How To Kill Roaches And Get Rid Of A Home Cockroach Infestation
I have a little secret to share. Well it’s not really a secret so much as it’s a phobia that I’ve held since I was a little kid. Here’s the secret – I am deathly afraid of household insects, but in particular – cockroaches. There, I’ve said it – the cat’s out of the bag – go ahead and laugh, but it’s not funny (maybe just a little bit). Funny or not, it’s something that makes my heart beat fast, makes my pupils dilate like saucers, and summons forth caveman like instincts to grab the nearest bunny slipper or rolled up U.S. News and World Report magazine for some self-preservation-inspired bug pounding.
The mere sight of the creepy crawly legs and wiggling antennas of the common household cockroach jetting out from dark corners and scampering across bathroom counters and kitchen floors utterly freaks me out. While I don’t instantly jump onto chairs, call my mommy, or scream at the top of my lungs like a little girl, I do become visibly startled and immediately shift into fight mode whenever I encounter a lost spider or resident evil roach in my apartment. I’m sure you PETA fanatics out there may be turned off by my disdain and opposition to the plight of roaches and other household vermin, but I don’t care. Roaches and insects have no place in my home and I’ll do whatever it takes to eradicate the pests. I’ve had too many unfortunate experiences and bad memories of living with roaches during my student years.
Fortunately, I’m currently at a place and time in my life where my financial means now permit me to live in a nicer home far away from roach, rat, and vermin infestation that used to plague the ghetto row houses and low cost apartment rentals where I used to live as a college and graduate student. It’s been a while since I’ve had to deal with the nuisance of roaches or had to arm myself with high caliber anti-roach weaponry to fight off the onslaught of the mighty cockroach horde. But sometimes, scenes on TV and real life will remind me of how things used to be. Right now there’s a really fascinating but disgusting show on the Discovery Channel called the Verminators that I absolutely love to watch. The reality TV show follows a crack team of household pest exterminators as they go from problem home to another, wiping out severe rat, roach, ant, maggot, spider, and even pigeon infestations. The reason I love the show is the gleeful delight and absolute warlike approach the personalities on the show exhibit towards their determination to kill off all resident bugs that infest the homes of their desperate clients. The exterminator pros show no mercy and go full out with their armament of sprays, powders, and oxygen masks to combat the invaders. One time they even brought out an actual gun to take out a mega-rat that was hiding in someone’s attic. The show, while visually horrendous, brings me back to my graduate school days when I faced a massive roach infestation of my own.
My Failed Battle Against The Impressive Roach Army That Resulted In Eventual Retreat and Surrender
Until recently, I’ve always had a roach problem wherever I lived. Even though I consider myself relatively clean when it comes keeping my home tidy, roaches always seemed to invade my home. Probably the biggest reason for that was the fact that much of my early life was spent as a financially frugal student. As I was primarily supported by my overseas-living parents during my early years, I made a conscientious decision to live in apartments and neighborhoods that were affordable, to help lessen the financial burden on my parents who had several tuitions and living expenses to pay for. But as a result of my cost saving measures, every place I’ve lived at was infested with vermin of all types – from rats to roaches. As indicated above, it wasn’t until my recent later years in my late 20’s that I’ve been able to move on up the financial ladder to higher class, vermin-free housing.
Probably the absolute worst out-of-control infestation experience occurred during my post law school years when I was still struggling to settle down with my fledgling law career and build a sustainable living. To keep expenses low and save money, I decided to move into a quiet garden apartment community in a suburb of Maryland. The commute was great, proximity to grocery stores was excellent, and the price seemed too good to be true – it was. Months into my lease, the nightmare began. While I maintained a clean apartment, washing my dishes after every meal and storing away all food products into air tight containers, I kept noticing the appearance of roaches. At first it was just one or two encounters a week. I squished the roaches with my shoe and flushed them down the toilet each time and hoped they would go away, but they never did. They simply started appearing in greater and greater numbers. It got to the point where everytime I turned on my bathroom light, I would see two or three small roaches hanging around the ceiling area or visibly trying to scurry into a wall corner. Each time I got chills and sweated profusely at the sight of the nightmarish invaders. Eventually, their presence spread from the bathroom and into the kitchen, and eventually into the living room. In time I started seeing them during the day as well, a warning sign that I had a serious problem. Roaches are biologically night animals. If you see one during the day, it likely indicates that you have a serious infestation as overcrowding under cabinets and refrigerators probably has forced them out into the open. For each single roach you see in the open, it probably represents hundreds more hiding behind your drywall or between your floorboards.
At the time I was busy with work so I had little time to deal with my apartment management and forcefully compel them to eliminate the pests. But in response to a few calls and complaints, my apartment complex hired an exterminator, but the roach baits they set forth were ineffective. Eventually I simply went full out and took matters into my own hands. I headed to Home Depot to arm myself with all that consumer bug fighting technology had to offer. I purchased every single roach bait, egg stopper, roach gels, boric acid powder, and roach spray brand I could find – everything from MaxForce to Raid. I probably purchased more roach motel traps and roach gel bait devices than I needed, but I was determined to eliminate their presence from my home forever. All in all, I probably had more than 60 individual roach bait traps for a small apartment that was only about 700 square feet in all. I lined all corners and walls with multiple roach baits, and inserted gel bait poisons into all cabinet cracks and wall corners. I also dusted hard to reach areas with a layer of boric acid, a white powder that is not grossly toxic to humans or most pets like cats, dogs, and birds, but is supposedly deadly towards insects as it eats away their hard shell skin thereby dehydrating them to death. However, while I started seeing piles of upside down roaches everywhere, indications that my baits were working, the onslaught kept coming. Everyday I would see dead roaches everywhere, but new live ones seemed to keep taking their places, gnawing on the dead roach carcasses for nourishment.
Even my poor pet parrot was not immune to the onslaught. Even though he was never physically harmed, his cage was also slowly invaded by the swarming roaches. To protect my pet parrot to the best of my ability, I made sure to keep his cage clean at all times and placed his cage on a plastic lawn furniture table in my living room. I lined the bottom of the plastic table with a thick coat of boric acid powder to ensure that the only way that roaches could invade the cage was by walking through the white powder of insect death. However, day in and day out, I would look at my parrot’s bedding liner to find that the roaches had determinedly strolled through the boric acid powder and made their way into the bottom liner of his cage to seek out food products. When I pulled out the cage’s poop tray to clean it one time, I freaked out when more than 15 roaches scurried out from the plate and began crawling the walls, heading to the ceiling to escape like some horror movie. The nightmarish sight sent deathly chills down my back, made me sweat in horror, and even caused me to bleat out a few uncontrollable expletives. Although upon inspection, the bird cage invading roaches were covered with boric acid powder from head to toe, the resilient suckers simply refused to die. While most online commentators generally cheer the beneficial roach killing abilities of boric acid powder, I must point out that the effects are often slow and unpredictable.
Although I was incredibly busy with my job at the time, I eventually found time to storm into my apartment complex manager’s office to demand that they hire a competent exterminator to fix this emergency situation. Eventually the management relented and hired a more expensive crew to come in and flush the roaches out. The professionals came in with their roach pesticide sprays and laid down lines of defensive deadly roach pesticide trails designed to kill roaches on contact that trample onto them. Then they used a special roach flushing agent to spray into floorboard cracks and underneath appliances to flush out the roach colonies into the open so that they would walk onto the pesticide laden floors. It worked for a while – as there was a huge spike in dead roach bodies as the flushed out roach families were annihilated. But even with professional baits laid out to control the outbreak, the efforts were ultimately futile. The roaches continued to crawl around my dishes, hide in my television set, relax in my stove, and even find their way into my fridge of all places. The final straw was when friends came over to visit me and one of them sat down on my sofa only to stand up moments later with a squished roach on her butt.
Eventually, I shifted into lawyer mode and sent a very threatening legal letter to my landlord demanding that I be fully released from my apartment lease obligations, citing the management’s violation and breach of our contract to keep the premises a safe and reasonably livable place. There was simply nothing else I could do. After talking with the exterminator, I learned that I was fighting a losing cause. Because my discount apartment complex was so old and populated by lower income families that had a habit of illegally stuffing multiple families into one apartment meant for only one, sanitation and cleanliness were major problems. Even though I kept my own apartment clean, massive roach infestations in the adjacent apartments were causing them to spill over into my unit. At the end, I was released from my lease and left my ghetto apartment in a hurry. Ultimately, I had to pay substantially more in monthly rent to live at a new, clean, and higher class apartment complex free of roaches and vermin. My rent soared from $800 a month at my old place to more than $1475 for the new place. While it’s a lot more money, I don’t regret a single thing about my decision to pay more in rent. Freedom from roach infestations is definitely worth the heavier financial price. Saving money is great, but having that extra few hundred in my account isn’t worth the sheer torment of living with roaches invading your life completely and taking over your sanity.
Roach Infestations Are Bad For Your Health and Must Be Eliminated Quickly (Easier Said Than Done)
So other than the scare factor, why are cockroaches and the infestation that they bring to our homes so bad for you and I? First of all, it should be noted that not all insects are inherently bad. Some bugs like spiders and millipedes actually serve useful ecological purposes. Without their presence, our human existence would be inundated with out of control growth populations of pesky critters of all sorts. Most of these utilitarian insects help to control general insect population by building webs to trap, eat, and kill off other insects, helping to keep a lid on spiraling population growth. While I’m generally afraid of insects and roaches in particular, there are bugs that I have friendly, harmonious relationships with. When I see insects like lady bugs or even cicadas, I don’t mind picking them up with my bare fingers to inspect them. I see them as friendly insects that help the environment, so I’m not automatically afraid of them. Roaches of all breeds on the other hand are a different story – they are simply vile. While cockroaches live all around the world and come in all shapes and sizes, the breeds I’m most adverse to are the classic American and German cockroach. These two breeds are the most common roach pests found in American homes.
Roaches are the ultimate scavengers and harbingers of disease, germs, and insect fecal wastes. They have no qualms about walking through through poo or other disgusting solids and liquids. Their bodies frequently carry around all sorts of germs and potential infection spreading agents. One huge problem that they cause for inhabitants of homes that they infect is the creation of roach dust that they build up and leave behind. Roach dust is made up of decayed roach body parts and droppings that become airborne, infecting our breathing and embedding itself onto our hairs, clothes, and furniture. Roach dust is a powerful asthmatic agent that has the potential to trigger significant asthma attacks in sensitive people.
Cockroaches will consume almost anything organic and even somethings otherwise inorganic. They’ll chew threw paper, cloth, oils, bodily wastes, and any type of food or liquid product you leave behind. These little evil cannibals will even snack on the dead bodies of their fellow roach comrades they come across. Nothing is off limits when it comes to their diets. In their never ending pursuit for food, roaches often follow the footsteps of humans into homes and stay close to sources of water and food – which is why they are often found in bathrooms, kitchens, and places where food is plentiful (like near your dog or cat’s food bowl).
The one singular thing that makes them so terrible and deserving of a spot in the Bible as an Old Testament plague is the fact they breed insanely fast and are nearly impossible to get rid of. Female roaches can lay up to 40 eggs at a time, laying up to a 400 evil babies in a lifetime. Their lifespan is a year long and adult roaches can go for a month without food, and even up to an hour without oxygen. They can live off of virtually anything. Even the organic glue compound found on the back of stamps or the nourishment of your dead skin flakes can sustain them for weeks.
Cockroaches are also very difficult to kill. Not only do they run like Olympic track stars, their bodies are extremely well adapted to fend off damage. Because their breathing system is made up of tubes on their bodies called trachea, they can continue to live even after their heads or limbs are chopped off – talk about walking zombies. Also, have you tried to chase down a roach with your shoe before? It’s nearly impossible. It’s like playing whack a mole on steroids as they dart around so fast, it’s scary. They are able to quickly scurry into wall corners and flatten their bodies to avoid your newspaper punishment. They are also primarily nocturnal, preferring to come out at night. When they do, they are very stealthy and experts at staying hidden, invading your cabinets, sinks, toothbrushes, and your food stocks right under your nose. At the mere presence of light, they often smartly run for cover, unlike their more stupid cousin bugs that often sit there, succumbing to flattening attacks by humans.
How Do I Get Rid Of A Mild Cockroach Infestation, and Kill Roaches Using Roach Bait and Roach Traps?
The following words of advice are only suitable for those of you who have mild roach outbreaks in your home. If you only see a lone roach wandering around your home once every year, you probably don’t have an infestation as it probably piggybacked into your home via a plastic grocery bag or something like that. However, if you are seeing them every few days, particular during the daytime when they are supposed to be in hiding, you may have a serious problem. If professional treatment and baiting are powerless, your only recourse may be to move out of your home completely like I did and not look back (if that option is available to you). Some things in life are lost causes. In serious infestations, the roaches probably have spread throughout all apartment buildings or all parts of your house. They’ve probably inhabited your base walls and have set up massive colonies of roach eggs and roach nurseries that are nearly impossible to eliminate completely. Remember, a single female roach once impregnated can continue to lay eggs throughout her entire life, spawning hundreds of hatchlings from just a single individual.
If the roach outbreak is not so dire where moving out is demanded, hiring a professional exterminator might due the trick. Professional exterminators have legal access to much more powerful roach flushing agents and pesticides to kill those little critters. For those who have children and pets in the home and are leery about using toxic pesticides, professional exterminators also have access to potent roach baits and gels that are less toxic for humans and pets. They work by slowly poisoning roaches. Laced with attractive smells to entice a roach, the victim eats the bait and ingests the delayed action poison that will ultimately kill it. When it travels back into the wall boards, it brings some of the poisoned food with it to share with others. In time, roach baits can kill off entire roach populations if the problem has not completely spiraled out of control.
In my opinion, cockroach bombs and roach foggers should be avoided. Not only are they extremely toxic to humans and pets, but their limitations are very well documented and observed. The irritants do drive away roaches temporarily, but they are not effective in killing the populations completely. The roaches will simply run for cover and hide until the toxic plumes have faded. As soon as you move back into your home after the roach bomb has done its work, they will come back out to play. Also, don’t waste your money on those pointless electronic pest control repellent scams that you see on TV all the time. Supposedly, simply by plugging the electronic pest control repellent device into your electrical outlet and activating it, the system emits an ultra high frequency wave that irritates and drives away pests like roaches and rodents. These devices are supposed to be safe for both humans and pets. However, they’re pure junk and scams in my opinion. Both rats and roaches are extremely durable and hardy animals, conditioned to survive even nuclear devastations if it ever came down to it, so neither of them is likely going to be stopped by some pointless frequency wave. To get rid of them, you’re going to have to resort to good old fashioned roach food deprivation and chemical warfare. Ditch the expensive electronic pest control repellent devices and don’t waste your money.
For those of you with mild roach infestations, here are some home remedies and homemade solutions to help you kill them, exterminate their colonies, and keep your home free of pesky cockroaches. Much of your efforts will be spent targeting notorious problem areas like the kitchen and bathroom.
Household Solutions To Get Rid Of A Mild To Manageable Roach Problem:
1) Eliminate the Roaches’ Source Of Food, Water, Shelter, and Entry – Unless you live in a shared apartment complex that allows roaches to travel freely from one unit until into another, keeping your home clean is the most effective way to get rid of roaches. Cockroaches invade our homes usually to seek out food and water. Wash your dishes immediately after every meal and wipe down kitchen counters frequently, as roaches like to snack on greases and food oils. Vacuum your carpet and wipe down your hardwood floors and tiles as often as you can to ensure no food or liquid particles remain to feed the roaches. Fix leaky faucets as well as they offer roaches a free tasty source of water to drink from. If you have pets like cats, dogs, or even birds, clean the pet living areas frequently and make sure their food bowls are washed and cleaned after use. Dog food sacks are frequently targets of roaches – always seal them in special airtight containers. Also, make sure there are no open canisters of food or liquids anywhere in your home. Roaches can sniff them out and they will find them. Practice throwing out your trash bags on a daily basis. Trash cans contain all sorts of attractive aromas for roaches. Eliminate this prevalent food source if you can.
Finding out how they are getting into your home is easier said than done. Oftentimes roaches found their way into your home via air vents, front doors, or even cracks outside of your home. Oftentimes, telltale signs like roach droppings – tiny brown pellets of slime, indicate the presence of roaches. Frequently, professional help is needed to help you pinpoint the entry way. Finding out where they are living in your home exactly is also difficult without expert help. But once you locate how they enter your home and where they congregate, a liberal application of roach pesticide spray along the access points will provide long lasting walkways of doom for these roaches.
2) Use Non Toxic Boric Acid Or Diatomaceous Earth - While I’ve personally had limited success with using boric acid or even diatomaceous earth powder to control roach populations, perhaps you’ll have more success than I. Borate powders are generally non toxic to humans, pets, and children although you obviously shouldn’t intentionally ingest them. Despite prolonged exposure, my parrot, my friend’s cat, and myself managed to remain perfectly healthy in the presence of boric dusted rooms. However, these powders are supposedly toxic and deadly against insects. As insects like roaches come into contact with the powder, the powder sticks onto their outer shell, causing gradual roach death. The downside is that boric acid powder kills very slowly and sometimes it may take days before the acid takes effect. But the plus side is that the compound can remain effective for years if the powder remains dry. Boric acid powders also allow you to dust in areas where the roaches are likely to hide and where humans and pets are less likely to come in contact with – such as in the crevices behind your kitchen appliances and spaces underneath your refrigerator.
Boric acid can be purchased at local retail hardware stores and most drug stores. They usually come in a squeeze bottle with a narrow spout that allows easy dusting once cut. Retail boric acid powder is usually white although some brands color the product light blue so you can see the product better. The key is to dust in areas where roaches are likely to walk through. Roach behavior usually dictates that they prefer to walk along edges where their bodies are in constant contact with some type of wall. Thus, remember to dust the boric acid under your stove and refrigerator, along wall edges, around door frames and open spaces inside of cabinets, sinks, and shelves.
Another product that is used by some is a form of illegal insecticide commonly called “Chinese Chalk”, because of their sale in many Chinatown locations. However the sale and purchase of Chinese Chalk is illegal due to the many child related poisonings attributed to the product’s resemblance to common classroom chalk. Supposedly, one can use the chalk to draw lines of kill zones on the ground to poison any roach or ant that walks across it. It probably works the same way as boric acid, but with substantially greater toxicity and health danger to humans. I don’t recommend using it – it’s illegal anyway.
3) Use Roach Traps, Roach Bait, and Roach Gels – Roach baits in all forms contain a combination of poison chemical and attractive food lures to entice roaches to eat them. They are actually quite effective if used in large quantities in strategic indoor locations where it’s dark and moist. Like boric acid powder, they both kill slowly. However, this slow killing power is actually the most effective form of mild roach infestation control because it allows the poison to be ingested and taken by the roach into the roach lair to kill the population at its source.
The baits can come in the form of a little plastic roach bait station (roach motel) or they can come in gel syringe form. The plastic roach baits are easier to set and tend to last longer in duration, but I think they are slightly less effective than roach gel baits. Gel baits are very effective but they tend to dry out quicker, not to mention the gels are messier and harder to clean up. The gels also need to be re-applied every few weeks for maximum effect. Roach gels should be lightly applied in corners, on plumping fixtures, on interior cabinet edge corners, and under appliances where it’s usually dark. Remember not to combine roach bait and roach gels with instant killing pesticide sprays. The objective with baits is not to kill them instantly, but to allow one infected roach to spread the poison love to others. Popular retail roach bait brands include MaxForce, Combat, and Raid. I don’t have any preferences or recommendations because they’re all about the same in terms of effectiveness. Try buying all three and using them all simultaneously if you have the money to do so – their poison chemical compositions differ somewhat.
4) Use Roach Insecticide Sprays – These aerosol powered spray cans contain a lethal dose of bug killing liquids. By spraying the roach insecticide chemicals along hidden baseboard floors and on dark and hidden areas underneath and inside cabinets where roaches frequent, you provide tremendous roach killing power on contact. The insecticide sprays contain a chemical that instantly starts to kill the roaches on contact should one wander across a sprayed area. While it’s great to know that it’s lights out for any roach that crosses its path, the sprays do not provide much residual or long lasting roach control. Only roach baits can target the roach nests and hit the source of the spawning problem. However, back when I had a heavy roach problem, I always kept a few bottles around at the ready. Chasing a fast running roach is much easier with a roach spray. It beats having to swing wildly like a drunkard with a shoe or newspaper.
5) Use Water Jars (Vegas Roach Jars) - Another common household remedy to combat mild roach problems is the use of a so-called Las Vegas roach trap jar. It’s called that because the practice was recently popularized by a Las Vegas news report of its effectiveness in catching roaches. While I’ve never tried it out, the concept sounds rather interesting. The Vegas cockroach trap consists of a glass jar filled with coffee grounds (as bait), and a little bit of water that is placed against a wall. It is important that the roach jar trap is placed against a wall because roaches prefer to travel along edges where their bodies can maintain constant contact with a wall. Some people like to place Scotch masking tape on the outside of the jar to give the roach more traction. However, once they fall into the jar, the slippery glass surface prevents them from being able to climb out. Supposedly, cockroaches are attracted to these water jars. This type of homemade anti-roach remedy if effective, is a wonderful alternative to using toxic insecticides and baits. But frankly, I’m not fully convinced the technique actually works.
I’m sure everyone has their own secrets and methods to killing roaches. Feel free to share your ideas.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Try this to find Roach Chalk On eBay for cheap Chinese chalk products.
Chinese chalk, cockroach chalk, insect chalk, or plain bug chalk…whatever you want to call it – it does work. It’s very inexpensive as well. You use the little chalk to draw lines on the floor and when the roaches walk through them they die. Don’t buy the hype that it’s illegal or whatever. That’s just a whole lotta hoopla over nothing.
July 22nd, 2008 at 5:10 am
This is a very informative report, not very promising since I do have an infestation and do not have the money for better housing. I will try all your ideas but when I first moved in it was a roach once ina blue moon, now its like I see them in the day. One day I killed twelve! So its a little scary. Again I will try everything. Do you think caulking cracks in the wall will help also?
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Wow. Now I’m scared of roaches too. I always was, but I’m quite creeped out now. We had some problems with them when I worked for property management. The exterminator managed to find the source and seal it off, but he explained that they’d always be looking for ways in, since the sewers were full of the lil buggers during the late summer/early fall period. Ick.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:26 am
I also want you to know something I found out from a long time ago living in Coconut Grove, Florida. A small box of “Harris Roach Tablets” has let me live roach free for over twenty five years!!!!!
July 31st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Don’t let roaches ruin your lives….fight back with a vengeance or run for your lives by moving out if you can. Although tiny, they are incredibly resilient little suckers to squash I must admit.
Roaches have truly been around since the dawn of time. I remember reading somewhere about how scientists discovered the dead remains of fossilized cockroaches in the cave dwellings of ancient cavemen. They’ve been with us since the beginning and will probably be there at the very end, forever snacking on our food like the evil little free loaders they are.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:31 am
As the author did, I currently I live in a low income apartment building (in Chicago) and have been here for over a year. The area is up and coming as they say – but not MY building. Anyway I have not moved yet because financially – I can’t.
Until recently, about 3 weeks ago, I saw ONE roach and completely freaked out of course as I knew there was a problem – you see one then there are MANY more. I saw another one that same week. Right away I tried to determine where they where coming in, it appears under the kitchen sink. So I went out and got those gel traps and put them everywhere in the kitchen. Scrubbed the hell out of the kitchen – I was clean but got even cleaner, lysol, ajax, bleach – the works.
So this week, Monday – I saw 3 alive in the kitchen. Tuesday, 2 alive and one dead in the kitchen. I wanted faster results so I went and got Boric Acid (my new best friend). I applied liberally along the base of the floor behind the sink under the stove refrigerator and in the cabinets. I also leave the light on and point a fan at the kitchen floor, I read someone when we come by them they feel the air and then scamper away. I am trying everything to prevent them spilling over into the rest of my place considering it is only a studio!
Wednesday, saw one in the kitchen. Thursday saw none in the kitchen and 2 alive in the Bathroom (crap!) where I had one gel trap and no Boric Acid, they where both on there last leg, since they where frozen in place when I hit the light on. I became discouraged. I immediatly applied some Boric Acid along the edge of the floor under the sink and toliet.
Now we come to today – Friday, I woke up and discovered one dead, on the floor in the kitchen none in the bathroom. Apparently, I am doing well at killing them upon entering my unit but obviously this is a no win battle as they are thriving elsewhere and just spilling into my space.
The landlord apparently is not sending any help until August 23rd! Which is insane considering how quickly they breed. I have tried researching my rights as a tenant in this situation and thus far have been unsucessful finding anything for IL. I want to withhold the upcoming rent and use that towards a new place but not sure if I can.
All in all – this sucks and once you see them, live in an apartment building and know others are not taking precaution as you are – you just have to move.
