Roaches

Penguin_Otaku

So I'm staying in a place over the summer with some friends.

As you can assume from the title... there are bugs. In the first few days I didn't see a whole lot of them. While watching TV I see two of them scurry across the table and one into my shot glass.

We have some spray... and it seemed to work for a while. But tonight I saw these two fucks and went to spray the kitchen just to go toward the source and holy hell there were a lot of them. When I sprayed more seem to run out to avoid death by pesticide... or whatever the stuff is.

Alright, they'd never made it this far before from what I had seen. The kitchen is down a short hallway, but I'd only seen them around the cabinets... and even in one of the bathrooms near the kitchen. I'll say taking a shit and seeing a roach crawl up your leg is terrifying.

What's the best route here?

"Call an exterminator."

Way down with this idea. However, I'm just kinda the guy crashing on the couch. We're all friends. One of us who's not so good with dealing with people is the liaison to the landlord. It was over a week before we had AC and a little longer until we had a working fridge. The landlord has supposedly said he won't spring for an exterminator...which I think is bullshit. I don't think the guy would want his family/kid(s) to be staying in a place where there's not a working AC in the Oklahoma summer, working AC and... bugs!

I'm not on the lease or really paying rent so I don't think I have a whole lot of say in this, but I'm wanting to know how I can make the next two months a little easier for me and protecting my food and things.

The Ender

To protect your food, buy sealable plastic containers.

If the landlord will not get an exterminator:

1) He's incredibly stupid. He's destroying the value of the property.

2) You guys either need to pool your money and pay for it, or find another place. Cockroach infestations are no joke; the bugs absolutely will overrun your home, and they are vectors for some nasty diseases (up to and including Yersinia pestis - the bacteria that causes bubonic plague).

There are some simple traps you can employ, like so-called 'Vegas Roach Trap' (take a mason jar, fill it maybe halfway with water, smear coffee grinds on the inside of the jar. The cockroaches will climb / fall into the jar to get the non-existent food they smell, then drown), but most of these will have a pretty minor impact on the population.

ceres

As sort of a stopgap you can try dusting some borax around the walls. It won't get the colony or anything, but it might help.

Ego

Might want to dig up information on just what your landlord is legally responsible for in your area. I rent out a couple places in Alberta and here, for example, I'm on the hook for pest control.

Figgy

Your landlord is absolutely on the hook for pest control! But you can't just get it done and give him a bill.

Find out who you need to contact for your area to ask the right questions, but there will be a process. The end of that process is usually you getting it done and then paying that much less in rent the next month. Again, varies by region and you need to go through the proper channels, but this isn't something you just have to live with.

As the "guy on the couch," are you paying any rent?

jwideman

In Oklahoma, as in most states, the landlord is responsible for pest control. In all likelihood, your friends are dealing with a slumlord. (Signs of heavy infestation, landlord refuses to call an exterminator, etc.) The best thing you and your friends can do is find another place to live. In the meantime, your friends should contact the health department about this.

Enc

While you wait for a pest control resolution, a short term solution would be to go down to your local hardware store and pick up a perimeter spray. These usually look like a slightly larger spray bottle, often with a battery powered nozzle that will spray automatically when you pull the trigger. Follow the instructions and spray around the walls and corners of your home.

This will likely kill off most, but definitely not all, of your roaches and lessen the problem for the short term. The difference between these and your as-you-see-them sprays are that this effectivly makes dead zones on the ways into your rooms which kill off the bugs as they enter your home. You will have a lot of roach corpses, especially in the first few days.

These don't last long and are not a good replacement for a real exterminator. However, if it looks like it may be a few months before you will have one come out it would probably be a good call.

These tend to run about $15-40 depending on quantity and quality. Be very careful though, this is poison you are dealing with and you should ALWAYS follow the instructions.

MMMig

The hard counter to roaches are immortals.


But in all seriousness, yes your landlord should be liable for pest control, but they more than likely will not care based on your other comments (AC, fridge) and getting them to fork over the service will be very arduous and will probably only hurt what weak relationship the tenant / landlord already have.

I say look up the legal requirements he has for pest control (should be easy enough with google and your county's rental codes), let him know about them, but at the same time start looking for a new place.

You say you're only crashing on the couch with no rent for a couple of months, so the above is more a long-term solution for your friends who actually live there. They really should look into that though.


As for your own 2 months living there, yes plastic bags, and zone pest control as Enc mentioned. Also tell your roomies to be as clean as possible (don't leave food out, don't leave dirty dishes out, etc.) to minimize their drive to be there.

Vanguard

Not a lawyer, but you may want to look up the laws for standard of habitability in your area. Most require that the owner of the building keep it free from pests and vermin.

There's a process for handling it yourselves that usually goes something like this:

If this is the case in your area, have your rent-paying roomies print out a copy of the law and send a letter to your landlord using certified mail that he is required to correct this problem. Provide documentation that establishes the extent of the problem (make sure you keep a copy of everything you send him). Give him a timeline (1-2 weeks) of which you expect this be completed. Inform him that failure to do so will mean you'll correct the problem, but any expenses incurred will be deducted from the rent.

