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Keeping roaches out of a computer
DirtyDirtyVagrant
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
This is my third roach thread and I apologize. I've used the advice given in the last ones, but the situation is slightly altered. I hope this isn't stepping on any toes.
Now, the population has gone down quite a bit, it seems like. I still am not sure what to do about the baseboards that are adjacent to carpeting, and I've still got to remove outlet covers and take care of those, but for the most part the only place I'm seeing them anymore is in the kitchen sink at the dead of night.
I'm concerned because I'm going to be building a computer, and I would like to keep bugs out of it. I have a couple of ideas on how to do this, and I'd like people to take a look at them. If possible.
The first idea I have is to wrap the legs of whatever table or desk the computer sits on with sticky tape. If I happen to get the desk too close to the wall however, or if the little bastards figure out how to jump, I will be screwed.
So maybe I can augment that with something secondary, like a trap placed in close proximity to the machine? Obviously I should inspect and clean the case periodically, but I dont want them just burrowing into some tiny crevice to hide.
Third idea is just moving all the furniture and making a weekend out of sealing absolutely everything. Every tiny hole, every little crack, every seam, every outlet cover...and just bug bombing the place (I don't have pets or anything, but I live in an apartment) My concern with bug bombs is that my stove has pilot lights. Recommendations for non-flammable bug bombs maybe?
Or maybe if I placed blocks of cedar in close proximity to the computer? Is that a strong enough deterrent?
I can't move for reasons I don't want to get into. But how can I make -sure- that I'm not bringing them with me when I finally do move (the next 4-5 months)?
Now, the population has gone down quite a bit, it seems like. I still am not sure what to do about the baseboards that are adjacent to carpeting, and I've still got to remove outlet covers and take care of those, but for the most part the only place I'm seeing them anymore is in the kitchen sink at the dead of night.
I'm concerned because I'm going to be building a computer, and I would like to keep bugs out of it. I have a couple of ideas on how to do this, and I'd like people to take a look at them. If possible.
The first idea I have is to wrap the legs of whatever table or desk the computer sits on with sticky tape. If I happen to get the desk too close to the wall however, or if the little bastards figure out how to jump, I will be screwed.
So maybe I can augment that with something secondary, like a trap placed in close proximity to the machine? Obviously I should inspect and clean the case periodically, but I dont want them just burrowing into some tiny crevice to hide.
Third idea is just moving all the furniture and making a weekend out of sealing absolutely everything. Every tiny hole, every little crack, every seam, every outlet cover...and just bug bombing the place (I don't have pets or anything, but I live in an apartment) My concern with bug bombs is that my stove has pilot lights. Recommendations for non-flammable bug bombs maybe?
Or maybe if I placed blocks of cedar in close proximity to the computer? Is that a strong enough deterrent?
I can't move for reasons I don't want to get into. But how can I make -sure- that I'm not bringing them with me when I finally do move (the next 4-5 months)?
DirtyDirtyVagrant on
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http://www.amazon.com/Concern-97024-Diatomaceous-Crawling-Insect/dp/B000BQT1HQ
Get some of that stuff. Sprinkle it around areas you know they have to walk through, it will kill them dead.
Christ, this sounds fucking horrible.
@gamefacts - Totally and utterly true gaming facts on the regular!
You have to do pretty horrible stuff to roaches to get rid of them. Fuckers are hardcore. You could seal one in a plastic bag for 2 weeks and he'd still be alive 2 weeks later. They can live for up to a week or so without their fucking head
re: computer. They will use the cables that go into it as roach highways if they find them. Their favorite hiding location in a computer is the PSU, because it's warm. What you can do is put roach paste in the dark space between the PSU and case, so if any get in there, they'll eat it and die.
Wash the cables once in a while to get rid of the pheromone trails.
edit: if you think you have the discipline, don't ever eat at your computer.
Otherwise I'd imagine if it was sharp enough to puncture the chitinous exoskeletons of insects then it would be pretty nasty stuff for humans to be getting into contact with. As it is it's even used to treat animals for de-worming apparently.
Yeah, I read that too, every other place I've read says it also causes small abrasions to the insects which is where it leaches the moisture from.
IDK, I do know that it works though.
I'm still in the middle of treating it. I've got painter's caulk and I'm sealing up everything. Every seam in every cabinet. Around window sills, behind my counters (which the maintenance people did not do when they installed the shit)
I've still got to buy some baits.
I've tried using borax, but it doesn't seem to do anything. They just walk right over it like it's not even there. Maybe some of that fossilized algae will do the trick.
Truthfully, I only ever spot them occasionally in any place other than the kitchen. Problem is, the ones that I spot outside the kitchen are almost always babies. That's a bad sign.
I've read about sprays that render them infertile. The management here has people come once a month and spray, but their spray doesn't do shit. So I'm worried that I'm going to buy something and they will have already developed a resistance to it. I've also heard that the powdered residual sprays are much more successful. More than anything though I just want to cut them off where they're coming in and put out some bait for them in the places I cant seal (behind the stove, under the fridge, etc.
Still not sure what to do about carpeting. Vacuum often. I'd really like to just have everyone in this whole place bomb their apartments. I wish I could get the health department in here.
it dehydrates them by cutting them iirc
also the borax we bought worked for a while but now they're back, although there are way less
Some say they work by dehydration, by any number of mechanisms.
Some say they destroy the chitin.
Some say that it gets on the chitin and the roaches clean themselves, and then it messes up their digestion and they starve.
Nobody agrees.
I had the same problem with Borax, they'd just go right through it no problem. And I had the exact same problem, I'd see 90% of them in the kitchen, and the rest I'd see elsewhere were babies.
Did you use the gel I recommended in your other thread? It was pretty much a miracle solution for me, I had tried everything and that was the solution that got me rid of roaches in less than a week, and I've been roach free for months now, with no need to reapply.
Boric acid both acts as an abrasive to the exoskeleton and as a stomach poison.
I had great success dusting various surfaces with it so the cockroaches would walk through it, but you can go a step further by mixing it with sugar and flour (there are recipes on the internet) to get them to ingest it.