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Roaches: Can I Win?

Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,922
Alright, so we're getting the fireplace renovated and the people doing it need the side door open for most of the day to transport their equipment to it. They've been at this for about two days now. We didn't have much of a problem with bugs getting in aside from flies and a single wasp. Fast forward to this morning and I see a dark object wedged between my ceiling and the wood lining. Get a closer look and it appears to be a roach. Having the policy on roaches that I do

(Pictured: Roach Policy)
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I went about ensuring that absolutely anything that might even slightly attract roaches was removed from my room, checked all the little dark corners and sprayed them into oblivion, and once I was satisfied, rocked back and forth in the corner like a madman, convincing myself that it totally wasn't a roach. The rest of the day went fine with no sightings. Eventually the people renovating the fireplace leave again, and I'm cleaning up the bathroom now that the door is closed when I notice another, but much, much smaller shape in between the crack of the bathroom door that leads outside. I also notice two more shapes, one along the wall paneling on the other side of the bathroom and one on top of the paneling around the outside door. I kill both of them and go around to the outside with my phone flashlight, and there's one on the wall near the door.

By this point every section of the bathroom has been sprayed, as has the entire outside area surrounding the door. I took a few pictures to cross reference them and it seems like these are more outside roaches, not the standard indoor variety (though I can't be sure. Not an expert). It's the middle of the night so I'm not getting an exterminator out here just yet, but is there anything else I need to know, era?

PS: a mosquito came in too and she won't stop biting my legs

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Grimminski

Grimminski

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,173
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
We had roaches in the basement after some renovations growing up, ended up having to remove the newly installed appliances while the exterminator did the work.

If you act fast, you'll probably be fine.
 
OP
OP
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,922
Grimminski said:
We had roaches in the basement after some renovations growing up, ended up having to remove the newly installed appliances while the exterminator did the work.

If you act fast, you'll probably be fine.
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I can only hope I was fast enough. They've only been seen for one day

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smurfx said:

use this. take off the face plates off of your plugs and light switches and put some inside. do this especially in your kitchen. also put it in small crevices where roaches might gather.
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They haven't made it to the kitchen. We're holding the line at the intersection where my bedroom, the bathroom, the doorway to the den, and the computer room are

It's been recommended twice though so I'll likely take this advice
 
Sectorseven

Sectorseven

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,560
Learn their language, earn their trust, then breed with their women. In time you will see each other as equals.
 
AntoneM

AntoneM

Member
Oct 25, 2017
716
I pay $90 every 2 months for pest control services. Had roaches in kitchen drawers, in the bedroom, and the living room. Now I might come accross a dead one every couple months. So basically went from seeing one every couple days to hardly seeing them at all and not alive at that.

I live in a 60 year old house in the middle of a major metropolis in the US so I expect some roaches, if even just coming in from the outside. So, I've been very happy. Might be worth checking into.
 
Skel1ingt0n

Skel1ingt0n

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,891
You'll need regular pest control, period. This is now a routine that you can't ever let up... but it's really not that bad. Truly.

Just as often as you might clean your gutters (once per season) or scrub your bath/shower or wash your sheets (hopefully at least once a month or so), you need to use the bait stuff linked earlier, things like diatomaceous earth and sprinkle that behind all your appliances and around your house, and also keep your home free of food/crumbs.

Basically, spend like 10 min every other week staying on top of it, and you'll get ahead of this and be fine. But keep doing it past that... because if you got roaches from two days of an open door, instantly, that means they're ALL UP in your outside area, so you need to stay vigilant!

Good luck, man!
 
OP
OP
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,922
So I killed the mosquito and we killed two more tiny ones in the bathroom. The one that was in the bedroom was significantly larger than any of the new ones we've found (first one was normal, the rest have been small and somewhat circular). Roach eggs take at least 4 weeks to hatch and it's been two days so we don't know if the one I saw was the mom and she laid her eggs in the renovation equipment weeks ago, then they hatched and now all her kids are laying siege to my house or what.
 
Why would you do that?

Why would you do that?

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,825
New York City
I actually managed to win against a ton of roaches living in / under my bathroom sink about 8 or so years ago.