To the author – thank you for sharing your story, you did mention your in the legal practice, if there is any information you can share with me and my rights – please do!
Thanks and good luck to everyone!
August 4th, 2008 at 12:50 am
Oh my GOD. I’m so horrified…
I’ve seen a single dead roach (my cats have been catching and killing them) each day for three days…. this is all on the event of all of my downstairs neighbors moving away…. not for roaches, as far as i can tell– one across the country, and the other evicted. Now it’s just me on the top floor and a guy in the sublevel floor of a brownstone. And they’re coming. I’m not sure what to do… i’m a server, so i’m away long hours while my cats are home in need of their food, and I don’t know how they’ll cope if I don’t leave it out for them to eat. Unfortunately, the roaches are being fed too. I feed the cats wet AND dry food… has anyone heard of dry food being less likely to attract those evil demons? Or does it not even matter?
August 4th, 2008 at 1:41 am
Natalie,
I sympathize and totally understand the agony you’re going through. The sight of a single roach scampering across my apartment floor in the past was enough to send shivers down my back.
If you have to leave pet food out, dry food is best. I had to defend my bird’s cage from the roaches as well. I don’t think the roaches were after my bird’s dry bird food, but rather were attracted to his moist poop piles. Roaches prefer moist food products, but frankly, they’ll eat anything that’s remotely edible.
As for coming up with a clever way to prevent roaches from getting into the cat food bowls until you can properly deal with the roach problem, try putting the cat food bowls on a slightly elevated table or platform were your cats can jump up to. Spray or line the foot of the table or platform legs with roach spray or boric acid powder. Many of these sprays offer residual killing power against roaches that walk over them.
I baby sat my friend’s cat for a while and I know for a fact that cats are not affected by the spray or boric acid powder so long as you don’t get the chemical compounds directly into their food bowls.
I’m impressed your cats actually chase and kill the roaches. When I babysat my friend’s cat, she merely enjoyed chasing them and whacking them with her paw as a form of entertainment. She didn’t do much damage though as roach bodies are very resilient.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:14 am
I live in Miami, Fl, where roaches seem to be pretty much unavoidable. Never had much of a problem until this summer. I seem to catch one in the kitchen or in the bathroom every 2-3 nights now. Just an hour ago one hopped on my bed, it was freaky. They are usually in the kitchen, sometimes the bathroom, but rarely do they get as far as a bedroom.
I’ve never seen more than one at a time though, and always at night, which gives me some hope that some serious boric acid use will yield good results.
August 9th, 2008 at 6:04 am
What can be done legally. The management here won’t do squat about the problem. They gave me some of those little traps and one of those electrical plug in devices but it like throwing firecrackers at a tank. Im using the boric acid but I don’t know how effective it is as I still see them. Damn things got into my coffee pot, my microwave, even my refigorator. One of my neighbors complained about it and told me she would get a 60 day notice if she kept complaining about it. I scour the microwave before and after every use but they still get in. This is probably a stupid question but I should probably stop using it shouldn’t I? I threw the coffee pot out, I scoured the ‘fridge and turned it up so high almost everything freezes and I don’t seem them in there anymore except a occasional dead juvinile (probably froze to death, ha ha) I lost my job two months ago so Im going to get evicted but I want these Aholes in management to be subject to legal action. Can you help with any suggestions. Im so freeked out by these damn things I have nightmares that they’ll simply move with me where ever I go. One of the damn things just crawled by the keyboard as I am typing this now!!! Sweet Jesus, can someone help me???
August 10th, 2008 at 5:12 am
I read through the post with one eye shut as the mere sight of them in the posts’ photos is too much for me. This post is very informative. I usually call a professional once a year and buy my peace and quiet.
August 10th, 2008 at 11:04 am
Baits are the best way to go. Avert is one. Not cheap But, if you are persistant, they will pick it up and take it into the wall void. Put it out in three or four of the same spots. Write down their location. Put it out every three or four days.. until it is not disturbed.. Avert was developed in the housing projects of Chicago.. Most pest sprays are worthless.. Also a growth regulator like Gentrol can Be Very effective.. Good Luck..
August 12th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Thanks for the super-informative article. We seem to be battling something of this sort right now. Ugh…I can attest for the water jar method b/c when we leave a bowl outside and water gets in, we find several floating roaches the next morning. I just put down borax last night. So, the battle is on!
August 13th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I have seen a drastic improvement with the methods I mentioned in my last post on August 1st. I now will only see ONE every week or week and half which is way better than before considering I am in an apartment building and of course can not control what others do.
Seeing as the Boric Acid must stay dry to be effective – when I clean I do not mop by the border, only once a week I will and than of course lay down a new Acid border. I also used some drywall mix and covered all openings by the plumbing that I could find and reach.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Will definately give everything ago. Staying over at my grandparents house for college, and the kitchen is COMPLETELY infested with those. Hundreds, upon hundreds.
You think thats diguisting, what about have the weekly family dinner and the while the pots are sitting on the stove, roaches are crawling on the lid.
Yuck, yuck and double yuck.
August 18th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I was visiting Asia a while back and staying at a friend’s relative’s house. The house was in the countryside so they had sort of a roach and bug problem. But apparently none were around because the population was kept in check by all the geckos (yes, as in the GEICO gecko) that crawled the walls. The gecko lizards were actually pretty cute and quite friendly. With suction cup legs, they scurried across walls, snacking on tasty roaches and other vile bugs. I guess it’s a trade-off between having roaches on your walls and counter tops, or having geckos.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Great zot, woman! Your little band was even more colorful than my collection of pet cockroaches, who came with the “luxury” apartment I rented one year. Little guys were acrobats, sooooo cute… They’d perform elegant backflips off the cabinetry onto the kitchen counters.
While boric acid will work eventually (and temporarily…more will come to take their place), the best bet is roach traps. They’re far and away better than any other solution. A housekeeper who lived in an even more “luxurious” apartment than mine clued me in. I tried them, and before long the place was acrobat-free. They didn’t come back, either.
Couple of years ago I read that those traps have decimated the population of roaches in North America. That’s one bit of environmental disruption I can live with.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
So, I have a typical scenario… Brooklyn apt – 6 dwellings. Didn’t see a problem when I first moved in.. I started to see some here and there — when the man across the whole died )the clean out his infested apartment, but did not care for the rest of the building. I got that under control for almost a year… seeing some herer and but recently more are appearing.
I was told it was the firsts floor apt. That they were dirty. Then I discovered a huge hole beneath their apartment and a huge leak decending from the hole. I informed my landlady of this and she said roaches don’t like water… that its the tenants fault. She wants us to bomb our apt’s- all but the couple who have a newborn….
I began my own war to prevent an infestation for when my neighbor bombs only to discover that I too was infested..
I have sealed holes with combat platinumn gel, used boric acid, bay leaves, and quick kill as well as source kill baits in the kitchen and bath. They are hidden in the half walls and cupboards and short of ripping them out I don’t know what to do with that.
I have put baits in the basement near the leak and boric acid and traps all throughout our hallways.
In my bedroom I used a repellent in the cracks of the baseboards and flooring.
I threw away all small appliances.
I sealed up all foods even unopened cans in ziploc bags. I also wiped them down before sealing.
My landlady wants us to bomb and I suspect doesn’t want to take on the responsibility of having a professional come to take care of the hole buliding… she blames that on us, the tenants…saying she can’t make people bomb or exterminate and we all have to be home at the same time and she cant tell us to do that either.
I am seeing less roaches, mostly smaller ones. I am trying to clean as I go, but now I am seeing their excrement left on the dishes that I washed… I have been doing this for 4 days…
Does it sound promising?
I do not want to bomb, it sounds futile and even more work.
And I am doing what and exterminator would at this point?
I have also put bay leaves around (repels) and cleaned with an orange oil based spray (kills them)
Thanks for reading and the advice and good luck!
August 20th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
So, just wanted to give an update–i found the entry point at the gas connection behind my stove, squirted MASSIVE amounts of boric acid powder in there and filled in the gap… covered my whole apartment in the stuff… set combat traps EVERYWHERE, and i haven’t seen one since!
thanks!
August 25th, 2008 at 11:27 am
We have hired a local person to come around and spray for roaches. I have lived in my home now for going on 10 years and I have seen a very occasional bug here and there but nothing like what I see now. We were having the bigger ones and I think the the bug man has been effective in the way of killing the big ones…but we see the middle sized ones all the time and in my laundry room and in my kitchen floor alot in the daytime, I go around whacking them with my two trusty fly swatters I have hanging on my door. I wonder if he keeps spraying his stuff and I get some boric acid and some roach motels and some of the gel stuff if it will be effective enough to get rid of them I hate bugs of any kind but especially roach bugs they make everything feel nasty and you have to wash everything a million times to make sure its clean before you use it, and also I think they are living under my fridge, is there a way you can lean it back or will that tear it up or something…? Help- some advice on getting rid of them would be helpful I’m going to try all this stuff that I have read about I hope it works…
August 28th, 2008 at 12:22 am
When we moved in our lil old house we saw one or two roaches here and there, told our landlord about it and he said to buy bombs, if need be he would buy them. We told him that we thought it would be better to just get an exterminator, but he refused. We bombed and put down some roach motels ( my mom swears by them), that worked for a few months, it kept them down. But we have a dog and three kids, its hard not to keep food and water down for her and to pick up every last crumb the kids drop. It wasnt long before we started seeing more and more. We’ve tried everything you can buy at a store! They even started to get on the bed!!! Found out they got into our boxed springs, so we threw out our bed and got a new one. We now have an exterminator coming (for three months now). We thought it helped the first time he came, but it wasnt long and the population was back up. So we told the guy and he sprayed some different stuff each time he came.
I got rid of half of our clothes, dishes we dont use, some of the toys, papers, anything they could hide in and THEY ARE STILL HERE!!! The real problem is that since the exterminator has been spraying and putting gel out the roaches have mutated!!! They look like lil monsters, some w/ missing wings, some w/ extra body parts some w/ only 3 legs, some of them look like roaches and crickets bred!!! They are scarry looking. We move in cuz it was a cute lil house that we could aford while I was still going to school, but I just finished and we are getting ready to move, how do I keep them from coming with us? I’m at my wits end help!!! Thanks for all of the ideas everyone shared. Sorry for everyones bug problem, but its nice to know other people are fighting the never ending battle too. I’ll be sure to try the few ideas I hadn’t heard of before, and good luck to everyone.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:34 am
I live in a suburban area of Rialto California. Weve seen a few roaches about a year ago, but ever since seven months ago we havent seen even one. But just a few minuites before 12:30 in the morning, I saw another one. The upside(i think) is that I managed to capture it and now it’s trapped in a small cup on my computer table. I went to wikipedia for a little information and Ive figured out its a female. It just happens to have an egg sack attatched to it. What should I do with it now??
August 28th, 2008 at 4:46 am
Rue,
Hmm…interesting…I’ve never noticed one dragging around an egg sac before… however…
On behalf of all roach haters out there, I humbly ask you to take the roach outside and put it out of its misery by squishing it pronto….you may want to squirt some roach insecticide spray to neurologically kill what is left. The spray should be able to kill off the eggs as well.
Yes, I exhibit no mercy when it comes to those pesky critters… if I could use a flame thrower to torch them out of my home I would..
August 31st, 2008 at 6:09 pm
I have a similar issue as Natalie. I just adopted 3 kittens. I teach and am away all day (from 7:00AM until 6:30PM) and need to leave food out for the growing babies.
My last place had roaches and I’m deathly afraid of getting them here. I have professionals come every quarter to treat the outside (and sometimes the inside). Am I “safe” leaving a small amount of dry food out for the kittens to snack on during the day?
I am careful to wash their bowls after they finish their wet food so there is no residue in them for any length of time.
What do you guys think?
September 5th, 2008 at 4:45 am
To all with a problem alike. They are quick to come back. One sure thing is you don’t have to be dirty, poor or lazy to get the little bastards. Boric acid and Diatomaceous Earth will help tremendously. If you don not have kids use the chalk. It may be illegal but you can get in on the internet. Between those three things you can virtually eliminate them.
Don’t waist your money on any pesticides from the store. They are weak and will not work. The stupid electric thing you plug in, nope, won’t work.
Water in a jar, yes it does work but you have to wait for them to find it and comitt suicide. By the time they find it and take a swim they would have produced many more.
Powder and caulk is the only way to go
September 9th, 2008 at 12:23 am
We put out boric acid when we moved in to our new home about five years ago which did work pretty well, but I have concerns about using it. There are some areas of our home (bathroom and dining room) that are carpeted and I don’t like to vaccum the boric acid for fear of aerosolizing the acid.
But, like Debbie (posted on July 31) the Harris Roach Tablets work wonders. I live in the south and we have some big fat flying roaches, yet these tablets are amazing. I have lived in an old historic house that was practially falling all around me and these tablets have really taken care of our roach problem. The best part is the first night that we put them out, the roaches loved them soo much that they actually pushed the tablets out from under the refridgerator and the oven.
My only complaint is that these tablets don’t seem to work on the really small “German” roaches.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:30 am
My husband and I have tried all of these methods including the food reduction and cleanliness regimes. we have used traps, baits, boric acid, raid, combat, foggers and bombs and none of these products work.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:30 am
I, myself, is checking this website because I have just killed 3 roaches. It’s midnight here, and that’s where they come out in search for food. I sprayed down 3 roaches with my home-made dish washing detergent + water. It also works well with soap + water. Basically, i sprayed the roach intensively, trying to hit its head. After a while, around a minute or 2, the roach wud eventually die, suffocating. The detergent/soap water blocks the roaches breathing paths and suffocates them. Use this if you don’t have an insectiside at home/near you, or if you simply dont want the smell of insectiside all over your room.
October 8th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
The Las Vegas roach trap works…I use outside my house on all the corners. And I have to empty them often. I have them anywhere a roach may be able to gt inside…I have no rouches in my house or in my yard! I live in Las Vegas
October 18th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
What is wrong with you sadistic people!!!!! And what’s wrong with being a PETA supporter! I know you people don’t think roaches are people, but they are creatures too…same as any socalled household pests….mice, insects, they are all creatures that should be respected.
Instead of killing them with sprays, foggers, or talking about suffocating them with soap suds why not try some type of live trap….I’ve seen them before…
Live and let live!!!
October 19th, 2008 at 4:16 am
I am an animal lover as well. But i completly disagree with you. they carry germs that get in your food and on your dishes. and can be harmfull to someone with asma. Believe it or not my cat has severe asma. she is the world to me. and i feel just as bad for her as i do myself for having to live with these utterly discusting creatures. but all the pesticides and roach dust is causing her to go into asma attacks. i cant afford to leave and i just signed a year lease. i dont know what to do.i have to get rid of them but in fear that she might have more attacks i have stopped my treatment and am at a loss on what to do. ??????? so i say kill the little bastards!!! im down with live and let live but what about my loved cat that is suffering because all of this. i want every roach in the world to die an agonizing death for the problems they cause !!!!!
October 20th, 2008 at 7:32 am
The dish soap and water DOES wonders. My wife has been using the dish soap and water in a spray bottle and gives them a 20 second treatment and Wallah! VERY CLEAN & DEAD ROACH!!!!
October 20th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
Sorry animal lover but protesting for roaches is taking it a bit too far, really it is..
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:39 pm
wow i’m so glad (sort of) that other people have the problem as well. ;_;. i just moved into an apartment with my boyfriend (my first place) a few weeks ago. it’s a low-income place but it’s really nice and clean (supposedly). our’s has new paint and carpet. about a week after moving in, they started to warm up to us and showed themselves. average size i guess. i only saw 1 in the kitchen and then the next day another in the guest bathroom(i’ve still only seen them in thsoe 2 places *knocks on wood*). of course, i freak out. thank gawd my boyfriend is here to take care of them because i would just cowar in the corner in fetal position and cry myself to sleep. or sleep in my car. my friends at work tell me it’s the complex’s responsibility so i call and tell them. they leave me a few bombs by my door and tell me what to do and also they will be sending a guy to do pesticide in the next couple days. after bombing, i come home from work and it’s ok. that night i come to he kitchen and there it is. a roach. next day he comes. the day after, while my boyfriend is at work, i go to the kitchen and low and behold.. babies. i had the raid out and started spraying the ones i saw until i realized this was an infestation. THEN i see a pink gecko lizard thing in the sink and i scream and run away to the bedroom. i didn’t know what it was at the time, i could have been hallucinating from raid fumes. i go to his work (publix) to pick up raid bombs and bait traps. set them off and leave (for 4+ hours) had to kill time but luckily it was a saturday night =] and he was closing and went to a game arcade after. the next night i saw another one! normal sized.. and more babies yesterday. someone came again to flush this time today and let me tell you it STINKS!! i’m not sure what flushing means or how it’s different then regular pesticide but i hope this works. we have the baits out still but i need to get that powder. i’m frustrated we’re probably the only ones doing what we’re supposed to be doing and our neighbors could be breeding them!! my first place.. and scarred from this.
October 25th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Hello! I’ve had a similar problem with roaches but I’ve eliminated all of them which was amazing because I tired everything and none of them seemed to be working. I came across this site named pestmall.com and they helped me tremendously. Their instructions were very simple and easy to understand. Dupont Advion Roach Gel works! It actually works and it works GREAT!
I applied the Dupont Advion Roach Gel on the corners of the kitchen, in the cracks of appliances (refrigerators, microwaves, stove fans, etc.), under counters, cabinets, and sinks, and other small openings where cockroaches can enter.
Also just because you treat the inside of your home doesn’t mean that roaches can still come into your home. So I treated the outside as well. Demon WP was amazing for outside application! I used Demon WP and sprayed it using a hand sprayer around the foundation of my home and around utility pipes where roaches might come into my home.
Believe me, from my experience, I never thought I could be free of roaches but it happened. Pestmall.com was a TREMENDOUS help to me because they give really simple directions for the application and made it easy to understand. They really did help me alot! Go check them out if you want to be roach free!
October 31st, 2008 at 9:16 pm
That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing about your phobia and experiences. And you’re right about electronic pest control devices not doing a thing for the roaches. They don’t seem to care at all as they just prance right in front of the device without batting a feeler.
The best treatment I found for the big “flying ace bomber” species of roaches is Combat large roach bait stations in the GOLD BOX. Why the Gold Box? Because it is satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. Combat always had a decent product but when they came out with the gold box with the satisfaction guarantee I was convinced it would work. No company in their right mind would want their customers returning bait stations after those nasty critters and their friends dined there. I gave them a try and have been recommending them ever since. Many other crawling bugs will also dine there so you often will see varieties dead in the near vicinity of that picnic spot. I don’t ever buy the little combat traps because the flying ace bombers won’t fit in there so I get the big traps and it is so effective that even with a colony of them, you will see less and less within a very short amount of time, and then gone.
I think however that Combat has even outdone itself by making their fabulous feast formula too quick kill for its own good. I don’t think too many of the roaches are even making it back to the nest to feed the little ones and so it seems to be taking longer to eliminate the colony. That’s unfortunate and I may talk to the company about it. It used to be that you would not even see them dead in the house, because they would die out of sight. When you’d see another roach months later, you knew it was time to get new bait stations. Lately in the homes I’ve declared battlezones in, I come in after a couple of days and see the ace bombers upside down, and some are even half comatose but yet still seem to be running wildly on their backs if you know what I mean. Ugh! Too quick kill is not allowing the nest to be easily fed and destroyed as easily as it did before.
I always keep handy one or two cans of spray and the only one I use is: Fragrence free Raid. Wow, fragrence free, how’s that! Finally. For all the people who can’t stand the smells of pesticide, and they chew you out if you even think of spraying a chemical within a mile of them, and then there are people who have phobia’s like Ray and myself who require ammunition to be always at hand, . . . now nobody can tell that you sprayed at all. Fragrance free, what genius. My Mom’s husband has a pest control company and yet I often see flying ace bombers come in for a landing at their house and they have not had the pleasure of dining on poison yet so they are agressive. But at my house, they are always on their backs, thank you very much.
If you have plenty roaches, make sure you get more boxes so you can get them under control. I put them at every entry point inside and outside so they are welcome to bring their friends to my patio to share their last meal. That way we can control the travelers of the neighborhood also. I live in Hawaii so you can imagine with all the palm trees that my phobia has been a real problem. And I scream too.
I’ll end with a funny story. I was at a friend’s house one night renovating a gas range on their patio and using black spray paint so we had to be outside of course. His ex wife was inside the house and he lived in a separate unit he made for himself off the main house. She tolerated him but that’s how they lived. He kept telling me to keep the noise down so she doesn’t get upset that I’m there. Then out of nowhere came the hugest bug I had ever seen and it was totally hauling butt faster than I had realized they could go. I didn’t know what it was because it was huge and long and just horribly huge and fast. It looked bigger than a centipede really. I jumped on the bench and was screaming my head off, and it was about 10:00 Pm. The ex wife came out and was so angry at who was screaming from their property. She ended up totally hating me, not just for spending time with her ex husband but because my fear of roaches was a loud one. I was so freaked out by the size of the creature that my addrenaline got the better of me. When we got a good look at the creature, it turned out to be two huge ace bomber cockroaches doing their sex thing, trying to make more of the same. Yuck! I never ever saw anything like that before. That impression it made in my mind still lingers to this day. It was dark and my friend let them get away so that took care of my fun for that evening. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
Good luck in your own battles of the bugs. My heart goes out to all you brave fighters.
Try the Gold Box Combat if you need a sure fire cure. It does work.
Aloha, Gabrielle
November 9th, 2008 at 11:48 am
KILL ‘EM ALL!!!
November 13th, 2008 at 12:37 am
Whee can I buy this Boric acid from????
November 13th, 2008 at 6:32 pm
Down with the roaches!!!
Dora Renee’ Wilkerson
November 15th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Natashia,
Boric acid can be purchased from home supply stores like Home Depot, Lowes, or Ace Hardware. The white/bluish compound usually comes in a rubber squirt bottle…like the mustard or ketchup bottles you find at restaurants. After cutting off the plastic tip, you use the plastic squeeze bottle to poof out boric acid powder into cracks and crevices to slowly kill off those pesky roaches.
There’s a picture of a boric acid bottle in this blog post btw.
November 17th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I live in an apartment that was built in the 70’s and there are 4 apartments in one complex. I have a very bad roach problem like I see them in the daytime and when I’m eating they are not the least bit afraid to walk right up to my plate(it’s bad). They really creep me out I put all of my chip bags and cereal into 2 plastic bags and tie it up tight , and they still get in. I know drink my coke straight from the 2 liter bottle so that there isn’t a chance one can get in. when I open the cabinets in my kitchen they fall down on me. I’ve even found them in my sons playpen and on his walker. I clean alot and put out traps and stuff nothing works..I told the landlord and he said he was gonna send somebody but that was 1 month ago. I have to knock at least 1 roach off of my toilet seat before using the bathroom everytime. I don’t have the money to move and nothing works. I have like no money for any traps or anything for that matter..I’m worried for my 1 yr. old son’s health..please help me I live in arkansas can someone tell me if there is a law or something that could help me.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Hi Destiny,
Since your landlord said he would do it and never did it yet, I would call him again and tell him you are asking him a second time but now it is an urgency. Tell him over the last month they have multiplied and they are out of control. It may have been an oversight on his part so there is no need to be angry since you do need him for a place to live. However, I would demand nicely that he take care of it immediately.
Here is what I would tell him. Your child is at risk of illness from it as your child is very young and vulnerable since kids put everything in their mouths. If he does get sick then you will send him the bills from the medical services that will be required at that time. Heavens forbid it would come to that. So tell him due to the urgency of the matter, if he doesn’t send an exterminator out right away that you will have no choice but to report it to the State health Dept.
I actually just called the state health department where I am to inspect a unit infestation at a high rise building that doesn’t do any pest control. They came out within a week of my call and did an inspection and they became involved. I’m sure that between the risk of your child’s health, and the reality of it becoming an issue where he will have to deal with the state health department rather than you as his tenant, it should shake him into action. If it doesn’t, then call the health department and follow thru with the inspection. The risk of monetary loss to him of your son’s medical bills and going up against state for a health violation is way greater than the money it will cost to exterminate.
Good luck. Let me know what happens.
gabrielle
November 30th, 2008 at 2:08 am
I found this site to be very encouraging as far as trying different things to get rid of roaches. I’m absolutely terrified of those nasty creatures. I saw one tonight on my carpet and I went nuts! I’ve used various products in the past and have spent a small fortune on them, but nothing seems to last very long. The roaches are back with a vengence. I too lived in the far east. I think that’s where my fear of roaches came from. The roaches were the size of the back of my hand. At first, I thought a bird was flying through my house, but it was a gigantic roach!!! I just ordered the Harris Roach Tablets……. at least it’s a start. If for some reason they don’t work as well as what has been stated in some of these reviews, I’ll try something else. There have been a lot of good suggestions. Perhaps Combat in the gold box that Gabrielle suggested will be my next investment.
