Pest Problem

[autowasherfreak]

I'm a little embarrassed to talk about this, but we have have a problem with cock roaches. I am a very clean person and so are my roommates. Dishes are washed every night, counters and stove are cleaned after each use floors are swept ever day and mopped as soon as needed.

I didn't see a single roach until after we got our stove from Aarons, it was that same day we got the stove that I saw a roach come out of the back of the stove where the oven vent is.

I found a homemade remedy where you mix 20 mule team borax, sugar and cocoa together, the sugar is supposed to attract the roaches, and the borax will kill them. I wonder if the really works. We don't have any extra money at the moment to hire an exterminator. I was going to get some Boric Acid powder, but I'm afraid to use it because of the cats and dogs. Anyone know if the borax and sugar mixture will work. I've also read that hedge apples will run them off too, but I don't know when the hedge apples are in season.

 

[ronhic]

I like the idea of the bath soap solution....but most of these should be pretty cost effective...

 

Personally, I'd empty all cupboards and wipe them out followed by both a spray of surface spray (not 'fly spray) where the backs and bases join the shelves and near the leading edge of the doors so the sods have to crawl over it.

 

Also, if they were coming out the back vent of the oven, I'd be very tempted to turn the oven to maximum for a few hours and see what happens...

 

Persevere....they can be hard to get rid of and be prepared to do this every month for 4 months or so....

http://www.wikihow.com/Get-Rid-of-Roaches

 

[westingman123]

I fought these critters for months at the rental property. Boric acid was the solution. I think your pets would be safe as long as you followed the directions: I put it all along the edges of cabinets and walls. Pay particular attention to the basement under the kitchen and bathroom. Persevere! Once they were eradicated, there've been no further infestations--and this is a 100 year old building.

 

[whirlcool]

Actually my tried and true method allows you to not have boric acid out where pets can get to it.

Simply take your boric acid and remove your electrical outlets(just pull them out away from the wall so you have access inside the wall) and put in about 3-4 tablespoons of boric acid. Then take your vacuum cleaner (or a blow dryer) and stick it in the hole in the wall blowing outwards. You only need to do this for about 5 seconds or so. Do this for each outlet and wall switch.
In two days you'll never see another cock roach again and you won't need to repeat the treatment either.

We lived in an apartment building once and had this problem. After we treated out apartment the apts below us and next to us two units down didn't have roaches either!

 

[westie2]

Get some bay leaves and place then around your cvabinets and on the counter.  These go along well with the boric acid.

 

You can get a big bag of the bay leaves at some Mexican markets.

 

 

 

[kenwashesmonday]

Nothing works as well as boric acid does. All insecticides do is stink up the house and drain your wallet.

Ken D.

 

[iheartmaytag]

Even clean houses can get them.

The easiest place to aquire guests such as these is through fresh produce, specifically Potatoes and Bananas. 

 

As Grandma would say, "there is no shame in getting them, but don't keep them."

 

When we had "Cockroach house" next door, I used, and still treat annually, with Ortho Home Defense.  It is fairly inexpensive, about $9.00 per gallon at Wal-Mart.  It comes with a sprayer attached,  Spray the perimiter of your house on the outside, don't forget doorways and windows.  Then if you have a basement spray under the floors, if no basement then take everything out of your cabinets and spray  as well as all corners and cracks. 

 

Human food is not the only thing they enjoy dining on.  Moble homes are often infested, not through filth, but because the roaches feed on the glue that is used in the particle board.   As the boards expand from heat the glue is more readily available for their dining pleasure.

 

Don't be afraid to bring out the big guns if these suggestions don't work.  Once you get one, they will invite their friends and relatives rather quickly.  Call "Billy the Exterminator" if you don't see results within a week or so.

 

 

Good luck,--I have to go wash my hands now.  EWWWW!  I hate those little buggers.

 

 

[cleanteamofny]

 

 

Boric Acid will work but Combat Gel is the BOMB!

If everyone uses this stuff in an apartment building, they will wipe out the whole roach family!

Just put some on a small piece of cardboard and lay it in cabinets floors and draws and in no time they will be gone.

Do not hesitate to ask your neighbors, above, below and beside you if they are having the same problem!

If you do not get it from the source, they will continue to come back!

