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Usually critters aren't isolated to just one unit in a building; does your neighbor have the same problem? Are there gaps in the electrical outlet, etc. where they are coming in? If so the first thing to do is to seal all the gaps up, and then the extermination may take hold. If you have a porous border, jihad roaches from your neighbor will just keep coming back no matter how much you exterminate in your apartment, so to speak.

Boric acid is a low toxic, inexpensive, and reputedly effective, roach killer. I've been meaning to try it, but it's hard to find in the city. It can be ordered on line.

"As an insecticide, boric acid acts as a “stomach poison” for ants, cockroaches,
silverfish and termites, and is most
commonly used in a bait formulation
containing a feeding attractant or as a dry
powder. The powder can be injected into
cracks and crevices, where it forms a fine
layer of dust. Insects travel through the
powder, which adheres to their legs. When
the insects groom themselves, they ingest
the poison, which causes death due to
starvation and dehydration 3-10 days later.
Boric acid can also abrade the exoskeletons
of insects.(5) As long as the
material is not allowed to become wet, its
continuous presence ensures that hatching
insects, which sprays commonly spare,
are exposed and die as well. Many
insecticidal formulations contain a
desiccant to protect the boric acid from airborne
moisture. These formulations can be
effective for more than a year.(3)"
FROM: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Boric%20Acid.pdf

Boric acid can work and you should be able to find it at any Duane Reade (the one on Cortelyou Road here in Ditmas Park definitely has it on the shelves) but it sounds like you have a real professional-grade problem. Beyond calling an exterminator, you need to seal up any cracks and crevices and be really scrupulously clean so that over the long haul, the tribes look elsewhere for food sources. Also, take care with standing water, dripping faucets, dirty clothing and bed linens (they will consume the skin you shed), and anything that gets greasy. Make sure to clean, clean, clean because the debris one roach deposits and any small bodyparts will attract other roaches as a food source. Good luck.

A few years ago, I had a bad roach infestion in my apartment.

I used three cans of the fogger from Raid (in the bedroom, living room, and one in-between my kitchen and bathroom) and haven't seen a bug since!!! It definitely is worth a try before spending the money on exterminators, who will probably do the same thing. The foggers they have now are also very light and there is remarkably little cleanup to do afterwards.

http://www.killsbugsdead.com/fop_mc_dr_f.asp

Also, another thing that roaches love are piles of paper, books and magazines. They also love glue (wallpaper...). It sounds like the previous owners of your place might have had more than one of the above!

Good luck!

I had a similar problem in my first apartment (rental) and nothing seemed to work. We tried the boric acid, we tried the raid, the buildings exterminator, etc. We were above a restaurant/bar and everytime we got rid of them - new ones would just come back.

Then we got a cat. Problem solved. It's gross - but it works.

I think you're going to have to move out for a few days and get a professional service to really nuke the place as opposed to you standard spray job.

Call Dependable Exerminating 718/863-2172, ask them to send Tommy-- he will plug up with silocone literally every nook and cranny that any raoch can get thru, then he sprays. And you won't see another roach again.

Boric acid is the BEST method of pest control, in this urban dweller's book.

Using chemicals to kill roaches may seem initially effective, but bugs grow resistant to synthetic poisons over time. This is not true for boric acid.

More than this, however, boric acid poses NO health risks to humans or to pets. It's been used for centuries as a remedy for pink eye. Think about it--would you put DDT on your eyeball?

We bought a plug in that emits a sound (you can't hear it) that makes roaches and mice go away. We gave it to our daughter and ahse says her 5th floor walk up in Boorum Hull has been "roach free" since using it. Get it in Hardware store. About $35.

If you don't want to go the exterminator route, put out lots of dabs of Combat Roach-killing Gel, which is similar to what sensible exterminators use these days, instead of the usual deadly (to bugs and us) sprays.

The gel WORKS. If you have tons of roaches you may have to put out several tubes' worth; they cost about $6.50 each. You can put the dabs on Post-it notes -- the sticky edge keeps it in place and the bright colors help you find them when you need to replace or toss.

Because roaches are cannibalistic, when one roach conks, he/she gets eaten, and the gel is spread to many more of the persistent beasts.

Keep a light on in the kitchen and bathroom all night long -- a fluorescent bulb in a lamp, even, will help. Roaches prefer to do their dirty work in the dark.

Follow up with Combat roach baits for maintenance.

Unfortunately, boric acid takes a long time to work and even then doesn't work very well. Which is sad because it's basically nontoxic, but it can be deadly to cats. It gets tracked around, they walk in it and then lick their paws. Not good.

I really appreciate blogs like this one becuase it is insightful and helps me communicate with others.
thanks.also, that guy billyz, I really need to talk to you about that cure you mentioned.

Well, I think all these ideas are good, but for every one roach there's a thousand.

Now note that this is all without me living in the apartment as of yet but having the key...
I have used baking soda dusted in the cupboards and under them...under the stove and the fridge down the drains along the cracks and crevices, borax 20 mule on the carpet..two boxes swept into the carpets for the 780 square feet I have in the apartment, oh I fogged the place, bought 24 roach baits for both the small and the large critters....one of them had an extra 3 specificaly for killing eggs, so through out my apartment under the stove and the fridge, pressed into the little space between the vertical blinds, on top of the medicine chest, and hidden behind the stove vent....roach baits, spread some blue powder stuff that says...99% BORIC ACID!!!!! Squeezed that into the cracks and crevices and the drains and flung it with an urgent excitement on the stucko ceiling and dusted it into the carpets as well....oh and poured the blue powder 99% BORIC ACID!!!! in the potty....dropped rosemary oil on the tops of the doors and corners of cabinets since the internet said it worked....bought the roach devices that send out ultra sonic waves....four of them....caulked under the A\C it's a wall unit with a good 1 inch gap under it...I stuck my fingers in it and felt the tips of the weeds growing outside my window....and then....and then....the apartment manager had my unit and the unit next to it...sprayed...All this within a two week period,
So the SOB's have had no water from inside that apartment.....still those SOB's won't give up! I just caulked so that will help...since it rained and I am sure they escaped outside for relief using the space between the A\C....So lets see how it goes...so far I see a lot less in fact a whole lot less and the ones I do see are slower...

I don't know about the plug in devices....a roach stood in front of the one in my kitchen and I think he was moving his creepy antena to the waves it was sending out...like I was providing the thing with some groovin house music at the disco....from the patterns and the lack of bodies found in the powder I would say they made snow angels.....or slapped on toothpicks as skis and hit the slopes of powder left all over....

Has it eradicated the enemy? Well see....well see....
Next I plan on making boric acid yums yums and putting the in the little muffin cups and hiding them around the place...and placing baits in the couches and dusting the unders of them with boric acid before setting them down in their places with more boric acid right under their spots....

Should all else fail....community assistance resource center...substandard housing...here I come....

The latest on Lola's little pest....DEAD! I moved on of all days...April 1st so let us hope this is not an evil roach joke on me...it looks like I did get rid of them. I bought those silver ant bait stakes and stuck those outside my apartment under the windows. Used a mixture of Borax,bleach, hot water and baking soda to wash the walls and baseboards of the entire apartment and did the same to wash the inside and outside of the drawers and cabinets and then used that same thing to mop the floors...my arms.....are like machine guns now! I also bought some Raid spray and hit the cracks between the walls with it and down the cracks in the baseboard. After washing the drawers and cabinets down and letting them dry out..I sprinkled a light dusting of baking soda on the shelves and in the drawers of the bathroom and kitchen then laid the rubber waffle shelf paper down. So now going on well almost a week of noooooo roaches. Once I get all of my furniture down I am going to make the roach balls with baking soda, flower, powdered sugar , water and maybe a pinch of boric acid for flavor...ball those up and stick them in the tiny muffin wrappers....place those around the kitchen and bathroom out of sight and reach of the kids....stick some of those baits inside the furniture...then I think I will be pretty well off. Every three months when I change the baits to keep them effective...so that's what...July? Yep.... then I do the whole cleaning thing all over just like before...this time I store my food and all of my dishes in airtight container...bag my electrical appliances put baking soda in the bag..tie em shut and seal them in...an airtight container...for a week...like the week I have the borax on the floor....we eat out maybe take a trip for a couple of days...then.....do it again in another 3 months! YEAAAAAY! I don't think that I will fog again...I think that was a crock of crap. The ultra sonic waves or whatever that crap was ... I don't know if it worked..but I have a false sense of security...like the one I have about the lock on my front door.....so...one Lola in the Ghetto is stronger than an infested apartment of demonic cockroaches....Kill roaches with baking soda, borax, bleach, baits, sprays, and of course smushing them under your boots!

