*shudder* ROACHES - what do you do about them?!

[Aimeedyan]

We are renting a very old house, and we get roaches constantly... DH swears they are water bugs, but I am not buying that argument.

Anyhoo.

Our landlord will send out the exterminator whenever we ask, we do it about every 6 months, but we still get lots of them - though they usually come out half dead, or we find them dead in the morning.

But it's still GROSS.

Growing up, I NEVER remember encountering roaches on a daily basis in our house. It's a daily thing here... we keep a very clean home, don't leave food out, etc etc. DH is a complete clean freak. Are they really that common?

At night, we find them all outside, on the porches, etc etc. I even spotted bunches of them on the neighbors brick on the side of her house.

Any suggestions? Should we have the exterminator come more often, even though most are coming out mostly dead? I'm just SICK of them! They're huge, and scare the beejeebies out of me.

Oh - and a few weeks ago, DH was falling asleep when he jolted from the bed. Yep, you got it, one was crawling on his HEAD. Needless to say, I don't sleep well anymore...

 

[Dan Murphy]

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[crz4mm2]

Have the exterminator come monthly. Make sure you tell them what the problem is. Are they coming from neighbors who don't spray? We had that problem when we lived in town. Our neighbors didn't spray, but we did. When the neighbors finally did spray the bugs all came running to our place... EEEEWWWWW

 

[Poohbear123]

Get some Doc Martins and turn them into Bug Crushers!

 

[Stepharoonie!]

I smush 'em!

 

[Lewski709]

They are attracted to water and the glue found in boxes, paper bags, cereal boxes, pet food bags, pet food, kittly litter, etc..... This is a horrible problem and needs to be resolved ASAP. I hate to tell you this, but if you move and they are still around when you do.....most likely you will take some with you. You need someone almost every 2weeks, not 2x's a year. I used to manage apartments. Are you sharing a building with anyone? They aren't from you. Most likely when the previous people moved, they left them. OR if you do share a building with others, has anyone moved out around the time you started seeing the roaches? That's what would happen in the apartments. Someone would move and the next apartment had the roaches. YUK! Good luck! I feel your pain. Some people eat them.

Hey....there's always Fear Factor.

 

[sandramaac]

First you must be vigilent. You cannot simply exterminate, you have to bait (the bait renders theew roaches sterile). This way the poision goes back to where the roaches are having the nymphs (babies). During the baiting time, you cannot put any exterminating spray down, because it contaminates the bait. After a while you should start to see the roaches go away. However if you don't see them die, then you may have to do one of those leave the house for a day things.

I had a small roach issue, and brought the exterminator in ASAP. He thinks I brought it in on a chinese food box. (ya know how they put your take out in a box). I was so upset. I got rid of them after about a week, and had seen them for about a week prior. The exterminator said had I waited a few days longer, the new generation would have matured and I would have had a major problem.

So handle it soon.

 

[Norm Peterson]

My friend Cliffy says you can put a bowl of beer on the floor and they'll jump in and drown themselves.

I say, why waste a good thing? The roaches can find their way out the same way they came in.

Which reminds me, I'm thirsty. Sam, open up that tap.

 

[buzzlady]

I'm sorry, I would be out of there!!! Bugs and I just don't get along.

 

[year2late]

Originally posted by Norm Peterson
My friend Cliffy says you can put a bowl of beer on the floor and they'll jump in and drown themselves.

I say, why waste a good thing? The roaches can find their way out the same way they came in.

Which reminds me, I'm thirsty. Sam, open up that tap.

My friend Carla plops on the platform shoes and does the flamenco.

 

[phillybeth]

If they are big, black and shiny and you are seeing them outside too, they are water bugs (a polite name for the wood roach). They hatch out of the soil and come in through the drains. Older neighborhoods can have these- where I grew up they were like an epidemic every summer. Pour bleach down your drains, EVERY drain, at night before you go to bed- that will keep them from coming in. I agree with the exterminating and baiting. You can also put down the glue traps that are usually used for mice, they will catch waterbugs too.

 

[Dan Murphy]

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=roaches+borax

 

[bentley483]

Years ago I lived in a little 2 bedroom cottage beside a giant pecan tree. The tree was a huge nest for the giant wood roaches or palmetto bugs as some people call them. I loathe those things! I grew up listening to Paul Harvey on the radio and he was always plugging this stuff called Roach Prufe. (Yeah, that's how it's spelled!) anyway, I picked up some of this stuff and used it in the cottage. I never saw another roach of any kind in that cottage and I lived there for another 1 1/2 years. The instructions said to re-treat every 3 to 6 months, but I don't think I did it but one more time. It worked great!

(I even tried to sneak in the kitchen and flip on the light just to make sure they weren't all coming out in the dark and then running off when I came in, but they were all gone.)

"Now you know the rest of the story!"

 

[CBRorBust]

Eww...I know exactly what kind of bugs you are talking about! I hate them.

I'm like you, BEYOND paranoid about bugs! I cannot even imagine one ON ME!

 

[Cliff Clavin]

Originally posted by Norm Peterson
My friend Cliffy says you can put a bowl of beer on the floor and they'll jump in and drown themselves.

I say, why waste a good thing? The roaches can find their way out the same way they came in.

Which reminds me, I'm thirsty. Sam, open up that tap.

Hey, Normy! Nice to see you 'round these parts.

Yup. My buddy is right. you can put down a bowl of beer, and they'll jump in. Even roaches know a good thing when they see it. It's not the most effective use of beer, though. I think that you're probably better off drinking the beer, and feeding those roaches some poison.

 

[missypie]

In Texas we have so many critters that you need the exterminator at least once a month. You really need a contract, so you can call them as needed, even if more than once a month.

 

[minniepumpernickel]

Hate them, and couldn't live with them! They are up there with snakes, in my book.

Bomb them into extinction! They are very persisitent!

 

[Dizzy-Disney4]

EEEEWWWW I remember those things from when we lived in Mississippi on an air base. First one I spotted at 1 AM and screamed like I was being murdered. Being from the North you associate roaches with dirty homes...but they were EVERYWHERE. GROSSED me right out.

 

[DISshopkeeper]

We had them when I lived in the city in a rowhome. They are almost impossible to get rid of in that situation, because they just flee when you spray.

I once found a dead one in a casserole dish. I STILL have the habit of washing casserole dishes and pots and pans that I take out of a cabinet prior to using.

And what do I think of them??? EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWW

GROSSSSSS!!!!!

The very LAST time I tried to crush one (OH GOD I HATE THAT CRUNCH!) I was a teenager. It ran into a corner and I tried to step on it. I was wearing flip flops and it RAN ACROSS MY FOOT!!

"Kill it, Daddy, Kill IT!!!" shrieked in a teenage falsetto is STILL a family joke whenever anyone sees a bug. And that was 30 years ago!!!