Rats, wasps and orchard sheds in Riwaka
Riwaka homes, orchards, hop gardens and sheds. Richard finds where the rats and wasps are living, treats them there, and checks in afterwards. The inspection and the quote are free.
If Richard’s on a job when you ring, your call is still answered and he calls you back.
“I have a fear of rodents … They sorted the issue really quickly.”
- Treats
- Rats and mice, wasps, borer, ants, spiders, flies, cockroaches and fleas
- Where
- Motueka, Riwaka, the Moutere, Māpua and Ruby Bay
- Experience
- More than 15 years in the trade
- Quotes
- Free inspection and quote
- You call or send the formA photo of what you’re seeing helps
- Richard rings youTo go over it and book a time
- Free inspection and quoteAt your place, before any work starts
- Treatment, then a check-inHe makes sure it’s worked
What’s about this month?
This month is lit on the strip. Where a pest keeps a season, its band shows the months it’s most about.
This monthBusiestIn season
Tell Richard what you’re seeingRats or mice
Busiest June to August.
Winter is the commonest time for rats and mice to get into the house.
Wasps
In season September to May; busiest February to May.
Queens start new nests in spring. Nests grow all summer and are busiest in late summer and autumn, raising next year’s queens.
What Richard treats in Riwaka
Riwaka is orchard and hop country, and that shapes the pest work here. Rats and mice live well in hop gardens, orchard sheds and old kilns, and head for the house once the weather cools. Wasps nest in the banks, hedges and shelterbelts between the blocks.
Richard treats the house and the sheds together: the roof space and the subfloor first, then the kilns, garages and outbuildings, then the banks and hedges for nests. An older home gets a look for borer while he’s under the floor.
How a job runs in Riwaka
Tell us what you’re seeing
Ring, or fill in the form and add a photo if you have one. Richard gets back to you, goes over it and books a time.
The free inspection
Richard visits and goes through the roof space, the subfloor and the outbuildings, finding where they’re living and how they’re getting in.
Quote, then treatment
You get a quote before anything’s done. Once you’re happy, Richard and the team treat it, working around your household, pets included.
The check-in
After the job, Richard checks in with you to make sure it’s worked.
… Most of all he solved the rodent issue we had! …
Riwaka, orchard and hop country
The town sits by Tasman Bay at the mouth of the Riuwaka River, on ground that was once a swamp called Tureauraki. Europeans settled here in 1842, and Riwaka School, opened in 1848, is one of the oldest schools in the country.
Tobacco and hops built Riwaka. In 2010 most of New Zealand’s hop crop was grown around the town; the valley is full of orchards, old hop kilns are everywhere, and red netting stretches over many of the apple blocks. Old timber kilns and sheds full of fruit bins and sacking are just the places rats and mice settle in.
Riwaka traps its rats too: in 2025 the catchment group’s subsidised traps went to Riwaka backyards and farms as well as Motueka’s.
Tips and questions for Riwaka
- Keep hay, feed and seed in sealed bins in the shed. Open sacks are a winter larder for rats.
- Check old kilns and outbuildings for droppings and chewed sacking in autumn, before the cold sends rats indoors.
- In late summer, watch the banks and hedges between the blocks for wasps flying in and out at one spot.
Riwaka questions
Do you treat hop kilns and orchard sheds in Riwaka?
Yes. Richard treats sheds, kilns, garages and outbuildings along with the house, in one inspection and quote.
We already trap rats. Why call you?
A trap in the garden catches the odd rat. Once they’re in the roof or under the floor, it takes finding where they’re nesting and getting in, which is what Richard does.
Wasps are all over our fruit. Where’s the nest?
Workers feed within a few hundred metres of their nest and sometimes up to a kilometre, so it can be on the next block. Richard follows them back and treats it.
Richard also covers Motueka and Lower Moutere. All towns we cover
Get a free quote in Riwaka
Tell Richard what you’re seeing and where. Photos help.
What to send Richard
- A photo, if you can get one: droppings, a nest, holes in timber or an ant trail
- Where they are: inside, up in the ceiling, under the floorboards, in the shed or out in the orchard
- When you first noticed them
- Who’s home, or when the bach is empty
- For borer, the year the house went up, if you know it
Richard gets back to you to go over it, then visits to inspect and quote, free of charge.
Thanks, we’ve got your details.
Richard will get back to you to go over it and book a visit.