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:09 am
Crap! I traded a huge bird cage for 2 smaller bird cages that are all made out of iron with this lady that bought some birds from me and we have never had any roach problems until the night she brought these cages into my home. Now I am seeing these little bitty I am guessing roaches all over the damn cage during the day. There were some holes around the frame of the cage in the corners and I am guessing again that they must be inside the frame of it. I am setting it outside as we speak…I do have an exterminator that comes out monthly to make sure any spiders and other bugs we see from time to time are taken care of…I am wondering if it is going to work on killing any of these. Somebody please help….I am totally freaking out now. How long should it sut outside before I can bring it back in and will they leave the cage once it is in the cold and there is no food in it?
December 5th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
The way it really is that if you see one or two Roahes in your home, there is anoter hunderts hidden in the area. Cupboards, inside walls…….
Don’t think that the roaches you see are the only ones. Best way to get rid of them is to use a “roach bomb”, and the next day use surface spray. To do it right you’ll need to drill couple of hole in the wal and spray a lot in there. Repeat this in three months and you’ll be right.
December 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
We have infestation of biblical proportions – got some “HEavy duty spray” which seems to bath the roach – after 3 hrs in test bottle, still running! Is there something that roaches really love to eat – want to try the glass bottle trick but need to attract them – will be trying 1:100 chlorpirifos mix later this week when I’m off work.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Deon,
Many of those who swear by the glass container trick add coffee grounds with water to create a tasty mixture for roaches. Whether the so-called Vegas glass jar technique actually works or not is up for debate. I’ve never actually verified as to whether it really works or not. However, I’m inclined to think it may. I doubt it’ll actually get rid of the roach problem entirely, but it may trap and kill off a few pesky critters.
December 8th, 2008 at 2:34 am
HAve tried it – will check – hitting the all out offensiveon the buggers today – chloprifos, spray & chalk, borax, glass jar, extensive clean up, contact spray – its stange how some sprays just glans off our fiends with no effect! We have the German guys in all forms and sizes. Must be vigilant to keep this up for 3 weeks
Its gonna be hard but I can’t have roaches sharing christmas with me – just would’t be right!
December 8th, 2008 at 4:38 am
Hey Deon,
You go dude! Rock their stickin world.
Let me know what you conclude to work the best. I can honestly say I will not entertain the glass jar concept since I would contributing to noise pollution most likely, but I would be interested in knowing what spray or chemical actually destroys them without a doubt, on contact, promptly, no raising up from the dead action . . . you know what I mean?
Thanks and keep up the good work?
yeah for sure. Can’t have them around at Christmas.
did I say happy holidays to you yet?
Happy Holidays and here’s to a bug free holiday! gabrielle
December 13th, 2008 at 10:21 am
I have been dealing with Roaches for four years. My mother in law has them so severe that when u walk into her house they fall onto you from the door frame. I don’t go to her house but she comes to see my kids often and She has to be bring them with her. When my husband and I got together four years ago it was just one bug in our apartment. Ok Whatever I killed it got traps. Not a problem. We moved to the apartment upstairs because it was beautiful and all utilities paid. They got kinda bad. We used traps and spray. We moved into a house last year and they got EVEN WORSE! WE DID EVERYTHING! I would hear them walking around on papers on my desk and on my headboard. My little brother in law…he had one that was PREGNANT crawl in his ear at his house…not mine but his….I AM TERRIFIED OF THIS HAPPENING TO ME OR MY BABIES!!! I sleep with a pillow over my head. My children they sleep in the bed with me so I’m scared for them too.
I bought a house in May…We did everything we could to be sooo preventive. We sprayed everything, cleaned everything, got rid of my headboard. I have Longaberger Baskets…They are so expensive and beautiful and my grandmother bought them for me and Roaches have been using them ask a nesting hole and they are covered in Roach crap. I have found them in my coffee table and dinning room table we have recently been using Raid Spray that kills them instantly…The reason I am on here now is because I sprayed the wall and indirectly on a wall plug in the othernight behind my bed and I am not joking 100s of them started falling out of the wall socket…I started to cry and my husband did his best to comfort me but its sad when my kids tell me to kill the buggie mommy kill it. I have woken up to them crawling on my legs, or face and I am so terrified I have nearly swallowed one. I clean and do everything I can, but I have you know like everyone wooden cabinets and dressers and etc and I can’t get rid of my Box springs like that one person did I’m not RICH! I’m in school my husband is disabled and I am so deeply embarrassed. I live in a high class neighborhood. My house is surrounded by 100 and 200 thousand dollar homes. Its embarrassing enough his mother doesn’t take care of her house. I refuse to let her bring anything to my house at all…but dammit she kept putting toys in my car and I have freakin ROACHES IN MY CAR!!!!!!!!!! How is that possible??
I planned on Calling Terminex. Are they any good? I am gonna spend about $300 at least for this and I am not made of money…Please tell me if its worth it? I just have to deal with this until January. Its also embarrassing to have people come to your new house at Thanksgiving and Roaches are on you’re dinning room table and they are falling into the food. I sprayed the wood panneling in my kitches and my floor was littered with dead roaches. I’m ripping it down after Christmas. I haven’t yet because of there being a hole where someone didn’t fix the dry wall after filling in an arch way. (My house has tons of arch ways. don’t know why though)
Someone please help me I am so distraught I don’t sleep at night anymore I got over this for a while after we bought our new home but its happening again, there was one on my damn pillow a little bit ago and now I can’t sleep its 9:20am and I have only slept 30 minutes and its about time my kids get up…please someone HELP!
December 13th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Here’s another way to treat roaches and bugs.
and for Jeni, your problem sounds scary and you might want to try this. I heard about it the other day but never tried it. It’s way cheaper than termanix and it’s safe and natural and non toxic. You can look it up on line and even purchase it on line if you want. It’s called Diatomaceous Earth. It’s fossilized remains of fresh water diatoms that kills household bugs fast. It’s a powder and people will swear by it. Totally safe to humans and pets too.
Good luck and let me know if anyone has experienced this product.
thanks, gabrielle
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Jeni:
Got your cockroach battle-cry ready?
- You’re going to have to place all your “nick-nacks” and other non-essential items in large plastic bags, making SURE there is no point-of-entry or exit for air. The above article states that these *#$%! ’s can survive for a month without oxygen, so that means all that stuff will have to be sealed for two months or so.
- Seal entrances with caulking and/or dry wall mix
- Roach traps, but as the author and some other people have suggested, use them simultaneously
- “Vegas” Roach Jars cited above, especially in your darker corners
- “Harris Roach Tablets” Debbie cited above (I just did an internet search and they appear to be relatively easy to find and the price seems to be quite conservative, especially in comparison to the $$$ you are wanting to shell out for an exterminator who may not be able to do anything for you anyways).
- Seems like Borax all along floor boards and in cabinets works well in conjunction with the above, too
Have you tried any of these yet?
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:19 pm
What about all of the suggestions started simultaneously, with continued use and with no end to any of it, especially for those in apartment buildings?
Has anyone done it all and they have grown immune to everything?
December 27th, 2008 at 4:41 am
this website was obviously not published for me but as i sit up at 330 in the morning it feels like it is.
a month ago, moved into a new place, started a new job, realized my new dream apt had f—-ing roaches.
did some research, and since it is an apt building, didnt want to do the exterminator fogger thingie (due to just making the roaches run and hide and then come back) but rather chose the whole igr/pyrenthoid stuff. come to find out, some roaches are particularly resistent to a lot of pesticides, incl pyrenthoids. (sp?)
my father ended up calling the dept of health and found out the # for an entemologist and also some good things to note:
no. 1–if your landlord if dicking you around, and you arent getting results, it is a health hazard and they need reported. reported once -letter in mail-report twice-inspection of every unit, every building..check with dept of health to find out state specific.
#2 if you do happen to call the dept of health-and dont worry-your landlord wont get in trouble if you call, your father calls, whatever, you need a formal complaint X2 in my state to do a damn bit of good-ask for their entemologist’s number-it’s a frigging specialist at your fingertips (dial pad)..
#3google online entemology sites-more useful, prof info
i know my boyfriend is annoyed i am so passionate about this, but we DID spend christmas with the jerks and i am ready to live my life without them. They ARE a horrid health hazard, i dont care if some people can live with them, they are intolerable to me-and if this is the same site-in no way shape or form are they like house animals-they are horrid beast pests that deserve to die anyway possible..
getting back to the subject at hand
1. clean like hell everything, yes, put everything away, sealed, etc-i still need to get the spray foam, the steel wool, more caulking..more boric acid..i think i may open the light sockets and puff boric acid in there (breaker off, if approp) and then caulk or silicone around the light socket
2. put out a combination of different types of chemicals-say-two one month, two different the next month–
roaches inherit resistence to sprays; it is passed on down through the generations -so it’s important not tokeep using more of the same thing
3. so like, first month-use boric acid and a spray..then wait..put out roach traps, record the date you put them out, wait a few days, and see how many…the purpose of this is to find out-a-what kind of problem you have b-where the roaches are mainly populating and c-tracking your progress-c-in addition-if you have a landlord-keep track of this crap-i am not as well as i should or else i might go crazy with one more thing but if all your stuff is ruined and you have evidence that you spoke to your landlord and recorded all this data this and that then small claims court you can sue for up to 8000 ..i am not a proponent of suing but if all your shit is ruined then im sorry someone has to be held liable..
i know that i wanted to move as soon as i found out, but in moving, we might just take them with us. my guess is wait 6 mo, 1 yr and if you, me, dont see any, i can move, if i so desire. otherwise-tread lightly..
4. combat, avert do appear to be insecticides that roaches are not very resistent to-again, rotate-a couple one month-i am told that different chemicals attack different parts of their system and the idea is to overload all systems! system overload! also-each month you do that-clean everything new-grease, dirt, make the insecticides less effective..
by no means am i done with the bastards.i wish i could say i was.i met a landlord in the hardware store who said he once had them in his building and it took vigilance-6 mo-and they were gone. it has been a tiresome month for me, but i just keep reminding myself that–this, too, shall pass..
blessings of clean, happy, bug free homes!
December 27th, 2008 at 4:48 am
havent grown immune to everything but you need to rotate what you use, caulk up everything, clean, be vigilant, i understand it can take months. contact dept of health and find out an entemologist’s number-i call the dude now once a week or so with questions..also, everyone in building has to be on same page. if you have one slob then it can be hard to get rid of them because the sloppy person is giving them what they need-and then the roaches are traveling to other parts just to expand their horizons. pressure a landlord to do inspections of all apts at nights-not just looking for roaches and their evidence (brown-black poo that looks like varied size pepper on toilet seats, dishes, sinks, etc etc), but also looking at how they live-are they the college party fraternity?
i dont know.my question is if they live in plants.-ie.can they just live in plants and not come out? i have many plants, but i have let already a few die because i am so freaked out and i wonder if i should throw the rest out..
thanks and blessings for roach free dwellings..
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Hi Fellow Roach Sufferers,
A long time ago I washed my floors with a good dose of bleach and was surprised to see a few roaches belly up a couple of days after. Even more surprising was when I left some duct tape sticky side up on the floor near the refrigerator and after found a roach stuck on it, which was later joined by three others. They couldn’t get off of it. Ick. ‘Bout time to pull those tricks out of the bag again. Sigh.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:46 am
mo:
They will eat anything, so I’m guessing plants are fair game, especially if the rest of the home is spotless and there’s nothing else for them to feed off of. If they’ll eat decaying flesh and *hit, they’ll eat plants, too is my guess. I have no scientific evidence for that – just using deductive reasoning.
January 5th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I am very terrified of these nasty things. I live roach HELL I am telling you. My complex is a majority hispanic which is not a problem, my husband is hispanic. The thing that gets me is cleanliness. I keep my apartment clean Well my nasty dirty gross neighbors moved, I live on the trird floor. Well since then I have been seeing one at least every few hours. I started like a month ago. I cant take it I start to panic and freak out it has actually put me into a panic attack. I called my mom this morning histarically crying and she thought something was wrong with me, well no I seen one in my bathroom UGG I am done I want to throw up knowing they are here. I am going to try the water in a jar and the baking soda. I will let you all know
January 6th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Nanotechnology should finally help us win the war against these vile critters. nano technology could be programmed to kill every last bug it fines in your house even your walls.
Ohh I say in about 30 or 40 years the roach problem will be solved so we can evict these pest back to the wild where they belong.
January 6th, 2009 at 12:53 am
Kenneth,
I’m thinking….they need to modify and miniaturize the Roomba or Scooba vacuum robot to hunt down roaches and other pesky critters.
However, I don’t think the roach problem can ever be solved. Even after the end of mankind, and even if we’ve somehow stupidly nuked ourselves to oblivion in some nuclear war, the roaches will still reign supreme, forever rummaging through our leftovers and I suppose…. our carcasses.
January 25th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I hate roaches! Not because they creep me out, but bc they disgust me. I have tried everything, Boric powders, cleaning, professionals, closing every crack and I’m still seeing them every once in a while in my house.
I’m hoping to never see one again in my house and if that day comes I will let everyone know how I did it.
January 27th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Hi, i was reading all these horible stuff of this ugly discusting creatures, And my opinion is that i wish i could find something to get rid of them ,i’ve tried everything and nothing works for me .I live in a trailer home in alanta georgia and i have six kids,you can imagine .I Would do anything to receive an anwer to get rid of this roaches, please if you have a good remedy for this creatures please let me know.
January 31st, 2009 at 1:43 pm
I’m glad a stumbled upon this article today. I have yet to see a roach in my house, but I goto bed early and wake up in the daylight. My roomate however, told me this morning that when got home from work last night he saw one in the bathroom upstairs (freaked me out a little, it’s right next to my bedroom). He then told me that he was pretty sure he’s seen them in the kitchen before too…
He said, “I hope this doesn’t freak you out, but I thought I’d tell you because you know there’s probably a lot more”
Well – little did he know that yes….I am now a little freaked out (I don’t like any insect sharing my living space – spiders, centipedes, earwigs, beetles and always have a can of Raid Spider Blaster in the house)….I will definitely be hitting up the hardware stores today for whatever will kill these guys before we end up with a much bigger problem on our hands….
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Everyone please remember what Mo so intelligently suggested and reminded those that have these vile creatures sharing occupancy – CALL THE DEPT. OF HEALTH in your area! Keep calling them until someone comes out and actually takes care of the problem! With your diligence and theirs, a roach infestation CAN be cured with intolerance and action!!! It may take months, but you must remember to stay committed using the ammo discussed above.
GOD SPEED!
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
(P.S. If you don’t have time to read all entries and comments, please reflect back on Dec. 23, 08 where I summarized the techniques that were found to be effective by readers here.)
February 10th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
I just moved to an apartment in Silver Spring,MD about 1 month ago. On the day I moved in, I saw a roach on the kitchen counter (note–no food was in the apt at all). I had the rental office fog the entire apt. Then, Monday of this week, about 4 weeks after the kitchen siting, I saw 3 tiny ones on my bedroom wall near the ceiling, above my bed at about 8pm. I killed all 3. By this time, I had put boric acid down in all crevices and corners of the apt…under sinks, etc…closets are next. Combat gel traps are under the sinks, in the closets, and in corners. I haven’t even unpacked all of my boxes and suitcases yet!! Tonight, at about 8:30pm, I saw a bigger one on the wall, again near the ceiling, in my living room. I sprayed some Raid on it and it died. Then, I proceeded to spray Raid on the vents, which for some reason are all in the ceiling. I also sprayed the remaining Raid I had where the ceiling meets the wall.
I didn’t have roaches where I used to live, and I didn’t grow up with roaches. All of my non canned food is in cannisters; boxes and snacks are in Ziploc bags. I do think that roaches persist in multi unit developments with common walls, and where people are not clean (often times you will find this situation in multi unit, lower income areas, but not when folks are clean!)
I’ll be moving this year to buy a new house. I may have to demand to be let out of my lease, should the roaches continue. All of the recommendations have been very helpful. I have the maintenance coming to fog tomorrow, and the exterminator is putting gel down a week later (mgmt office requires 1 week in between). Query: what can I put on the WALLS and in the ceiling vents?? I think it’s my neighbor upstairs (4-5 people live there iin one apt.)
Thanks!!!!
February 10th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Melissa,
Do you happen to live near the intersection of Randolph Road and Georgia Avenue? The ghetto apartment complex where I used to live and where I had my worst roach experiences was located there.
If you indeed live there, get out while you still can! The roaches are simply unstoppable!
February 11th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
My suggestion for people is to-get an exterminator. If you cant afford it, again, get your landlord to-if he/she wont, call the dept of health. If you see even one back, try notifying your landlord, if they do nothing, repeat above steps. Yes, roaches are a huge pain in the ass. We have been here 2 1/2 months and I havent seen one for a week but I am not convinced they are gone. Therefore, the exterminator is coming back this sat (v-day: how romantic
I think if one signs up for extended contracts they are cheaper than just constantly calling the exterminator..
anyway..
exterminators should have a guarantee, however, the situation is complicated when living in an apt complex. for instance, we had an exterminator who sprayed once-we continued to see roaches-he came back and sprayed-i continued to see them-so one angry night got drunk and f—ing sprayed in all cracks, crevices, put out bait everywhere. saw two since then, and that was three weeks ago.
again, exterminate. be persistent. have a professional, seal up what you can-the more thorough the better.boric acid works-as does diatamaceous earth-food grade kind. buy it at the hardware store/garden supply.. the thing with both boric acid and diatam..is that roaches will avoid it much like a big snow pile (or so i have read) so it needs to be puffed so lightly that it is barely visible. a cna at work also told me that boric acid and powdered sugar mixed together works (because then they are drawn to it, as opposed to around it)..anyway..
i dont think they are immune to everything..
just do rotate what you use. try to be as tidy as possible. have covered with tight lid garbage can, keep all pet food in covered lidded bins (target, lowe’s)…the other thing i have read is that roaches do not like natural oils therefore i bought dr bronner’s, which i enjoy washing my hair with from time to time, and put dr bronner’s in bottles around any sink so that when i wash my hands, i use it, and wipe the bubbles everywhere. i dont know how effective, if at all, but from what i have read-they avoid essential oils and dr bronner has essential oils in it. i also filled a squirt bottle with it and sprayed all my furniture, all around my apt..again, i dont know how i effective, but i am willing to do anything. i finally have read they dont like bay leaves so i have put bay leaves in all my plants (because as they can most def feed on the plants i think they largely stay around water, as that it more essential to them than food) and moth balls behind my fridge.
never get up! never give in! roaches drive me insane! keep up the good fight and you will win!
March 7th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
has anyone tryed riddexx the one you plug in to the wall ??
If so does it work??
March 7th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Jennifer
Those, anti roach plugin devices absolutely do not work. They are completely useless and a complete waste of money. If they truly worked, the miraculous devices would instantly put all of the cockroach repellent sprays and pest control businesses out of commission – but obviously that hasn’t been the case.
They’re scams and gimmicks at best – it’s better to stay clear and save your money.
March 8th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Thats what I figured but I used one for about three weeks now and Ive seen less of them,
I’m sick and tired and I can’t stand these things any more, I’m gonna move. How do I move and not bring them with me??
March 9th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Jennifer,
It’s not easy. Roaches have a way of latching onto furniture and household appliances. When I finally managed to escape from my former cockroach infested apartment, I brought a few with me. Thankfully, most of the roaches were already dead and the live ones that hitch hiked in my old TV set, kitchen appliances, and pots & pans were not the breeding type.
Move out if you can. It’s oftentimes a losing and un-winnable battle. The indestructible cockroaches will always win. There’s a reason why the only living animal left on Earth in the animated movie Wall-E happened to be a roach.
March 10th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
If I only find a roach here and there outside during the daytime, do you think I’m okay? I’ve never found one, or any trace of one inside my home… but on occassion I will find one roaming around my front yard. I’m really freaked. My skin is crawling. Please help!
March 11th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Kellie,
If you only find a stray roach roaming the grounds during the daytime, you probably are okay for now. However, I wonder if what you saw was actually some other insect. Cockroaches don’t usually roam around in broad daylight. Maybe it was a cricket?
March 19th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
It definitely was not a cricket, that much I know… It was reddish brown and actually on its back. I thought to myself, “Oh good! My insecticide is working.” (I use the high grade stuff. So then a few hours later, I went back out to check on the bugger and it was GONE! I looked everywhere to see if the wind blew the little guy, but nothing! I did take a mental note that there were some landscapers doing some major work across the street where the sewer line is. I’m hoping he was disrupted and roamed to my place. In the past year, I’ve seen maybe one to three in broad daylight… usually when something is happening outside or I’m out spraying the grounds. I freak out though. I’m a self-proclaimed expert on ridding my home of crickets, so you’ll have to take my word for it… it was not a cricket. Maybe another type of reddish-brown critter?
March 25th, 2009 at 10:03 am
My husband and I moved to a new apartment this past Saturday. The day we moved in he saw 3 roaches crawling out of the garbage disposal. He called the office, which in turn called maintenance, then said exterminators were coming on Tuesday and they would have them stop by. Needless to say they never came. We’ve never, ever had a roach problem before. We have been finding them in the kitchen and bathrooms, and now they are coming into the bedroom we use as an office. I killed one on the wall last night. I was on the computer looking for ways to combat them and was reading this site when one scurried across the keyboard tray. I totally freaked! I was up half the night worried about this. We just signed a one-year lease and I am ready to move now and we haven’t even been here one week! I told my husband all the information I found and we are willing to do our part. I am going to make a personal appearance at the office this morning and demand to have an exterminator come today. Either the roaches go or we do!
March 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am
sir
i want the medisines(names) to kill cockroaches
April 25th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Aaaaaah! I saw the biggest bug ever in my room, I don’t even know if it was a roach or what. I heard his scratching noise near my bed, so I tried to ignore it, I was beginning to get a little nervous so I shifted around and made a couple of noises to warn whatever was out there to stay away. Finally, I flicked my light on and this huge black thing appears out of now where and starts running like crazy around the walls of my room, I’m kind of horror struck at this stage so I just sat on my bed. I climbed off my bed and carefully checked my feet it runs out from under my TV and heads towards the opposite wall and I hear this click noise and this horrible screeching noise. It must have hit a wall and flipped over and I pray its still there, I decided to go get Dad the exterminator in my house, (don’t judge me, I’m only 13!) but its 11:00pm and he looked so peaceful sleeping there, so it is now midnight and I am now camping out in the living room. I feel like a coward but I cannot sleep in my room tonight, I have to get up at 06:30 and I am hearing a couple of noises caused by the air conditioning making me jump every 5 seconds. Help!
April 26th, 2009 at 2:18 am
Rianne,
Don’t worry…no one will judge you here. I’m sure many of us have similar, and somewhat distraughtly funny insect horror stories!
I’m in my 20’s and a guy, and I still get as startled and alarmed as a little girl whenever I see anything that resembles a cockroach patrolling my apartment. Yes, I’m a tough guy for most things in life…except bugs. They scare the bejeezes out of me. All sorts of crazy expletives fly out of my mouth when I see a roach on the loose.
But the fact your bug friend there actually made an audible scratching noise is somewhat disturbing. He was either a cricket, bee, mouse, or a VERY big cockroach. I hope you catch that little (or big) sucker and squish him good.
April 26th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
I live in Taiwan. It’s a pretty modern city living here in Taipei but we have a bad cockroach problem in many of the older dwellings. Many of the smaller and older houses and buildings, especially those located near eateries and local restaurants have a bit of a roach pest issue. The cockroaches are a nasty problem in many places but I’ve noticed people starting to deal with them in pretty creative ways. As geckos, the little Geico auto insurance lizards, are abundant in supply in the rural south of Taiwan, some creative home owners have been capturing them and releasing them into urban areas with roach, mosquito and insect problems. Geckos love to chase down and snack on insects so it’s a win win proposition. Not sure if they are fast enough to chase down those speedy roaches as they are used mostly to combat flies and mosquitoes however…
But they are actually pretty cute and harmless to humans. The only problem is that they have a tendency to scurry out from random places, scaring unsuspecting people as they run for cover when the lights are turned on. Geckos can be our friends! ^__^
I think people got the idea when the government here started to dump insect eating fish into areas that had free standing water to combat the growing mosquito pest problem. Some abandoned buildings had a tendency to develop small pools of water inside that allowed insects and mosquitoes to breed and multiply. Putting fish into these little pools helped to control the pest population as fish love to eat insects
May 1st, 2009 at 5:53 am
But roach-eating geckos and lizards sound like a fascinating idea…not sure people would like or fully embrace the idea of another set of animals scurrying around the house or apartment though. How do you handle the situation if the geckos start breeding uncontrollably and start showing up in your cupboards or furniture?