Saw one...last night hanging out by the kitchen sink...he was pretty slow too...I sprayed him then washed him down the garbage disposal of death once dazed by the Raid. Now what? I need to plan the next step since if there is one there is another and another and yet another and still..yes another. Now I beat my head against the wall tyring to figure out what the next anti roach step is that I can take....damn it!

place moth balls (2-3) in EACH light socket. Take the cover off, put 2-3 in, and cover the socket back up. Your place will smell for like a day, but its well worth it!!!

Recently moved into an apartment that a bunch of crackheads had been using as a flop house. Lola you cracked me up "Boric Acid Yum Yums". Thus far I have been scrupulously clean, cut off all water sources, placed 12 baits and egg stoppers, cover my counter tops in boric acid, and used 3 cans of foggers. Those little s&*ts keep coming back. I've notice the ones I do see at night now are much slower and dont move very fast... is this a sign that they are dying? Anyone have any input.

Ah Joe...Do you remember the movie...Joe's Apartment...with the singing dancing roaches? For a while your place will play out like a scene from that movie...I have seen 2 inside my apartment and 1 outside since going nuts on the place...I happen to live in the projects and my neighbors...the majority of them are crackheads, tweakers, etc etc etc....filthy! The slower roaches are knocking on death's door...but...it's the roaches who have been living it up with crackheads you'll be seeing...
Try the borax on the carpet for a week because that really does work at least it did for me....I also did the powdered sugar, baking soda, borax, boric acid....and used it as a powder under my fridge and stove...and in cracks under the sink...
Put your cereal in 1 gallon zip lock bags and back in the boxes...any food source...they will make use of...and fat chance of making a dent in em if you feed em! I bought bamboo placemants and used them as shelve paper and sprinkled baking soda under them....the waffle stuff was a pain...so try that.....It may not sound too promising seeing as to how I have seen 3 in this month...but...compared to what it was...3 slow roaches is not bad...I know for a fact the apartments around mine are the problem....roaches crawl along the windows of these apartments mocking me as I walk past...so my place has the least of the roach problems and the roaches that do sneak in from the crackheads apartments don't last very long since they have no food resources and every thing in my place has a dusting of baking soda or boric acid including books...and book shelves using the placemat and baking soda thing....space between my dresser drawers....sprinkled with borax and baking soda...get creative and get crazy...

Same problem, different location. I live in a multi-unit (and when I say multi-unit, I mean 16 flats plus a bodega and pizza joint below me) in Chicago. The landlord's a lazy bastard, and doesn't always fix things when they need to be fixed - I've had a hole in my bathroom wall for a year now, and the floor stripping in my bedroom is nonexistent. He does bring in an exterminator once every few months, but it rarely works because the people living below me are filthy - I can smell their apartment's stank when I go downstairs...

One evening I returned home, half drunk, only to find a giant cockroach crawling up my dining room wall! It was completely unphased even when I turned on the light. In a fury, I grabbed the boric acid from under the sink and doused the f**ker with it. He fell down the wall, taking a stream of powder into a crack between the wall and baseboard. I started to walk away - then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw what seemed to be a hundred roaches of all sizes scurrying out of the crack, across the floor, up the wall. Still armed with the boric acid, I shot powder at them gunslinger-style, freaking out my dog and the bugs at the same time.

Once the incursion was over, and I was somewhat satisfied that I'd taken out a few of them, I swept up the mess, went to bed and woke up the next day to find another big 'un crawling across the kitchen counter. I sped off to the hardware store, bought 4 boxes of Combat disks, came home and put them EVERYWHERE. In the closets, under the cabinets, the stove & fridge, the bathroom, anywhere I thought a roach would like to live.

That was two days ago, and I've not seen a single one since. Fingers crossed.

UPDATE No roaches for a month now, but Ive been a little slack with the dishes and I saw one crawling across the living room floor tonight and stomped on it and gave it a toilet burial. After I cleaned the apartment entirely again, hope this was a one time incidents. My solution that worked: 1. Keep no dirty dishes in the sink. 2. No moisture in the sink 3. No open food out, opened food packages keep in the frige. 4. A light dusting of borinc acid under the frigde stove, sink, bottom of cabinents (keep it light). 5. Raid baits, PLUS egg stoppers (essential) this seemed to work for me.

hey all. its glad to know i wasnt the only one suffering from the roach revenge.when i came into my apartment, i hardly had any pests except maybe fleas. i got rid of them but after a while a new raid began. the revenge of the roach. it seems like they came to haunt and torture any living creature in that apartment. i feel so frustrated and devastated that i no longer sleep or eat in my apartment anymore. its horrible. many people gave me different solutions but i dont know which way to go first. i need the most powerful roach killer solution. help me please.

Go to Chinatown and look for a product called "Miraculous Chalk." It's sold for $1 in many stores. The active ingredient? Deltamethrin. While illegal for household use, it is highly effective and 200-400 times EPA limits. Simply draw a line in the path of your roaches and all your troubles will be over. Just keep it away from kids and pets... people all over the world have been using this for centuries.

Or you could try looking for "Tempo" in East Harlem.

These are all wonderful concocsions but need a little Plaster of Paris to be added to all the dry ingredients so that they can all get 'plastered'

Does the baking soda, powdered sugar,and borax work outside? My roach problem is outside. And I don't want to use pesticides that can harm the dogs or children in my neighborhood. These roaches live around a tree at the end of my driveway (short driveway its a townhouse). Will this work if I sprinkle all over the ground?

My husband and I are looking to buy a used double wide mobile home..even though it's been sitting on a mobile home dealers lott, we noticed that it was once infested with roaches...We saw dead ones and found a couple of them dead inside the smoke detector and above the cabinets, where the fridge was and there were stains and that awful smell mainly in the kitchen and but mostly through the whole place..we are debateing this purchase because we are unsure if we will be buying a generation of cockroaches along with the trailor....We are planning to move this home on ten acres of land..there are no other people living at least that distance from us....Please..Some expeirenced advice will be greatly appreciated.....Thanks...Irene....

Call the best exetrminators on earth. Pest Away exterminating, they have helped me for years in many homes. They are reviewed here on this site. U will thank me later.

Wow! I have to say I am glad to be sharing in the cochroach woes. Cochroaches are the most successful organismisms on the planet they crawled on the bones of the dinosuars and will probally do the same for us. Cochroaches can eat almost anything includng vegetation,paper products,meat, even glue. They are the fastest running insect equvilant to a 60 miles an hour to scale, and thanks to a type of backward antennea the run backwards almost at the same speed. They can compress thier bodies to to slip through the slightest crack. That being said they also have a high level of toxicisty resistance. Two things I have noticed however never fails to kill them one a big shoe and second a pesticide called malathion. Malathion is horrible smelling akin to rotten eggs for about a day, but it will kill every insect it comes in contact with. It also kills Black widows, brown recluses, and scorpions. You can buy it in hardware stores and its lasts for months. The drawbacks beyond the smell are formidable it will not kill animals directly but they can die from eating the dead bugs, also I would not recomend having the fumes inhaled by children so let the area air out. For those needing help out side with ants here is a fun trick place a malathion stake next to an ant trail. The ants will die and when they die the excrete a phermone that attacts other ants to collect thier bodies which ofcourse kills them in return etc...
good luck all

Hey there -

I've lived in my apartment for 17 years, 14 of those years with two sweet cats, and have never had a problem with roaches. Until now.

