Help! Roaches in son's apartment

[Nztara]

Boric acid is what pest control services use when the have a crawl space available to coat. My previous boss hade issues with nests on top of silk drapes, in clothes and in the attic. The pest control team also found a small opening under the dishwasher that allowed pests to enter. They lived on the water and roaches were always an issue.

Would a non-aerosol spray also aggravate asthma? If the apartment complex has monthly pest control, this is what is typically used. If pest control is coming, but you still have a problem, call them back. Our local companies will come back and treat again at no charge.

Definitely file a complaint with the landlord and document it.

 

[mbf]

I feel for you! My DD and her BF recently moved into an apartment and found out it was infested with roaches within the first 24 hours of living there. Fortunately they had not yet signed the lease document and they high tailed it out of there (staying with a friend for a few days until they found a new place). But they lost their couch and a storage chest of the BF's clothing in the process. The landlord (like a previous poster said) tried to say they never had a problem before but the man they hired to come and remove the couch and infested clothing chest said he had talked to the neighbors and they said it was an ongoing problem.

Luckily, my DD had all her things in plastic totes. I told them to not take any cardboard boxes from the old apartment to the new apartment.

The Orkin site has a lot of great tips on roach control. And yes, I agree on the Borax. My younger DD lived in NYC for a summer and found some roaches and she and her roommate used Borax as well.

 

[Chelley00]

We have a daughter with asthma and use Borax mixed with sugar for ants and it's never bothered her (and works really well)

 

[Topper]

http://www.terro.com/terro-home-insect-killer-1233

 

[Eastern]

I would never let my daughters live in these conditions. Time to find a nicer and better apt complex. Totally disgusting.

Like someone said, that is city living. Paying 3k per month rent and you may still get roaches.

Management needs to be sure that the trash room and chutes are kept clean and free from accumulated junk. It's not always easy to keep the management company's attention as they probably have many other units that have other problems so you have to keep after them.

 

[Rose23]

I lived in the south for a few years along the coast and roaches were a problem in the apartment building I lived in. Since I didn't have any previous experience in dealing with roaches, I called the Orkin man.

The Orkin man shared that although he will come and spray monthly, that unless he is also able to spray the other apartments in the building, I would probably still see a few. I contracted with Orkin for four years until we moved North; he sprayed my apartment monthly and I rarely saw a roach (may be one every six months and they were tiny).

The contract cost me a couple of hundred dollars but it was well worth it but I would not have survived in Tidewater without him.

I had another friend who use to use Paul Harvey's Roach Prufe powder, although I do not know if it is still on the market.

Best Wishes!

 

[Reyes0702]

I agree boric acid is better than borax, but both work! I had issues on a house that I moved into before and when I moved out I brought a few with me. Didn't think about the cardboard... Anyways since then I read info all over the internet. I learned some cockroaches are glucose intolerant so sugar tastes bitter to them. Use non glucose foods if possible, I use PB w/ Boric.

As much as I love to say they are all gone thats not case, they come back and I have to start the process again. Maybe some eggs laying around?

Hope thats not the case for you guys, my tip is get them before it gets worse.

 

[Starwind]

I have severe asthma and learned the hard way that many pesticides, including the ones used to kill roaches, will trigger it.

When I lived in apartments, the company that owned the property had the entire building professionally sprayed every 90 days, with additional sprays in between if required due to critter presence. They were very very proactive about dealing with critters.

Each time they would spray we were given advance notice and I made arrangements to stay elsewhere for a couple days (including at a hotel a couple different sprays -- worth every $ I paid to NOT be around for the spray aftermath); on the last day of being away the exhaust fans were run on high to try to vent the place a bit, but the worst of it had dissipated. Still irritated the asthma a bit, but not nearly so much as that full-on right after its been sprayed...

Fortunately the only real infestation we had was a couple times with sugar ants, and those were dealt with promptly. The other critters we saw we are quite sure were visitors and not residents and they never had "friends" or "relatives" along with them (hence why = visitors).

We also did everything we could to make our home less attractive to critters than our neighbours/elsewhere: dishes and counters and floors kept washed and clean, use the dishwasher regularly, foods in quality sealed containers, etc. Sometimes this meant repackaging dry foods we bought into plastic containers.

-SW

 

[Eastern]

Someone mentioned eggs:

google 'roach egg' and look at images to see what they look like. Then be careful to wipe down counters, inside cabinets on a regular basis, and destroy/discard these.

They are carried on the end of the roach and they simply drop off in places.

When I first moved into my own house (no roaches) I was upacking a shopping bag from a grocery store and a roach egg casing fell out of it. Since then I am always careful to examine packaging for any type of debris.

And that concludes today's roach lesson.

 

[Judique]

Someone mentioned eggs:

google 'roach egg' and look at images to see what they look like. Then be careful to wipe down counters, inside cabinets on a regular basis, and destroy/discard these.

They are carried on the end of the roach and they simply drop off in places.

When I first moved into my own house (no roaches) I was upacking a shopping bag from a grocery store and a roach egg casing fell out of it. Since then I am always careful to examine packaging for any type of debris.

And that concludes today's roach lesson.

If you don't mind me adding to it:

Moving out - roaches will take up residence in electronics, coffeemakers, toasters, and warm places and travel back to your home with your son. Be careful what he brings to your home while he is living in this apartment also.

Spraying and the Orkin Man - We've found this to be the most effective way to deal with the roaches. We have several rental properties and you can't screen everything a tenant brings with them. So the Orkin Man is on a cycle - once every three months or once a month if anything is seen for three months and then back to the 3 months.

 

[queenbetsey]

sorry to hear that. our bug guy did an initial spraying and then he put down some kind of gel stuff along the cracks and along the back of the shelves I would call around and ask different bug companies

 

[Eastern]

If you don't mind me adding to it:
Moving out - roaches will take up residence in electronics, coffeemakers, toasters, and warm places and travel back to your home with your son. Be careful what he brings to your home while he is living in this apartment also.

Absolutely. My friend had roaches get into his computer monitor. He put it in a large trash bag, sprayed bug killer into it, and let it sit for a couple days. It actually worked well.

 

[Carmello1]

Hot Shot liquid baits worked for me I also cannot tolerate pesticides and Harris tabs for drawers etc. I got both at Home Depot
Good Luck! Janet