May 6th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Let me say that first off I had an infestation that was mostly due to a neighbor with lots of pets. She started having an exterminator over 3 times a week, I saw them in my grass and on my drive way coming from their old home. Every time they came I saw bugs in my home. We bought about 30 cans of bug spray. Our infestation over the course of a year or two became WHack. My pet food like you guys became invaded. They started to come out in the day and they were in my fish filter and behind them. They also was flooding my kitchen and started to get into my lovely refrigerator. I had a glass of wine I left on my night stand only to find 40 dead roaches in it in the morning. I got SO tired of waking up and seeing roaches on my living room cieling. I was also getting sick from Roach Spray Raid. LEMON Scented, Original, Country, and unscented need I say more. That was a Year ago, and I AM ROACH FREE!
WHAT DID I DO:
GOT RID OF THE ROACH SPRAY and FOGGERS they tant the other products you use. Think of the long term effects not just the immediate results; I THOUGHT LIKE A ROACH. I GOT THE WORKS I SPENT $300, I got Baits in RAID and COMBAT flavor. I put on in each cabinet and drawer in the kitchen and Bathroom. I put them also on my kitchen counter and under the fridge, stove, behind the toilet, in the medicine cabinet, anywhere a roach would go. LOOK for dark places. On your book shelf. Waited 2 weeks, little results. Then I got “COMBAT PLATINUM”, Harris Roach Tablets, Diatomacious Earth, Some PROFESSIONAL Roach Spray thank goodness for friends, and A Growth Stunt. Honestly didn’t have to use the Growth stunt or the Roach Spray right away. I put the Combat Platinum every where and I mean everywhere I Saw a roach. EVERYWHERE, get a few of these. Watch the heavy spots, get some sticky traps to track progress. Dead roaches within hours, only gross thing is you should leave the dead roaches around, Roaches are not social creatures and won’t take food to their nest, they poison others by dying. Other roaches will eat a wounded, dying or dead roach, each dead or dying roach will kill approximately 45-60 other roaches so let the poision do it’s job, gross but effective, push comes to shove sweep them into the corner and leave them for a week then sweep them up.
Yet a few weeks later there were 90% of no adults yet I started to see the babies; uh oh. So this part was way messy but SO worth it, I sprinkled DE all over my house, I used a make up brush applied it under the stove all over my counters all over the bathroom floor in the cat food *they can eat it and it is good for deworming, all over my home boarders outside the entry points of my home and yes it looked dusty but I watched the roaches die within 30 seconds, the babies, the adults took a little longer but they died within 10 minutes on contact. At this same time I also put 3 oz of Harris Roach Tablets all over my home, under the stove, fridge, in the corners in the drawers, under all electrical appliances *do this with all the other treatments as well*. All I have to say is with time and constant application of all this for about 3 months; I am Roach FREE! No roaches. I am so happy. I bought the other stuff to keep the roach supply gone. It is very important on application to clean out your cabinets and dust them with DE, put the tablets down, put the Platinum Gel in the cracks as well under the drawers. IF YOUR INFESTATION IS REALLY BAD the GROWTH regenerator is needed to stop their reproduction. I couldn’t afford to pay the Exterminator $500 bucks to come four times out of the year. If your willing to be consistent and live in a house ( I am not sure for apartments) then it is doable. I have four kids, two cats and alot of fish. It is something that could be done. The professional spray is sprayed every 3 months and is a barrier. I also use the DE as a barrier. Email me for any advice it is broken up put together for contact: J J a m i a H @ Verizon.net
May 12th, 2009 at 2:16 am
so….we are supposed to move soon and the home has a roach problem. the owners are asking us to hold off until they are gone obviously. but how long does something like that take? I saw the home right before the first of the month and they have been treating now for almost a month. they have pest control service that comes once a week, they have also been using raid and traps. i have been there a few times since and have seen them everytime, one time a live one and 2 times dead ones? i know there was water damage in the kitchen and the bottoms of the cabinets have visible water staining. so i guess my question is how long does something like this take to get rid of? i have no idea how bad it is, but i am guessing it must be pretty bad if they are still present almost a month later.
we were supposed to move in on the 15th but thats not going to happen, so we have pushed back to the first of june. do you think it will be safe? the home is vacant and they are treating, what i would think to be agressive.
another question, do you think we should seal the cracks between the cabinets and the walls? my concern is will they live in the walls and start coming out ther places, plugs, ceiling ducts etc?
thanks in adavance
May 13th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I just saw this big a** roach in my house, i mean it scared me s***less. It was really shiny and almost as big as my hand. I was scared for my life *shivers*, what should i do? Im pretty sure there are more,ewwwwww
May 13th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
I saw a biga** roach in the house, ewwww. IT was as big as my freaking hand!!!!!!!!! and it was brown and shiny. Im pretty sure there are more. I tried to squishh it, but i swear, it ran like 60 miles an hour, wtf do i do? Any help would be welcome
May 13th, 2009 at 11:12 pm
oh wow, now there are two!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, this is great -_-
May 16th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
omg..this site helped me out sooo much..you guuys rock!!!!!
May 21st, 2009 at 5:33 am
Some very useful info for me on this site thanks to everyone….. I’m now in full flow of freaking out finding this truly vile creatures in my house. Im not in the US but an ex-pat in Asia, who is not used to them at all. Putting all info on finding out about them came accross this site. I have seen 4 in the last two weeks and one dying this morning in the living room, so now put out baits (but dont want to kill the Gekos) and will get some boric acid. Sprayed early on today, hence the dying one so hopefully there will not be too many more(????) looked like a German roach, did not want to look too close, but now off to search for anything else and check everything that I poss can, thanks again for all the info its been a great help to me and really hope we all win the battle!!!!!!!
May 22nd, 2009 at 10:38 am
Try Hot Shot Ultra Liquid Roach Bait. It work better than anything I used in awhile to kill those annoying roaches. I had Orkin coming to my house spraying every two weeks but the roaches still wouldn’t go away. Combact gel use to work for awhile but but is no longer effective for me. You can get the hot shot liquid roach bait for like 4 bucks for a box of six but of course you will need more than one box if your roach problem is serious. That may be too expensive for some if you have to buy several boxes but it was worth every penny for me.
June 4th, 2009 at 12:47 am
I have a serious roach problem. I find them in the kitchen mostly especially late at night when I turn on the lights I find them scurrying everywhere, especially around the sink where there is water. i am cinvinced that the Vegas trap might work, but I need some more specific directions. How big should the jar be? How much coffee ground must I put in the jar (half full, 3/4 full?) and how much water (should the water be floating above the coffee or should it be like a muddy consistency)?
HELP anyone!
June 5th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Meenas,
I sympathize with your cockroach problem! As for the Vegas jar trap, I’m not entirely sure it actually works but some people out there have suggested that it does.
But if you want to get more info about how to set it up – check out this news link and view the video clip.
I don’t think it matters all that much how much coffee grounds to add – but just enough to attract the hungry roaches. I would personally add enough water to make the mixture mushy but not so much that the water actually floats above the coffee. I think the coffee aroma and perhaps ground flavor need to be exposed to the air so that the roaches can actually detect it and become attracted to it.
As for jar size, I would recommend something like the glass jar image I used in this post. Scroll up to take a look. It shouldn’t be so large that the roaches have to climb a long distance to reach, but should be tall enough so that once they’ve fallen in, they can’t escape.
Let me know if it actually works. I’m extremely curious!
June 11th, 2009 at 3:38 am
The terrible legacy countinues. I just moved into a cheap apartment on the first floor in Ca. and the roachs here have an army ! I’ve been here for a month just renting out a room in a 2 bedroom place and it is hell. The pest are cralwing all over the place day and night, all over the kithen counter, the bathroom, even my room. They basically eat and sleep with me! I can’t stand it! I cant really sleep, even having all food sealed dosnt feel safe, I’ve been killing em left and right and tried the traps and major cleaning.
After reading about all these stories I can say yeah it’s normal to have a few or unavoidable to live in any state without them lol but It can’t be normal to put up with the billions that must be living in my intire complex! I think my best bet other then barly sleeping and trying to posin em is to just move out, they win this round but I will have to work and search harder for a better home, I’m not exactly happy or fine with creatures crawling on everything like my roomate is, I’ve been in cleaner places outdoors.
June 11th, 2009 at 6:11 am
I just have to say to Animal Lover: listen to entomologist Douglas Emlen on Fresh Air. Roaches have absolutely no biological merit. They are ultimately harmful to humans.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103775784
June 11th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
To all of my fellow roach haters – Unite
I live in a very old house in Sunflower, Alabama – and not there are no sunflowers! Yesterday I was taking my dad to dialysis and as soon as I got him in his wheelchair and wheeled him into the center – guess who showed up- a couple of my boarders scurried across the floor. embarrased is not the word I would use to discribe myside. I was @#!@#! embarrased. I have been fighting the battle of roaches, spiders, mosquitos and fire ants. I have the orkin man come out once a month. I live about 75 miles from the place and they have designated once a month for my area. I guess the city dwellers take up the rest of the month. I have used raid, gel, and powder. None of them work fast enough for me. I clean everyday – since we live in the country it is very dusty. I am about ready to start shooting them, but they don’t make enough bullets. To the person who gave us pestmall.com I am going there. But I just had to stop and share and tell you all how I have enjoyed reading your post. To the lady who has sympathy for these disgusting, foul, and damned disrespectful creatures, you are welcome to all I have now and in the future, just tell me where to send them.
June 11th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
I live in a small country called Serbia and i just started Philosophy studies at University of Belgrade. I couldn’t be happier until i found some roaches at my apartment. They are really annoying and their number is increasing every day. I’m really short with cash, i can hardly pay off this apartment…and I’m not even thinking of moving out because that’s just too expansive for me…. I just need a tip on how to get rid of them good so i can peacefully continue my studies?
P.S. Because i live in Serbia, most of the things you recommend can’t be bought in my country so…help me anyway you can, and best luck too all of you there
June 11th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Alex,
Looks like the cockroaches have gone international! First step probably is to try using aggressive roach bait and roach gels…particularly for light infestations they work. But if your building is infected to the core, baits won’t do much to alleviate the problem.
How are the roaches in Europe? I have heard from my friends in East Asia that the roaches there are more intimidating as they can actually fly (well glide from one side of the room to the other). Roaches that can run on the floor and scurry into cracks and crannys at lightening speed is one thing, but when they start going airborne…it’s time to move! I hope the European roaches are less talented…
June 12th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Thanks for the tips Raymond, i already bought Raid spray and tomorrow I’m going for boric acid. And answer to your question is yes, these roaches can glide! Even the big ones (i think they are called American roaches, I’ve seen them in my apartment too, a few of them) can fly a bit, and small ones do that more often. I think that I’ll try for now to get rid off them myself, but if situation is gets radical, my methods will be more radical too! I’ll call exterminators, because my apartment is small and it probably won’t be too expensive… Again thanks for the tip and good luck to all of you!
June 12th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Apparently you all seem to think I am completely wrong when I say that all animals, both big and small deserve to be protected from wanton killing and unnecessary suffering. It really makes me wonder how much thought you folks have put into how incredibly complex and resilient these little guys are and how it’s indeed possible to humanely control and limit them as opposed to just killing them…which is just futile because more will just arrive later and try to settle the score.
How about actually cleaning up the human pig-sties (your apartments, condos, and houses) that are creating these favorable environments that naturally lure the interest of cockroaches. These fellow roaches and insects are merely doing what comes natural to them as animals – which is to seek out food and shelter. Eliminate the food and water source from your home and they will no longer inhabit your home – I assure you.
As PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wisely notes: “Cockroaches have been given a bad reputation in our society,” but actually, “They are gentle, complex animals.”
Well I hope you all feel guilty for waging chemical warfare against your little brother and sister the cockroach now. It’s a life that you are snuffing out when you stomp or spray. The way they flip and struggle in great excruciating pain and agony when you spray them with nerve toxins to kill them is tearfully sad – a testimony to the unlimited brutality of mankind. You all make me sick to my stomach!!
June 12th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Dear Animal Lover,
you are no doubt taking the piss….
June 12th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
……sorry I do not live in a human pig stie that you so eloquently put it. Sure that other posters do not neither.
Im quite sure if you had these awful problems with these vile roaches you would think again, weather it be by stomping (which by the way if you had learned anything here is not really a very good idea) spraying throwing a bomb on them, gas, acid or any other means, to ged rid of them.
Crawling all over kitchens and indeed in beds, make me sick to my stomach and I really feel for people here, so dont judge, Animal Lover, so go to the PETA page and have a rant there and grow up!
June 12th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Animal Lover Please, Everyone knows roaches live in clean and dirty places. Fortunately I don’t need extra pet nor does the majority of people. Get off your high horse and go start saving the darn roaches by going from home to home to bag them up and take them to your house. I have been ROACH Free for about a year and you know what! IT FEELS GREAT! IF I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN, I WOULD! I didn’t ask for them and I inherited someone elses BROWN COUSINS, I have enough family, so ALL ROACH LOATHERS READY AIM FIRE! —-> sprays the roaches at the neighbors house! LOL
June 12th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Animal Lover you have got to be kidding me. Insects and vermin are vectors for diseases. Now, I don’t know about you but I certainly don’t want to be exposed to the next plague and if I can, I will eradicate them from my domicile. Unfortunately I can only control what goes on in my apartment and have no control over how some of the other swine choose to live in their own sties. I had roaches in this apartment the day I moved in and they certainly didn’t come from me, so they had to have migrated from other apartments and so help me PETA if I see anymore I will not hesitate to exterminate them into oblivion.
If you are so bored that you are more concerned over these little buggers writhing in pain from the effects of pesticides than you are with the health and welfare of your fellow man, then you need to find yourself a more fulfilling hobby.
June 13th, 2009 at 7:57 am
animal lover, how did you even find yourself on this page?
June 13th, 2009 at 9:01 am
Animal lover, you don’t understand one simple thing. I’m a student, i have a sick father and a mother that’s working 10 hours every day so i can continue my philosophy studies. I have to many problems in my life right now so roaches are just one more that i need to take care off. I know that roaches are here because of us, but if our mistakes brought them here, we need to correct them and this time and they will go away (one way or another). So please don’t lecture me or anybody else how should we take care of our homes, and PETA should do something that can truly improve our lives, like building dog shelters or something like that that can actually help animals and in the same time improve our lives. Now, if you excuse me, i got some bugs to get rid off…
June 13th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Animal Lover… the cost of my house will never compare to the money that you will make in your lifetime. Next time you want to say the things you do, think about it first. I doubt anyone on here lives in the kind of housing nor wants to live in the kind of housing you think they do. I’m starting to think you are the leader of these nasty cockroaches invading our homes. It’s none of your business to be on here with your so-called animal rights. How about our peace rights from you? Can we get rid of you with boric acid too?
To everyone else. I applaud you for the efforts you are all trying to make in erasing these nasty creatures from your home and thus sharing your successes and failures to help out the rest of us. I support the ones that are on here trying to find some way to not harm ourselves, our children and our pets like I am!
June 13th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
I just recently moved into an apartment, and within a month started seeing many roaches. I’ve talked to the manager and all they did was have someone put the gel in certain spots. I’ve also set fogging poison, and just put in roach motels and sprayed the outside of my apartment. I also have recently found out that many other tenants have roaches as well but won’t speak up. This means the WHOLE place is infested. Does anyone know about any tenant laws I can use to get the owners to fix the problem? No one else will speak up and I can’t afford to move again.
June 14th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
I am currently living in an old complex in Gainesville, FL and over the past few months cockroaches have invaded my apartment. I’ve seen a couple of the American cockroaches in the past year but the big problem was the German ones. They took up residence in my cabinets, bookcase, printer, dresser, closets, and microwave. They destroyed my bookcase and a number of my books. And like a lot of people with cockroaches, I am very neat person. I didn’t understand why roaches had invaded my apartment. As soon as the sun went down they came out to play on my dining room table and my kitchen counters. I talked to other tenants and all have said they have roaches too. I thought it would be hopeless getting rid of them. I went online looking for some way to at least control them. I knew about the roach baits but I also read a couple of reviews about Raid egg stoppers. I figured why not. They’re not that expensive to buy. I am a graduate student so I don’t have a lot of money but the box of baits and egg stoppers are about $8. About 3 weeks ago I bought about 40 baits and I have 6 egg stoppers. I put the baits in my closets, in corners, in cabinets, in my dresser drawers, and even one near my printer on the dining room table. I put the egg stoppers in the kitchen and wherever the roaches seemed to be coming from. Luckily, I was going on vacation for the week after I put out the stuff so I didn’t have to deal them. When I got back there was a substantial reduction in the roach population. Instead of killing 10-15 a day, I am squishing 2 or 3 every other day. I also see fewer during the day. The egg stoppers work by sterilizing the roaches. I don’t know if I’ll be completely roach free but I feel better knowing their numbers are reduced. Raid says that it will take 1-3 weeks for a substantial reduction in roach populations so it’s not a quick thing.
I keep things very clean in my apartment which is something you must do to help alleviate the problem. When I go to bed at night I seal up my cats’ food dish. The cats don’t like it but roaches sometimes crawled around in their food. I wash and dry dishes immediately after use. I seal up all food containers. I am trying to make the cockroaches feel as uncomfortable as they have made me feel. Unfortunately, I have had to throw out my microwave and printer (thankfully both are cheap) because of the smell the roaches made.
I don’t know if this will work for everyone but I hope it will help some people. One major thing I’ve found is that you have to be careful not to contaminate the roach baits. If you get cleaners or mop water or bug spray on the baits they will become ineffective. I’ve heard of people using roach spray and baits together and then wonder why they don’t work. Don’t do this; roaches won’t want to eat roach-sprayed food. And as gross as this sounds, if you see a roach leaving a bait don’t kill it. That roach is going to bring that poison back to the nest. If you kill it the bait won’t help you. I hope this will help with getting rid of the roaches or at least mild infestations.
June 14th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
One more thing. I did ask the property manager to spray the apartment. The pest control guy came in and sprayed for twenty seconds and then left. This did absolutely nothing. Luckily I’m moving in August but I am thinking about contacting the department of health as the property manager has not taken care of the problem. Since this is an old apartment building there are many cracks in the walls. I have seen roaches running these cracks in the hallways and sometimes there are dead roaches lying on the hallway floors. I would think just caulking the cracks would work. I’m not sure if I have enough grounds for contacting the state. Any opinions/advice?
June 14th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
DIYPestcontrol.com
IGR – GENTROL is a growth regulator, if you have a mild to heavy infestation this is a must. Diatomecious Earth, Boric Acid, DEMON WP, COMBAT Platnium GEL not baits. These are the things that helped me get ROACH FREE FOR OVER A YEAR NOW. I also used bay leaves in my cabinets, and wiped my counters down with vinegar. We are roach free and you could be too! it takes time patience, and consistancy. I put it everywhere in the garbage bottoms, in between the fridge, stove, dishwasher and microwave, under the fridge, stove, dishwasher and microwave, Some nights I dusted the DE on the floor for a few days. I also took special attention to my bathroom and Kitchen. Place DE under your electronics. GET RID OF ALL RAID, COMBAT, HOT SHOT and what ever name spray from your local stores. they weaken all the recommended aids and sometimes makes them totally absolete.
June 19th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I have lived in this apartment for a year now. We are about to sign a new lease however, the apartment behind us and my landlords apartment have been seeing what they think are roaches. I haven’t seen one of these ugly ass bugs, or even a spider in my apartment. Me and my boyfriend are hesitant on signing that new lease though because I don’t want these nasty ass things attaching to my furniture or appliances. Everyone that lives here is clean, so noone knows how they got here to start with! The landlord is having an exterminator come and spray all apartments but that isn’t good enough for me! Please help me by letting me know your opinion on what I should do! Thanks alot!
June 25th, 2009 at 10:40 am
We never had roaches until my husband decided to bring an old game console into our house (which was from his sisters’ who had german cockroaches-the worst kind). TO COMPLETELY RID yourself of roaches, buy a gecko or some lizards. I got this idea from another website, and I haven’t seen any roaches since (was about 8 months ago). Living in the country, we didn’t need to buy anything because the lizards slipped inside all on their own. What would you rather see on your walls, wiggly lizards or these creepy crawly dirt bags?
June 25th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
We are in the process of buying our first home after a year of looking and 5 of us living in a 1 bedroom (clean bug free apartment). I have never experienced roaches before yesterday. We moved into the apt to save money while looking for a home to buy, we didn’t think it would take so long to find one. We have since had a new baby too. Anyway we have finally found our dream home and put an offer in April 2009. It’s in our price range and has enough room for all of us. Since it’s a short sale the process takes forever. The owner of the home was renting the place out. She has accepted our offer and now Chase bank has to do the same for it to be ours. I’m told by the agent that Chase is going to accept our offer any day now.
Since the tenants that were living there have finally moved out, we wanted to see what condition they left the house in. Let me tell you they were not the neatest people. We were pleasantly surprised that the home was in tact and “clean”. Except for one thing. . . . . ROACHES!!!! EVERYWHERE!!!! Mind you, we went to see the house yesterday in the day time and they were just hanging out having a great time.
Roaches of all sizes – huge ones, baby ones. They were on the walls, carpet . . . . lots of dead ones in the bathrooms and seen some in the bedrooms as well.
We never seen any when we looked at the house before this.
We had planned on before moving in to replace all the carpet in the house and remove the wood paneling from the one bedroom that has it. One of the living rooms has laminate floor. I wonder if there could be roaches under the floor too?
All the appliances were going to replaced before move in as well as they were not in working order and just looked bad. We had planned on working on the house before moving in anyway and staying in our apt while we fix it up. We estimated 3 -4 weeks to do this.
I am willing to pay an exterminator to come out and kill all the critters every week until move in.
I DO NOT want to ever see one roach when we move in. EVER!!
But to someone who has never had to deal with these nasty things, it looks like an infestation. I mean they really were every where.
I’m seriously having second thoughts now on whether to pull out on our dream home. I’m crying thinking about this because you have no idea how long it’s taken us to get to this point. Our dream is within reach but I know that neither of us would be willing to live in a home with roaches. It grosses me out, I couldn’t stop scratching yesterday after leaving the house. I immediately stripped and washed our clothes that we had on. I have a new baby and small kids.
IF YOU THINK THE PROBLEM CAN BE TAKEN CARE OF BEFORE WE MOVE IN THEN I WOULD LOVE TO BUY OUR HOME. BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE STUCK WITH A HOME WE WONT LIVE IN. WE WOULD EVEN BE WILLING TO STILL RENT OUR APT WHILE THE HOME IS BEING TREATED TO ENSURE THEY ALL GET KILLED. BUT HOW REALISTIC IS IT THAT WE CAN GET RID OF THEM.
HELP!!!!
You can contact me also at rsandoval @thatsmybank.com
June 26th, 2009 at 5:49 am
It is 4:39 in the morning and I have just finished reading every word on every post on this page. I live in an apartment and have just started to have a “problem”. It wasnt all that bad…we saw a few,bought some traps,and all was well for a while…well…we all know how the story goes…saw a few not too long ago…bought some traps, and now there is 40 BILLION!!!! Yea!!! That wont freak your girlfriend out when she sees them all over the stove and in the cabinets in the kitchen!!!(sarcasm noted) Anyway, it shall rain fire from the pits of hell on them from NOW ON!!!!hahaha! Its just gross and not something to put up with. I have read every post and have made a list of my own based on info found here….
gold box combat
Diatomaceous Earth
IGR – GENTROL
Oh yea……animal lover jackhole…..that was some of the funniest stuff ive ever heard anyone actually say…..you should be a stand up comedian….oh,roaches have souls….BAHhahahahahha
From Texas,
Phillip
June 26th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Moving out would be a wonderful option if we didn’t already own a decent home and land. The problem is that they moved with us over five years ago. They nestled in our appliances and get right on breeding in the upgraded home. When you add a tight assed husband who won’t pay for professionals to come out, you end up with a uncontrollable infestation. I literally cry over this. Seriously! I can’t have guests over because I’m too embarrassed that they’ll see a roach (or five) (or ten). What is really scary is that I’m seeing babies by the hundreds on a weekly basis. Go in the kitchen in the middle of the night, and you just get sick. I can’t move out. We are here for life. Well, unless I resort to divorce…
June 26th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
ABBY DOn’t even think about moving – please read what we all have done to get rid of our issues and try them, your husband is cheap, but what ever cash YOU get or get from him and get http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/roach-control-kit-p-1059.html the kit #2 for roaches. $70, get some Diatomaceous Earth $20, Harris Roach Tablets $15, get some sticky traps for roaches so you can monitor your progress $2. Don’t for get your spray container for needed mix $20 walmart. $127 you can be roach free! Be persistant, very Persistant. Please read my comments about what I did so I don’t repeat the same information. Please One To many let us know if it helped your situation and anyone else, we would love to hear. Good Luck!