Today I concluded that the strange smell that seemed to be coming from the area near my refrigerator was not caused by the roach baits I've put out but instead by what might be (???) a roach infestation.

I've been reading everybody's comments and am hoping for a miracle solution. I have two cats who are elderly, and all their lives they have "grazed" on their food - yup, that means the food is out for the cats (and the bugs) 24/7. I can't see realistically changing the cats' habits now though I will try if anybody has some suggestions.

It looks like I need to step up to a more aggressive roach control strategy, but don't know what the right thing is. I know a lot of the "over the counter" and professional strategies could prove toxic for my cats. Plus I don't have a lot of money and was hoping to find some homegrown solution that might work.

Any ideas or advice based on experience are greatly welcomed. And thanks again!

Regards to all -

Diane

p.s. I think it is significant that the cats' food has always been out 24/7, and yet I never had a roach problem until this year. So the food can't be the original culprit, though it sure is making it hard to get rid of the awful things now.

Well....my problem came back....not as bad but yeah with the heat and the dirty slobs in the apartment complex...I have them coming in through the windows when I open them and from cracks in the shared walls!
I am moving though in a few weeks. Most of everything I own is now in a storage unit which I am tempted to bomb but I figure I have bagged everything in trash bags pretty much before packing them into boxes...my furniture is still at the apartment because I have a small storage unit....but I figure I will spray the furniture until it's damn near drenched with raid prior to moving it.
The place I am moving to has carpet so I am going to do the Borax thing into the carpet just in case and pretty much go through the motions as if it were infested like the apartment I am moving from...better safe than sorry and prevention is easier than finding a solution as we all see.
Joe, I am glad to hear that you have been doing well keeping those nasty things out of your apartment! It's hard when you live in a unit like that because you can't treat your neighbors places....
I am excited I am moving to a townhome which to me is a glorified apartment complex but hell I will have one other unit attached to mine...and those people....I've looked through their windows in passing...they keep it clean....I will be roach free....
Keep your heads up everyone!
I also read that cucumber peels the more bitter the better around the house will keep the bugs at bay....although Kimmy has the right idea with the shoe....you would think that it would make an example out of the bug for it's friends...nasty things!

Well, today i am presently bombing my apt. I live in a new two family house which i love. But, as soon as the weather changed, the roaches came out to party. I had got something called "Enforcer" which is in a little brown bottle that you have to mix with water. It can make up to 2 gallons. I mixed up only 1 gallon so it can be stronger to kill the bugs.

Well, it worked for 1/2 of them. I have a cat also and i also leave his water out and food... Which i think contributed to the problem. I had to put him out on the balcony with his litter box and food so i can bomb the place. I hate seeing those roaches around. They would come out when i play rock music on the radio. (seriously) If i play rap, only a few would come out to party.

I want to get the roack chalk also so it can kill them as backup.. Does anyone know where i can get it in Jersey City NJ? Please advise.

Thank you.

Borac acid can be found at Walmart with the other roach killers. It's in a plastic bottle under the name "roach away" and it's under $3.00

The heat and one of those crazy pack rat neighbors with floor to ceiling bags, boxes and papers are creating problems in my building. I know some cities are cracking down on that behavior. Does anyone know who to contact to report it?

Hey PB...check in the phone book or online to find the hazards and nuisances department of your county. In mine they told me that it would have to be a long standing issue with multiple complaints....it is a health hazard it is an issue with human saftey....if you can't find it there check health and resources...the apartment next to mine was just cleaned out and the manager said that there were so many roaches that they were being swept into the dustpan by what looked like cup fulls! The spray didn't even kill half of them!

Solidarity is a good thing. I am staying with a friend for the summer, and his building is experiencing a new infestation like it's never felt before. It has one of those trash chutes, and I think that's part of the problem. We live across the hall from it so that's even worse. The neighbors are out like every day spraying the halls cause the live in the light fixtures and baseboards, etc. I am going to have to use some (all) of these tips. Cause I sprayed all in the hall and trash chute room tonight, and 2 hours later they were back. I think they actually LIKE the taste of Raid.

Oh, I meant to ask: what is this smell I've heard people talk about? I've heard that you can smell roaches. Is that true? And what does it smell like?

I've heard they smell too...but haven't smelled anything yet...i just discovered them in my apt this past week..one tuesday night, three thursday night, one friday and two saturday night...7 so far...ahve put out the baits that they bring back to the nest, sticky glue traps, and what's funny..i've only killed one in the kitchen...two in the bedroom and 3 in the living room..one on a beam outside the kitchen...Landlord has an inspection being done wednesday, but jesus, what if they come back?? my neighbor downstairs is cluttery but claims to never have seen anything in 12 years...i've never had a problem and am clean...i've only been in my apt for 2 months and wanna move out NOW...can my landlord keep my security deposit for moving out under these types of conditions??

hellow everybody
I had lived in my apartment for more than two years and three months ago this people moved in next door and two days after that i started seen those #$$##$ and I tried everythink the boric acid, traps, spays and it seems to work for a cuple of days but then they come back. So two weeks ago the stupid Landlord came finally!! and brought an inspector and you guys are not going to belive what she told me. She ask me if my husband or I drink beer and of coarse i said NO!! (yea right) and she said "because that is the best roach killer" in my head i thoght this woman is out of her mind. I havent tried it yet but im thiking of it. She said to put a little container with beer over night wherever i had my problem and the roaches get really attracted to it and they drawn in it or they become drunk and they die. I could not belive what she said but ok I will try it. If any of you tried this tell me how it worked.
Thank you
kari

Well every night i fight the never ending battle of the bugs.Those things are everywhere i hate them.They are in my electronic devices and all over my house.I've tried everything and nothing works.I am even paranoid about going out and one of the f....kers crawling out of my clothes and someone seeing it.My furniture is infested and i am tired of fighting them.I will try some of the things I have read here.I hope they work.I am moving in a few weeks and I don't want to take them with me.I have stomped 'till I dropped and I am tired.You can't have company and it is beyond an annoyance.I need help.

what I did was go out and buy lots of Combat roach traps. Only when I bought the version with egg-killers though, was I roach free for a while. Then some big buggers started surfacing.. real evil looking ones, I guess maybe the toughest? Anyway, I'm going to go and buy the big roach traps for them. I also let the dishes pile up for a couple of days, which I think led directly to their renaissance. As long as you never keep any dirty dishes lying about, and keep the counters clean, sweep/clean/dust regularly, and keep those nice roach traps around, you'll create a sterile/hostile environment for roaches... you can't defeat them totally, but you can make them uninterested in your home! Besides, you ought to be that sanitary anyway, so this is just a good incentive to keep good hygiene!

