The Brook pest control, below the sanctuary fence
The Brook runs up the valley to a fenced sanctuary that is free of predators inside, while predators remain right outside the fence, where the homes are. Rats from the bush edge, wasps in late summer and borer in older houses are what Richard treats here.
Richard under a house when the phone goes? Someone still picks up, and he calls you back.
Roof to subfloor
Outside: Richard walks the whole section: eaves, walls, sunny banks, sheds, compost and woodpiles, for wasp traffic, ant trails and the way rats get in.
- Where
- Up the Brook Valley, south of the city
- Postcode
- 7010
- Common jobs
- Wasps, rats, 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.
Wasps, rats and borer in The Brook
Wasp nests are The Brook's summer job. A queen picks somewhere warm, dark and dry: a bank with a sunny aspect, the eaves, a gap in a wall or the roof space. An average nest raises 11,000 to 13,000 workers in a season, and the first sign is often a stream of them out of the bank as the mower goes past. Rats and mice are the other half of the work, with borer in the valley's older homes, plus cockroaches, ants and fleas.
Richard finds the entrance, treats the nest itself, then walks the whole section, because he often turns up a second or third nest you hadn't seen. For rats he's into the roof space and under the floor, looking for droppings, nests and the route in from the bush edge. Treatment goes where they're living, and once it has worked through, he checks in with you.
How Richard works in The Brook
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.
Living beside the sanctuary
Homes in The Brook sit on the near side of a very good fence. The Brook Waimārama Sanctuary at the head of the valley is the only New Zealand sanctuary centred mainly on mature beech forest, all five beech species among it. Its predator-proof fence was finished in 2016, and by 2018 the sanctuary was declared pest-free, with rats among the species removed. Predators remain immediately outside the fence, and the Nelson Halo of backyard trapping surrounds it to keep the pressure on.
Kākā are back in Nelson, and that changes how you trap. Rat traps go in a box on the ground, never up a tree, and no fruit or peanut butter goes in or near any trap. For rats already inside, Richard's treatment goes into your roof space and subfloor, where they're nesting.
Down the valley, Seymour Avenue is a short street of transitional villas and Californian bungalows, built from about 1920 after the land was first subdivided in the 1910s. Timber from those years went in a generation before treated framing, so the beetles have had a century at it.
Extremely professional service. Very effective and efficient.
Tips for The Brook
- Set rat traps inside a covered box on the ground and skip fruit and peanut butter lures: kākā are back in Nelson and both draw them.
- Check sunny banks and the eaves for wasp traffic from midsummer, before nests peak in late summer and autumn.
- A shed or garage on the bush side of the section is the first stop for rats in autumn. Keep it tidy and the door shut.
The Brook questions
The sanctuary is predator-free. Why do we still get rats?
The fence keeps rats out of the sanctuary, not out of the valley. Predators remain right outside it, where the houses are, and in winter they move toward warmth and food. Richard treats the ones in your roof or under your floor and finds how they're getting in.
Are the wasps in our garden coming from the beech forest?
The nest bothering you is close by, because workers forage within a few hundred metres of home. The valley's beech forest is wasp country, but the nest you want gone is in your bank, wall or roof space, and Richard finds it and treats it.
We live in one of the older bungalows near Seymour Avenue. What does a borer check involve?
Richard crawls under the house to look over the piles and floor framing, then goes above the ceiling to the roof timbers. He's after new holes and the fine powder borer push out, and he quotes any treatment at no charge.
We also work nearby in Nelson South, Maitai and Bishopdale. All Nelson suburbs
A free inspection in The Brook
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.