July 1st, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I have been in my apartment for going on 2 years. The person who stayed here before me left the apartment severly infested. The Manangement told me that it took over 3 months to clean and spray the apartment. I still see infected roaches..(skin is rolled, and takes too much to squash). Then too my horror, my 2 year old twins like to chase and catch them and bring them to me…ewwwww…. It make me wonder what they do with them when I am not around. I have done the cleaning with bleach lysol… Steamed my carpets powdered every area of my house for a week and then returned to clean again…. hate raid because it is only a temporary solution. Bombs don’t work… It is like they are laughing at me and I have made it to the point that I want to move… But concidering I am a single parent with Two sets of twins, no job prospects in the near future and no help from outside sources…. Someone please give me something else to work with!!!!!
July 1st, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Amber,
Wow…I’m actually impressed and somewhat amused! Your two year old twins must be future track stars in training if they’re quick and nimble enough to chase down a speedy cockroach! Those roaches are generally lightening fast.
As for getting rid of roaches, cockroach bail and gels are the one things that really work I feel…however, at some point it’s a losing battle. If the infestation is so bad that they’re breeding and multiplying faster than the baits can kill them, it’s impossible to win the struggle. This is particularly the case if the infestation is coming from your neighbor’s apartment. Sure, you can clean and scrub your place all you want till the place is spick and span, but if they’re originating from a neighbor’s room, you’ll never get to the source of the problem. Perhaps you need to ask Management to spray your neighbors’ apartments as well…
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:35 am
IGR Gentrol will stop their reproduction; I don’t ever believe there is a never ending battle. Just need to find out what works!
July 7th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
im gonna try the jar trap. thats something i didnt think of. also if theres cracks or holes where roaches are getting into try using expanding foam. you can find it at a local hardware store or at home depo. its real sticky so if a roach comes in contact while its expanding it will be stuck also it will fill in the crevaces in your walls to try an block theyre entry points.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
I’ve been using EcoSmart Ant and Roach Killer for a few days, and so far I’m loving it. It’s non-toxic, so it’s safe to use around kids & pets, and has a nice wintergreen scent. Those little suckers hate this stuff!! lol They crawl through it and drop dead almost immediately.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
I have tried to soap and water…. I was very suprised at how well it work…. It’s like the thought of being clean kills them!!!! I would definitely recommend that to people who have a small infestation…. and thanks for the tips all!!!
July 8th, 2009 at 12:56 am
READ THIS READ THIS READ THIS READ THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Somewhere at sometime I heard someone say(real specific i know) that apple cider vinegar is good for roaches. Now I was thinking the smae thing you are but for some reason we had some apple cider vinegar in the cabinet. So I thought, why not! The roaches were getting bad in the kitchen so I thought I’d try there. I took out all the dishes ect. from the cabinets and put all the dry food stuff in the fridge after I wiped all of it off with bleach and water. Then I put a decent coat on the cabinets and the counter tops with the vinegar. It was amazing!!!! No roaches for more than a week. And I guess since everything had the vinegar on it that the roaches REALLY went for the bait traps then!!!!DYING BY THE HUNDREDS!!!! Now I promise im not making this up! I was about to lose my stinking mind about this crap!!!! This really worked and has for a whole week. We have turned to paper plates and cups while we keep the FIGHT on so as not to leave any food particles or dirty dishes. I live in an apartment and am 24 years old with a girlfriend who REALLY doesnt like roaches, so I wouldnt say all this if it didnt work for me. I hope someone will actually try this and I hope it works as well for you as it has for us. The only thing you have to deal with is the smell of the vinegar for a couple hours after you spray it but I would rather it smell funky for a little while than have those freaking roaches, AND, like I said we also had a box of COMBAT bait house things out and they have been doing wonderfully!!!!
HOPE IT HELPS!!!!!!!!!!
Phillip
July 8th, 2009 at 3:11 am
Animal Lover…you reminded me of an episode of CSI, or was it Law & Order…anyway, this “animal lover” murdered a woman for mistreating a roach (she wore a “Roach Brooch”)…when the cops finally caught up with the killer and entered his apartment it indeed looked like the pig sty you assumed we all live in, crawling with those disgusting creatures you love so much…that’s probably the conditions YOU live in, despicable! I live in the wealthiest neighborhood in my state, we have 2 live-in cleaning ladies, a butler and a cook, in a 16,000 sq ft mansion, so you can imagine that I live in impeccable conditions! Yet, we have still have roaches.
Anyway, I tired the Vegas trap and had no luck. I started observing the roaches’ behavior and realized that they always tended to scurry back into specific areas. I figured those areas must be where their “head quarters” were. They always tended to run under one of the fridges. I had that fridge removed from the house and taken apart. You could not imagine what we found in the motor housing. It was a sight I could not even begin to describe. I got rid of the fridge altogether, and bought a new one. I laid traps behind the new fridge and things have been quieter since.
I think the secret is to find where their “home” is and combat that area vigorously.
July 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I am in the process of cleaning all cabinets in my kitchen… I moved the Microwave, threw away things we really don’t use. I have cleaned with soap and water and bleach, then I sprayed the applecider vinager…. So far I have seen them just die!! I have only seen one or two since i have hit the hiding places… it’s like they are just disappearing!!! (hearing the hallaluah song in my head) I also have combat baits…. Wish me luck all!!!!
July 8th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Glad to hear it! It worked for me along with the other things I was doing, I truely believe in my method I haven’t had a problem/infestation since doing all of what I have shared.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
At one time I was using a homemade saline solution to deal with an unrelated (or possibly related) problem of sticky, gummy sinuses. I have sleep apnea, and use a CPAP machine when I sleep. I used small-capacity syringes (minus needles, of course) to irrigate my sinuses at night because my CPAP delivers only through my nose, requiring my sinuses to be clear. My solution was crude but effective (table salt is cheap), as I would merely mix a half-cup of water with as much salt as I could make it dissolve, then pour the liquid portion into a Dixie cup.
Oddly enough ( I never covered the Dixie cup, but changed it every other day), I NEVER found a roach in the cup, and after a week, I started noticing fewer roaches in the bathroom. My house has been infested badly. Since then, I’ve been keeping a cup of saturated table-salt mixture on my vanity, and while I can’t say they are gone from my bathroom, I can say I’ve seen far fewer of them in there. I keep the homemade saline for my sinuses in the refrigerator, but I still keep that Dixie cup in the bathroom, and the numbers have stayed lower. I am still infested, but I’ve been putting those cups around the kitchen and bathroom, and it has seemed to reduce the numbers I’ve seen somewhat. Maybe something like 15%, but probably a bit better, as I’m a pessimist by nature. Could be they just don’t like salt- but the bastards are still damned near impossible to get rid of. I’m thinking of a massive cleanup followed by a two-week stay at my in-laws next winter- let the frigging place freeze with enough bombs to blow up Iran for a couple of weeks after its been cleaned to hell and back- I’ll come back every couple of days and lay on some more crap to kill them with…it might just work.
July 10th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Thank you for putting up this information. It helps to know that I’m not the only one. I’ve been living in this mobile home duplex for almost 3 years now, and never really had a problem with roaches until about 6 months ago, and the little demons have been terrorizing me ever since. I’ve erradicated all cardboard boxes and old newspapers, I keep my dogfood in an airtight container (which the baby roaches can still get into somehow…), and I wash and dry all dishes before leaving the house or going to bed, and they just seem to be getting stronger. I got the boric acid… what a joke. The things just look at it like, “Are you serious?” I got the little roach motels, and they actually hide in them without taking the bait. I can’t afford any kind of extra expenses beyond food, gas, and bills, but I think I’m going to go out this weekend and buy an arsenal of sprays, poisons, and glue traps. Oh yeah, the glue traps actually work, although I probably need hundreds of them. I just looked inside them last night and found dozens of evil little roaches, stuck to the floor of the trap and crying out for help. I laughed at them and gloried in my small victory. But anyways, like I said, they’ve been terrorizing me for months now, and my husband is blaming me for their presence (though I’m really a very clean person and I keep my house very clean and dry and vacuumed and uncluttered… there’s just this stigma that only dirty houses have roaches), and I’ve actually had to start seeing a psychologist. Well, there were other reasons for that, but the stress of the roaches definately contributed to it. Gah…. Well, I’m going to try all the stuff I’ve learned on this site, and I thank you all for your contributions. We cannot let them prevail! …
July 12th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Having had experience myself with trying to control roaches over the last 50+ years, our family has a recipe that has proven very successful using boric acid. It works better if injested. Roaches also love dried cat food. We found that mixing the boric acid with the cat food and hot water (to help disolve the boric acid) , mashing all together to make a thick paste, and spreading that around the house, under the house, along the base of the house, etc. is very effective. As told in the article,although it is mostly non toxic to pets, it is best to keep them away from this mixture. To help do these we would use the small plastic cups with lids,. that you get with some take out orders ie,hot sauce. Tape the lid on and cut a small hole in top only large enough for the roaches to enter. Place these around wherever you want to put them. (under the stove, refrigerator, in the cabinets.) You can also make the mixture a little thinner by adding more water and putting the mixture into one of the empty boric acid bottles with a hole cut in the top and spread around like caulk.(not a very pretty sight, (effective in extreme cases) or an empty aluminum can may be used. simply put some through the top and bend can in half. these may be tossed under the house. We have also used plastic lids from water bottles,soft drink bottles. Any way you can figure out to help keep the pets from eating. You can also add a couple of graham crackers to the mix. This puts a sweet odor to the mixture that seems to help attract them better.
July 15th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Wow! so many ideas! I’m new to the whole roach thing so…my question is can there just be one? My roommate and I live in a house that was pretty clean when we moved in and we have kept it clean since we moved in. OUr front bedroom had some pet issues(smell of urine) (this was the only room too) in it though and during this summer we had been airing out the room by leaving the window which is screened open slightly. Well the other day I went in there to store something(this room is used for storage) and there was this giant roach in broad daylight stuck to a piece of tape on the wall. I think it came in the window because upon inspection there was a slight opening in the screen at the top! We have not seen any other signs of roaches anywhere in the house and have been living here a year. Could we possibly just have one?
July 16th, 2009 at 11:48 am
I wanted to thank everyone for their insight and stories. I have just recently bought a house in Northern VA and to say this house has a major roach infestation would be a huge understatement. When you walk around the house during the day there are hundreds of these nasty critters running around. I have two months before we close and we begin to move in, so I’m hoping I can get this problem under control. Yesterday, I did a little reading about ways of getting rid of roaches and went out and bought a couple boxes of roach motels. I read the directions and put them out just to see how effective they work. I went to the movies and then later stopped by close to 10:00 PM just to see what things looked like at night. HOLLY CRAP!!!!!!! The minute I walked through the front door all hell broke lose. These little bastards were having the mother of all parties. I swear I herd some music and saw a limbo party taking place in my living room. After the shock wore off I ventured into the rest of the house. The vision of that night will haunt me forever. I was thinking to myself there was absolutely no way I would move my family into this house until I get this problem under control.
I went home after my inspection thinking about my battle plans. Being a war veteran of the great flea infestation of 1998, I know my work is cut out for me. The war raged against the fleas was impressive. It was swift, direct and incredibly effective but I fear that war was only a walk in the park compared to what lay before me. I will be picking up some Diatomaceous Earth and some Boric Acid today along with ordering some Harris Roach tablets. My plan is to dust the house from top to bottom, placing a generous amount along ALL the inside corners and edges. I’m also going to inject every wall with some of the powder by tapping a small whole into them with a nail. I plan on sprinkling the entire lawn with DE and filling along the entire exterior of the house with Boric Acid.
Can anyone tell me what kind of time frame I should be looking at to determine if my first attempts at evicting these little buggers worked? How quickly does DE and Boric Acid work? I’ve also bought a case, not box, of the roach motels. I put down 16 yesterday but when I went in last night I only counted 12. I think they carried the missing ones off or something.
I am determined to confront these vermin on their battle field and claim victory. I will roll over them with technology, grind their little bodies into dust with my determination and perseverance, and I will not falter in my mission to prove that we (vertebrates) are the true rulers of this rock we call home!
BUT, in the event I have to turn around and run with my tail between my legs, I will be posting my house for sale on craigslist incase anyone might be looking for a great deal on a pretty nice house. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!
Let the games begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 16th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Please also get the COMBAT GEL PLATINUM less than $10 & Gentrol IGR – You need to also stop their reproduction and the gel kills them within hours. I WISH I could lay it all out in the house for you but I am not close.
You don’t need to use Boric acid and Harris Roach Tablets, the tablets are made from Boric acid with Lure inside. Spend the extra on the Gel and GENTROL.
How long, I would give it the whole two months before you move in. You should get the roach motels so you can test the current problem and see your progress in 3 weeks and then again in another 3 weeks.
July 16th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Eloy everything else sounds great just think about the other two. I just wanted to say that your plan sounds like your going to be armoured and ready to go. I just sprayed Talstar Professional outside my home yesterday this is a once every 3 months application. So far I am happily Roach free! One year plus. I am going to continue to spray until I lose the fear. LOL!
July 17th, 2009 at 10:54 am
JJamiah
Thanks for the advice; I will pick up the COMBAT GEL PLATINUM and the Gentrol IGR after work today. I will also look into the Talstar for outside application. I stopped by the house this morning just to see what happened over the course of the evening. It looked like a scene from the movie “300″ with little bodies all over the place. I was happy that my first strike took out so many but I reminded myself that for every one of those little dead bodies lying on the floor there were probably 100s inside the walls and under the floor.
Putting out Roach Motels is a great idea for an indicator. I will also pick some up and put them out. I was wondering if I should just sprinkle the boric acid on the carpet? I have every intention (after walking around last night and seeing 100s still running around on the floor) of replacing the carpet in the entire house. Is there anything I can put on the walls? I will need to thoroughly have the entire place cleaned from top to bottom as those little suckers have left their crap everywhere. With an empty house and move in date not till sometime around mid September, I am open to anything short of nuclear.
“I love the smell of Raid in the morning. The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole house, it smells like victory….Someday this war’s gonna end….”
July 18th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
The only DE I could find in my town is a moisture remover, so it has calcium chloride in it. Do you think that is worth a try? I don’t have anywhere else to look for it.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:31 am
cockroaches are the most vile disgusting creatures god ever created…as a matter of fact they were merely put here for plague and punishment purposes……they need to maKE A GEL BAIT FOR SOME HUMANS TOO……THE DEGENERATES——-OH ROACHES DESERVE RESPECT TOO.MAYBE IN THE AFTERLIFE,BUT NOT ON MY WATCH.YOU CAN BELIEVE ROACHES GET NO RESPECT FROM ME..
July 19th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Amakaye – You need to get the Food Grade DE; that sounds like the pool DE. Go on ebay and purchase some food grade for about $10.00.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Eloy, Don’t spray the Raid it can tant the other things your using. Definitely sprinkle boric acid and DE on your carpet. For the walls get a make up brush from the dollar store and dust your walls and boarders top and bottom with the DE/ BORIC acid mix. Like I said earlier the Harris roach tablets are also Boric acid, but if you want to mix the Boric Acid powder and DE, I’d recommend the Powder.
Please definitely get the Gentrol Change once every 90 days as well as spray Talstar once every 90 days even after they are gone (especially talstar up to 1 year or for as long as you feel). Place gel in areas from my earlier post. too much to write again
Eloy I look forward to hearing your updates.
July 19th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
Just a note for anyone who wants to purchase the things I used, I am making a short list, to learn what I did please read my earlier post.
1) Combat Platinum Gel (arm yourself with 2)
2) Roach Hotels Sticky traps ( many)
3) Diatomacious Earth AKA DE (atleast 5lbs)
4) Harris Roach Tablets (one box atleast)
5) Gentrol IGR (Point SOurce box of 20)
6) Talstar ONE (One pint will last you use one ounce per two gallons every 3 months)
7) Vinegar (large container your going to use this often)
8) Bay Leaves (small container old or new)
Don’t use ROACH SPRAY OF ANY KIND, NO BOMBS, NO FOGGERS! IT WILL Compromise all the above! and might not work. PLUS it is poisonus and cancerous in my opinion. I got sick from inhaling this stuff for over a year. It isn’t good for pets or children.
I got my things from
DOITMYSELFPETCONTROL.COM
EBAY
GOOD LUCK!!!
July 20th, 2009 at 3:37 am
Ughh we have roaches in our garage! I’m pretty sure I know what they’re there for (dog food) and I keep finding them dead inside the bag, but whenever I tell my mom she says that it’s fine and doesn’t matter–but I’m also the one who feeds the dog and does the laundry, meaning that I’m in and out of the garage all the time, and she’s almost never in there. She doesn’t want to spend the money on an exterminator or buying sprays or powders, so I’m trying the water trap (since it seems to be working by accident with the dog food anyway…) tonight. :/ When I go down I just leap off the stairs in the biggest pair of shoes I can find and land with a large thump…which scares them away and out of sight at least. I’m also armed with insecticide that I found in the garage but it’s pretty ineffective, maybe because it’s super old. Any suggestions that I can do (for free? I have $5 to my name).
July 20th, 2009 at 3:45 am
Also, to Animal Lover: I don’t mind that roaches exist, and I don’t enjoy killing them. But I don’t open my home to every single animal that happens to exist, whether they be spiders, rats, stray cats–and definitely not to roaches. They’d probably be happier in a garbage dump, and if you want to transport them there for me, you are totally free to do so.
Addendum to my previous comment: I try to keep the dog food bag closed, but it’s in one of those enormous paper bags and a) it’s not airtight and b) i’m pretty sure the roaches have eaten their way in through a hole or something. They’ve also never shown up inside the actual house also, because we keep it super clean and at the very least rinse all our dishes immediately.
July 20th, 2009 at 3:53 am
OKAY, I am sorry for yet another comment because I am pretty much spamming, but: if I remove what appears to be their food source, would that fix the problem? We’re moving in early August and trashing or selling most of what’s in the garage, and in ten days the dog will be going back to his original owner (my cousin) and we’ll either give her the dog food or throw it out (obviously, if we give it to her we’re going to make sure there are no roaches in there). We don’t keep anything else that’s edible in there, although there are a lot of cloth things that we’re going to get rid of.
(Also: do insecticides irritate the skin badly? When I was going after a roach I missed and unthinkingly sprayed over two pairs of shoes. One of them I can wash but the other one, not so much. They’re my favorite too :/ Should I just throw it out?)
July 20th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Melody, the only thing I know of that can help is vinegar for your counters and cleaning your kitchen even on the floor for mopping, then Bay leaves for your cabinets, and SOMEone not me have used a sugar and Boric acid which is both cheap mixture. I would google that or maybe someone here has posted that concoction. If you can get ten dollars together and that is all you have ( i know you said $5, but try for $10 and go get Combat platinum and then use the vinegar and keep the house extra CLEAN) Otherwise that is all I know for minimum money. GOOD LUCK!
July 26th, 2009 at 3:40 am
First of all, thanks to everyone for your comments and ideas…it’s SO nice to know that I’m not the only one!! It’s 2:30 in the morning where I am, and I cannot sleep thinking about this. I’ve been up cleaning house and–you guessed it–battling the roaches. The soapy water spray DOES work-I had some mixed up for use in my garden, and am using it INDOORS as well. I have out some baits-anywhere from 5-9 in each room in my home. I have a question for anyone that can help: most of the roaches I’m seeing are very small (which means they have parents SOMEWHERE), and they appear to all have one small, whitish dot on their back; I think the adults do, too, I just can’t make myself get close enough to REALLY look. EWWW. Anyway, can someone tell me what kind of roaches these are? I feel really ignorant, this whole ‘Roach War’ thing is pretty new to me. I didn’t grow up with them, and I’m sick at the thought of having to share my home with them. JJamiah, I have copied your list of essential supplies and will be arming myself as soon as possible. Thank you so much for posting that!!
Will all due respect, Animal Lover: I think you mean well, but you are totally missing the point here.
July 26th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
wow-glad to read that people are still proactive to get rid of these bastards! as previously stated, our previous tenants-and other tenants i know (in non adjoining buildings) dont seem to mind them (“oh, we just bomb every few months”) but i CANNOT imagine living that way. Keep up the good fight! I just have to write
two main ideas
1.we have an exterminator come back every other month to spray the growth inhibitor and a bait and 7 months later, i saw one on it’s back in the kitchen. this was the first i had seen in months. therefore-i realize it may take longer than i would like to completely rid myself of the MONSTERS (dont set yourself up for frustration by having unrealistic expectations)
2. i thought i was going to lose my bloody mind-literally-thought i was going to be committed by these damn bugs. i know im not alone. for anyone else stressing-buy ASHWAGHANDA -and take for you! I was buying GNC ashwaghanda and taking it daily-they quit making it in the us (to the best of my knowledge)-i therefore started taking puritan’s pride but also NOW or any other *known* grade will do. it helps IMMENSELY for the effects of stress.
hope you all keep your chins up and realize this too shall pass!
Kind Regards,
M
July 29th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I recently turned 16 and as bad as it sounds, I think I’ve lived with roaches as long as I can remember. My parents weren’t exactly neat freaks when I was growing up, and it’s obvious that they were a familiar “thing” to me growing up, in the fact that when I was 4 or 5 I caught a roach and tried to keep it as a pet. We’ve always had roaches with us wherever we’ve lived, and we’ve lived in at least 3 houses and 1 apartment. I know that’s because we’re doing two things – not getting rid of them, and giving them plenty of things to eat. We’ve done the whole lay-out-bug-traps thing before, but it never made a huge difference. And since I’m being completely honest right now, I can say that I am literally sick of living with roaches and I think it’s driving me crazy. I’ve even felt angry at my parents for keeping us in this situation, and vowed that if I had kids, they wouldn’t have to deal with this. It’s so bad that even though I’m so used to seeing them (and I’m not scared of them for that reason) I still stick to my room and rarely leave it. I carry a Raid can with me when I’m able to, and I spray the roaches that come out at night in my room. In the rest of the house, they’re out during the day. I feel really distraught because if something is done around the house to help get rid of these bugs, generally it’s me doing it. It’s gotten to the point where I’ve given up on the rest of the house and I’ve decided I’m sticking with my room, which I do keep clean, and calling that my home. It makes me angry that I feel so alone on this not only because I’ve read about how harmful roaches can be for your health, but I’m too embarassed to invite anyone over. It’s always been that way. I didn’t even have a sweet sixteen party for that reason, and my parents seem so naive to the fact that we even have a problem. But I feel like the only thing I can do about this is move out as soon as I can, so that I’ll be the only person responsible if I live with this in my own house.
July 31st, 2009 at 3:04 pm
Jenna, At the risk of being a kinda corny and preachy: Copy JJamiah’s list above and read her advice for Melodie above also. Then talk to your parents if this is possible. Rehearse until you feel that you can do this calmly AND have a plan to get out of there right away if you become upset, they may be uncooperative. Here is the plan; explain how this makes you feel, explain about the sweet 16 party and the way you feel about having friends over. Then explain firmly to your parents that you have a plan. Before you sit down with parents take the List and JJamiah’s instruction’s (also above) and create a plan for your home. The plan should include a massive clean-out, bagging of all knick-knacks on garbage bags air tight and the most thorough vacuuming ever. You must clean under every appliance mattress and piece of furniture. then sprinkle the Boric Acid and place the Combat Platinum Gel. Wash the floors and counters with Vinegar and put Bay Leaves in the cabinets.I know that your Mom can’t do this on her own, if she could have she would have by now, but she must help, so must everyone in the house. If some members of the family are on board and not others see if you can bribe with a nice little cook out or party or something for afterwards. Then all members who agree can set the date and have supplies and and the Roach Death action plan ready to go. Write the lists of cleaning supplies as well. Give your self two-three weeks advance to plan this project. I hope that your family will help but if they do not, clean one section at a time your self, you are young and strong and you can do it. Throw away all junky clutter. If people don’t help so what if they are a little upset that is their problem. They may not help but is simply wrong for any one to expect anyone else to live that way if they don’t want to. You can make it. Remember these words: No matter what any one says or does You Can Do It! Say “I can do it. I may not quite know how but I will find a way to do: (fill in blank; what will get me ahead).” Good Luck. You are a good talented person, I can tell by the steadfastness in your writing. Hang in there and remember to go to college. : )
August 1st, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Hello,
First of all, this is a great blogging page. I’ve learned a lot about fighting and eliminating roach infestation. I thought my problem was bad until I read all of your stories lol.
Secondly, animal lover, please do not allow yourself to breed with anyone else. Your belief is preposterous and you are encouraged to just off yourself. We probably value your opinion, and you should just stop voicing your opinion because you’re an extremely one-sided idiot.