Hi everyone,
I have been battling cockroaches for at least 6 months now, first I was only getting them in my kitchen and bathroom now however I am getting them in the bedrooms as well, I have tried the sticky traps, had pest control here twice in July and have them coming again today, I have sealed all seems - nothing seems to work, I live in a apartment building and am guessing that someone has them and they are traveling to my unit, If anyone knows a good way for me to get rid of these ulgy critters please let me know, I am deadly afraid of bugs and also have a newborn baby. I killed 26 on Monday alone (just in the kitchen) needless to say I don't cook anymore . Please help.
Thank you
Scared of Bugs

I Have a really bad German roach problem, I mean my house is infested with these nasty A** crtitters. My house is a three bedroom house not really that big,so is there any thing I can use besides over-ther-counter roach spray cause believe me that does not work! I don't have very much money for an exterminator! Theres times where I wanna just break down and cry cuz no matter how much I try to get rid of them them seem to just multipy They are everywhere, in my sink, cracks in my furniture,crawling on the table,my stereo! They even have their own SMELL how disgusting is that?? I don't even like inviting friends to my house cuz there so embarrising! Talk about "Joe's Apartment"!!!! (The Movie)!! Well if u guys have any suggestions about getting rid of these nasty creatures for good them please get back at me..... I would tremendously appreciate the generosity!!!!!!
Adriana

I have lived in the same house for 27 years and we have always had roaches. We've tried everything, and I mean everything. I've heard that only certain brands of boric acid works. The Combat gel worked the first 2 or 3 times we used it. I am at my wits end with these litte #$%#$$! We have even had the litter suckers getting in our car. I think we must live in the worst area for roaches. We live in Southwest Alabama. I feel like the only thing to kill the suckers is to burn my house down. Talk about wanting to pull your hair out!!! Anyone have any suggestions?

Ugh-I can feel everyone's pain-I live in a crappy old apt in LA and we thought the coast was clear before move in-then upon further inspeaction, we saw the roach droppings-even in the fire alarm. We've used boric acid on the carpet, bombs, etc and recently they've come back. I see at least 1 a day-which grosses me out. I was looking through my dresser and there was a dead one at the back of oe my drawers-Ugh. I so miss my old place at the moment and moving is looking very appealling.

My son and his friend will be moving within a month from a roach infested apartment (the landlord has made minimal efforts to exterminate) to a new place. I am concerned that moving the furniture, esp. sofa, mattresses, books, will just transport roaches to the new place. Can the roaches be effectively exterminated from the furniture. My wife suggested renting a moving van and nuking all of the furniture in the van for a couple days before putting it in the new place. Does anyone know if that will work? What substances would work best? All suggestions greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Bait Gel and boric acid.

I have a semi-retired man coming to treat my little visitors Thursday. He was in charge of pest control at UC Berkeley for 28 years and wrote all kinds of instructional material on how to treat for ROACHES. He will return for free if he does not get them all the first time. He only charges $117 which to me is well worth it after having one sucker try to crawl up my nose while I was cooking. I since have been almost fasting. I think they crawled into my water ionizer. I have been using sugar and baking soda on them and now my water tastes like baking soda.

I can't sleep due to the thought of roaches. I live in a one room house and they are every where and starting to smell. I have a roach expert coming tomorrow and I have already put out 3 different kinds of bait stations. There are signs my landlord knew about the problem and started it before I moved in. He was the last person living here and was a slob. He left dead bugs in the cabinets with oatmeal scattered around. A roach tried to crawl up my nose 2 days okay while I was cooking. I have since stopped cooking here and fear these nasty monsters are in my new water ionizer. The landlord claims he knew nothing about a roach problem. He is a roach. Oh and he is paying for the man to come deal with the problem tomorrow but now wants to start charging me for water which the ad said was included in my rent. Roaches will be roaches.

Please--does anyone know what brand of roach killer comes in a thick coppery brown color gunk that is applied with a gun? It is not clear, it is thick like toothpaste. Years ago, my roommate at the time put this stuff all around our baseboards, and it worked like magic. No more roaches. Now, my husband and I are dealing with the damn things where we currently live. He went out and bought spray roach killer because the store didn't have any brand of gel. He sprayed in all our nooks and crannies. A week later, they are out more than ever--the spray just pissed them off and flushed them out. I am awake right now at 3:35am because I awoke a little while ago to a big roach sitting on my pregnant stomach. Horrors of horrors! Seriously. I am so freaked out that I can't go back to bed. I can't handle this. What the hell is that thick coppery stuff called so I can buy some?! Does anyone know?

I have lived in a very nice/expensive apartment complex for six years now and never had any problems w/bugs except for an occassional earwig or silverfish. And they only came out after a rainy period.
Two weeks ago I had a roach explosion. Walked into my den and baby roaches all over the floor and in my entertainment cabinet! The only explination for them getting into the apartment has to be from a grocery bag. My neighbors have said that they do not see any bugs at night, so I'm fairly certain that they are contained in my apartment. They are only in my kitchen and den.

Last Sunday, when I initially sighted them, I went to Home Depot and purchased Combat Roach Gel and several boxes of Combat Roach Bait and Hot Shot Nest Destroyer Roach Bait. I have read on many university sites that you CANNOT use spray and then put baits down. The spray only acts to flush roaches out and deters them from going into the bait traps. So DO NOT spray where you are going to put out traps because the roaches will stay away from them and that defeats the purpose. Boric Acid MUST be put down VERY LIGHTLY and there is a technique for doing this. If you put down a lot of Boric Acid or put it down heavily, it becomes an obsticle for the roaches will walk around it. Boric Acid will also act as a deterrant to the bait traps if it is used next to each other.

Combat Roach Killing Gel is the BOMB! Because it contains: Hydramethylnon which is very attractive to roaches and they eat it and the poison gets in their systems and they go back to their nests and die. The other roaches eat them and their droppings and they die also. Roaches are cannibalistic and they will eat each other if no other food source is available. So take away their food source and they will eat each other and their droppings and die.

We have been getting up throughout the night for about a week now and killing any roaches we see which is basically the babies. I killed 4 big ones on the first day and have not seen any big ones since just the nymphs. It took about 2 days and saw a drastic reduction in nymphs but still killed several during the night for the past 5 days. This morning we saw 1 in the kitchen near a sticky trap and 1 near a wall socket in the den and we squashed them! So it seems that what we are using is working well.....for now. Roaches do have a life cycle and we may be in for another round in a few days/weeks.

Remember, do not use spray in the areas that you are using bait traps or sticky traps. Use a combination of gel and traps and keep the boric acid very light.
One of the university sites stated that to get rid of roaches is patience and persistance.

JFM I so feel for you and since my home has been invaded by roaches I have not wanted to go to bed at night and do not sleep well.

I had someone come deal with my roaches Friday and I still see a couple of course everyday.

For everyone with roach problems it is very important to find out what kind of roach is invading your home because they go for different baits. I have Field Roaches which do not carry disease and are looking for water not food (I still hate them). My Field Roaches will not eat normal roach bait so a corn product with 5% of something else was puffed around the outside of my house with a tiny bit under my refrigeator and stove and a couple of other places inside my house. After they eat it they can not reproduce. My roaches are lost I was told and looking for water. I would like to put a large sign up pointing them in the direction of the creek.

If you want to find out just what kind of cockroach you are dealing with take one dead or alive and not crushed (you can put it in a jar filled with rubbing alcohol to your counties argricultural commissioner and they will type it and tell you how best to treat it.

The man who came to my house to treat my roaches on Friday said to use Borax rather than boric acid because Borax is less toxic and to spread it very thinly. He said Boric Acid is more toxic then most people know. He has been doing pest control as non-toxic as possible at UC Berkeley for 28 years and he has written brochures on how to treat roaches and has taught other people how to do non-toxic pest control.

Good luck to anyone with roaches - the little buggers suck!

Well, we got through the night without seeing any roaches!! Yesterday, we bought more Combat Roach Killing Gel and put it in the wall electrical sockets and placed more bait traps around. We also bought 6 sticky traps to monitor activity.
This morning we found nothing! Only have been finding dead ones along the walls where they didn't even have the energy to hide. I'm praying that we have the upper hand on the situation now. We've pretty much used "overkill" on the place but not taking any chances. We've spent about $65 on the chemicals so far. I would say that inregards to their life cycle, if we remain roach-free for over a month and not see a single one, then hopefully we've won. We're being very cautious when we cook and cleaning up immidiately and taking the trash out at night.

