Latest responses to “Pest Control: How to Kill Roaches” Copyright 2013, MoneyBlueBook.com 1077493 2011-10-17T20:57:40-07:00 Mo I have lived roach free in my house for 7 years. I work swing shift so I am up and awake at 2AM when they are. I have seen 1 in the living room, one in my bedroom and 2 in the hall near the bathroom. I bought the Combat Source Kill Max traps. I have not seen any in the kitchen so was it wise to but a bait trap under the refrigerator & washer/dryer? I read somewhere to buy a variety of bait traps made by different manufacturers was a good idea. What do you all think of that approach? I have a very old cat and DE or Boric powder won't work for me. Like Natalie, since my cat is old I have to leave her dry food and water out. Would placing her dishes in a pie pan with something in it help? Suggestions? Thanks in advance! 469860 2011-02-25T23:50:23-08:00 Jordan I used to live in Florida and a roach problem was inevitable. What I did was go out and buy 3 large cameleons. Now I know what your thinking, GROSS. But they are surprisingly sanitary creatures! They use a litter box and eat ALL of the roaches. PROBLEM SOLVED. They're really chill pets and are absolutely no trouble. I find chemicals and pest killers ineffective and messy. These chameleons are a quick and easy solution to a DISGUSTING problem. 431010 2011-01-14T08:17:09-08:00 groached out Absolutely Disgusted ....did you forget to tell us the name of the white stuff? I so laughed when you talked about the chemical trails and the china thing...u never know huh? 431050 2011-01-10T01:38:14-08:00 marie Wanted to give an update on my war on critters. Last post we had killed off about 70% of the buggers. Now we are barely seeing any. Used a lot of JJamiah's ideas, and others. I dusted practically the whole house with boric acid, have not used the diatomaceous earth stuff yet. Even dusted my counters. Let it sit overnight and next morning cleaned up all but the cracks, crevices, under cabs etc. Did this for about a week, it may be overkill but sick of the disgusting bugs. Besides, boric acid is cheap. Currently we are not seeing them during the day, and I work from home so it is not that I am just missing them. Have not seen any babies in about 2 weeks. Have seen three adults in the last week. Still working on my battle but not giving up. Having a hard time finding the right kind of diatomaceous earth in my area for some reason. May try and find it online. For others fighting the roach battle, give JJamiah's tips a try, it has been working for me. 430010 2011-01-06T22:03:43-08:00 Terri Wanted to update everyone on my progress.... After doing everything I described above, I still see an average of one or two roaches per day. I have also discovered that I have 2 different types of roaches - the German and the Brown Banded. The Brown banded roaches jump when they are startled. About freaked me out the first time it happened. I have seen 98% of the roaches in the kitchen, and one periodically in the dining room - which is next to the kitchen. So I have now expanded my war zone to include the dining room and the hall way. I have now put out another 12 baits - and have little dishes of bay leaves sitting out in areas I do not want the roaches to go to - not sure if the dishes really work or not though. I still clean everything known to man every night - and am taking the trash out 2x a day now. Also, if I am throwing food or waste into the trash, I throw it away in a small baggie first, tie it up, then throw it in the trash. I have also now doubled bagged all of my food - thinking that one zip-lock is not enough. I have now begun spraying the walls and baseboards outside of the war zone with the soap/water mixture every night before I go to bed. I do think that has helped contain the roaches keeping them in the kitchen/dining room area. I am determined to rid the apartment of these critters. And yes - I am still planning on moving as soon as our lease is up. But in the meantime - this is WAR! 430770 2010-12-31T03:24:25-08:00 Absolutely Disgusted I know. They are putting cockroach eggs in Chinese products. It IS a conspiracy. Everybody knows China wants to knock us all off! Maybe they are doing it with COCKROACHES!!!! :/ 431240 2010-12-28T15:17:02-08:00 christy I've heard got an old remedy. You put 1/2 Boric Acid and 1/2 Powder Sugar, mix well together the sugar. Put it in a jar top, the sugar attracts them, the Boric Acid kills them.... 430540 2010-12-24T22:06:35-08:00 amanda Ok i moved into my new house bout 4 months ago after i moved in i found that the house was infested with roaches i went out and bought combat roach traps i put them in kitchen in cabinets under fridge and in the bathroom and one in all bedrooms. I went and brought Home Defense Max at walmart i sprayed my house and havent seen as many as i did when i first moved in. I hope this works foryall as well 431180 2010-12-19T03:45:22-08:00 Terri We've lived in this apartment for 7 