Third, let me share my experience:
I believe that I have a small infestation problem seeing as how I do not spot any roach at all during day time and I see maybe one at night time crawling around. Sprayed the crap out of a cabinet when I saw about 3 of them inside. Ever since, my dishes have been cleaned and dried before I went to sleep; food and water have always been contained and sealed off; counter top and stove are all wiped clean before I go to bed. I also checked for leaky pipes around my house….nothing! To my surprise, I haven’t seen any roach since I’ve started a massive amount of renovation (my cleaning habit). I’m going to buy boric acid powder and use it as a perimeter defender today, and we’ll see what happens in a couple of days! If the roaches start showing up again, I will take extreme measures aforementioned. Thanks again for those advices!
August 2nd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
We had cockroaches at one time and my husband got rid of them! One thing that cockroaches can’t take is the cold. They will stay close to the hot water pipes in the walls of your home, in the kitchen and laundry room. What he did for those ones hiding by the warm pipes was to drill holes in the walls and shoot insecticides and then he sealed up the holes. Those cockroaches, the german ones are so in tune to poison. My husband had them on the run and they ( a whole bunch of them) went into this iron aquarium stand where we had our 55 gallon fish tank ( were hollow in part of the stand), They knew were there would be no poison but as they were being covered with the poison they starting going into the fish tank! My husband had to stand there with paper towels and retrieve them and soak up the poison as they were falling into the tank. Thank God none of our fish died. The best time to kill the roaches when drilling is in the winter time. And it helps if you have your electricity shut off, because then they all migrate away from your fridge, appliances and stoves, computers and go to that little warm spot in your walls. Die you dirty roaches! DIE!
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:34 pm
I too have a roach problem. I think it borders on infestation, since i have been seing some during the day as well. I only tried using sprays, but they do not do much; infact they kill the roaches before they get to their nests, and therefore are only good for those already visible, and always more come back.
Luckily i am moving in a few days, but i am very worried if some roaches manage to move with me, hanging onto some pieces of furniture…
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Oh, and about european roaches. They fly. Not that this makes much of a difference since they are not in the habbit of flying unless they are attacked and need to move fast. In fact the only time i have seen them fly is after i sprayed them. They also move a lot faster when sprayed, as if they actually think that what burns them up is something in the immediate environment that they have to get away from. But ofcourse it is too late for that, and they end up dead heh
But, like i said, i am glad that i am leaving. I am only sorry for the next person to rent this place, since he is in for a big surprise…
August 6th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Chinese Chalk will get rid of roaches along with anything else walking around in your house including rodents. Don’t believe all the nonsense that it is not safe because that is garbage. People outside of the U.S. have been using this for centuries, you just have to keep it out of the wrong hands obviously and make sure you wipe it up once all those dirty creatures are dead. It takes one day to work and if used correctly you will never see another roach in your house again…NOT ONE SINGLE ROACH!!!!
August 6th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
By the way, its goin for about $2 right now for 2 pieces. I have two aunts that have used when it was legal and they swear by it. It got rid of the roaches fast (few hours – 1 day) and the roaches stayed out, never came back. I just put in an order along with my mom, my aunt and my friend. I have a 3 mo old daughter and for extra measure I am going to have a family member watch her while I chalk the place and we”re going to stay with the family member overnite and she will be watched while I go clean it up the next day so she won’t be exposed at all and I would suggest anyone with animals also do this but if you cannot make such arrangements I know people that have used it with children and pets in the house and they are fine. Just make sure they don’t come directly into contact with the stuff. The danger is not inhaling it in the air the danger is ingesting it. Children have mistaken this chalk for regular blackboard chalk and chewed on it but c’mon those cases are along with all the other accidental drinking of regular household products. Its not the product that is the problem, its the lack of proper supervision by some parents so as long as you don’t let this get in the hands of children then it is not a problem. They don’t want people using it because the stuff is so damn cheap and so damn effective that it eliminates the need for any other product. If everyone with roaches were given a piece of chinese chalk then there would no longer be a such thing as a house roach. Hope this helps people.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I just wanted to wish all those who are fighting a roach problem same as myself GOOD LUCK!! My family and I never had a roach problem until one of the rental properties near us got bombed by the landlord. The place must have had a major infestation because millions of roaches ran not only to my home, but also to all of my neighbors (the clean ones and the dirty ones). My 20 year old foster daughter and I scrub our house constantly due to there being 10 children of varying ages in and out of hee all day. (The youngest being my 3 month old daughter.) Yet even though we have moved, I think our infestation has become OUTRAGEOUS!
I have seen many suggestions on this page for battling a mild infestation, but what about MAJOR ones? I love our new house and do not wish to move again. I plan to try all the suggestions on this page, a few at a time, and continue on that way to see what happens. And a friend of our is an exterminator for terminex. I will be calling him. I was just wondering if you guys knew any suggestionsfor major infestations??
And, Animal Lover, I agree that your heart is in the right place. The trouble is the diseases that roaches carry and transmit to our children and selves. I have heard there are natural remedies that repel them, causing them to leave your property. If you want to help the plight of roaches, why not find out what those natural remedies are and spread those to all the folks on this page. We just want them gone for the safety of all.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Please read the previous post they are not only for mild infestations they are for all infestations. Mild means you use the same products for short periods of time, Severe means your going to be consistant for months at a time until they are officially gone. Mine have been gone for 1 year and I still use products to prevent any re-introduction of them to my home.
August 9th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
Ok, I moved into this apt April 2009. I was 8 1/2 mos preg and almost ready to pop when I moved so I did not really have the energy to unpack right away so the apt was a little cluttered (not dirty, just cluttered). I have NEVER had any roaches in my previous 2 apts (except for one I saw in my first apt the day I moved in, in which boric acid took care of and I never saw another one for as long as I lived there). My new apt has these huge sliding windows and about 2 or 3 wks in I saw a pregnant German roach in between the screen and the window in the kitchen. I killed it and thought nothing of it, I figured it must have come from outside. I bought some potatoes and put them in the cabinet over the stove. They went bad and about a wk or so after the first encounter I went to get a drink out the kitchen late at night and I saw this H U G E!!!!! roach crawling towards where the potatoes were. I sprayed it and it made a loud thud when it dropped to the stove. Again, I thought nothing of it, I figured it was a neighbor’s roach who smelled the potatoes an wandered into my apt. I immediately cleaned up the potatoes which had greenish bluish liquid leaking from the bag ( I know, GROSS!!!). I had my baby and being a single, first-time, breast-feeding mom I haven’t really been focused on my house like I used tobe (I use to be ANAL when I had that luxury). I had a bag of wet clothes I forgot to hang up that mildewed, a bucket of dirty mop water in the kitchen and some of the potato “juice” was apparently left behind along with a sink full of dirty dishes so for a brief time the place was kinda smelly and nasty (I was running around to her’s and my appts, filing for child support, applying for W.I.C. and applying for child care so I was B U S Y). I came home one night and went into the kitchen and saw a roach on the counter and killed it. This was the third sighting so now I started to get a little worried. The next night I went into the kitchen and saw 2 more roaches and one coming from the bathroom so now there’s no denying I HAVE ROACHES!!!!!! I killed the 3 I saw and IMMEDIATELY cleaned EVERY SQUARE INCH of this apt (I pulled an all nighter). I cleaned this place liked I used to be able to “pre-child” days. I am deathly afraid of and DISGUSTED by roaches so I have not eaten anything out of my kitchen since that night and I don’t even get out of my bed in the middle of the night to use the bathroom for fear that I will encounter one. I don’t know how this happened, I have had prior busy periods in my life in which the house gets messy, it happens to the best of us but the outcome has never been roaches until now. I’m wondering if they have been here since the day I moved in. Well since that night I see about one every other night. The place is impeccable and there is not a scrap or crumb for them to eat. All the food is closed up in one way or another and I spray bleach in the drains and toilet to keep them from drinking. Its seems to be working because like I said it went from 3 in one night to one every other night.
Ok so this is my question: I went to get a garbage bag from the cabinet under my kitchen sink today and I saw a roach leg. I already knew they hung out down there because I’ve seen their droppings but something prompted me to REALLY inspect down there and so I did. I decided to put my head in and I looked to the top left crease and the back and to my HORROR I saw a sh**load of roach particles (poop, regurgitation etc). I wanted to cry, it looks like an infestation but I don’t really see much of them, I mean I flick on the lights late at night and NOT ONE will scurry. My daily sightings have all been by the bathroom area since I cleaned the sh** out of this place. So I’m wondering…do you think that the roach dust was there before I moved here or do u think I have an infestation? All of your answers are appreciated, thank you.
August 9th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Hello,
The way you can tell if you have an infestation is getting yourself some sticky traps, lay them out in your kitchen or bathroom where roaches love to harbor, any place in there that your seeing them. Go get yourself some Diatomacious Earth, Bay Leaves – Edible seasoning, Combat platinum and Vinegar seems you have a mild case, remember doesn’t take long to become a severe case. So read below for my suggestions for seeing very little.
You can find out how to use all of the above in my previous post as I would just be repeating the same information. Just search up and see how and what I advise you to use the products. Your case is bad when you see them in the day, even one in the day for me is INFESTATION.
I had Roach Tail Gate parties in my kitchen and it wasn’t due to dirty dishes in the sink. It came from neighbors with 9 dogs!
August 9th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I have 4 sticky traps out with sugar and flour on them, one near the stove, one near the refrigerator/sink area, one in the bathroom and one in the hall. I’ve had them out for over a week and there is not one single roach on any of them. Under the kitchen sink there is a lot of roach particles and one would think it is an infestation but i don’t know if that stuff has always been there. Aside from the time the roach was in the window the 2nd or 3rd wk I lived here (late afternoon), I haven’t seen any during the day. The sightings are always at night.
August 10th, 2009 at 12:03 am
Putting Sugar and flour on a sticky trap will void the trap, meaning the roach will get off and you won’t be able to tell. Trust, I saw one walk right off after I put DE powder on it. I was like dag. So I just leave the trap by itself no nothing just the trap.
I’D clean the area and then watch it for a while see if anything returns. I think that would be the only way to find out. Good Luck!
August 10th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
Hi i would definately use the bay leaves in cabinets and the sticky glue boards by theirselves they work so good, also i have tried the water jug with coffee grains works good, but i think the glue boards are the best. good luck
August 10th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
One thing that roaches can not tolerate under any condition is hot water. Yes, hot water from the tap is enough to end their sorry life in seconds, meaning 4 or less depending on how hot your tap water is. I found a few in the kitchen sink on night and turned on the hot water. Surprise, they went belly up and down the drain. I found that they had come up from the drain pipe. Running hot or boiling water down the drain once or twice a day especially and the end of the day before you retire for the night will kill all of them that come in contact with the hot water. Same thing happened in the drain of the tub once and the hot water won the war again. Roaches may be able to stand a nuclear blast but when their butt winds up in hot water, it’s all over but the dyeing. How ever cruel it may sound, boiling water has been used for thousands of years to rid any and all pests from your home. It’s cheap, it’s non toxic, it’s VERY effective. The only draw back to it is, you have to have some standing by and be ready to drench them with it. I’ve even used extremely hot water is a pump spray bottle and seen instant death on contact.
P.S. Boiling water also works on any and all ant beds including fire ants. Just remember to boil about 3 gal of water and pour it down into the center of the nest. It cooks everything in it’s path, workers, the queen and especially makes hard boiled eggs that will never hatch. Using this on ant is a way to rid them and they won’t and can’t relocate a few feet away if you pour enough boiling water down the nest.
August 11th, 2009 at 12:52 am
I live in an end unit townhouse. I have never had a problem in 7 years until recently. My neighbors who kept a filthy house moved and left their recycle bin full of trash (from the fridge) which I discovered a month after they vacated. Since then I have seen 5 or so roaches ranging in size from tiny to tonight’s extra large specimen. I am completely grossed out. The neighbor’s house has gone into foreclosure and I doubt the bank or neighborhood association will care about my plight.
Going out tomorrow to get those Combat Gold Box baits and boric acid before this becomes a bigger problem. Have only seen them in the kitchen so far. YUCK. Any other suggestions out there are appreciated.
August 13th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Thank you for this wonderful article. My family and I have lived in this rent house for just over three years, and have had a roach problem for one and a half of those years. We are moving for other reasons, but the roach problem is definitely one major issue we have. We are afraid, though, of them “following us” – so to speak – by travelling in boxes and bags that we will be packing. Any suggestions on how to keep them from entering these?
We have used Borax, roach baits of various kinds, and other home remedies. They all work for a while, then stop. My best guess is that these little suckers are mutants and eventually adapt to all killing procedures . . .
August 14th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Great article ! I have to say I FREAK OUT at the site of a roach. I mean the light brown common roach that I lived with when I got out of high school & lived with a friend in a low income apartment. I remember it like it was yesterday but it was over 22 yrs ago. I’d have to say we had a MAJOR infestation & everytime the manager would bomb an apartment they would move next door. Roaches give me massive hebby jebbies & anxiety to no end. My husband & I recently got an RV from a lady & it was pretty nasty. When we started cleaning it we noticed tons of roaches & knew we would have a problem getting rid of them. I need to rephrase that, I didn’t go inside, my husband did. Brave sole he is ! I stood in the door holding the trashbag open. LOL ! All the while saying “Oh GOD thats NASTY”. My skin crawled & I just knew I’d have nightmares about them, but it was the opposite, I didn’t sleep AT ALL. Roaches are so nasty ! We sprayed a strong pesticide that supposedly is the BEST & some of the roaches are STILL alive. I’m taking about 6 bombs over there tomorrow to set off & if that doesn’t work I say BURN THE PLACE coz you wont find me sleeping in it with those nasty beasts living there too. LOL How this 70 yr old lady slept in that place I dont know….If we cant kill them I guess we will have to get an exterminator to come try…
August 14th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Hi, I was scheduled to move into my new Chicago studio yesterday when I found dead cockroaches all over the place. Well I wont exaggerate. There were about 6 randomly throughout the studio and 24 dead roaches under the sink. Needless to say, I have pushed back my move in date until all of this is taken care of. The apartment has been vacant for a while and I am hoping that is why there were so many dead carcasses. I called the landlord horrified, and after reading some of these other stories, I am pleased that she scheduled for an exterminator to come to my unit tomorrow and have the common areas in the building taken care of next week.
My question is, is a regular extermination enough? Or should I combat with these other products that people have suggested as well?
Thanks
August 15th, 2009 at 9:23 am
I say don’t move in Sonia. When an apt has been vacant for a while you should see NO roaches unless there is food left around. The fact that you saw roaches in an apt that has been vacant for a while suggests to me that the problem is a MAJOR one the will most likely not be erradicated by the same exterminator that the building has probably been using or with the methods suggested above. Unless you’re gonna go with the Chinese Chalk I say don’t do it because the problem is definitely imminent for you.
Good luck
August 15th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
CHINESE CHALK IN AMERICA IS ILLEGAL, DAngerous for kids and no you don’t have to neglect them for them to get hold of it, an ignorant comment, and so stereotypical.
There are plenty Legal ways of getting rid of them. Stop buying the cheesy stuff from the Walmart Shelves like Raid/HOt Shot/Combat spray. The only thing I’d buy from there is Combat Platinum.
These sprays TANT your other products and cause them not to work. ROACHES DON’T GET USE TO BORIC ACID OR DIATOMACEOUS EARTH. They get used to chemicals like we get used to Anti Biotics, they get used to BA or DE like we get used to a gun shot to the head. WE DON’T. Boric Acid doesn’t work over night, and it takes persistence. Yes they avoid BA when piled up, should be lightly dusted. I used both together. Read the articles, they answer most questions. Take the time and read, I try to answer questions that haven’t been asked or there is no solution already stated, otherwise it gets a bit repetitious. Also when you do have success SHARE, we all could learn something to share with someone else.
1 plus years ROACH FREE!!!!!!! from my infestation!
August 15th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Don’t believe this BULL*** about Chinese Chalk. It is the MOST effective pestcicde for roaches ever invented. The government banned it because it was so effective and they did not want it to become a monopoly. What is soooo out of the ordinary that if ingested by a child or anyone else it can have I’ll effects????? It has been proven to cause seisures if ingested but it has NEVER killed anyone…if a child gets a hold of a common household product like BLEACH and ingests it they will DIE!!!! Not seisures but DEATH and this product is perfectly legal and used widely and kids get into it everday so CUT THE CRAP about Chinese Chalk, it has been used for YEARS outside the U.S. And people are still thriving. Learn to look past the outward appearances sometimes and don’t be so “black and white” thinking.
August 15th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
WHat ever it is ILLEGAL and not WORTH any bodies childs risk. Bleach isn’t illegal and kills germs and virus’s so why doesn’t the government band that, because they’d rather people have roaches. GET A LIFE! As black and WHITE as it may be it is ILLEGAL. Bleach, that sounds like BULL**********. IT is a risk, and It is illegal.
August 15th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/health/illegalproducts/#concern
http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/health/illegalproducts/#products
http://www.epa.gov/opp00001/health/illegalproducts/#do
I have posted some articles from the U.S Environmental Protection Agency for those that would like to have more information on this Illegal Product.
Don’t go by what I say or the Pushers on here, do the research yourself.
I have no stakes in any product I suggest or this Illegal Product, I just want to help and don’t want any mishaps that may happen on my mind. I didn’t remark about the first Chinese Chalk comment but as a person who is a mother, I would never risk my kids. PLus I did it my way and I am roach free, Legally!!!!!
August 17th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I’ve been trying to get rid of insects from my townhouse for the longest time. How do you get rid of bugs completely anyway…not sure it’s really possible. All you can do is keep the house clean as best as possible or move into newer home developments. Newer is better in terms of staying away from bug infested homes. But those of you living in cockroach or any type of bug infested home, get the heck out and save yourselves!
I’ve lived in some ghetto houses before and believe me, it’s a losing battle. They will be around even when Armageddon has arrived. They are built to withstand nuclear wars and meteor strikes on Earth and will be around forever even when we are long gone…
August 18th, 2009 at 3:11 am
I’m so tired of roaches that I’m thinking of bombing my house…..literally…lol
August 20th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Phew – finally finished reading all the comments here! I have 2 kids, so it took me two days to finally get to the end. Thanks to everyone for all the very helpful info! I was horrified when I opened my pots and pans cabinet yesterday and saw a roach staring at me. I admit, I was a little dumbfounded as I blankly stared back. When I got my whits back, I reached for a paper towel to smash it and by the time I looked back, he was gone. I hit the internet and found out Borax is good at killing roaches and I just happen to have a new box out in the laundry. So, I took all the pans out, cleaned the shelves and sprinkled a light dusting of the borax around the perimeters of the shelves. I read online that you’d s’posed to do it lightly so they will walk thru it otherwise, if you have piles of it, they will just avoid it. Anyway, I decided to clean out the surrounding cabinets as well and when I got to the one under the sink, I saw another (well, possibly the same one??). Ugh!! What are the chances it was the same one? The two cabinets are connected with a large hole for wires and plumbing. This time I saw where he ran to — behind my dishwasher. So I made sure to dust the Borax in the entry way he took as well as around the perimeter. I then decided to go ahead and clear out the pantry shelves that are across the kitchen. So far, I haven’t seen any other bugs or evidence of them. No dead bodies, droppings, etc. As the previous posted asked, is it possible he just hitched a ride in my house and he’s the only one? I can only hope he is, in fact, a he or at least not a pregnant female.
Today I went out and bought the bait traps and placed those in the two cabinets I saw him in as well as under the stove and behind the fridge. I found this site yesterday and want to thank JJamiah for all the wonderful advice as well as the original poster! This has been, by far, the most helpful site I’ve found. As for the DE — I’m going to try and find some of that as I did some other research on it and it seems to be a magic silver bullet for all things that crawl and creep into our homes! Such a bonus that it’s totally non-toxic, too! How have I not heard of this stuff before!?! Is it sold – the food grade type – at Home Depot or only online? We often have problems with pincher bugs, so I can’t wait to defend against them with that! I’m almost giddy about getting some and putting it all around the outside of my home as well as inside the house.
Back to the roaches, my husband and I have decided that we’re not going to call an exterminator unless we see more within a week’s time. Think that’s a good plan? Oh, and the DE – do you just sprinkle lightly as with the Borax or lay down a little bit heavier? Thank you Thank you!
August 20th, 2009 at 1:48 am
MPMommy:
Borax or DE should only be used as a permanent discouraging solution to prevent the roach’s return. If your situation is dire, which I don’t think it is, you should seek immediate treatments – spraying in corners and areas along the edges of walking space, keeping food sealed or away, pesticide utilization on the perimeter of your house within the property, and constant housekeeping.
Roaches will die of starvation and will want to seek alternate food source. However, if your house is adjoined by neighboring houses that have serious infestation problems, you may need to reinforce your protection by laying down more DE and borax powder. It will also be a good idea to wash the trash bins and clean the garage. Roaches and rodents are active at night time and don’t like to be disturbed by humans. If there is no food at night time and they are constantly harassed by human presence, these creatures will want to leave for somewhere else that is more habitable to them.
Also, 3rd week has just gone by and no roaches!!!!
August 20th, 2009 at 7:58 am
MPMOMMY – Get a make up brush like blush brush, cheap from the dollar store, get your DE put it in one of those large party cups and dip and dust, dip and dust.
I still have my cabinets dusted just in case, and put some bay leaves in there.
Mark I beg to differ DE & Borax is great for Beginning and permanent discouraging of roaches, it was part of my routine and yes I watched those little ones walk in it and die within 30 seconds, the big ones longer, unfortunately a baby cricket got in my house and touched it died within an hour. And the wonderful thing they don’t get used to it. You should clean out your trash but you should dust your trash with DE and drop a couple of Harris Roach Tablets in your hair.
August 20th, 2009 at 8:08 am
Mark also the problem with immediate treatments they work for now, if you situation is one or two that is fine; with an infestation you need to work smarter and realize immediate pleasure isn’t going to work. Congradulations on being free for 3 weeks.
MPMOMMY – I got mine from Ebay under $20 but alot that I still have it. I only one 2.5 pound bag and not even all of it two to three party cups. I attacked only the areas they frequented, Kitchen, Bathroom, Bookshelf in living room, fish tanks.
After all the Little Brown COUSINS (my sister calls them that so we don’t have to say that work in PUBLIC, whisper with me roach) were gone I use professional products around my home perimeter not inside, otherwise I use Gentrol IGR in a few rooms for protective measures. I fear reinfestations. But I use these products every 3 months because I do have neighbors that have a little brown cousin issues.
August 20th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
NOT IN YOUR HAIR, geesh, in the trash, I was talking to my child while typing sorry! OOPS! Drop the tablets in the trash bottom under the plastic bag, my bad, sorry guys! See don’t talk and type you lose focus.
August 20th, 2009 at 2:05 pm
HAHA – I was wondering about that!
I’ve been applying the Borax with a squeeze bottle and just sort of misting or dusting it on, but as I’m heading to Target today, I’ll pick up a cheapy little brush. As for the DE, I’m so interested in it that I’d like to use it in my garden as well as my house, so I wonder how much I’ll need? Might get some and share with my Mom as well. I just don’t want to pay crazy shipping fees for 5-10 pounds of the stuff. My husband routinely sprays around the outside of out house with some potent stuff made by Ortho or whatever. It seems to work pretty well as for weeks I’ll see dead bugs just lying around the house where he sprayed. Seems to last pretty long. I just want to back it up with the DE and see what happens. Oh yeah, I want to get some bay leaves, too. I’ve yet to see any more “cousins” but it can’t hurt to lay out safe, easy stuff proactively, too, right??
August 23rd, 2009 at 11:41 pm
Ugh. Saw another one today. This one was smaller than the original one (also this time I was able to kill it) and I’m really bugged by it. No pun intended. So I’ll be calling the exterminators tomorrow. I’m not waiting around to see if the bait traps and Borax will kill them in another week or so. I’m grossed out just thinking about them crawling around my kitchen. So now my question is who to call? There’s so many pest control people listed in the phone book! These critters will die. I’m still going to get some DE and sprinkle that around so we don’t have any future problems.
August 24th, 2009 at 8:05 am
JJamiah and MPmommy, why don’t u guys.exchange email addresses? This is a blog in which you make a comment or two and keep it moving. The continuous back and forth is putting me to sleep and you are taking away from the initial excitement I had when reading this and JJamiah who made you blog keeper??? You have like 50 posts up…c’mon get a better hobby or start your own blog or someething…you are ANNOYING
August 24th, 2009 at 9:05 am
My neighbor used Terminex and Viking Pest Control. I see the Orkin man on Television. Just to let you know also they are also going to use things that your going to have to wait to see results. They use baits, professional sprays that don’t kill Immediately. I know the feeling, Yuck we bought a Beetle home in from the park yesterday and I caught a FIT! something aweful, my cat was chasing it and biting on it, I quickly caught a flash back. YUCK! Honestly though it sounds like you have a very Mild case of the Little Brown Cousins!
August 24th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Getting Bored By the minute! GO take a nap if it is putting you to sleep no one ask you to read, don’t like it Don’t read it, no one is twisting your arm or dangling a roach in your face,
sorry don’t have that issue any more, obviously you do since your on here reading through our tiring messages!