 

 

[whirlcool]

The apt building we lived in that had the roaches used to spray all the apts in the building at one time, but several people said that they were "allergic" to the spray used and could they please stop spraying. So then they started spraying the apts on request only. To get maximum effectiveness you have to spray the whole building at once, or use my boric acid treatment method.

Talk about roaches with glue. One night I was woken up by a strange sound in my bedroom. I got up and turned the light on and there was a huge wood roach licking the glue off of a stamp I had on my nightstand. I got up to get him and he flew into the living room then into the entertainment center, and right under the television.

Down here we have huge roaches that live in the trees and they come in the doorway when you do, so you always have to watch it.

 

[tomturbomatic]

I have always used a cedar oil spray. It repels all vermin. There is a product by the name of SLA that comes in an orange and black can that I use. It is sold for moth proofing and is safe for most fabrics. I buy it from the Container Store, but any product with cedar oil will have you bug free pronto and almost forever. The cedar oil soaks into the wood and lasts almost forever. I have recommended it to friends in FL and, sprayed around the perimeter, it has stopped ants from coming into their houses. Sprayed across the garage door opening, it stops spiders, even big ones who like garages. Last fall, I sprayed it at the seam where the siding of the top story meets the brick below on the south facing wall of my house and I did not have one of those Asian Stink Bugs come in my house. After I finished spraying, one landed on the brick, but as it walked close to the sprayed zone, it took off again. Every apartment I moved into, I thoroughtly sprayed the insides of the kitchen cabinets, under the stove and fridge and around where the plumbing went into the wall both there and in the bathroom and that little grill up near the ceiling that served as not only ventilation, but also as a roach freeway and never had a bug.

Early every fall, I spray it all around my doors, espcially along the area in front of the threshold so crickets won't sit there waiting for me to open the door so they can come in for the winter.

When we were kids and potatoes came in kraft paper bags with the little mesh window, mom always had us open the bag outside in case there were any roaches in it.

You get yourself some good-smelling cedar oil and you will just fine in a jiffy.

 

[launderess]

Due To The Very Hot And Humid Weather

We've had things coming up from the drains. Nothing works better than Drione dust.

Boric acid will work but it takes several days after ingesting to kill the darn things. OTHO Drione dust has the little buggers pushing up daisies in a matter of minutes.

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/drione-dust-p-167.html

 

[toggleswitch]

Take out the garbage every night. If you can't, sprinkle it with Ajax or Comet or similar cleanser with chlorine.

Keep the sink and counters (workbenches) DRY. Add Ajax or Comet or similar cleanser with chlorine every night to your sink.

DO NOT keep bags between the refrigerator and cabinets. Roaches love to have their bodies rubbed and will creep into tiny spaces for a "massage".

IF YOU DONT HAVE CATS use ammonia (or add ammonia to your window cleaner )to delete the pheormone scent-trail they leave behind as a GPS system to find (re-find actaully) food and water. (Cats read ammonia as "pee here" BEWARE).

Keep open food in air-tight sealed containers. (These are my tea bags, pictured).

Sweep or vacuum the kithcen floor every night. Clean the counters of crumbs. Clean the toaster after each use.

(If you choke off their food and water and massages they die and dont come back!

 

[tomturbomatic]

Semi-related

Whenever I bring pasta home from the store, the boxes, like all containers, are wiped down with disinfectant (my personal craziness) and then put in the freezer. This keeps any insect eggs like weevils from hatching in my cupboards. Pasta stays frozen until it is used except for remains of pound boxes of angel hair which stay on the counter in a Tupperware container where nothing can get in or out. Rice and crackers get the same treatment.

I keep a block a paradichlorobenzene (moth cake) in a glass jar, sealed for when I need it. This spring, a colony of teeny tiny pissants was trying to invade my kitchen. I uncapped the jar and put it in a cabinet near where I was finding them. They got the message and stopped the invasion or just died. I did not find dead bodies so I think they called off the invasion due to poison gas warfare.

Can you keep the stoppers in the drains overnight, then fill the sink with hot water in the morning, pull the plug and kill a whole bunch of invaders?

 

[whirlcool]

We've have weevil problems in the past. Now whenever we buy any flour, we open the bag as soon as we get home and dump it into a plastic tupperware container. You wouldn't believe how often we have found weevils in flour that just came in from the grocery store.
Of course we take it back!