years - never saw a single roach until this Thanksgiving. New neighbors moved in next door, and they backed up their sink into ours. Plumber took 12 hours to get here - with standing disgusting water in the sink. I cleaned up the best I could - but my hands were tied until the plumber came. After he left - I spring-cleaned my kitchen - removing and washing everything near the sink area. The next day saw a single cockroach. I am an obsessive clean freak. I have always been so paranoid about roaches that all my food is double bagged in copntainers and then ziplocks, my pet food is sealed in air tight rubber-sealed containers, I wash my entire kitchen down every night with vinegar and bleach my drain nightly. I vacuum daily. This sighting totally freaked me out. We sprayed everything with insecticide and a little over a week went by - no sightings. Then got up one night for a drink of water - flipped on the kitchen light - and saw 3 large cockroaches. I about flipped. We managed to kill 2 of the three - and did spray the 3rd - but he got away. We again sprayed and sprayed everywhere - twice a day. We have pets, so we were using an all natural pet-friendly insecticide. We told the manager, and they said a couple of cockroaches is not an infestation - so they wouldn't do anything about it. The next night - saw four - in the kitchen. I found this blog that night - and was up all night reading. We went to the store the next day and bought boric acid, combat gel and combat baits, catnip and bay leaves. I cleaned out all of my cabinets in the kitchen - and saw no signs of any cockroaches - no droppings, no dead bodies - nothing! Still paranoid - I made little sachels of catnip using cheese cloth and placed them in all corners and shelves in my closets throughout the whole apartment, even though I only have seen the roaches in the kitchen. I put bay leaves in all my drawers. I have little dishes on bay leaves surrounding my cat food - and the cat food is picked up every night. I used the boric acid powder - dusting it on all the shelves in the kitchen, and in places where I know my cats can't get to. I used the combat gel in all cracks and crevices all over my kitchen. This is an old apartment - so there were a lot of cracks. We put out 24 baits - everywhere we could hide them in the kitchen - under appliances, behind the fridge, etc. I also made a spray bottle full of dish detergent and water just in case. The first two nights I stayed away from the kitchen - as I didn't want to be tempted to kill them where they needed to get the poison back to their nests. The next two nights - I saw nothing. Mind you, I'm paranoid, so I am up 4-5 times a night checking my kitchen. Then, two nights ago - I saw a baby one on the kitchen floor - very tiny. I killed it. Note: Every time I kill one, I throw it away in a zip lock - and spray the inside with dish detergent - just to make sure. Then last night - I saw one again - this was an adult. He came out from under my fridge. I sprayed him with the detergent mixture, he seemed dead, and threw him away in a ziplock baggie with the detergent as well. I fear what I will find tonight. My question is - have I taken all the proper steps to rid our apartment of these critters - and is there anything else I can do to speed up the process? We have already decided that we will be moving when our lease is up in 6 months - It's not worth me having a mental breakdown because of dirty neighbors and a management company who do not care. But in the meantime - I need to rid this place of them the best I can for the next six months. Any suggestions and comments are greatly appreciated. 431190 2010-12-18T23:43:19-08:00 marie Lot of good info on this blog, thanks to all! We have horrid infestation and have had the pros come out, bombed, used gentrol (sp), demon, combat, used traps etc. None of them really worked, may have reduced some of the critters but certainly did not get rid of them. The worst is bombs/foggers, what a joke! Its like crack for these critters. The gentrol works somewhat but is only a start. Few weeks ago, after we used demon/gentrol we started to put out the boric acid all over. Reduced about 60-70% of the critters. The sugar/boric acid mix works great. Have not tried sugar/baking soda yet. Love seeing a pile of the buggers laying dead along side the cracks, baseboards and crevices. Even if it is disgusting to have to clean them up. Still have a big battle ahead but we will win, thanks to so much advice here. Never had roaches in my 48 yrs until we moved here, so I had a lot to learn. It is kind of funny that someone mentioned in a post about Boston because that is where we moved from and only saw roaches couple times in my life and not in my homes. Here in Florida they seem to be everywhere and in all sizes. I am kind of ocd about cleaning, the few folks who seem to think the bugs come from being dirty are just ignorant. Anyways, will put all of these great ideas to work, thanks!