Who made me blog keeper? No one but people email me with questions and I am more than happy to post the answer here to help them and others. Thanks for your wonderful Point of view. NOT!
August 26th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
So. Last week in July, I got dumped by my boyfriend and moved out of the place we shared. I have friends who were kind enough to let me crash with them, so I did for about a week until I found a place– 6 unit building that seems well maintained and fairly clean. No less than six hours after unpacking, I found my first roach.
In total, I’ve only seen about 3 live guys, all at night but with the lights on. Though, I’ve seen plenty of carcasses. Probably a good 80, the VAST majority have been the little pale nymphs that are about the size of my pinky nail. Based on the smell and the look of the bastards, I either have oriental roaches or the standard american ones. Bad news: I’ve seen them in every room, with the lightest concentration in the living room and the KITCHEN surprisingly enough… absolutely none in cabinets or drawers… and the heaviest concentration in my dining room and, ugh, my bedroom but just around the radiator pipe.
I have a super sensitive system to chemicals (yes. positively *dainty* everything gives me hives) so I have gotten myself and my essential items out of the apartment and back with the friends. Food is either thrown out or stored in zip top bags in the fridge. All of my clothes have been laundered twice and are stored in my car in “space bags” and there are no boxes or magazines anywhere to be found.
I called my land lord who came out and sprayed my unit three times and the entire building once. I put down boric acid powder, baits, the little raid egg killers. I caulked my baseboards, my light plates, my light fixtures. Put down weather stripping in all of my doors and steel wool layered with boric acid around my radiator pipes (topped with a nice fatty layer of caulk, cause this is where they were coming from). I bombed, twice, because I didn’t know any better several days after the landlord sprayed. This last weekend (so it’s now been from the 3rd until the 22nd), I came in and bleached every surface and re-layed boric acid around the walls.
This weekend, I am finishing up the last bit of clean up and handy work and moving back in. But I’m still seeing about 6 carcasses a day (and haven’t seen a live one in about 2 weeks).
What are the odds that I’ve beaten this thing? Of course, I’m going to stay vigilant with cleaning (I’ve reached damn near OCD levels here) and putting out baits/boric acid/de. The landlord has agreed to spray regularly– even though it presents health problems to me and potentially my cats.
The internet is just so disheartening– making it sound like my only option is to just “live” with the little bastards and pray that I am staying clean enough– even though I cannot imagine anything being able to penetrate my caulking job. I can’t deal with roaches– especially not right now with the break up and other stresses I’ve had recently.
Please give me some good news… or advice… or, more ideally, a magical cure to eradicate these bastards.
Thanks. Sorry for the desperate, pathetic ramblings.
best,
Rachel
August 27th, 2009 at 1:21 am
In the 48 years of life on this earth the past 2 years i have been blessed with these pests. I am tired of the battle I use boric acid and it hasnt helped well maybe it has but they are still here I am gonna try harris tablets along with the coffee jar and continue the boric acid,, I hope I can manage to get rid of them , I also recently have dealings with fleas but that war I always win ..
I know my debugging rules with fleas but I have never had to deal with roaches and once i get them gone they must stay GONE
August 29th, 2009 at 3:34 am
My psychic says infestation is a warning of some bad luck
When problems come it gives indication via infestation.
The only exception is black ants. They bring good luck.
September 1st, 2009 at 7:30 pm
i was wondering as well if DE can be bought in stores? or is it only online, cause thats just wrong! i myself make a packet of kool-aid and grab as many drinking glasses as i can and distribute them evenly through out my rooms, and pour about an inch or two or kool-aid in the glasses and by morning they are filled with dead roaches! it has to be glass tho, cause they cant climb back out once they are in, i find that they are mainly babies but sometimes get lucky and find nothing but pregnant ones. i also have some dish soap and water in a spray bottle that i have in my cargo shorts pocket and it works. i sometimes fill the sink with water and dish soap and hit the cabinets and drop them in as fast as i can, works for a while but hey you already know……. believe it or not Tums the heart burn tablets kills them too, if you leave a few laying around they eat em and i guess it suffercates them cause they die, dont know how it actually works tho but it does, or at least in my case. duct tape works if you have it sticky side up but kinda wrapped around electical cords and around table edges(sticky side hanging from the edges). oh yea to animal lover im with everybody else on this one. . . you want to save em come get em! you can have them ALL!!!!!!!!!! by the way im in san bernardino california, and the heat isnt helping
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:39 am
Wow – Rachel – I think you’ve covered all your bases! Best of luck to you!
I, too, found DE on Ebay. 6lbs for under $20 with free shipping. It’s cheapest there and you can buy just a pound if you want. (Amazon has it, but it’s pricey and shipping is nuts.) I went for more so I can use it all over the house as well as share it with my Mom for her garden critters. Never got around to looking or asking if it was available at Home Depot or the like. I also called Clark Pest Control and a one-time treatment was only $150. It has a 30-day guarantee, so we’ll see what happens.
Good luck everyone!
September 12th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Thank the Gods that there are people out there that understand. I finally got my own place after having to live with various people for the last 5 years. Who knew that I would have to pay rent for the roaches also. It’s just a studio but it is mine. I cannot afford to move so I will try all the remidies that I read about. I keep a can of raid in the kitchen, the bathroom and my sleeping area. I work all day so I usually only have to deal with the battle when I wake up and when I come home. The bombing does not work. Everybody where I live has the roach problem. I have all different shapes and sizes. Yes, I have an infestation. I saw one crawling out of my rolling backpak on the train and played it off. One was crawling across my desk at work and I know that I brought it there (probably hid in my purse). My grandson saw one on my purse when they came to pick me up to go to the store. There was even one in the toliet. WOW!!!!! I attempted to make toast and there were two coming out of the toaster. I am so tired but I look at it as another job. Gotta have somewhere to live.
September 13th, 2009 at 8:39 am
We have a house in N.C. which we rent out. It has been empty for several months. I woke up in the night worried about it. I’m concerned roaches may be a problem. I’m going to make a trip down to check on it. a Couple of years ago there were roaches in the attic. We bombed it when we saw. The management company hasn’t said anything but the last couple of tenants have been immigrants and may not have complained. I’m taking notes and plan to go prepared. I can assess the situation but I’m not sure how best to handle it from a distance. Thanks for the fine analysis on this site. I wish I could find someone who could work with me on this. It is hard to maintain property from a distance.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
You can try to place the sticky traps around to see if and how bad of an infestation you have. Maintenance can be done by Exterminators 2-4 times a year. Read reviews and comments by others for more info.
September 14th, 2009 at 5:16 am
5 Gallons of unleaded and a lit match book, not only solves the roach problem but gives valuable training to your local fire department, give you a chance to do all the redecorating you want, gives business to you local construction company, gives your neighbors something to gossip about for months, gets you possibly charged with arson and insurance fraud, hey did I mention you got rid of your roach problem? Unfortunately folks I think this is a never ending battle as long as there is people there will be pests.
September 15th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Well, I have now followed most all of the advice I thought was pertinet and helpful. I have bait traps,gel,Roach Prufe mixed with DE, I have previously sprayed and fogged. At first t hought they were gone within 2 months they have returned but I never saw any but one or two dead…now since placing out Harris tablets, RP and DE mixed together I am now seeing the real deal. I have totally closed down the kitchen and dusted everything by using a 2″ angled paint brush. They cannot leave the cabinets or go near the refrigerator,stove or sink without getting into the roach fairy dust. They are on the move because previously I was seeing one or two, now I am seeing a few adults mostly small off sping and they look hungry and confused and to my delight can not get out of the kitchen without walking in some roach fairy dust….. I believe I am really going to get them this time. ….
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:51 pm
I live in Iowa City and When I first moved into my apt building I didn’t see a single one. Keep in mind this is a low income housing building. Then about a month or so in I saw one. My apt is probably the Cleanest this building has ever seen. I do not think they are nesting in my apt but rather traveling up from somewhere else looking for food. What Should I do. Have called the Landlord 3 times, Three consecutive days and they said they were sending someone out and never did. God they are just a pain in the ass and I just want them all to die a horrible death.
September 28th, 2009 at 11:17 am
If you put a Bay leave in all the corners of your cabnets, and draws that helps there is something in the bay leave they don’t like. I live in a row house you can believe me or not I do not have a roach problem, I have none at all.
September 30th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I am so very happy to of landed on this site!!!!!!!!!!! Just moved into a VERY nice apartment!!!!((I THOUGHT) and the first 12hours saw 2 wan a casing of some kind in a bathroom drawer. It was sprayed the day BEFORE I moved in so I am SURE they must of known!!They have sprayed 2 more times since then..I have been here 12 days now. I have NEVER NEVER NEVER been exposed to these beasts in all my 52 young years and am not planning to start NOW!! I am going to still get some of the items suggested Borax, etc. I have just been seeing small ones here and there but today a hugeone!! Please …I hope I can get rid of these????
October 4th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Hey guys im 17 years old.
and this past week we had a major infection
my sister had me up at 2 in the morning(on a school night)
(boy were my rotc sgt’s pissed when i came late)
so we went full gear. platinum gel
chinese chale(sue me were desperate). I just cleaned
about 5 mins ago checked behind my deep freezer
3 roaches. they were nymphs almost adults. so i reapplied chalk,
platinum, and anti roach & ant spray. should we get bombs.
oh yeah while i did some *cleaning* i thought of something
youtube still alive by lisa miskosvsky. its funny
if you apply that to roaches
October 6th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
Ugh, I recently got a roach infestation! I decided to let my husbands brother store some of their things in my roach free house until they found a place to live. I started seeing a few roaches coming out of their things so I would squash them. Now they are everywhere, and I’ve tried the raid spray, but it’s only temporary! I will try everything to get rid of them, plus I’m making my brother in law take his roach infested stuff out of my house! Hope somethinhg works!
October 6th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
This article is great and full of ideas, but really, I am VERY afraid of all roaches… even the dead ones. So what is the best method to getting rid of them but not having dead ones lying around my house?
I can’t believe I just saw TWO in my spare room (ew!), so I had to google for information, which then made me come across some pages with pictures of dead roaches on them… had to squint my eyes and hurry to scroll to the link where the info was at, haha. It’s pathetically funny, but really… I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep tonight.
Someone please help!!!
October 8th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Do you have any idea what this crazy world of ours would look like if we all decided to let the roaches and mice and rats and the 100,000 boas in south florida live???????
I dont want to kill them either, but its them or me. Check out what roachs, rats carry on their bodies? want you kid wrapped up with a boa?
October 8th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
update: I spray a whole can of roach killer in and around my car…. why a horride sight that was. they seem to be coming from underneath the convertible top. I figured I would find a few roachs. I was not prepared for what came out of there.
My landlord laid grass sod when I moved in here in May and it was totally dead in 6 weeks. I think the roaches are also in the dead and now damp grass.
Maybe Alaska wouldnt be so bad after all.
October 13th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
i bought a condo, however some people that are buying are renting out…and we luckily got some wonderful tenents and their little pet roaches… !@#$!!!!!
I am so so so pissed that they have given their pets to us and then they moved out. I heard that the owner sent pest control next door, but that just pushed more into my unit. i will try to do the borax and traps. *crosses fingers* wish me luck!
October 14th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Hey, guys! I’ve just spent the last hour reading this great story and all of you comments. Well as far as My little story goes…I just moved into a new apartment today. As soon as I walk in i check for roaches in the Kitchen. Well during the day check, no roaches at all. Then after me and my wife fnsoving in we sit down to eat burger king after a long day of not eating, just moving. About a hour goes by and I go back into the kitchen to grab my lighter to light a candle and see 2 little ones on the floor. I thought no big deal. then exactly 5 minutes later, I was mad cuz i seen them in my new apt. so i had to do another check. I start opening cubbords then I opened a drawrer and seen another one!!! this time bigger than the first 2 i seen combinded. should i start to worry guys. is my new apartment i just movied into today infested??? i’m buying all the tools to defeat these bugs and i will have no other way but victory….
October 16th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Thanks so much for the info. I’ve lived in my apartment complex for a year and until last night have never seen a roach. Then last night I saw 4. I’ve been out of town a lot lately but never leave anything behind for them to snack on. I don’t know where they are coming from or if they just figured ‘let’s go party in this vacant apartment’ either way I did a bug bomb earlier today. So far going into the kitchen and turning the lights on there was no bugs. But they are probably just plotting. Think I’ll use Boric Acid and traps too. They work in unison right?
October 16th, 2009 at 2:26 am
I used Chinese chalk about 2 months ago and so far so good. I’ve seen 2 since then but I live in a 21 floor apt building so that is to be expected….they were probably coming from another apt. I have gotten a lil laxed since I chalked and occasionally will leave dishes in the sink over night and I’ll go in the kitchen at 2 in the morning and NOTHING so this stuff really works. I would suggest anyone use it, it worked in a matter of one night. The first roach I saw after using it was a whole 1 1/2 months after but like I said I live in a building so I don’t expect to never see another one again until I move out of here.
Good luck to all and get some Chinese chalk….trust me and don’t buy into the whole “its illegal and dangerous” bullcrap cause IT WORKS!!!!!
October 16th, 2009 at 2:47 am
Couldn’t find the famed roach chalk from my local China Town and asian marts. But I did find it online. Try searching on eBay for Roach Chalk to try it out. Not expensive at all for something that might finally get rid of that cockroach infestation. Good luck all!
October 16th, 2009 at 7:10 am
Chinese chalk & Arson are both illegal yet both get rid of roaches, some like the uneducated people who say “don’t believe th BS or crap about chinese chalk Being illegal” prove it. I have provided a link for those seeking the truth. for the past comments and future comments talk with no proof is like wind in the air, in one ear and out the other. for those that don’t know check your EPA agency or give them a call.
October 16th, 2009 at 8:59 am
JJamiah get a life, the fact that I my 2 aunts used it when it was legal and my cousins were all kids and now 30 yrs later they still don’t have roaches and everyone is fine with no lasting effects from the chalk is proof enough. I just used it myself and I have a 5 month old baby and WE ARE BOTH FINE MINUS THE ROACHES so there’s your “proof.” The only “danger” is when parents are irresponsible and leave the chalk in reach of children and the children get a hold of it and end up digesting it…aside from that there is no danger from using the chalk so do your research. Can you find one article stating that the chalk gets in you pores or is inhaled through the air???? NO!!! So go kick rocks and leave the people who actually want to get rid of their roaches without spending a fortune alone!
October 16th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Hey guys,
I hate to add to the roach nightmares all over the internet… but my story has ended poorly.
On Aug 29th, I posted here about my ordeal. It wasn’t so bad. Saw a few roaches in my new, very nice, vintage gut rehab apartment… so I roach proofed… I did everything right. Not a single scrap of food kept in the house (other than pet food which was stored in 2 plastic bags in the fridge and not left out for more than a half an hour at a time), no dishes in the sink, no water, no nothing, bleached the floors and counters every three days. Garbage out every evening, kitty littler in a pan of shallow, soapy water. Boric Acid, Combat roach paste, various baits with “egg killers”, steel wool in the corners, caulk on every crack, boiling water down the drains every night before bed– in addition to my land lords spraying the whole building and all of the other units. It was full on WAR FARE. Hundreds of dollars, countless hours. Unfortunately I have come to learn that: If you live in an apartment building and have roaches… You Will Always Have Roaches.
3 weeks ago my downstairs neighbors moved out. That is when the real terror started. When I saw the first roaches… it was just a couple of dead ones in the morning… nothing too alarming. After the neighbors left… SWARMS began coming up around my radiator pipes… the pipes that had been packed in layers of steel wool and boric acid. Day time, night time, didn’t matter. Swarms. Nymps, adults, every shape and size. Oriental and German cockroaches living side by side… in a NICE building in a good neighborhood in Chicago. It was the stuff nightmares are made of. Over the course of about 48 hours (of terror), I started noticing egg casings everywhere. on my TV, my furniture, DVD cases, everywhere. The only area the left alone, thank god, was my bed.
I ended up having to throw away everything that I couldn’t boil or put through a couple cycles in the washing machine and was able to get out of my lease.
It really is the only solution, guys. Move or burn it down.
October 16th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Move or burn it down? That’s the gloomy advice I seem to be getting about my cockroach problem. So depressed and sad.
Roaches are everywhere..living room, bedroom, family room, cabinets, bathroom, kitchen, inside the refrigerator, in the garage, in my pantry….. I wish I can marry a rich guy and move away from this dump of a home
October 16th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Sorry to hear that Rachel and Cindy and just in case you brought some little visitors with you to your new home, I would suggest you try the chalk….its GREAT. You can get it on Ebay and other sites, just google it and you’ll see a drastic improvement after just one night I swear. Just chalked my aunt’s house 2 days ago and already shes not seeing them anymore and she had a pretty bad infestation.
October 16th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
My comments in ()
Tee Says: (WHO CARES What Tee Says!)
JJamiah get a life (I do WITHOUT ROACHES, AND HAPPY, PEOPLE ACTUALLY MENTION MY NAME AND EMAIL ME FOR ADVICE ON IT AND HAVE HAD SUCCESS WITH LEGAL PRODUCTS)
,the fact that I my 2 aunts used it when it was legal ( FOOL I AM ONLY TELLING PEOPLE TO LET PEOPLE KNOW IT IS ILLEGAL AND CHECK OUT THE PRECAUTIONS BEFORE USING IT, DUH! LIKE ARSON IT WILL GET RID OF THEM BUT IT IS ALSO ILLEGAL)
and my cousins were all kids and now 30 yrs later they still don’t have roaches and everyone is fine (BLAH BLAH BLAH, WHO CARES)
with no lasting effects from the chalk is proof enough. I just used it myself and I have a 5 month old baby (OKAY SO YOUR RISKING POISON AROUND YOUR KID, AREN’T YOU MOTHER OF THE YEAR)
and WE ARE BOTH FINE MINUS THE ROACHES so there’s your “proof.” (NO DEAR GO TO THE LINK FOR THE EPA AND THAT IS YOUR PROOF THAT SOUNDS STUPID, IT WORKED FOR YOU SO IT ISN’T DANGEROUS, THE REGULAR ROACH SPRAY ON THE SHELF IS DANGEROUS)
The only “danger” is when parents are irresponsible and leave the chalk in reach of children and the children get a hold of it and end up digesting it…aside from that there is no danger from using the chalk so do your research. Can you find one article stating that the chalk gets in you pores or is inhaled through the air???? NO!!!
(NO BUT I CAN FIND A LINK THAT SAYS IT IS ILLEGAL, WHICH WAS MY POINT, AND THAT IT IS POISON, NOT ALL POISONS KILL IMMEDIATELY READ UP BEFORE YOU COMMENT)
So go kick rocks (I DO, THE ROCK ON MY FINGER GETS IT EVERY DAY)
and leave the people who actually want to get rid of their roaches without spending a fortune alone (WELL, IT ISN’T A FORTUNE TO ME, IT IS WORTH EVERY DIME TO HAVE BEEN WITH OUT THEM, YOUR A DORK, LOOK THAT UP TOO! I HATE TO STOOP TO THE LEVEL OF THE UNEDUCATED BUT SOMETIMES THE COMMENTS ARE ANNOYING.
MY POINT AND THIS IS THE LAST RESPONSE TO THE STUPIDITY: IS THAT IT IS ILLEGAL WEATHER IT WORKS OR NOT FOR ME ISN’T THE ISSUE. I DON’T CARE WHO USES IT, I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THERE ARE RISK AND THAT IT IS ILLEGAL. LIKE WHEN YOU SMOKE YOU KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES. END OF THE STORY GOT A PROBLEM EMAIL ME, I’D BE GLAD TO ONE ON ONE WITH YOU.
October 16th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Someone needs a hug
October 16th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I’ll take it, thanks Muah, I love you too! Life has too many worries, god bless all. Have a lovely weekend.
October 17th, 2009 at 1:23 am
did you 2 really have a feud and make up in the course of the 2 weeks i was gone? you both are f-ing ridiculous. jjmiah- illegal got it understood, stop saying it for the record drugs are illegal,and people still buy em crime happens all the time. if anyone loses the war to cockroach nuke em(get the chalk as a last resort. i,e if it fails your moving out) . tee- just shut up
October 17th, 2009 at 1:59 am
Ok, you just felt the need to chime in on a dead issue…feel better now that you put your useless 2 cents in it??? Great! Now get lost….”since the 2 wks I’ve been gone” ha! Um, who are you? Ooooh that’s right, its the infamous No Name….um, NOT! How about you keep yourself busy and go stomp roaches loser.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:39 am
I see we have some internet bravery going on. Golf clap, tough guys. Anyway…
This was a fun article to read. I’ve got an infestation spreading in my apartment right now. Although I hate the bigger, flying roaches more than your smaller urban versions, they at least don’t seem to have as much of a tendency to nest in one’s home. At least, not that I’ve ever seen in this area. But no, I have the smaller bastards. The ones that make a nice cozy home for themselves in crevices to small for me to find in here.
It’s a beautiful fall weekend with a cool breeze right now, so I’ve dedicated my free time to spray, fumigate, steam vac the carpets, open the doors and windows and air out the place, and then set up Combat roach baits everywhere.
I did most of this yesterday. Today I’m seeing a few dead roaches in the kitchen, and I found one live and healthy looking roach near my living room tv cabinet (during the day). Bah! They’re escaping from their holes and trying to retreat to my living room, the little shits. So now that they’re out in the open and gasping for air, I’m going to fog one more time just to see how many I can kill and then move some baits to the tv area.
I hate these bastards so damn much.
October 19th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Cindy–
I hate to be adding to the depression. I can totally relate. All I wanted, during the thick of it, was a single success story. It is stressful and worrying on a strange, visceral level… in addition to just being bothered by a pest infestation. Biology kicks in. It’s not fun. Your friends are either too grossed out to come visit you or think that you’re being a baby… sometimes both. It really just is a complete nightmare.
Best of luck to you, but I cannot express how much better I have felt since I tucked tail and ran. Not easy financially. I’ve certainly had to depend quite a bit on family and friends. It wasn’t easy to throw away most of my things, either. But the stress is gone.
best,
Rachel
October 21st, 2009 at 12:33 am
Tee really ur the nobody who came insulting. Loser?. 10 to 1 says ur some old fat guy playing pc games to lazy to clean up
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Help! I have a newborn, and now I have roaches. I keep my place clean, but we keep finding little ones in the bathroom, hanging out around the base of the tub. I feel like they have come thru holes in the inadequate caulk job, or perhaps thru heating vents. Im not sure what to do, I applied boric acid three weeks ago.
Things seemed find, until today, when a three to four inch(feelers included) piece of evil scurried across my bathroom wall.
The exterminator comes on Tuesday, what can I do to make sure they disappear?
October 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I seriously need these scumbags to perish. Ive even considered applying to an extermination company, just to have access to the most powerful chemicals and methods available. The baby can spend the week at Grandma’s. These things need to die! Any advice would be greatly appreciated. As of now im working with glue traps, catnip, and boric acid, as well as cleaning like mad and feeding my cat on a schedule. If i get an exterminator, what method should i push for? Thanks
October 24th, 2009 at 8:49 am
when getting an exterminator, i would pushing for
bait and kill-they take it back to the nests and give it to other roaches
igr-insect growth regulator, which stops them from further reproducing
furthermore-they should NOT be using the same chemicals every month, as this i as how roaches develop an immunity (much like humans with antibiotics)
the first month i realized i had roaches, i had the exterminator come 3x -that was last dec
off jan
came back in feb
off march, came back in april
off may, came back in june
that was the last he came and i have not, by the GRACE of JESUS, seen any since
while you are trying to get rid of them, besides using an exterminator, dont leave any water out (they need water more than they need food), keep constantly cleaning, and honestly-PRAY for strength and PRAY to know what to do.
oh-also-anywhere you see them-leave the little baits from raid-but again-rotate! roaches grow immune so the goal is to constantly be attacking their immune system with different methods! keepup the good fight!
October 25th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
try using platinum gel. IT absolutely works, just dont spray raid anywhere near traps, pesticide is a science. and unfortunately these bastards can pick up pesticide in the air, they know long before you try to kill them where you are. they are the ultimate survivors. use plenty of bait traps, and if all else fails use chinese chalk(only if you can’t do anything else)
October 27th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
This all sounds good but I have already fogged (yesterday). Can you tell me what I need to do to clean the toys and books that were in the room?
November 6th, 2009 at 1:13 am
JJmiah and Tee, I loved the squabble. Laughed all the waythru. Love this sight have learned a lot JJmiah I have already taken some of our advice thanks a million. Tee keep the spirit. HAPPY BUG HUNTIN’ I’LL BE AT HOME DEPOT TOMORROW.