Good to see a place where we all can learn from each other and the different way of dealing with this roach problem.

JFM:

The coppery stuff you are asking about is Combat Roach Killing Gel which can be bought in your local hardware stores (Lowes & Home Depot). It is about $10 a tube but it is the BOMB! The gel is also sold under the name "Maxforce" roach gel but is the same thing as Combat.

Hope this helps.

This may be jumping the gun a bit, but now on day two without seeing a single roach. Last night I spoke w/a friend in the midwest and she stated that she has used Combat Gel and Baits in several states that she has lived in and it works great!

Still got up last night at 1:30am and again at 4am to check and found nothing. Not even in the sticky traps. Keeping my fingers crossed and sending prayers skyward........

My field roaches are worse than ever. So much for the pest control guy who came and treated them it did nada.

Does anyone have experience in dealing with field roaches. They are suppose to be different then normal German roaches as far as they don't go for the usual bait...????

SOS I can not relax in my own rented home.

Why the heck isn't there a freakin biological roach virus? Infect one and it will kill the rest. You have seen scientists done it on ants. Why not roaches?

The below link has some methods for cockroach death.... I am now trying orange oil/peel spray to keep the monsters from coming in where my doors meet the wall of my house: My county argricultural office said with field roaches the problem is seasonal and that they came in due to the last heat wave and they are scheduled to leave in 2 to 4 weeks. I am counting the days.... they will not use bait stations made for German or other roaches...

http://www.ourwaterourworld.org/Product_list.cfm

Well, it's been 3 weeks now and no signs of anymore roaches! I feel a false sense of security as I'm waiting for them to reappear. No activity in any sticky traps nor any "droppings" around bait traps. I'm going to wait one more week before putting my kitchen back together.
Sometimes I feel like putting a bananna peel out at night to see what happens!!
If there are any roaches in the apartment, they will surely come out for that. I still get up in the middle of the night and check to see if they are around. I can't sleep too much because of the situation but getting better. My cat still can't understand why he can't have his food out all the time. Poor fellow.......
Anyway, I'm hoping that the problem is now solved and I can get on with my life as usual. I feel so stressed out but trying to put things back together.
So, there is hope if one follows the instructions and tries the methods I have implored. Good luck to you all.
COMBAT RULES!!

Sam

I had a man come out to spray my 900 sq ft duplex on Aug 27 2006 -- approx 2 weeks ago. My main infestation area was the kitchen, so he concentrated most heavily there. I have not seen them in the kitchen, but am now seeing them in my bedroom instead. I guess this means they've migrated. I am going to have him come out and respray asap, focusing on the bed and bath this time, as well as outdoors. I will also get the Combat gel and some bait traps. This is a very old unit in a historic part of town (in Texas) and since I'm renting, I'm limited in doing a lot to "fix up work" with cracks and sealing. I'll do my best, but I think this is simply going to be an ongoing effort. Like many other folks, I am traumatized by these things! I pretty much refuse to cook or have any food in the house. I do have my dog's food & water out, which I will begin storing away at night. But right now, I'm reading these posts and typing my own, because I woke up at 12:30am to see a roach crawl around the pesticide-treated areas in my bedroom, crawl up my dresser, jump over to the wall and proceed to climb up the wall, cleverly avoiding the floorboards. I don't know where the damn thing is now, so I can't get back to sleep. I guess I'll be studying my chemistry a lot! while I try to get this problem under control. Hope folks will continue to post here with their experiences and suggestions.

Susanne

Moved into a new apartment in nyc with a roach problem. I never had a roach problem before. Probably doesnt help that my new apartment is above a restaurant. The roaches make my skin crawl! It is so nice to know there are people out there who have the same problem, and feel the same way I do!

So Im thinking of using the raid defogger, roach traps, egg stoppers, a roach noise machine, and possibly boric acid or roach gel or the roach chalk that you can get in chinatown. Im going all out! Im also super careful with throwing my trash out daily, and never leaving food or moisture out. Hope something works

Question 1: which baits work best? Ive looked at combat baits (which have fipronil)and raid baits (whch have Avermectin B1). Which poison works best?

Question 2: is that roach chalk stronger than boric acid? which would you reccomend, the roach chalk,roach gel, or boric acid?

For those of you who may boric acid, this website provides helpful hints on the proper use of boric acid. It was written by an entomologist. http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/entfacts/struct/ef614.htm Apparently, its effective only if used correctly. And many people do not use it correctly

Thanks guys! I'll keep you posted on what works. And if you can, please answer my two questions. Thank You

priscilla

ps. where can i find those machines that emit a sound to drive away roaches?

I live in a fairly new 2 family house in Staten Island. Neighbors downstairs moved out last week, and we had ALOT of rain too. The other day (Sunday) I picked up a wet towel in my bedroom that was in ym laundry basket that fell on the floor and YUK!!! A ROACH came scurring out!!! I'm freaking out! I'm clean, the apartment is only 1 1/2 years old, I don't know where it came from! I'm so scared! I HATE bugs! Since sunday, that was the only one I saw. I don't know where it came from.. Did the neighbors moving out have something to do with it?? Did the rain? Did the now cooler temperatures? Does this mean I have more that i haven't seen yet???? Should I tell my landlord since the bottom floor is now bare and nobody has moved in yet? I so worried :( I have 2 cats and a dog, so I can't use chemicals. I feel like I need to call an exterminator and tell the landlord. HELP!!

hey jamie

cats are good, i think they eat the roaches

and there are some helpful hints on this site for pet friendly roach elimination methods. read the posts above

i feel your pain!

I have houseplants! I can't find anything on if the fogger will hurt them. Anyone have any info?

yea i got roaches, i think it was bc of my previous neighbors who constantly kept my side door open, bc they come downstairs to dp the laundry.... yea i live in a duplex, and also she previously lived in an apartment so that might be another reason

damn exterminator are god for nothing fools i need help any GOOD efetive ways to slay these pests!!!

Hi Tate,
I live in a small building occupies 64 families. Before I moved in over 12 years ago, the porter of the building told me he would cover/seal every hole, crack, opening so I would never see a nasty critter. Well I have to say that I've (in that amount of time) have seen less than a handful. Others however, are not that fortunate. I cringe when neighbors share their encounters with roaches and mice. The problem is this my boyfriend is the manager of the building and often he has to enter apartments to check on tenants (usually because they have not been seen by family or neighbors). Upon entering many apartments he encounters fly investations as well as roaches crawling everywhere. Apparently these tenants either take off for vacation or stay at their boyfriends/girlfriends place and forget to throw out the trash which is usually accumulated for weeks. These tenants are given fair warning the first time and are fined if the situation persists. But this is one of the reasons infestations begin. Inconsideration and laziness. As well as lack of cleanliness. I will give you my secret (please don't be discouraged) if you don't see speedy results but when I encounter one single roach I immediately get combat baits place at least 4 an inch apart in every corner, closet, cabinet. I also use that gel stuff which I put alongside my entrance door. I think though you may need a good extermator but follow up with combat every month and I promise you won't regret it. Be careful with the gel if you have small children or pets. Put it in places they can't get to. Good Luck!

