Pest advice
Identification, realistic costs, seasonal timing, safety around pets and children, and what treatments actually involve. No filler — these are the answers we give on jobs every week.
Seasonal
Auckland's pest problems run on a predictable annual cycle. Knowing which month brings which pest is the cheapest prevention there is.
Rentals & Property
One of the most-argued questions in NZ tenancy. The answer turns on when the problem started and what caused it — here is how it usually breaks down.
Cockroaches
Only one of Auckland's common cockroaches breeds indoors and spreads through a building. Telling it apart from the harmless wanderers changes the whole treatment.
Ants
Argentine ants do not behave like other ants. Spraying a trail can split the colony and make the problem measurably worse. Here's what works instead.
Wasps
Three wasp species account for nearly every Auckland call-out, and they need different handling. Two build hidden nests that can hold thousands of workers.
Fleas
Flea bites in a pet-free home are surprisingly common in Auckland, and there are only a handful of explanations. Most of them are fixable.
Safety
The honest answer: modern treatments are low-risk when applied correctly, and the risk comes almost entirely from how a product is used rather than what it is.
Prevention
Rodents move indoors on a schedule. Six or seven hours of work in March and April prevents most of the problems we get called to in June.
Safety
It depends entirely on the treatment. Some jobs need nobody out at all; others need a few hours. Here is what to expect before you book time off work.
Cockroaches
In an apartment building, German cockroaches are a building problem wearing a unit-sized disguise. Here is how to get it resolved properly.
Rodents
By the time you see a rat in daylight, the problem is well established. These are the earlier signals — and what each one tells you about scale.
Rodents
Snap traps, tunnel traps, electronic traps and rodent bait compared honestly, with where to place them and how to keep bait safe around children, pets and native birds.
Prevention
German cockroaches, bed bugs, Argentine ants and a few others survive treatment, come back or spread next door. Here is why each is so hard, and what actually works.
Bed Bugs
Itchy lines of bites after a night's sleep? How to tell bed bug bites from fleas, mosquitoes and mites, how to treat them, and why the bites are the easy part.
Bed Bugs
What bed bugs look like at every life stage, the signs that confirm them, and a step-by-step check of your bed, bedroom and luggage.
Bed Bugs
Bombs, sprays, heat, freezing and diatomaceous earth rated honestly, with the DIY mistakes that spread bed bugs into more rooms.
Bed Bugs
What to wash, bag and leave in place before treatment, whether to keep your mattress, when you can sleep in the room again, and why bites can continue.
Borer
Most old houses have borer holes somewhere. Here is how to tell which beetle made them, whether it is still active, and when it actually matters.
Borer
Borer is one of the few pests where DIY can work. What bombs, sprays and injection actually reach, which home remedies to skip, and where DIY stops.
Borer
The big beetle at the porch light and the fat grubs in the firewood: how huhu live, whether they bite, and why they are rarely a risk to your house.
Spiders
The spider blamed for flesh-eating ulcers, and what the evidence actually shows. How to identify a white-tail, what a bite looks like, first aid, and how to keep them out.
Spiders
Only two spiders in New Zealand are medically significant, and neither is likely in your house. How to tell the katipō, redback and their look-alikes from the common spiders around Auckland homes.
Spiders
When to spray, what a residual spray can and cannot do, which home remedies are worth your time, and when a professional treatment makes more sense.
Flies
A sudden swarm of flies almost always has one of four causes. How to tell house flies, cluster flies, fruit flies and drain flies apart, and deal with the source.
Borer
Yes, New Zealand has termites, but not the kind that eat Australian houses. How to tell native termites from the exotic ones MPI hunts, and from flying ants and borer, and what to do if you find them.
By topic
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