Your landlord may threaten legal action, but if he's smart (which he's not from the sounds of it), he'll figure out that going to court over a legitimate claim is likely more expensive than calling an exterminator.

Comradebot

Penguin_Otaku wrote:

Alright, they'd never made it this far before from what I had seen. The kitchen is down a short hallway, but I'd only seen them around the cabinets... and even in one of the bathrooms near the kitchen. I'll say taking a shit and seeing a roach crawl up your leg is terrifying.

That's the most terrifying thing I've ever heard. I'm not gonna be able to take a comfortable shit for month now... asshole.




But seriously, look into what rights y'all have, and if needed strong arm the slumlord into paying for an exterminator (because I'd wager, like most states, he's almost surely required to handle pest control). If he can't be forced and/or refuses, I wouldn't stay there. From the sounds of things, you've got a pretty serious infestation, and nothing short of professional exterminating will likely solve it... well, I guess depending. Is this a house, an apartment? If it's a house, throwing out some bombs might do the trick. If it's an apartment or connected to other housings, then just fumigating your living area will effectively solve jack shit. You'll kill a whole bunch of roaches, and then some new ones will pour in from next door.

Penguin_Otaku

This is what I think I'm going to do... and feel free to critique me here as you see fit.

I'm going to talk to the other rent paying roommates and let them know that this guy is legally obligated to get this shit taken care of. Now that I think of it, apparently someone talked to a bug guy who offered to spray for about 150 (landlord came up with some... $700 figure some way/somehow) so that makes the situation even worse...

On top of this, the guy (let's call him Jay because that's his name) who's the liaison with the landlord asked about prorated rent because of the lack of AC and fridge and gave back about 300... that's just about under a 1/5 of the rent these guys pay. Personally when they told me that the landlord wouldn't do anything about the bugs I immediately wondered what the hell he was doing with the rent money instead.

Anyway, my best option is to get people who know Jay better (we're friends, but I'm closer with the rest of the group) to get him to do something and to be on his and the landlord's ass about this. I'm afraid to leave an open container out now after seeing those fucks in here.

Appreciate all the advice so far.

Dr. Frenchenstein

You can't just inform the landlord that you are paying for something, and taking it out of the rent. Honestly, your best case scenario is that a judge says it's ok for you to start paying rent into escrow, and the landlord can't touch it until he fixes everything. You don't havea refrigerator? WTF? You guys definitely need to get the ball rolling on withholding rent. He is totally a slumlord.

That process does start with sending him a certified mail letter informing him of the problem(s) though. So if you guys want to do that, and then look up renter rights for your state, that's a start. I'm not sure if you have to actually go to court, or whatever, but it's pretty much a renter's only option.

Vanguard

If your landlord is not maintaining minimum standards of habitability (that includes keeping the place vermin free and providing basic amenities like a fridge and stove in the city) you can absolutely let him know you're going to refuse rent. You have to give him opportunity to correct the problem, but failure to do so when ample time is given means he's in violation of housing standards. If he's stupid enough to take you to court in attempt to evict you, as long as you have documentation that he's in violation, the courts will side with you. The important thing to remember is that withholding rent does not mean never paying it. Once he corrects the problems, you're usually responsible for the months you didn't pay.

Of course, the first step is getting in touch with your local housing board. They will tell you exactly what you need to know to comply with local ordinances. Court is the least desirable option for everyone as it will be a huge waste of time. If this place is as gross as you say it is, that's not a lawsuit he will win.

NotYou

Your whole building probably needs to be tented.

The thing about roaches is that when you spray one place, they just pack up and leave and move over to the adjoining apartment. Then, next month they come back just like they were before.

There are a lot of things you can do to make your apartment less habitable for roaches. Look around online and do them all.

Also, move.

Penguin_Otaku

It's a house if I didn't mention that before, but I know the same thing applies.

These guys are dragging their feet on the whole issue and no one wants to be the "bad guy" for bringing it up to the landlord. I brought it up this morning to one of the roommates that's good friends with Jay, but he said they were going to let the landlord try to fix it over the weekend and if that didn't solve things...

Now I completely understand with all of you that that's a fucking stupid way to handle all of this and I agree. But again, I'm just couch guy.

The more you guys talk about him being a slumlord, I don't know if it's that bad. The guy's just a cheapskate that's trying to do a bunch of DIY things and the fridge being late was a problem with the store that ordered it (also, the guys unplugged it after he came by, moved it to the fridge and all of a sudden it works perfectly.)

Regarding the AC, ya that's complete bullshit. On the DIY note... the reason it took an extra weekend (Fri-Sun) was because he was supposed to dig the hole to bury the freon line in and hadn't done it by the time the crew had shown up and thus delayed the AC... Not sticking up for him, just letting you guys know how he handles things... but I'm sure this probably just qualifies him as a "slumlord" some more.

I have issue with him waiting to fix things on his time for multiple reasons:
One, it hasn't been prompt. We were delayed moving into this place by a solid week + because another one of his properties had their basement flood. Ok, that's all good and well. Hire some fucking people to take care of your shit, though.