when my daughter came home from college, i suspected she brought college roaches. So i wrapped small appliances in double sealed plastic bags - baggies are good. for larger items, i used double seqled garbage bags. sealing just means tieing or taping so no air gets in the bags. when we got home, i put all things from school in the detached garage. i instructed college grad daughter not to bring anything in until they were sanitized against bugs. well - short story, she brought in something contrary to orders. roaches came. i called a bug specialist at a university and he told me about roach cycles, a subject i did not see in all the posts i read or scanned. the cylcle includes live roaches, pregnant roach females, eggs already laid, and the time it takes to reach reproduction age. the day you fog, for example, roach eggs are in being already, lots of them. so you have to know these time periods - how long it takes for eggs to hatch and how long it takes for roaches to reach egg producing age male or female. armed with these ranges - you figure that the day you fog, of the eggs already in existance, an egg hatches in the next millisecond. understand that roaches laid eggs one millisecond before you fogged. the fog does not harm the eggs. after you fog and kill the living roaches, the next generation has already started. So, you look at the egg hatching and egg laying time periods and you will know when to fog the second time. that is all it took me to rid a 6-room detached house of roaches- 2 fogs. now the bad part is that i cant remember the ranges needed for calculation. just remember that you have to know that all the eggs laid before you fogged are going to hatch. all the live roaches have been killed by fogging. so you have to get all the newly hatched roaches in the second fog before they are lay eggs or impregnate female roaches. it can be done. as for getting rid of roaches in multiple dwellings, like someone above said - unless you can plug every pin hole, you cant get rid of them. also when moving and double bagging, dump all washable clothing in a hot water soap filled washing machine. as for appliances, if left in double bagging for a time, all the roach eggs will have hatched and the last of the dead roaches not cannabalized will be rolling around in the baggie. i always used clear plastic to see if anything was running around inside the bag. not any survivors. lack of oxygen prevents multiplication and you can then use the toaster or mixer. as for large bedding - the fogging technique will solve it if you can get the timing right. we never had roaches when we were children and all my father had was a flit gun. they used to come in by way of brown grocery bags from the local groceries. those baby roaches were flitted out before they could survice to screw up any more roaches. my dad was on the job.

I have seen 4 or 5 in the past month. At first we thought they were Pennsylvania wood roaches, but after doing research like a mad woman I discovered that they're actually American cockroaches. My family members don't seem to mind them that bad, but I have like...cockroachaphobia. Just today I walked into my room and encountered a cockroach sitting on top of an empty sonic cup. As soon as the little bugger saw me he ran into some scarves on my dresser and I haven't seen him since...
Does anyone have any killing methods I can use that won't cost money or piss off my mom?

Last night was bad. 3 sightings in about two hours. I believe it was 2 different roaches. I was about to go to sleep when I casually looked up and the little freak was on the ceiling right above my head. Of course, I screamed for my brother and he showed up with a big shoe. It seems that as soon as the roach saw that shoe, he got pretty pissed off because he suddenly glided over my head to a spot under my dresser. Needless to say, I didn't sleep more than four hours last night just knowing that the little s*** was alive!!
My family doesn't get it. Now I've at least gotten my 9 year old brother on my side, but no one else seems to take this seriously.
HEEELLLLLPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!

I was on this chatline talking to this guy and was about to have phone sex. I love Real Phone Sex and cant stand those operators, thats why I call 1-800-713-BODY There are lots of real women and men who like to get off, meet and fuck. BUt some time I just talk to the operator

Hey --

Ive tried all the over the counter methods with traps, etc. No luck. Still infested with roaches, big ones!

My last resort is to get a good exterminator (because the one the apartment uses sucks), and/or get a cat. Anyone know a amazing exterminator in NYC? Im willing to pay money

Help!!! I cannot get my mom to understand how important it is to keep the pet food and all other food AWAY, sealed, air tight. And why is it that I have roach-dar? It's like I know everytime I pause before I walk in the kitchen I have this thing come over me that tells me I am gonna see one of these suckers? My landlord is this nice older lady who is a friend of the family but she fricken bold faced lied about the damned roaches!! The lady that lived in the place before us was a P-I-G pig!! I won't even get into details about the things I saw (pictures she showed me AFTER I moved in) when the landlord did an inspection on the place prior to us moving in. Anyway, we are still seeing the little suckers in the kitchen, some days none, other days 3 at one time GROSS!!!! The exterminator left traps and he sprays about every 2-3 weeks. What can I use for the in between time?? I am getting a good feeling about the gel stuff Sam was talking about...Thanks for any help you can offer!!

I moved into my apartment on August 12th. I saw one roach when I was painting and realy didn't think nothing of it. What a mistake. Since then I've seen about 50, I'd say. They seem to be comming from the walls. I live in a complex with slobs all around me. I know that they are in the walls, I've seen them come out of the wall near the sink. I plugged up as many cracks and holes as I could find and sprayed all kinds of insecticides. Even the stuff that says it is supposed to work for 9 months. Yet I still see one or two when I wake up at night to get a drink from the kitchen. I don't leave any garbage here overnight and I always wipe down the sink with a paper towel. Can I move out of this apartment with my security. I have signed a lease for one year. Anyone have any advice?

Just wanted to say that it's been over a month now and roach free. Life is getting back to normal.

COMBAT RULES!!

Sam

hey all!
Like everyone on this website i have a cockroach problem. I found these posting very helpful, so i will share some knowledge bestowed to me by a certified professional. Bait traps. They are the most effective and safest out of any method.
Facts:

*using baits changes the eating habits of the bugs and lures them into your trap

*DO NOT use sprays and other repellents with bait traps!!! by doing that you are both scaring them away from and destroying the bait traps you just laid out!!!!

*The young cockroaches feed off the droppings of the adults. Consequently, they will die from the same poisoning that the adults will die from.

*Some baits will sterilize the adult cockroach so it cannot lay live eggs! IMPORTANT!!!

*If you are in an apartment building, joined housing etc, encourage your landlord to get a professional to use bait traps! Liquid pesticides are almost never permant fixes. It is a procedure that was supported in the 1940's NOT the 2000's.

*If bait traps are effectively used is it almost a guaranteed you will kill all roaches and their hidden nests!!!

And the worse part. It takes time! Allow some time for the poison to circulate.

*If you want to simply isolate the cockroaches from your unit.

-use an rubber sealant in all holes and cracks everywhere, i mean freaking everywhere!

-roaches sometimes go along the hallway, so a metal door extender along the base of your door will prevent them from entering. That goes with all along your door; top, sides etc...

I have been told that one of the best residental baits to use are MAX force series. i spoke to a nice guy named Doug from Ablepestcontrol. (they have a website, totally shameless here)

anyways i hope this helps those who are as freaked out as i am.

cheers

eric

oh. i almost forgot

*cockroaches come up open drains
-placing inexpensive strainers on all drain holes will prevent them from coming up! (dollar stores!)

As proof that this works i came back from home after thanksgiving and found a small cockroach with its head stuck in the stainer and it couldn't move. I found this funny and angering at the same time. lol.

As well here are some websites to help you with you understanding of the pest we call The cockroach:

General tips:

http://apartments.about.com/od/cockroachesmicepest1/ht/get_rid_roaches.htm


This is for cockroach species identification:

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/housingandclothing/DK1003.html

If you are not sure about any residental product this site will search it out for you and give you links to studies done with those chemicals.
And if you feel so inclined it gives you links to the chemical structure and the true nature of activity of the chemical itself.

http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/index.htm

cheers to more beers

eric the canadian

HI,

I HAVE A SERIOUS ROACH PROBLEM! I JUST MOVED INTO A NEW APARTMENT AND I HAVE HAD IT PROFESSIONALLY SPRAYED, LAYED OUT TRAPS, AND I HAVE BEEN KEEPING IT REALLY, REALLY CLEAN. I EVEN TRIED BAY LEAVES. I HAVE BEEN FINDING DEAD ADULTS, BUT I SEEM TO HAVE AN INFESTATION OF BABY COCKROACHES. I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT THE FORMER TENANTS WERE KEEPING AN ABSOLUTELY UNSANITARY HOUSEHOLD.
AM I THE EPICENTRE OF THE INFESTATION? I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MANY BABY COCKROACHES IN MY LIFE...THEY'RE EVERYWHERE AT NIGHT AND SOMETIMES EVEN IN THE DAY.
WHAT SHOULD I DO? HELP!!!

