Um...ahem...uh, care to discuss...cockroaches?

[Janna]

cough, sputter, choke...profuse gagging...

 

I have to talk about cockroaches.:blushing:

 

I'm completely disgusted.

 

I've NEVER had cockroaches in my home before. I don't think I've ever seen one in real life before!

 

In the last month there have been THREE in my house.

 

What constitutes an infestation?

 

Where are they coming from?

 

I keep my house very clean. I vacuum daily, dust weekly, my kitchen is very clean, save when I'm cooking. But I clean up immediately. I can't function properly in the midst of dirt and clutter.

 

The three we have had have been in the family room and on the stairs.

 

*shudder* - do we have an infestation?

[3lilreds in NC]

They live in our garage. Every now and then, one gets into the house. They are just awful, aren't they?

 

My cats like to hunt them. I learned this past weekend that one of them kills them, then drops them down one of my heat registers. :blink:

 

I don't know what to tell you about what constitutes an infestation. Nasty little buggers.

[5knights3maidens]

We had cockroaches when we were renting...the landlord didn't do anything and we got out of there...long story. The next house (our house we now own) had them. They were coming from the place next door. We had to have exterminators. Since they fixed up the place next door we do not have them anymore. The best thing that worked was a "liquid that looked like honey" they put in cracks and corners. It killed them very fast. They will multiply very quickly.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

It depends. Are they the large black ones or the smaller light brown ones? The smaller ones are more indicative of an infestation, but if you are just now seeing them you may be able to control it by laying down boric acid behind appliances and in out of the way places.

 

The larger black ones come in from outside. We get those, especially after a rain. We still put down boric acid. The only good roach is a dead roach.

 

ETA: We did see some smaller ones once after a certian visit from a relative. Ick. Thankfully that didn't last.

[Janna]

Oh, great. That's just great. Yes...they have been the smaller brown ones.

 

Dh did mention last night, "What if someone has brought them in from somewhere else?"

 

To which I responded, "Pshaw! No! How could that be? What, they'd be on their shoe?"

 

Great. Just great. I am soooooo grossed out, I can't even tell you. And we have a baby on the floor for cryin' out loud.

[katilac]

Unbelievably disgusting, are they not?

 

They like paper and cardboard - - a common way for them to 'invade' is by being in a box you bring into the house. If you store anything in cardboard boxes, you should switch to plastic bins instead.

 

Virginia Dawn is correct about the bigger ones coming from outside, and the smaller ones being more likely to be an infestation. Unfortunately, the nasty creatures can survive for WEEKS with nothing to eat or drink, so being meticulous about cleaning won't be enough to get rid of them.

 

You won't be able to use boric acid much with the baby, but you might want to sprinkle some in a few spots when you know that you will be gone for the day and able to vacuum up when you return. You can also sprinkle some in places you know the baby can't get to - - in all the sink and bath drains at night, bottom of the trash can, very back of cabinets.

 

Get a bunch of the 'traps' and again put them wherever the baby can't get to them. And of course spray bug killer throughout the house. I've used a service in the past but I find that spraying over-the-counter stuff works just as well. I like Hot Shot clear, no odor forumula. I prefer to spray right before we leave the house for a few hours, just for added safety.

 

Don't forget to address places like the attic, outside sheds, etc.

Edited October 20, 2008 by katilac

[melissel]

You can also sprinkle diatomaceous earth (DE) anywhere and everywhere. The DE scrapes the heck out of their exoskeletons and they die soon after.

 

http://www.biconet.com/crawlers/DE.html

 

You can buy the kind from pest control suppliers, or you can also buy food-grade DE (not the kind for pools, it's not a fine enough powder) in bulk from garden supply centers (though my local one only had one box, then we had to buy online). It's non-toxic, though you wouldn't exactly want a puff of it in your eyes or nose! It's actually added to some foods, I believe, to control creepie crawlies, and some people swear by eating or drinking a small amount everyday for their health. (I'm not recommending it or anything, just emphasizing that it's safe for the baby :lol:) We used this summer as part of a multi-level approach repel/kill off our ant infestation, and I think it did help, though we were applying outside. It certainly couldn't hurt inside.

[Janna]

And of course spray bug killer throughout the house. I've used a service in the past but I find that spraying over-the-counter stuff works just as well.

 

This is what confused me. Last night after we saw our third one, I looked on the container of the Ortho Home Defense bug spray I use. It said it kills cockroaches. I *just* sprayed around the house last week when the weather was warm and the windows were open, knowing that the cold air soon to come would bring critters inside for warmth. So why are they still coming in?

 

And for real, seeing them weeks apart would still be considered an infestation? If I have seen 2 in our family room and 1 on the stairs, I can't even begin to know from where it came, so how do I know where to put the traps? To think they come up from the drains!? *shudder* It appears I need to research this...

[Saille]

I use DE in my garden, and I've used it in the chicken pen as well. You'd be using it in small amounts, but in large quantities, you just need to be careful it's not somewhere where it's going to get kicked up as dust. It'd be fine behind appliances though, even with a baby. It's basically dust made from tiny little calcified sea creatures. Very sharp to bugs, harmless to people. Also, water renders it ineffective, so you'd still need boric acid for the drains.