One day I was having a friend come over, and I decided enough was enough -- those roaches had to go. So I took bug spray as my sword and a dustpan as my shield and just went for it. Within seconds of spraying, roaches were scattering everywhere on the sink and the floor, while I took the dustpan and started mashing. And then, a boss -- er, I mean a big cockroach / water bug appeared. It dodged a lot of my swings, but eventually I got it. A few more roaches later and then another big cockroach appeared, this time it was trying to chase me down my hallway. But I ended up getting that one, too.

Eventually the roaches were appearing at an acceptable level (like 1 every few minutes) and so I called it quits. By that time next week, I didn't see any more roaches. They were all dead, and I haven't seen any in that area since. I had won.
 

Deleted member 14887

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,030
Demon wp with Ggentrol growth regulator mixed in a gallon pump sprayer.


My friend brought roaches in with him when we let him stay with us when he got kicked out of his house. It was bad but those things I posted plus the bait worked wonders
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
raid-max-bug-barrier.png


Get that and spray it every-fucking-where. It keeps them the hell away for a month.

Bonus, it works against other bugs, too, but who cares when you have roaches.
 
Poyunch

Poyunch

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,384
smurfx said:

use this. take off the face plates off of your plugs and light switches and put some inside. do this especially in your kitchen. also put it in small crevices where roaches might gather.
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+1 for this. I tried using raid at an old apartment and it would work for a bit but then I'd see a roach a few months later. Then I found out about this thing and I never saw a roach ever again. It's great because the roach dies from the poison but then any remaining roaches that the find the corpse will die from eating the poisoned corpse. So on and so forth.

It worked so well that when I moved I didn't even notice the tubes I bought were expired because I stopped using them.
 
OP
OP
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,922
Couple bug bombs in sealed rooms and cans of raid later, there are a couple corpses around. I'll have to unseal the bathroom to see how effective it really was
 
Shake Appeal

Shake Appeal

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,889
Seeing a single roach does not mean your place is infested, especially if there's no obvious food source for them. If you have seen multiple, though ... yeah.
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
When I moved into my place, it had a german roach infestation, the very first time I've ever had to deal with a roach infestation. I went HAM. Brought in exterminators every two weeks, laid out traps myself, used borax everywhere, and, what I personally think did the trick: PUT EVERY SINGLE FOOD RELATED ITEM INTO AIR-TIGHT CONTAINERS. Like, even shit in cardboard boxes. Went to walmart and spent about $150 in air tight containers and put EVERYTHING into them. Even cereal. Took out the trash twice a day, especially before going to bed at night. Caulked every hole or crack I could find. tightened all the pipes so there wouldn't be water for them to drink.

With no food supply available except for poison, I eventually won the battle. Haven't seen a roach inside except for the occasional errant outside roach in years. While the poison worked, however, I saw TONS of dead roaches everywhere, so prepare for that.
 
VISION

VISION

Member
Oct 25, 2017
988
Krejlooc said:
When I moved into my place, it had a german roach infestation, the very first time I've ever had to deal with a roach infestation. I went HAM. Brought in exterminators every two weeks, laid out traps myself, used borax everywhere, and, what I personally think did the trick: PUT EVERY SINGLE FOOD RELATED ITEM INTO AIR-TIGHT CONTAINERS. Like, even shit in cardboard boxes. Went to walmart and spent about $150 in air tight containers and put EVERYTHING into them. Even cereal. Took out the trash twice a day, especially before going to bed at night. Caulked every hole or crack I could find. tightened all the pipes so there wouldn't be water for them to drink.

With no food supply available except for poison, I eventually won the battle. Haven't seen a roach inside except for the occasional errant outside roach in years. While the poison worked, however, I saw TONS of dead roaches everywhere, so prepare for that.
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I'm terrified of roaches. I talked to previous tenants of my apartment. Both of them told me the same story. "I saw a single roach once and called the apartment manager who had pest control come in the same day and then I didn't see one again."

Even with just that information I basically just will not bring food into my apartment except frozen food and diet sodas. I look around every couple days. I think both previous tenants only lived here for about a year so I'm guessing there are ones in the area (I mean it is downtown) that try to come in when it gets colder outside.

I might just spray that raid max shit everywhere as a precaution. Is it okay to spray that stuff if I have a cat?
 

Deleted member 12790

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
24,537
VISION said:
I'm terrified of roaches. I talked to previous tenants of my apartment. Both of them told me the same story. "I saw a single roach once and called the apartment manager who had pest control come in the same day and then I didn't see one again."