Hey,

So far I have sighted and killed 3 german cockroaches,Also saw 1 baby cockroach but cant find it. I am ready for battle with these shits.

I have a few questions

Do they have a certain odor, or do they not smell?
Are they dangerous?
Is it possible to take them out without sprays?

P.S Who else loved Naked Lunch?

read some the other above postings man

After hours of internet searches, this page is one of the most helpful! Thank you for all the info.

One thing I haven't been able to find is actual pictures of roach droppings. There is some mention of them but no pictures. It would be helpful to know what they look like. Anyone have a link to a picture?

From http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8820e/r8820e05.htm#cockroaches

http://www.unesco.org/webworld/ramp/html/r8820e/r8820e0i.gif
"FIGURE 31. - A comparison of house mouse and American cockroach droppings. American cockroach droppings are uniform, blunt-ended with longitudinal ridges, whereas house mouse droppings are irregular and tapered with no ridges.

Often American roach droppings are mistaken for mouse droppings and inappropriate pest control measures are taken. By misidentifying the droppings, baiting for mice will only aggravate the roach situation. Large cockroaches will readily feed on rodent baits without being affected by the toxins of the bait."

Still no actual picture.

I have found that using the foam sealant in a can works good for baseboards and crevices, under the sink where the pipes meet the wall and underneathe my heaters. I have steam heat so that makes for damp wood, a haven for those nasty buggers, but also Raid Max works okay, the kind in the royal blue bottle with the yellow spray hose. I have a harder time because my kids have asthma, I would like to suggest that if any of you have Platzner Management as landlords, you should either get out or get prepared to sue the slumlords. Any lung-friendly suggestions are welcome.

put pet dishes in a shallow pan filled with soapy water, that will keep them out of the bowls, then use max force gel in the sockets, closets, drawers,cabinets etc.

I found boric acid in my local $.99 store for--you guessed it--$.99. It has a pointed top/ applicator to help distribute it in cracks. Be aware it poses a danger to pets. I have a cat, so I taped over all the cracks I filled with masking tape, which luckily is the same color as the wall. I don't allow an exterminator in my home because I am concerned about the toxicity to people and my pet. I also use combat baits, but my problem was (thankfully) not in the same league. Be careful to clear food scraps out of the sink, not to leave pet food around and have a garbage can with a top. In Better Basics for the Home you will find other non toxic (to you, that is ; >) solutions. Good luck.

I'm in an apartment downtown. I do live right next to the compacter... could be a problem.

There was a product that is illegal called CHINA CHALK.
I thought it was just boric acid in chalk form, but now discover via the internet that it had some other kind of poison in it.
Well, boy did that work. I drew a line up near my cabinets away from pets, etc. Just a line across the wall underneath my kitchen cabinets. Once the roach crosses that line - bye bye.

However, now that it is illegal - and perhaps for good reason -
I wonder. I tried everything else. Yes, if you don't close holes, it
will be ongoing. I'm wondering if it's possible to find a chalk that is boric acid only. Ever hear of that? I would use that immediately.

I heard that Boric Acid makes the roach explode. Hate to be so gross. I can only hope that the roaches karma kicked in and it was time for him or her to not be a roach any longer.

I have a cat and a dog and they are not doing their job. This is the first time I'm seeing roaches in years. And no more china chalk.

I'll try the gel - thanks for the tip -- and squirt boric acid up behind my cabinets if there is a small space.

Darn it. I thought I was done with this problem!

As I read over these postings I feel a little better knowing that I'm not alone in this roach horror. I've lived in the same apartment here in ANCHORAGE ALASKA now for about 4 years. the first 3 years were wonderful. I had never seen a roach in my entire life as I lived in southeast alaska and roaches arent a problem there, at least not in the towns I lived in. Then I moved here to Anchorage Alaska and although I had heard about roaches being a problem in some areas here I never EVER thought I would be at the ASS END of that problem. Like I said, the first 3 years in this apartment building I had never seen a single roach. NOT ONE. The only insect issue in this place was the occasional "Carpet Beetle". Weird little black things that love carpet and sometimes piles of laundry. Anyhow, then one day a few months ago...IT STARTED. I saw a strange insect cruise under my microwave. I was like, "What the &*%$?" I screamed at my son and he pulled out the micro and smashed it to death. He told me he thought it looked much like a roach. "No" I said, it's not possible. A month or so later I saw another one on the bathroom wall. I screamed in horror and beat the little mother &%@#!? to death. Within a week the sightings were becoming quite common. My oldest son came in and sat down and said "Mom, I think those are roaches." I said "I know son. I just don't want them to be roaches." I began doing everything I possibly could to learn about my new enemy and how to eradicate it. Like many of the women who wrote in above, I have had a major issue dealing with these things. I can't sleep well any more. I cant eat comfortably because all I can think about are those frigging roaches. I live my days in fear that one of them is going to race out from behind my coffee pot or across the kitchen floor. I find my self standing stock still in the kitchen after I've done the dishes and cleaned up at night just staring at the countertops, corners, baseboards, etc. super-alert to even the slightest moverment in the corner of my eye. I feel like my comfort zone has been reduced to about 6 inches in diameter around my body. I hate living like this. I have researched this horrible insect and believe that I am living with the disgusting German Cockroach. I wont go into details about their repulsive qualities as everybody reading this forum has most likely dealth with roaches in one form or another. I have done a ton of things in our apartment to try and stop as much of the problem as I can. I change roach baits every 3 months as suggested. I lay them everywhere possible. I buy two boxes at a time and thats quite a few of the baits. I poisoned the living &$#* out of the baseboards, cracks, plumbing, etc. I applied boric acid to all cracks and crevices. I make sure the kitchen is spotless at all times and no dishes are ever left in the sink. No standing water, etc. I put the trash out twice a day. I sweep and mop often. I vacuum often. I used that puffy foam stuff that seals up cracks...you know, the stuff that swells up and turns rigid? I applied the foam around all of the plumbing that comes into the house, you know, the holes where the pipes fit through. The plumbing under both kitchen and bathroom sinks, toilet, etc. I applied the foam in the cracks between the cupboards and the wall where they often darted out from, I applied it around the built in dishwasher which had a giant uncovered opening that should have been flush with the dishwasher top...they used to race straight to that spot when I missed with my rolled up newspaper. I applied the foam in every possible crack that I could think of except for the area where the gas comes up through the floor behind the stove. That foam is hell to work with if you get it on your hands. It is sticker than heck and when it dries it feels exactly like when you get super glue on your skin and IT dries. Hard to remove but acetone takes it off. be careful when using it for that reason. Practice makes perfect with the stuff. what I did was this...it takes a whole hour to cure and become rigid, at about a half an hour the stuff has cured enough that you can touch it and shape it with out it sticking to you, so you can press it into the cracks and smooth it over making it look better than just big puffy strips of weird foam. Try this to work on its appearance anyhow. Once it is fully cured it is 100 percent rigid and you have to cut it with a serrated knife to shape it the best you can. Anyhow, it has helped quite a bit. we found that the empty apartment next door to ours was just crawling with living roaches along with tons of dead ones. We were horrified and realized that a lot of them were probably coming to our apartment from theirs. We put a raid Max Fogger in there today and we'll see what happens. The landlord knows the building has roaches. There are only 6 apts. per building and two are empty. The landlord wont fix problems unless he absolutely has to so I think I am going to video tape the aftermath of the apartment bug bombing next door and the problem in our apartment which can only be partially dealt with. Unless the entire building takes roach precautions and bombs, the problem has got to continue. I don't know how much longet I can live like this. I am praying that the last round of poisoning and foaming up the cracks over here and the secret roach bombing over in the empty apartment at least gets it partially under control until somehing more can be done. I think they were breeding over there, so I can only pray that maybe we got the bastards where they lived. We shall see. more later this week.

