There are a number of pests that cause damage to clothing, shoes, fabric items and paper around your home and office. Carpet beetles, clothes moths, silverfish and psocids (booklice) can present serious pest problems when it comes to household fabrics and paper items. Carpet beetle larvaClothes moth larvaSilverfishBooklice or psocids Often you will only see the damage and not the culprit. However, each of these pests have different food preferences, so the type of material that is damaged will give a good indication of which pest is causing the problem. To help you find the culprit, we put tog ..read more

Pantry pests is the common name given to insects that infest stored products such as flour, cereals and indeed any dried foods. Sometimes you may not be even aware your food has been infested, but when you do… yuck! But what are the common pantry pests? How do you get rid of them? And how can you prevent a pantry pest problem in the future? What are the various types of pantry pest (stored product pest)? The most common types of panty pests are the pantry moths – the Indian meal moth and the Mediterranean flour moth. However, there are also a whole range of beetles and weevils that attack a wi ..read more

Black house spider The black house spider, Badumna insignis, is one of the more common spiders found around New Zealand homes. Although their bite is quite painful the main concern for homeowners is that they build unsightly, dense webs around windows, doors and eaves. Fortunately, this makes it very easy for the homeowner to carry out their own pest control treatment. What do black house spiders look like? Black house spiders are a charcoal / black colour, although the abdomen appears grey (sometimes brownish) with white markings. Their legs can be brown and black. Females can have a body of ..read more

Whether you have to run inside at dusk to avoid the mosquito swarms, or are kept awake at night by high pitched whining in your ears, mosquito problems can be very annoying! To successfully deal with a mosquito problem, it’s necessary to use a combination of actions – using this guide will allow you to reclaim your outdoor areas and make indoors a mosquito free zone. WHY ARE MOSQUITOES A PROBLEM? Although we do not have any major mosquito diseases in New Zealand there are occassional outbreaks of introduced diseases such as dengue, malaria, ross river fever and zika (see footnote). These are ..read more

A single wasp flying around may be ignored, but if you have a wasp nest on your property, it’s definitely time to act! Wasps can be aggressive, particularly when protecting their nest. We all know they can sting, but unlike bees that can sting only once (and then die), wasps can deliver multiple stings without dying. A wasp attack can be very painful and can result in anaphylactic shock. Getting rid of wasp nests can be carried out by the confident homeowner, but it is important to use the correct products and appropriate safety equipment. There are three types of wasps that homeowners commonl ..read more

What type of insecticide should you use? If you’ve done your own pest spray at home before you’ve probably got your sprayer sitting in the garage.  Insects are back, and it’s time to re-spray the home… but what insecticide should you use to get results “Just like the Professionals”? (Incidentally if you don’t have your own sprayer, the PestXpert Pro-Spray Outdoor Perimeter is a great starter kit!). Professional Pest Managers have access to a wide range of insecticides. However, the range of insecticides that are available to the DIY enthusiast from hardware stores is somewhat limited. Th ..read more

The Indian meal moth, a common "pantry moth" You may have noticed some small moths flying about the kitchen at dusk or at night – not something that would normally bother you. However, you then find some strange webbing material in some open biscuit packets and a bag of flour. You look closer and find a small pale caterpillar. You investigate further and notice some webbing and a small brown case (the pupae) up on the ceiling. The penny drops – you have a pantry moth infestation! Pantry moth caterpillars can crawl around the thread of flour jars! The Summer months are the peak season for ..read more

Carpet beetles are a common fabric pest. Although their name indicates they only eat carpets or rugs, they will eat a wide range of animal fabrics including wool, fur, silk, felt, feathers and leather. As with any pest problem it helps to know a bit about your ‘enemy’. Here are 5 important pieces of information that will help you spot a carpet beetle problem and prevent a carpet beetle problem developing. Types of carpet beetle Australian carpet beetleBlack carpet beetleVariegated carpet beetle There are number of different species of carpet beetle, with the three common species in Australia a ..read more

Four-lined Silverfish (Ctenolepisma lineata) Secretive and nocturnal, a silverfish infestation can go unnoticed for some time. A versatile, primitive insect, silverfish can inhabit a wide range of hiding places in your house. Silverfish like to eat starchy foods, so they find paper and cardboard delicious! They are also particularly like dark, undisturbed, damp conditions with a high humidity. You should check areas that contain your stored belongings. Old clothing, books and files are both a safe hiding place and delicious treat for silverfish. They commonly damage clothing and documents in s ..read more

Slaters might be welcome in the garden but sometimes they over step the mark and invade your home! You’re more likely to find slaters coming into the house into autumn when the temperatures start to drop or during dry, warm periods when they are searching for moisture. If you find slaters in your home it can be an early warning sign that you may have a source of damp in and around your house. Slaters need moisture to survive, so you must remedy any source of dampness to get control of a slater numbers. At the same time, you should seal any cracks and crevices in the building to stop slaters ..read more