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Ugh... roaches
Arch Guru XX
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So, roaches. Ewwww.
My wife and I have lived in our current apartment (upper floor of a duplex, building was built in or around 1929) for three years. We have started seeing some roaches:
As the frequency of contact is increasing my comfort with the situation is decreasing. I always assumed they were around, given the age of the building, but if they don’t come out I’m pretty okay with the situation. When 2”-long (not counting antennae) roaches start showing up I have a problem with it. These things are way bigger than my threshold for tolerating them; I’m getting slight goodebumps just thinking about them. So, three questions for H/A:
Also, there are a number of entry points – large, old holes around pipes and whatnot. There is no feasible way of sealing them off without radically remodeling the whole apartment.
Suggestions? Thanks in advance.
My wife and I have lived in our current apartment (upper floor of a duplex, building was built in or around 1929) for three years. We have started seeing some roaches:
- Over a year ago I encountered a huge roach in our kitchen. It escaped under the refrigerator before I could kill it.
- About two months ago we found a dying roach lying on its back in the bathroom. It died before I could question it.
- About two weeks ago I found another in the bathroom; it tried to escape but I crushed it.
- Last night I found another huge one in the kitchen. It was big enough that maybe we could have signed a treaty with it, but instead I crushed it with a vase. And then a hammer.
As the frequency of contact is increasing my comfort with the situation is decreasing. I always assumed they were around, given the age of the building, but if they don’t come out I’m pretty okay with the situation. When 2”-long (not counting antennae) roaches start showing up I have a problem with it. These things are way bigger than my threshold for tolerating them; I’m getting slight goodebumps just thinking about them. So, three questions for H/A:
- As luck would have it, we should be moving out in about a month. What do I need to do to ensure we don’t take any stowaways with us to the new place? So far I’ve only seen them in the bathroom and kitchen, would they have any reason to get inside old clothes or dressers?
- Since we’re moving I don’t really care about full-on extermination efforts (our landlord can handle that when we’re gone), but I would like to dissuade the fuckers from showing themselves. Any suggestions for this, aside from spraying possible entry points with RAID?
- We’ve been living in Southern California for 5 years at this point, and this is the only time we’ve had any kind of insect issue. We haven’t changed our habits, and we don’t leave food out – is there anything else that might be attracting them?
Also, there are a number of entry points – large, old holes around pipes and whatnot. There is no feasible way of sealing them off without radically remodeling the whole apartment.
Suggestions? Thanks in advance.
Should have been a rock star.
Arch Guru XX on
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You can't ever kill roaches, only make them less visible to you for a short period of time.
This is a good idea, we're moving close enough that we may not really need boxes at all... I will look into this.
2) Raid / contact poison the entire perimeter, indoors and out. Use multiple bug bombs indoors. dry everything - they love wet.
3) Dirty-ass neighbors gave me my infestations. Monthly poisoning the area kept them at bay, but probably shortened my lifespan.
4) open holes in walls are bug spawn points. Get a can or two of expanding sealant foam and fill em in.
They like stuff like the inside of computer cases and other electronics, so be sure to double check everything.
I didn't even think of this. If you can do this it can definitely help.
Roaches are pretty clean insects (they actually bathe after coming into contact with humans), but they're probably looking for food. Start protecting food (resealable containers) and place traps. Eventually they'll start diminishing and probably just eat out at your neighbors instead.
This actually helps with ants as well.
The suggestions to make your house a less attractive habitat by eliminating their food supply are good as well, but if you're in a duplex and your neighbors aren't tidy you may still get occasional visitors.
Repeating for truth. I put down boric acid about twice a year. The first time you will find dead roaches occasionally. When you start to see them come back in about 6 to 8 months put some more of it down. Rinse and repeat.
Home Inspection and Wind Mitigation
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When I was in high school we got a pretty bad infestation @ my parents home (some less clean members of our family brought over a bunch of boxes of clothes to store at out house). Boric Acid is one of the things that would get rid of them for a while! My dad also had this stuff that looked kind of like peanut butter. I don't remember much about it except that. It worked REALLY great, but he hasn't been able to find it since then.
Personally, I'd clean and do the boric acid thing. Also, be sure to bug bomb your furniture and wash all of your clothes, etc. before you move. It'll keep from bringing them along.
Actually, this is not always true. Many species of roach keep the egg sack inside their body and give live birth.
I'm skeeved out by roaches, so I got RAID traps and put boric acid around every seam in the kitchen, along the baseboards, everywhere. I haven't seen a roach in like 5 months.
And my kitchen is a fucking disaster thank to my 4 nasty roommates, so that should say something about the power of boric acid.
I hope the roaches find the effects of boric acid excruciating.
So "yep".