Two, he comes on weekends when we're mostly just trying to hang out with not much else to do. This impedes on some would-be recreational activities. That's neither here nor there, but I'm sure all of you would agree it's hard to be completely comfortable with the landlord is roaming around with no real timetable.

At this point I'm just kinda venting and rambling, so I'm sorry for that.

Sir Carcass

jwideman wrote: »

In Oklahoma, as in most states, the landlord is responsible for pest control.

Do you have a cite for this? I've been renting for 13 years and it has always been in my lease that the tenant is responsible for pest control.

bowen

Most places put that in the lease here in NY. Doesn't mean shit I'm not responsible for pests that I didn't bring in. In most cases the landlord is always responsible.

Generally the one and only exception, unfortunately in this case, are single family dwellings, but this varies from state to state too.

http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Oklahoma/tenant.html#s118
http://www.tenant.net/Other_Areas/Oklahoma/tenant.html#s121

Seems Oklahoma would make an exception here, though, as a tenant you might want to see if the roaches are your responsibility since they probably were there before you started your lease.

jwideman

Ah, I was thinking this was an apartment building. A single family dwelling is different. However, it seems likely - with that level of infestation - that this is the result of long-term neglect. There's probably a couple dozen code violations as well. My point is, he's a slumlord. Have him hit with a bunch of fines and/or get the place condemned, and your friends get out of the lease. I'm sure there's better places for $1500 a month.

Landlord is a cheapskate that is into DIY? That's a slumlord. A landlord owns a business, which invests in rental property. A slumlord owns property, which he rents out and only does maintenance that doesn't cost him money.

Also, he can't just "drop by on the weekend". He has to make an appointment at least a day in advance. He's already in violation of rental law, invalidating the lease. (For citation, see the links bowen posted.)

An important note regarding bug bombs: NEVER DO THIS! All this does is drive the roaches into the deepest parts of the house, where the bomb doesn't reach. Then you call an exterminator and they say you have to tent it. I'm guessing this is what happened.

snorepez

At one apartment, the first night a huge infestation of German roaches popped up. After I had an exterminator give me a free quote on my problem, he said the situation was isolated in my apartment because of the prior tenant, and it was beyond just a simple spraying, like most people automatically turn to. Instead, he suggested Advion Roach Gel Bait. I bought some, applied it myself, and within 1.5 weeks, the infestation (literally) was gone. It can be bought for about $15 on Amazon.

Bait is the most effective cure for roaches, because not only does it kill the individual roach who eats it, but the babies eat the adults' droppings, which contains the poison.

Delzhand

If you're looking for a cheap, non-toxic (edible, in fact) roach killer, look into diatomaceous earth. It's basically microscopic shards of glass that shreds their exoskeletons. You can mix it with something they like (flour, for example), and they'll take it back to the horde.

bowen

It's also an desiccant so if they eat it, lol they fucked.

cr0w

There are a few things you can do, and they all involve baiting. I can't stress this enough..if you have a roach problem, specifically german roaches (the smaller ones that seem to be everywhere and multiply like crazy), do not spray them. With anything. Spraying only offers a visual solution to the problem...it doesn't get to the root of the issue, which is the colony.

First, get a Fipronil roach boat. Like this one.

http://www.amazon.com/Maxforce-Fipronil-Cockroach-German-Control-1/dp/B0042JF3C0

You can also get Combat Source Kill MAX, which is basically the same thing, at, say, Target or Wal-Mart or whatever if you don't want to wait for something to arrive you bought online.

Dab pea-sized amounts anywhere and everywhere you can in the corners of your kitchen and bathroom. Also around light sockets, light switches, anywhere that electric appliances are plugged in. It's warmer around those outlets, as well as inside those appliances, such as a landline phone or whatever, so the roaches will nest there. Look for a congregation of their droppings, which look like this:



Basically similar to salt and pepper.

Anywhere you see those, bait in the corners and up against the wall. Roaches will almost always run against a wall or baseboard when they're out foraging unless there's food out in the open. Bait the corners inside your drawers and cabinets and under the sink, especially where the water pipes meet the wall. Basically anywhere you think a roach would live, bait it. Roaches are cannibalistic...they will eat the carcasses of any other dead roach, so once these things start dropping dead from the bait, the other roaches will eat their corpses and the bait will be passed to them, and so on and so forth until the queen is dead.

You can also get a liquid bait and mix it with some Borax, which will turn it into a gel that you can apply to the corners and such. The bait will work the same as the Fipronil, with the added bonus of the Borax acting as a desiccant and killing the roaches from the inside out. Then you will have the poison spread in the same way as the bait. If you have any Borax left (assuming you got the powder form, which is easily available), puff some into the walls in the affected areas as someone recommended before. It will stick via static electricity to the inside of your walls for at least 6 months and either kill or drive off the colony if the bait doesn't do so.

Hopefully this helps, and again, do not spray anything. It's pretty much the worst thing you can do for a roach infestation. If you hire an exterminator to come out and he comes in with the hand-held spray pump to spray the cabinets and baseboards, send his ass back out to his truck and tell him you want him to bait and apply Boric Acid (Borax) to your place. The only effective method for dealing with roaches is tainting their food source and getting the poison to the queen.