Pest control in Tembisa homes and businesses

Pest control in Tembisa usually means clearing German cockroaches from kitchens, controlling rats and mice around homes and shops, treating bed bugs in bedrooms and rented rooms, and keeping flies down around food. Combat Pest Control serves Tembisa from Johannesburg. We look for where the pests are coming from, then treat the whole problem, not just one room.

Tembisa's density and what it means for pests

Tembisa sits in Ekurhuleni, north of Kempton Park and east of Midrand, and it's one of the biggest townships in the country. The housing is a dense mix: older matchbox houses, many extended over the years, newer RDP homes, double-storey builds and lots of backyard rooms rented to tenants. Spaza shops, salons, takeaways and taverns trade from homes and street corners, and informal settlements sit on parts of the edges.

All of this puts people, food and waste very close together, and pests take full advantage. A cockroach problem in one kitchen easily reaches the neighbour's. Rats live along drains, streams and open land, moving into homes and shops at night. Rooms that change tenants often bring in bed bugs on furniture and bags. And in summer, rubbish and food waste breed flies quickly.

The pests we deal with most in Tembisa

German cockroaches

These small brown cockroaches live in warm kitchens: in stove drawers, behind fridges, in kettle bases and inside cupboards. They multiply extremely fast. We use gel bait, which cockroaches eat and spread through the population, plus treatment of cracks and pipe gaps. It's much more effective than spray, which sends them into the walls and the next house.

Rats and mice

Rats carry disease, contaminate food and chew through doors, wiring and stock. In Tembisa we often find them burrowing under boundary walls, nesting in rubble and getting in through gaps under doors. We put lockable bait stations outside, where children and pets can't reach the bait, and traps inside if needed. Our page on rat control in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni explains the method.

Bed bugs

Bed bugs hide in mattress seams, bed bases, couches and cracks near the bed. Bites usually appear in rows on arms, neck and legs. They spread between rooms on the same stand, so landlords should treat all the rooms together. We do a detailed treatment and a follow-up visit to deal with eggs that hatch after the first round.

Flies

Flies breed in rubbish, food waste and animal mess, especially around food stalls and shisanyama spots in summer. Covering bins, clearing waste and cleaning up meat scraps does most of the work; we treat resting surfaces where flies gather. See fly control around Gauteng for more.

How we treat Tembisa properties

We start with an inspection of the house and every room on the stand, the kitchen, the yard, and the drains. We tell you what we found and what we plan to do before we start. Our treatments have no strong smell and you don't need to leave home, though little ones and animals should stay off sprayed spots until they've dried. For spaza shops and food businesses, we offer regular monitoring with a service record after every visit, which helps with health inspections.

Where a cockroach or rat problem clearly runs between neighbouring homes, it's worth asking the neighbours to treat at the same time. It costs each household less and gives a far longer-lasting result.

Before we arrive, it helps to empty kitchen cupboards near the stove and sink, pull the fridge slightly away from the wall if you can, and, for bed bugs, wash bedding on a hot cycle. That way the bait and treatment reach the spots where pests actually live.

A mistake we see a lot

Street-bought rat poison, sometimes sold in unmarked packets, is dangerous. Children and pets have been poisoned by it, and it's often not a registered product at all. Registered bait in locked stations is safer for your family and works better on the rats.

A Tembisa tip

Check the gap under your outside doors. In many Tembisa homes the gap is wide enough for a mouse or a young rat to squeeze under. A simple rubber door sweep or brush strip blocks it and costs very little.

What it costs and why

In Tembisa, the cost depends mostly on the pest and the number of rooms. A kitchen cockroach treatment is one of the simplest jobs. Bed bugs cost more because every bed must be treated in detail, with a follow-up. For rats and mice, the number of stations around the stand sets the price. Treating all the backyard rooms together brings the price per room down. You'll find a guide "from" price on this page, and our pest control prices page explains more. If a little ant trail is your only problem, we'll tell you how to deal with it yourself.

Combat Pest Control is owned by Jason van Heerden, who has 25 years of experience in pest control. Our registrations are with SAPCA and with the Department of Agriculture (Act 36 of 1947). Bookings get service within 24 hours, and if a treated pest returns within three months, our guarantee brings us back. We also cover pest control in Kempton Park next door, and our Johannesburg pest control services page lists everything we treat.

Call 084 200 2700 to book, or WhatsApp us a photo of the pest, bites or droppings.