camp, and the inspection costs you nothing up there either.
People trap in the reserves behind us. Why are rats still getting into our roof?
Trapping in the reserves cuts numbers out in the bush, but it doesn't reach a rat that has already found your warm ceiling. Richard treats them inside, in the roof space and walls where they're nesting, and shows you where they're getting in.
Our house near Branford Park is one of the older ones on the street. Is borer worth checking?
Yes. Older framing went in untreated, and borer larvae spend years inside it before you see a hole. Richard's free inspection takes in the subfloor and the roof timbers, and he quotes any treatment the borer needs.
We also work nearby in The Wood, The Brook and Atawhai. All Nelson suburbs
A free inspection in Maitai
Tell Richard what you’ve found and where. A photo of the holes, droppings or nest helps him see it before he comes out.
What to send Richard
- A photo of the holes, droppings or nest
- Where you’ve seen them: roof space, inside, under the floor or outside
- How long it’s been going on
- Who’s home: kids, pets, or a business open to the public
- For borer: the rough age of the house
Richard will be in touch to talk it through, then come out, inspect and quote. If you go ahead, he treats them and checks in afterwards.
Rather talk? Call 0800 166 028
Thanks, we’ve got your details.
Richard will be in touch to talk it through and set a time for the free inspection.