 

Poor mama! When I lived in an apartment and my first was a baby, something died between the walls or up in the attic somewhere, and one day I had...um, maggots...crawling across my floor. I. freaked. out. I googled compulsively until I figured out what the heck was going on, and I disinfected everything in sight. I sympathize.

[melissel]

So why are they still coming in?

 

Odds are, they are not COMING in, they are ALREADY in :001_unsure:

 

...and one day I had...um, maggots...crawling across my floor.

 

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

Can you hear me screaming and pulling at my hair from Central Jersey?

[Peek a Boo]

I can't stand roaches.

 

They are the ONE critter that make me scream like a girl.

 

a roach on a doorway will make that doorway unusable --i'll be trapped in a room hollering for dh, lol.

a roach fell into the open laundry [powder] detergent last friday night while i was washing clothes late at night. It was STUCK wallowing around bogged down by the sticky powder and couldn't get out.

Creeped. Me. OUT.

i had to wake up the kids to come get it out. easy money for them.....

 

I have a 50 cent bounty on roaches in my house. My oldest has apparently inherited my irrational fear, but my 2d and 3d are my Mighty Hunters and racking up some bookoo bucks in their piggy banks ;)

 

I have found the Combat Gold Large Roach bait traps to be Very. Effective. i put about three in each closet, cabinet, and under the beds. I tried DE one summer but it wasn't quite as effective as those Combat bait traps.

 

or maybe I should spread powdered laundry detergent everywhere ;)

[readwithem]

We had roaches in Houston and it became my full time job to get rid of them. School, laundry, cooking all went by the wayside in my quest to kill them. One thing I looked forward to moving to DFW was no roaches, I thought they liked the humidity. Silly me. I saw one in the garage and immediately went into the fetal position.

 

I went out the next day and got those Combat gun things, here's a link (though it grosses me out to even look at the link!). I haven't seen any since but I'm still apprehensive. Roaches are the one thing that will send me to the nut house.

 

http://www.combatbugs.com/index.cfm?page_id=191&pid=6

[Book Crazy]

The small brown ones are called German Cockroaches. They are the ones that cause all the problems.

 

Every house I've lived in here in FL has roaches one time or another. Even if the bug man has sprayed around the outside of the house.

[beansprouts]

No.

 

But thanks for asking... I think...

[Daisy]

Here's our drill. We live in SoCal and well, cockroaches happen: little cockroaches, big cockroaches, flying cockroaches, hissing cockroaches....

 

In February, we do the big clean and Dh sprays the inside of the house, the attic, electrical sockets, under the sinks, etc. (We leave the day he does this, BTW). That's the only time he has to spray inside the house. After that point, he sprays the outside perimeter monthly. He also does a lawn spray in the late spring which helps prevent them from getting near the house.

 

Dh's last spray of the year is November. After that we are normally fine.

 

This routine is the only effective means we have for fighting those nasty demons. I haven't seen a cockroach inside my house in 5+ years. And yes, we'll probably all die of cancer or some other horrible illness. At least we only spray inside the house once per year.

 

We don't pay someone to spray for us though. I just can't stand the thought of spending $50 a month for something that only costs $6 at the store.

[Jenn in Mo]

I haven't read the other posts, but they can be brought into a house with cardboard boxes. We had a house that was infested years upon years ago. ICK. We lived in the country and tried everything to get rid of them. Finally, someone on this board recommended Bengal roach spray. It is an aerosol powder that you spray onto baseboards. It didn't fog up the house at all. Within an hour, those boogers were crawling out of the ceiling!!!!!!!!:scared: BLECH! stopping now - don't even want to remember the horror. Anyway, they were all dead within an hour. (I am SHUDDERING right now!) We vacuumed them up and never saw another roach.

[jamnkats]

We live in the land of GIGANTIC cockroaches. It is said that for every one you see thre are 20 you don't see. I have woken to cockroaches crawling on my at night. That was the absolute WORST. We now use diatomaceous earth and as soon as we can find it (we have read thate is a place in Merida we can get it) we'll put out boric acid as well. Spraying only gets the ones you see - the boric acid and DE gets the ones in the nests. After we did the big DE attack we went from 8 in one night to none. Ocassionally we'll still get one or two that we see but they are literally all around us, so we count on the geckos and iguanas and the DE to keep them off us at night. Ever since our big DE push we haven't had any crawing on us and that, I've decided, is good enough for me.

[LizzyBee]

I've lived in FL and Okinawa, and I have to say no, you don't have an infestation. When you open a cupboard and watch the small German cockroaches march out in a parade, that's when you've had an infestation.

 

When we lived in a rental that included a bug contract, it was wonderful. They sprayed once a month, and they'd come back in between if we had any problems. When we didn't have a bug contract, I took all the dishes out of my cupboards once a month and sprayed the cupboards. I waited long enough for the spray to be completely dry, lined the shelves with paper, and then put the dishes away. I also sprayed under the sinks in the kitchen and bathrooms and along the edges of the walls/floors in all rooms.

 

Since you apparently don't live in an area where cockroaches are common, I'd just call someone to come exterminate. Once might be enough to take care of it, although for a week or so you'll probably see more bugs, not less.