November 6th, 2009 at 3:30 am
I also bought a ‘new’ house. These devils stated showing up at night in my kitchen sink area. I have read all the comments and have decided to Take JJmiah’s advise. I got the DE,boric acid and combat gold today. Have the acv to start using on the cabinet, pantry and laundry room. Hope I have a bug free kitchen by Thanksgiving. Thanks for all the information. Have a happy Thanksgiving YA’LL.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
the safest and simplest soluttion to the roach problem is called roachhouse. its is just a little cardboard house about 4″ by 6″ that has a roach attractant and glue. roaches seem to be drawn to it like by a magnet and when they enter, well there is no leaving. only their antennae are the moving parts. within a week even the most heavily infested house will be cleared of the little vermins. this trap used to be available at my home store but i am finding it difficult to get it now. it is the only recomendation i can give. does anyone know where it is available in the international market ?
November 21st, 2009 at 2:51 am
hi i just moved into my house about two weeks ago and i realized that i have roaches. my landlord doesnt want to pay for a exterminator so i bought some products from the store it worked for a couple of days but now there are coming back and i am starting to see alot of babys. they dont seem to be as big as they first were but they are not going away. do u have any ideas on what to do and do they have a nest or something that i would have to find thank you very much
November 22nd, 2009 at 12:07 am
something we do is make roach traps out of coffee cups we get a butter spray spray a little in the cup take a paper towel wipe around the edge to make it slipper so when the roach goes it it cant get out we add a cracker crumpled up in the cup put it up against a wall we do a few of those but for it to work you have to kill them roaches (very hot water works for us ) and clean the cup and do it again daily. something else I did when they were really bad was sprayed raid in my vaccum cup to it was puddling in it and coated the sides then I went around sucking up roaches we call it a roach run. neither one completly gets rid of them but it does make it to were you may see one once and in awhile but only if you do it daily. I did have a friend that did both and now she does the roach traps once a month for 2 days and does not even see roaches anymore except the 1 or 2 she gets in the traps.
November 22nd, 2009 at 5:46 am
i noticed one place roachs do not go. near my stinky shoes. so i taken water and swirled it in my stinky shoes and placed in jars. over 5 years i now how 1,000 jars of stinky shoe smell. You merely poor this concentrated water on floor and mope it all over your floors and by my trusted name the roaches will be gone. I sell 1 jar of stinky feet for 1,000.00 each.
disclaimer: the smell of this product my cause vomiting, skin iritation or at worst hullucination and hysteria. Please discontinue use if causes hospitilization.
November 25th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Animal lover;I hope one day u experience living amongst roaches.”In ur cuboards,in ur drawers,in ur clothes,blankets,and crawling on u while ur sleeping at nite.”And theres no gentle,or easy way to gather 1000s of them up and away from ur home,and belongings.once u see one,there are 1000s more lurking.also,if u are not in a single dwelling,its merely impossible to get them to stay out,they will go next door for a few days,then come right back.I hope and pray that you will someday have to dwell with the discusting evil filthy creatures,and then preach about live traps,ect…while they are crawling on u in bed.you must like dity,discusting enviornments to not sympathize with how much havoc its put in our homes.also,I am very clean,never had a roach in my home ever,until the dumpster diving trashy neighbors moved in right next door to me.they brought three different species of roaches with all their trash they’ve been bringing here.the trash is all the way to the top of the fence in their backyard,and covers the e entire backyard.god only knows what they’ve gotten inside their place.they’ve been evicted.I called the health dept.and the city ordered the landlord to get exterminaters here for health issues,and for the community.tell that to peta.there is no other possible way,natural way to stop an infestation like that.for everyone else,lord have mercy,the exterminaters came 8 times,sprayed,baited,set glue traps and other baits,and gel.I even bombed twice,used boric acid,boric acid,bleach,vinigar,and everything on the market,they are still around.even though the neighbors are finally moved out,and all their trash,they fumigated here and next door twice again,and still keep seeing the bastards!!!I’m going to have to move.I’ve been battling them for over a year.one thing I haven’t tried is the chalk.I’m totally down for that if it works.bringg it on.I want some pronto.I don’t give a crap if its illegal,who gives a shit? Evrything has its dangers,even,”legal”things.alchohol is legal,but it still can hurt people.when it comes to getting rid of roaches I don’t care what the product is,if it wprks,I am more than willing to take a risk of using an illegal product rather then spending another nite or day with this varment.its so worth it,if it works.hell,ill give it a shot,last resort…but I still think they’re here to stay,thanks to those discusting neighbors that brought them here.there should be a law against that!or a fine for those people.there should be a mandatory evaluation on filthy people breeding these things,and they should be fined for doing that!so you ignorant cockroach loving filth loving animal lover,put that in ur pipe and smoke it!I can’t fathom that you feel sympathy for those varment,and not your own human race.they are not gods creatures.you should start a service,and go take a collection of our roaches,and live with them.and sleep with them.I sure hope it happens to your home someday,but like I said before,you must like filth and are used to those conditions,and your immune to it,and desease.ignorance is bliss.good luck to you all,its an absolute nightmare.my cat is even freaked out by them,she freaks when she sees one.even my cat has more common sense than u,animal freak!
November 25th, 2009 at 8:33 am
To Jen in newport beach,ca:
I absolutely recommend the chalk. This is one product that actually ives up to its name 100%…it is called “Miraculous Insecticide Chalk” and it is nothing short of a MIRACLE!!! I used it about 4 months ago and it completely got rid of my roaches. I’ve seen 2 since but I live in a 22 story apartment building so that is to be expected, they were most likely in transit because I saw them in awkward places I hadn’t seen them before when I had more. I even chalked my aunt’s house who was severely infested (you couldn’t put your drink down without a roach sneaking a sip) and she is roach free now. When you chalk you have to make sure your lines are nice and thick so that when a roach walks across it there is more chance of it getting the chalk all over its body and depending on the severity of your infestation it might take more or less time…I had a small infestation and it took all of ONE NIGHT to work for me but my aunt had a SEVERE infestation so it took a couple weeks to completely work but by the first 24 hrs she said the numbers were down by 95%. You can email me if you want more information at lisa_love23 (@) rocketmail (.) com
November 25th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Tee!
Thankyou so much I am going to do the chalk,my last resort!never heard of it,don’t know where to get it,but I will find it!any hints on where?I haven’t seen any for two days,but as soon as I do laundry,they come out…I’m afraid to do laundry.I’m so mad at those neigbors that brought them here.its ashame…I’m having nightmaresa about roaches.in my sleep,its awful.I have to sleep with the lights on.well anyway,thankyou tee,for the great advice,much apprieciated!
November 27th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Jen,
You are very welcome, I know exactly what you are going through…I’ve lost a lot of sleep over those disgusting creatures. I saw one crawling across my footboard one night and I stayed awake with my daughter sleeping on my chest for the whole night and every night after and slept during the day until I chalked. You can find this chalk domestically on Ebay but I googled it and ordered it over seas just to make sure it was the real deal I was getting. One site is Ecrater (.) com but there are others, just google it. Its very inexpensive costing $4 for 6 pieces and shiiping was free where I ordered it from. I hope this helps and please keep us all posted on your results.
Good luck!
November 27th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Jen,
I forgot to mention, it sounds like your washer machine is infested and in that case you might have to open it up and chalk it and/or crush some of the chalk up into powder and sprinkle it all throughout the inside and around the machine and leave it there for a few days, maybe even a week or two and then just run it through a wash cyle a couple of times to clean it out. Once an appliance is infested it is very hard to get them out because they are hiding within it and a lot of the time people end up having to get rid of it but I would definitely try what I suggested above because even if you move, if you bring that washer machine with you they will come right along to your new place. Also, make sure when you chalk, you leave virtually no short cuts for the roaches to walk through to avoid the chalk so for example: if you see them on the counter top a lot then chalk the entire perimeter of the counter top so that way whether they are coming or going they HAVE to walk through the chalk to get to where they’re going. It takes some time to thouroughly chalk but the results are oh so worth it.
December 6th, 2009 at 9:23 am
The glass jar bit does work, very well indeed. The home we moved into had a serious roach problem only a few weeks after we were given a box of used toys left over from a yard sale. Over a month, we tried to get rid of them, bombing, gels, boric acid etc. Nothing seemed to work on a grand scale.
During the summer my son wanted to catch lightning bugs. That night, with no luck about the lightning bugs, we left ajar with a handful of drops of water, a few sprigs of grass, on the kitchen counter, with small holes punched in the lid. The next morning, we found about fifty roaches in it. We purposely left the jar out the next night as such. More roaches.
After that, we decided eahc night to pour some bleach to the basin of each sink and toilet and to the shower floor. We left our “roach jars” in eahc of these rooms. As the days went, we caught more and more roaches. During the day, we kept counters and sink basins dry when not used, by just a quick wipe with a paper towel. One toilet seal leaked that we left a fan running to dry the floor there. Five weeks later, we had no roaches, and to this day have none. And, btw, now we have the toilet fixed. My wife wanted to wiat until the roaches were gone, she was worried what the plumber would find in the works while trying to repair it.
December 9th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
I have neighbors that are so infested I spary my yard to keep from being infested. They are in theie early 50’s, and shoould be able to clean up. They (Husband and Wife) do not bathe, no need to come their hair, the woman s hair in the back is matted like an neglected Dog.
I hate to say mean things to them, so I get stuck being nice to them. then they want dides to the store, and then in winter cockroaches crawle from their coats.
Help, does anyone know if you can complain to a health dept. how can I get their house condemed? who do I contact?
December 9th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
To Brenda:
Why would you want to get their house condemned??? That sounds pretty harsh. Why not talk to them and let them know that their problem is very noticeable and you are concerned and inform them of their options in order to get rid of or control their cockroach population? You didn’t mention anything about roaches in your home so I’m assuming the problem is limited to their house and having cockroaches and not bathing or combing your hair…as bad as it is…is not a reason you should be out of a place to live. If you can afford it, maybe you can buy them a couple of bombs to get them started.
December 12th, 2009 at 5:53 am
It is 4:47 am and I have officially stayed up all night reading this blog. I am SO glad I did!!! I live in townhomes and have an infestation. I told the rental office about it two months ago and they send somebody out on Wednesdays and it does nothing. I have taken notes and am ready to do this thing. Thanks everyone for such great advice. I’ll post again after I’ve started to kick some &%* against these little brown cousins
December 13th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
I’ve used boric acid for many years with excellent results. While many of my neighbors continue to use the landlords exterminator, they also still have roaches. The key is patience. Every baseboard has to have a strip of boric acid dusted into the cracks, which in the beginning, has to be replaced every time you clean. My cupboard remains lined with boric acid (I just rinse everything that comes out of it before use). I put it in the bottom of my dresser & dusted the inside walls of the dresser (not the drawers). When ever I repair the wall, I dust the stud & lathe with boric acid & drop it into the wall. I refresh the boric acid by the sinks & tub twice monthly but I usually only have to do the rest of the apartment about 4 times a year. When you first use it, it takes about 2 weeks before the roaches are gone. It’s slow-acting but very effective.
December 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I have read all the advice and I am going to WAR with my major (yet embarrassing) infestation. I have been gun ho for about three (3) days. I bought the BORIC acid and the lure traps from Roaches B Gone (great website). The additional problem that I have is that I am also a hoarder – not trash just clutter — have been attacking the hoarding with craigslist and have become diligent about the kitchen …. emptied all the cabinets and placed boric acid along all the edges and all the shelves; have beeen placing the traps along high traffic areas and I spray every other day in a different location trying to find nest. Gonna get that chalk as wel .. we have paneling in the kitchen and it coming off next weekend — i may never get rid of them but i will never let it get like tis again — gonna check on the liquid baits as well
December 28th, 2009 at 10:59 am
I am very lucky to have found all of this great information! I am horribly terrified of roaches! I just moved into an upper flat about two months ago. I asked the landlord if there were pests here before I moved my things in. He replied a very reassuring “no”. He lied. I am struggling financially due to recent unemployment, finishing my degree and taking care of a young son alone. If I could move, I would have been gone at the first roach sighting! I live above an 84 yr old lady with some definite mental issues. We share a trash can and since I’ve been here, I have only seen three bags of trash on the back porch. She is not taking her trash out very regularly and when she does I end up having to flip the lid open and put it in. I even pulled it close so that she would not fall down the stairs. I have since moved it back to the alleyway because I have been seeing 1 or 2 raches every night. I even saw one that looked really weird. Kind of a cross between a roach and a cricket! Gross!!! i have tried the boric acid and the gel bait. Not working at all. I have even tried to fill the cracks in the walls but there are way too many. My son makes obvious statements when he sees a roach while we have company. It is sooooo embarassing. I keep my unit spotless. I take the trash out at night and keep the sink empty. I dont understand why I am seeing more roaches. I attribute it to the crazy old bat downstairs. She really should not be living alone. She has whole screaming matches with herself at all hours of the night. I hear her bamming on something down there all the time. Maybe she is hammering roaches, I dont know. She even took my cat hostage for a few days! Since we have been here our breathing has become very congested. None of us have any health conditions. I know that this is because of the roach waste. I hate it here! I never get any sleep because Im afraid to turn off the lights! Not to mention all the pshycotic sounds coming from downstairs. I wish we could move but it is the only thing that I can afford right now. I can relate to everyone who is fighting this battle. Good luck to you all!
January 8th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
My parents home is severely infested with cock roaches and it seems that no matter what they will not go away. We’ve tried bug bombs (for roaches) and other bug killing chemicals. It seems that it works but only temporarily. I’ve killed at least 30-40 in the past 3 days so far and it’s completely out of hand at this point. My parents don’t have the money to move out of their home and they don’t have the cash to hire professional exterminators at this time. What should I tell them to do?
It seems like every night around 2 am I’m going on a nightly roach raid in the house. I carry a can of Raid with me and enter rooms quickly flipping on light switches in hopes of catching the disgusting critters off guard so that I can spray them. I’m moving out of my parents house this month to move in with my girlfriend but I’m not taking any furniture with me and I’m putting all my belongings in a storage unit so that I can bomb them several times before putting them into our apartment. I don’t have a fear of Roaches but I’m repulsed by the mere sight of one.
It’s very creepy and disgusting when I see a roach actually stare at me and not run in fear of my presence… That’s just an example of how use to people they are at this house.
January 9th, 2010 at 10:47 am
Wow! This was so informative! This is my story and I need some help pls. Bought my place just over a year ago n have been roach free until about a month ago. I live in a complex which is sort of a flat set up. The flat next door is bachelor flat which was rented out about 4 months ago. Anyway a month ago I found a baby roach on my kitchen floor. I was disgusted. I spray my cupboards monthy coz I really hate roaches n I know they travel easily in complexesm anyway that same week my hubby opened a cabinet in the kitchen and saw one running around in there. Next day I went out n got one of those electrical plug in things which really seemed to work coz I would see one or 2 braindead roaches n just kill em. They didn’t even run. Then the management sent exterminators coz suprise suprise the neighbours have a major infestation. I have managed to get rid of the bigger ones (about the size of a fingernail) but now I see tiny ones about the size of an ant on my washing machine. I think they’re hiding in there
I spray it with raid but nothings happening. I live in south africa so I don’t know if I can get the suggested products.I have a cleaning lady in twice a week and I clean my kitchen every night. N if I do get rid of this lot am I fighting a losing battle. I’ve just bought this place and I don’t want to move and we’re expecting a baby later this year. Please say there’s hope 
January 10th, 2010 at 12:50 am
veryafraid -
Boric acid is an old topical skin antiseptic & eyewash which has been replaced by more effective topical antiseptics but you may be able to find it at medical supply outlets, especially online. Another powder that works similar to boric acid (it’s a desiccant, it drys them out & they die & since they eat each other, all that partake of the meal suffer a similar fate) is diatomaceous earth which comes in 3 grades, pool grade, plant grade & food grade. You’d probably want to get food grade since you’re pregnant. It can be gotten at wholesale baking ingredient suppliers. Plant nurseries often sell “food grade” too (its used as an insecticide around plants) & it’s also used on animals. There is also crystal cat litter which also works the same way but you have to grind it into a powder first.
Good luck.
January 10th, 2010 at 11:32 pm
Hey! Roaches aren’t just for the poor. If you live in the city, in multi-family dwellings or old buildings, you are susceptible to roaches. I had a roach problem living in Phoenix. Periodic exterminations by our property owner worked pretty well. Then I moved to L.A. My first apartment here was a lovely 1920’s building that was tented just before my moving in. I never saw a single bug there for all the years I lived there (3) after the tenting. Since then, I’ve moved into a ’70s building (a complex), and there is a definite roach problem. I usually see them more in the summer months. Well, it’s January, and this time they haven’t gone away. Finding roach legs and body parts really freaks me out. My mild bronchitis is making a comeback as well. I hate these buggers! I hate killing them: I spray with a roach spray to dehabilitate them, then crunch them in many layers of paper towels. I want to move, but who knows how what will happen in this economy? ANd if we did, how could we ensure that we brought no “friends” with us? Ugh. They are confined to the kitchen now, but our place is small, and they freak me out.
January 13th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
I have used Bengal Gold.Its in a spray can like raid and has a chemical to drive them out to kill them and also sterilizes so they dont reproduce. It cost 14.00 a can but it works really well.I use boric acid also.
January 14th, 2010 at 12:41 pm
To Ed; Thanks for the heads up on Bengal Gold. It’s not nearly as labor intensive as the powders and would be good for people with toddlers & small children. It’s always good to know of alternative solutions. I would think that it would be especially good with boric acid for heavy infestations.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:00 pm
I had never seen a roach until I moved to Texas. I grew up thinking that only dirty people had roaches. Oh how wrong I was. I moved to Texas, into an apartment and seen my first roach. If I had only known I would have run for my life!!!!! Now I moved out of the apartments and into a house. The damned things moved with us. They are in all electical appliances, and really everything including the furniture. I thought I had them under control for a while and then 2 things happened. We got flooded and I had a baby and ended up with post partum depression. let me put it this way, there are more roaches in this house than people in the US. So I was visiting my mom over the holidays and my aunt told me this. She bought a house that was infested and she used the boric acid the roach hotels and catnip. She does not have a roach anywhere. So I am now doing my research to see if there is anything else I can add to her words of wisdom. I am also going to be trying bay leaves in areas such as my dressers and china cabinets. And while reading thru this someone had mentioned using vinager. Now that I am thinking about it I was using a vinegar based cleaner for a while and I noticed that they abandoned the areas where I used that cleaner, so I will be using it again. I am not counting on the jar with water but what the h*^l I will throw that in with the other stuff I will be trying out. I think I will also be trying the mixture of baking soda and sugar. Hopefully some or all of this will help as I will not be able to move until the end of the year and I am terrified of the damned things following me again.
January 19th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
How I eliminated a mass infestation of roaches.
1. No garbage remains in the house overnight. All trash cans are the type that have a seal to keep them out.
2. Clean and mop with vinegar based solutions. Kitchen, Bathrooms, Tile, Hardwood floors etc.
3. Boric acid on all roach hi ways and under appliances and near water sources. Under sinks, Around Toilets etc.
4. “Hoy Hoy Trap-A-Roach” The Hoy Hoy Trap is ideal for monitoring levels of cockroach infestation. It has a sticky floor, approximately 15cm x 10cm with a food attractant sachet to entice cockroaches to enter the trap. Place these in areas with a lot of traffic. They catch large and small ones and the babies when the eggs hatch in them!!
5. Remove all food sources from the roach and the survivors will leave. They will eat food particles that remain on your toothbrush and tooth paste. Food removal is the hardest thing because they find everything you miss in the micro size.
January 20th, 2010 at 1:45 am
I live in a trailor with a massive roach problem. I thought I should share my knowledge.
Fist, roaches hate the smell of spearmint. Keeping a pack of gum in my purse has kept it nicely roach free so it’s good to use like bayleaves.
Second, you can buy ladybugs for a relativly decent price, about $7 for 1500 of them. Ladybug are the most voracious insect preditors and will eat every insect they can get at. Someone I know was doing work on an old house and found ladybugs under the floorboards, there was evidence of termites but none to be found and no other insects as well. I personaly am considering ladybugs when I get my own home because they are pritty, cute, ad my cats are expert gecko hunters.
I will be using information from here in my new home as well.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
has anyone tried using a mixture of sugar and baking power/soda? roaches eat ti and get their stomachs bloated until they die. and being carnivorous/cannibalistic the live ones eat the dead ones which kill more roaches.
BTW, what is roach chalk made of that makes it illegal? the guy in the chinese store that sells them where i live say they are non toxic to humans. i use it to kill large red ants around our house that tend to get into our laundry area.
am from the philipines and believe you me, the roaches in the US are small compared to the ones here.
January 26th, 2010 at 2:53 am
I moved into this studio apartment a month ago. A day after moving in, they showed up. It’s unrealistic to think that I’ll get rid of them. A. This is a large apartment complex. B. There is a “shared” common kitchen area. I at least want to keep them out of my apartment.
I’m not sleeping at night. (It’s 1:51 A.M.) When I do sleep, I sleep with all of the lights on. I have a small dog and I’m worried about an exterminator spraying or her coming into contact with a lot of the products mentioned, but I’m seriously ready for war. Seriously. Death to the roaches!!
February 1st, 2010 at 1:29 am
I truely believe that roaches will be the last thing standing on the planet earth.I never had a problem with them until I bought a slightly used repo’d refrigator from a Good Cents Store. I was told it had been used two months but the people could’nt pay so it was repo’d. I got it for 800.00 bucks. I thought boy ,what a good deal..I been paying ever since. About two weeks after I bought it all hell broke loose. Friggin roaches every where. It’s been six months now. An exterminator has been here twice in the six months(waste of money) and I tried every kind of spray you can name almost. I just found out about the boric acid and jars about a week ago. So far, this seems to be helping . Now I will add the apple cider vinegar and a few other things I’ve read on here. If that don’t work then maybe the gasoline and matches.lol .. A lesson for me I will never forget…..NEVER BUY ANY KIND OF USED APPLIANCE!!!EVER!! Thanks everyone for all the helpful info…
February 14th, 2010 at 2:52 am
I’ve lived in apartment for the past 6 months now, the landloard is a slumloard. I have never seen a roach in anything I have ever lived in till now. He has been told of the problem number of times but does nothing about it, is there any legal rights I have and what are they? plus I’m getting ready to move what can I do to keep from taking these things with me?
February 28th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
I also know of a way to get rid of those yucky bug. Aersol hair spray. It works much better that Raid does. It works actually on all crawling bugs. Aersol not the pump
March 1st, 2010 at 3:36 am
NYgal
Excellent advice for the occasional spot kill. (Does it work on errant water-bugs? I usually wind-up chasing them with a spray bottle of Formula 409 which you have to get on their bellies or get them to walk through it. Allergic to Raid anyway).
March 10th, 2010 at 5:01 pm
so I moved to this new place in SLC with my dad and our neighborhood near West Jordan, a lower income area. When we were moving in, although I didn’t see any roaches my dad told me he found a dead roach in his bathroom and a dead one in mine. Since then I have been paranoid about a possible infestation. I honestly have never seen a roach other than t.v (the terminators) and the freeze dried ones on display at the hogle zoo. So how do I know if I do have a problem with these little pests? I noticed the wall boarding behind my counter is a little lifted, not noticeable when you look at it but as I was wiping it down I could hear “crunch” is this just the 1940’s glue I am hearing? I feel like I am going crazy. My dad was fixing a leak under the kitchen sink and found 2 bottles of like pest control spray with roach and ant cartoons displayed on the front.
SO MY QUESTION IS:
How do I know if I have a problem? I’ve been told they are nocturnal so its hard to know if you have them
WHAT CAN I DO TO PREVENT THEM?
I put all food away, my house is clean. What more can I do?
***Any input would be greatly appreciated, for both my sanity/paranoia? ha ha thanks.
Peace
March 12th, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Aubrey Anna
Keep a clean house & your roaches will be clean, too. Cleaning isn’t enough. You’re right about the food though. Wash all bottles, cans, food packaging before discarding & wash dishes right away as they can sense microscopic bits of food from yards away. Get boric acid & dust it into the baseboards, cabinets especially around sources of water. (if you put it by dishes, make sure you rinse the dishes off before using). Dust boric acid in every crack you can find & every time a wall is repaired, throw some into the wall for good measure. Repeat every time you clean the area. Silicone & polyurethane caulks are good for filling in gaps to prevent them from making a nesting area, too. There is other stuff as many other posters here will attest to, that also works. Formula 409, the cleaner, is a good spot roach killer (I’m allergic to the roach sprays so I use it on the occasional errant water bug that gets in.)
Good luck.
March 18th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Get some Advion cockroach bait gel and a bag of Advion roach bait arena’s. It what the professionals use and will completely eliminate a roach problem quickly. It is what I use in my pest control business. Works great. Just don’t use any bug spray where you have applied the bait. Sprays will make it repellent and it won’t work. That goes for any bait.