Cockroach control in Gqeberha/Port Elizabeth
They want warmth and water, and that’s the whole story.
Behind the fridge, under the sink, inside the motor housing of the dishwasher. That is why a spotless kitchen still gets them, and it is also why the treatment goes where they actually live rather than where you happened to see one.
Gel bait and a residual spray in the right places does far more than fogging a room ever will. The numbers usually drop within days and keep dropping for a couple of weeks after that, because they carry the bait home with them.
One thing before we get there
Try not to spray them yourself first.
Over-the-counter aerosols scatter them deeper into the house and make the real treatment harder than it needed to be. If you have already done it, say so when you phone. It changes where we look.
Why it’s worth dealing with properly
- Health. Cockroaches carry bacteria including Salmonella and E. coli, and they walk it across food and surfaces.
- Allergens. Their droppings, shed skins and saliva trigger asthma and allergies, and children get the worst of it.
- Numbers. One female produces hundreds of offspring. A small problem is not a stable problem; it is an early one.
How to spot it
They hide well, but they leave signs.
- Droppings. Tiny black specks that look like ground pepper.
- Egg casings. Long hollow cases, and each one can hold up to fifty eggs.
- A musty smell. Strong and hard to place. It usually means the numbers are already up.
- Shed skins. They shed as they grow, so skins in dark corners are a bad sign.
How they get in
- Gaps and cracks in the foundation, the walls or around windows.
- Plumbing. They travel through pipes and come up drains.
- Bags and boxes. Groceries and cardboard carry them in without anyone noticing.
What we do about it
- A proper inspection. Finding where they are hiding and how they are getting in, before anything is sprayed.
- Flush and vacuum. An aerosol with a residual effect drives them out of the cracks so they can be vacuumed up. Removing the adults, with the eggs still attached to them, cuts the breeding population straight away.
- Bait and residual spray. Bait goes into the cupboards and the nymphs that hatch later carry it back to the nest. That takes a few weeks but it reaches the places a spray cannot.
- A follow-up if it needs one. A heavy infestation usually does. We’ll tell you honestly which yours is.
If it is a heavy infestation, empty the kitchen cupboards before we arrive if you can face it. It lets us flush and vacuum properly and it brings the numbers down a lot faster.
The places people never look
Some of it is bait rather than spray for a reason. Pesticide inside a stove is unsafe, because the chemicals come off into the air when it heats up.
- Behind the fridge, especially near the compressor.
- Inside the stove control panel, where they come out once the oven warms up.
- Inside the microwave.
Keeping them out afterwards
- Regular cleaning, particularly the kitchen and the bathroom.
- Check and reseal new cracks as they appear.
- Keep an eye on under the sink and anywhere else damp and dark.
Flats and shared buildings
In a block, treating one unit moves the problem next door rather than ending it. It has to be coordinated with the body corporate or the managing agent, and the shared pipes and vents between units need sealing, because that is the road they travel on.
What it costs
| House | Treatment | Follow-up a week later |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 bedroom house or flat | R978 | R748 |
| 4 bedroom | R1 093 | R863 |
| 5 bedroom | R1 265 | R920 |
| 6 bedroom | R1 438 | R978 |
| 7 bedroom | R1 553 | R1 093 |
VAT included. Everyone and every pet needs to be out of the house for at least 90 minutes after we spray, and don’t wash the floors for a week afterwards.
Newton Park, Sydenham and Algoa Park are inside the Gqeberha price. Further out there’s a travel charge, and those are on the prices page.
Prices can change. We keep the site up to date as best we can, and the price we quote you before we start is the one you pay.
Send us a photo
Tell us what you’re seeing and where. A photo helps more than you’d think.
Or phone 061 905 0514 if you’d rather talk to a person.