Insects in the bush, not in the bedroom: Wilderness insect control

In Wilderness, the goal isn't to wipe out every insect in the forest. It's to keep them out of your house and your guest rooms. That means a barrier treatment on the building, baits for ants nesting under decks and floors, and a few changes to how the bush meets your walls. It's quick, it doesn't smell, and your guests won't know we've been.

Why it's busy here

Wilderness is a village built into nature. The lakes, the lagoon and the Touws River keep the air humid, forested hillsides come right up to the back door of many homes, and timber decks and wooden houses are everywhere. That's what people love about it, and it's also why ants, spiders and fishmoths are such regular visitors. A house in the bush simply has more contact points with nature than a suburban one: branches over the roof, plants against the walls, leaf litter under the deck.

For guesthouses and holiday rentals

One ant trail across a breakfast counter or a spider in the shower can end up in a review. For hospitality, the trick is to treat on a schedule, not after a guest complains.

• We can time regular treatments between bookings, so rooms are treated, dry and ready before the next guest arrives.
• Our residual sprays are odourless and non-staining, so there's no chemical smell in the rooms and no marks on linen or furniture.
• We focus on the places guests notice: bathrooms, window frames, bedside areas, breakfast rooms and outdoor seating.
• In kitchens, we combine treatment with practical advice on storage and cleaning.

For businesses, this can go onto a commercial contract with regular visits.

For homes in the bush

The most common home calls in Wilderness are ants marching in from under the deck, spiders building up in eaves, window frames and garages, and fishmoths in damp cupboards. Fleas come in with pets, and weevils or moths with a bag of flour or birdseed.

Now and then someone notices small round holes and fine powder in a piece of furniture. That's wood borer, a beetle living inside the wood, and it isn't a spray job. Infested furniture can be fumigated; our page on fumigation in Wilderness explains how that works.

What we do on the day

We start by walking the property: the deck, the eaves, the line where bush meets building, the kitchen and any storerooms. We trace ant trails back to where they start. Then we apply a residual barrier around the outside walls, decks and frames and inside along the skirting, place ant baits that workers carry back to the nest, and target any specific problem such as fleas or fishmoths. You don't need to move out or empty cupboards, and treated areas are safe for children and pets once dry. Every treatment carries our 3-month guarantee.

The Wilderness deck tip

Look under your deck. Leaf litter, old timber offcuts and damp soil under the boards make a sheltered home for ant colonies and spiders, right next to your sliding doors. Rake it out once or twice a year, keep plants trimmed back from the edges of the deck, and don't stack firewood against the house. You'll see a real drop in what comes inside.

Something most people get wrong

Trying to kill every spider. Most spiders you'll find around a Wilderness home are harmless, and they do a useful job eating other insects. Spraying the garden and the bush to get rid of them doesn't work, because more simply move in from the forest, and it kills the useful ones too. The sensible target is spiders inside the house and around doors and windows, and that's where our treatment is aimed.

How much will it cost?

For a home, the price depends on its size, how much decking and outside area needs treatment, which insects are involved and how established they are. For a guesthouse, it depends on the number of rooms, the shared areas and how often you'd like us to come. A one-off ant problem in a cottage is a small job, and sometimes clearing out under the deck and putting down a few shop-bought ant baits is genuinely enough. A guesthouse on a regular schedule is priced as a contract. We'll visit and quote before any work starts.

Pest Worx is SAPCA registered and has been working in the Garden Route for more than 25 years, from our office in George. See pest control in Wilderness for other pests, rodent control in Wilderness if you're hearing things in the roof, or insect control in George for more detail on our methods. Call 044 012 5011 and we'll arrange a time that suits you and your guests.