What have you seen?
A person shining a torch along the bottom of a garage wall behind timber shelving

Ashburton, Canterbury

Pest control in Ashburton

A plains town, with paddocks on every side.

Around Ashburton the dry Canterbury Plains bring wasps in a hot summer and rats and mice when it turns cold, so tell us what you've seen and a local pest business will ring you.

Seen a pest in Ashburton?

What have you seen?

Wasp nest or bees near people? Keep children and pets away. Trouble breathing after a sting: call 111.

Only one local pest business gets your number.

  • Matched to what you've seen
  • Only one local pest business gets your number.

  • Matched to what you've seen

    Before a pest business can take jobs from Which Pest, we record the work it handles, so a borer job never lands with a business that only does wasps.

  • Only one local pest business gets your number.

    We share your contact details with one local pest business so it can get in touch about this job.

What happens next

A local pest business calls you.

What have you seen?

  1. Tell us what you've seen

    The pest, one detail about it, and your postcode. A few taps.

  2. We pass it on

    We pass your enquiry to one local pest business that handles exactly this. They quote, do the work and deal with you directly.

  3. They call you

    The pest business talks it through, usually inspects first, and quotes in writing. You decide.

Pest control in Ashburton: what to know before anyone calls

On this page

Wasps close to the house

Keep back from any nest and bring the kids and dogs inside until you know where it is. Anyone with a swollen face, wheezing or a tight throat after a sting needs 111. The National Poisons Centre on 0800 764 766 can advise on a sting at any hour.

What's different around Ashburton

Plains weather

NIWA says the Southern Alps shape every part of Canterbury's climate. The plains get low rainfall, with winds mostly from the north-east and south-west.

Hot spells

During foehn episodes, NIWA says, summer maximums often pass 30°C throughout Canterbury. Those are the stretches when wasps are busiest around food and water.

Wasp years in Mid Canterbury

In February 2009 RNZ reported ten wasp nests near Methven's primary school, with pupils kept inside at lunchtime. The principal said the town is plagued every four to five years, and a local pest business blamed the hot weather after dealing with more than 18 nests in a few weeks.

Canterbury's pest plan

Environment Canterbury's Canterbury Regional Pest Management Plan 2018 to 2038 covers the district. It lists three animals as pests: feral rabbits, feral goats and possums. Rats are watched as organisms of interest rather than declared.

Two councils

Ashburton District Council looks after district matters, and Environment Canterbury the regional plan. For a nest or rats on council land, ring the district council.

Rats and mice around the shed

On the edge of a farming town, rats go where the feed is. Christchurch City Council's parks plan notes that rats scavenge stored grain, fruit and refuse, and the EPA says one female rat has 15 to 20 babies a year. A few in the shed in autumn can be a lot more by spring.

Tenancy Services says winter is a more common time for rats and mice to get into the house. Health NZ says rodents carry disease and contaminate food, and lists them among the animals that can pass on leptospirosis. Cover any cuts before you clear out a shed they've been in.

If you've found a wasp nest

  1. Get everyone clear

    Shut nearby doors and windows, and move the outdoor table away from the flight line.

  2. Watch from a distance

    Wasps flying in and out of one spot give the nest away. Banks, the base of flax clumps and gaps under the roof edging are common places.

  3. Work out whose land it's on

    On your own section it's yours to arrange. On a reserve or roadside, ring Ashburton District Council.

  4. Tell us where it is

    Tap A wasp nest and describe the spot. A photo from well back helps the pest business plan.

Other jobs worth knowing

Fleas come in on pets and turn up in carpets and pet bedding. White-tails wander indoors in late summer and autumn, and one on the wall isn't worth paying for. If you see mud packed into gaps in timber, that's not a pest business call: leave it alone and ring MPI.

Where we'd start with pests in Ashburton

If it's wasps, we'd get the nest's location sorted before anything else, because a hot week makes a busy nest busier. If it's rats, we'd put feed and grain into sealed bins first, then get a pest business to look at how they're getting in. A tidy shed helps whatever treatment follows.

Want someone to look at it?

Tell us what you've seen and your postcode, and a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you to talk it through.

What have you seen?

Questions

Pest control in Ashburton: common questions

Is this a bad wasp year?

We can't say for this summer. Methven's principal told RNZ in 2009 that the town gets plagued every four to five years, and long, hot, dry summers are when numbers climb.

Do I have to tell anyone about rats on my property?

Canterbury's regional plan watches rats rather than declaring them pests, so there's no regional rule to report them. On your own section they're yours to deal with.

Seen a pest in Ashburton? Tell us what it is.

What you have seen, one tap about it and your postcode. Then a local pest business that handles exactly that calls you.

Before anyone starts

What to ask a pest business

Related help

More on pest control in Ashburton

Wasp nest removalWhat to do first, which wasp you've got, and who deals with a nest on your land.Read itRodent controlShip rat, Norway rat or mouse, why winter brings them indoors, and what a bait programme involves.Read itGerman waspsHow to spot a German wasp, where its grey nest hides, and how large a nest can get.Read itPest control in ChristchurchRats near the water, wasps in hot spells, Argentine ants, and what the council does and doesn't do.Read itPest control in TimaruWasp nests, rats and borer, and the few finds in Timaru that go to MPI instead.Read itSeasonal pest calendarWhat turns up in New Zealand each month, from wasps and swarms to rats in the ceiling.Read it

Where this information comes from

Rules and advice change, so check the source before you act on anything here. How we write and check these pages.

What have you seen?