Even with just that information I basically just will not bring food into my apartment except frozen food and diet sodas. I look around every couple days. I think both previous tenants only lived here for about a year so I'm guessing there are ones in the area (I mean it is downtown) that try to come in when it gets colder outside.

I might just spray that raid max shit everywhere as a precaution. Is it okay to spray that stuff if I have a cat?
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I dunno about raid max, but when I brought in the exterminator I mentioned I had a dog and they made sure to use pet-safe stuff. Borax is also ok for pets (at least dogs). Do your research just to be certain, you don't want to take a risk.
 
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OP
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,922
Krejlooc said:
I dunno about raid max, but when I brought in the exterminator I mentioned I had a dog and they made sure to use pet-safe stuff. Borax is also ok for pets (at least dogs). Do your research just to be certain, you don't want to take a risk.
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We sprayed outside too and our dog is outside. I'm guessing that's not a big a factor to outside pets as it is to inside ones.
 

cgcg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
430
Advion really works, pretty damn effective too. Haven't seen one since using it. Pretty amazing really. First effective roach bait I've used. Tho we didn't have an infestation, just some herer and there.
 
BLEEN

BLEEN

Member
Oct 27, 2017
21,956
I posted in another roach thread once, let me see if I can find it. But for now, boric acid will completely destroy their nests in just two weeks. Buy that.

Edit* Here you go, sorry didn't feel like retyping this:
not an professional exterminator by any means but those sticky traps, bait traps, RAID, and things like that? They absolutely suck and barely put a dent in a roach infestation. They might be okay for a straggler here or there, but if you see one, I can guarantee there's 50 more for each one. Probably more.

I learned all this trying to help a friend of mine out in his apartment. We did a two-pronged approach but he was in a hurry. Roach bombs, 1 per room. Usually a good chunk will die from that, around half I'd say. Maybe less. Then you clean up, boric acid crevices and such where ever you can. It also helps to simply follow a roach around to see where it goes. That's its nest. Puff boric acid to where any roach hides into, and that's almost magic right there, that's a nest. You'll see the babies come out confused. Then scurry away, let them. They'll take care of themselves in about two weeks. Not only that, but roaches eat everything; including themselves.

Edit* One more thing, boric acid will stay active for a long while, so long as you don't get it wet. Similar to DE. So what I do is, let it chill for a full month and once you're happy with the results clean up any extra boric acid you see. If you have pets, just don't be too haphazard about applying it. Keep it confined in the crevices, the stuff actually isn't too toxic to animals.The bombs tho, everyone needs to evacuate for 2 hours. Stuff is potent.
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Dubbedinenglish

Dubbedinenglish

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
10,326
Z-Beat said:
Pics:

Top pic was outside, bottom one was inside
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Honestly you should be fine and didn't need to go all CBRN on your house. Those kind of roaches are from outside and got in from an opening. They primarily eat rotting wood and look for cool dark places to hide during the day. They aren't the kind for infestation. At most I'd do a perimeter treatment on your door/window sills and check your laundry exhaust to see if it sealing when not in use.
 
OP
OP
Z-Beat

Z-Beat

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
31,922
Dubbedinenglish said:
Honestly you should be fine and didn't need to go all CBRN on your house. Those kind of roaches are from outside and got in from an opening. They primarily eat rotting wood and look for cool dark places to hide during the day. They aren't the kind for infestation. At most I'd do a perimeter treatment on your door/window sills and check your laundry exhaust to see if it sealing when not in use.
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Good to hear. We thought as much. They likely came in when the door were open all day from the renovation guys, which would explain why the bathroom had so many.

Anyway I unsealed the bathroom and checked around. Nothing alive; couple of bodies. We'll get an exterminator in as an extra precaution but I think we've won for now

Gotta wait until night to be sure
 
Fudgepuppy

Fudgepuppy

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
4,270
I used those poisonous bait traps. Got rid off my roaches in a week.

They go in, eat the poison, then die. Eventually the disease will spread as they eat the corpses. You might have to move some of the dead roaches though, to ensure the other roaches eat them.
 
TrafficCoen

TrafficCoen

The Fallen
Feb 22, 2019
1,623
Every day I count my blessings Cockroaches don't live in my country.


I believe in a hell, simply because that could be the only place that could spawn creatures like cockroaches
 
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