Kim

Foam in a can DOES NOT WORK for sealing holes and cracks! It ages quickly and the small porous crevices formed in the crumbling foam only provide more of a haven for nesting roaches. This is what has happened in my apartment (Astoria, Queens). The prior occupants sprayed this stuff decades ago, and now we have to chip away at it and pull it all out of the under-sink and floorboards because roaches has been living IN IT.

God, this crap sucks. I see at least two roaches (of VARYING developmental stages) every friggin day.

Thanks for providing the online support group.

By the way:

Does anyone know what legal actions I can take (in NYC) against a landlord that doesn't effectively eradicate roaches in my unit?

I know that under the housing code, landlord negligence falls under both the "Landlord's Duty to Repair" ordinance as well as the "Warrany of Habitability". But these are general, vague laws that don't carry much more than a nominal fine.

My landlord pays to have an exterminator come monthly, but its an optional measure for tenants, and so none of the other slobs in my building get it done... no one can force these squalid pigs to allow the exterminators to go into their apartments... but then I inherit their roaches, through the ill maintained wall cracks and crumbling floorboards...

God I hate this place.

I bought a 5 BR house in Norristown, PA, and it was absolutely infested with mice and roaches. I tried a lot of different things: roach bombs (they were back the next day), baseboard spray (they just avoided the baseboards), boric acid powder (they did a soft-shoe dance on it), and plastic bait traps (combat, raid, etc). All of these reduced the number of roaches, but I knew that if there was just one female roach, I'd soon have a fresh infestation.

So I bought some Max Force gel syringes (ingredient: fipronil, same as in combat discs), and squeezed it in every crack and crevice in the house. The roaches were gone completely in 7 days, and I haven't seen one since (three months and counting).

I've learned that with roaches, using sprays and fogs to drive them away is only a band-aid. It is much better to say to the roaches "here's some nice food" and poison them with a slow-acting substance like Fipronil, which kills multiple generations of roaches. Combat discs are great, but they have to actually go in the disc. Better to get a gel that can be squeezed into cracks and crevices and all sorts of places where it's not practical to leave the Combat discs.

I got the Max Force gel from an online retailer (I don't remember which, just google it), and it worked for me.

I'm having a roach moment. I keep getting out of bed and dashing into the kitchen with spray bottle and flashlight in hand. On goes the light, opening cupboards one at a time. Searching, searching...slowly spying in between each place and bowl, moving things around on shelves, spray hand always at the ready. I feel creepy crawlies all over my body. I'm sweaty but have an AC. I take a shower. I can't sleep. I get online and start researching, theres gotta be some way...

We located a nest underneath the kitchen sink a couple weeks ago; I sprayed and sprayed; I laid traps. It seems like they all fled that are and have spread out to colonize the rest of the area. I'm a crazed hunter seeking any trace of them, any piles of black specks, lost legs, shells of bodies.

I get my step ladder out at 2am, hunting my enemy; take the high ground that's what Sun Tzu said. I think perhaps I've gone insane, maybe roaches got inside my head and started shitting, maybe their shit is short circuiting my brain. Maybe....maybe...

As I start moving my fridge around I wonder, I wonder if any of it is worth it. All those lost lives, did it really mean anything? Why am I here in this God forsaken hell hole, why don't I just pack my bags? Afterall the oil ain't that cheap down here.

As I contemplate running the lights on 24/7 I think maybe, just maybe I've crossed that fine line into madness....maybe...

I live in a house, not an appartment. However it is smack-dab close to the next (unoccupied/condemed) house. I peeked into the window of that house- it is very nasty. This house came with roaches (an inch deep under the fridge!) and the carpet was literally jumping with fleas. There were other bugs- spiders, ants, etc, but they don't bother me as much. In any case, what worked for us was first getting a spot on treatment for the dogs and cat. Second, becoming obsessively clean, including making sure that everything is dry dry dry. Third, daily vacuuming and tossing away the bag every time. Fourth, and I think this is what worked on the roaches, We used a spray containing Nylar, which seems to inhibit the growth of both fleas and roaches. It isn't cheap. It smells bad. We did this according to package directions in all the areas that we saw the nasty creatures, plus a perimiter around each room. I think we re-sprayed every 2 weeks or so for a couple of months. can't remember, but anyway, it was according to the directions. I have not seen a roach for about three months now. (keeps fingers crossed.) We will be moving to an apartment as soon as we can, hopefully it (and our stuff) will be bug free.

Just want to say a big thank you to all of you...this is very helpful to people like me who have never dealt with a roach issue before . I have owned my own home for almost 20 yrs without ever having this problem. My 22 year old son had moved out last fall and 6 months later moved back home . But alas he did not move back in alone. I was working extra hours during those few months (June - August) when he had moved back so I really wasn't aware that I had an issue until my daughter mentioned some weird looking bugs she had seen under the microwave oven. Well when I discovered what they were like most of you I freaked out big time and went online in search of how to rid my self of these pests. I am currently using the boric acid treatment sprinkling it everywhere I possibly can, leaving no water available, ect ect. It has been about 7-10 days now and I still see 1 or 2 a day, but only mature ones now, no babies. So maybe we are making a dent in them although they are in my dishwasher, but I also put the powder in there as well. Does anyone think that keeping my dishes unwashed in the dishwasher but putting the powder in there so they can walk through it is ok? Or am I just feeding the little buggers and keeping them alive? Any and all answers would be greatly appreciated. I am going to win this battle here if it's the last thing I ever do...

Someone earlier asked for photos of roach droppings. The closest thing I've found is this british how-to film on controlling roaches: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-deal-with-cockroaches

I've also just recently discovered roaches in my new condo in North Carolina. So far, I've seen 2. But there are bound to be more lurking around somewhere. They are (from my understanding) endemic to the area, but they give me the creeps. I have always associated them with filth, but I keep a pretty clean house and I think that the roaches=filth equation doesn't apply south of the Mason-Dixon. I hate killing bugs, too - something about the icky mess. (It's not out of loving concern for their welfare, you can bet.) Anyhow, I went on a late night search for boric acid tonight, to no avail. So, I made some homemade poison with powdered sugar and baking soda. We'll see if it did the trick in the morning, but I'm not optimistic. *sigh* It is validating to read about the struggles everyone else is having, though. Thanks. And keep fighting the good fight. :)

This has been such a helpful site! Thank you guys! I just moved to NYC and found 2 german cockroaches in my apartment right away. I've never seen a cockroach before in my life so I've been freaking out. I live right next to the trash chute so I think that is the root of my problem. I've heard very good things about Pest Away and have them coming next week.

Has anyone lived next to the trash chute and improved the roach situation? The trash chute isn't going anywhere and I have 51 weeks left in this apartment. We do have an exterminator that comes regularly but I suspect they aren't very good.

leftcoaster, you can look online like I did and I went to the walgreens site where they sell pic boric acid for $3.99 a bottle. Or you could go to their store and pick it up yourself like I did since I have one located close to home. So far I have been seeing maybe 1 every other day and they have been dead. I just recently went to wal mart and bought somr glue traps so I can see their movements in my kitchen because I know they must be around. But I am not making it easy for them. I take out the trash every night , do all my dishes by hand as I have sprinkled the powder in the dishwasher, I dry out my sink every night and sprinkle powder around the drain I vacuum all around my kitchen and make sure the counters are clean and also put away my cats food and water for the night. I call these my nightly roach chores. Hopefully it is making some kind of a difference. We'll see.

I am involved in an ongoing war with roaches! I've used Raid by the case (very satisfying quick kill for those 3 am night missions) I've used so many bomb's and spray's I can't remember all the names. combat bait's work very well if you can afford them, right now I can't so I decided to try boric acid. $2 for a large container from Dollar General. 100% borac acid. I put it down 4 day's ago and I was sweeping up bodies in my bathroom today! First it was little babies 2 day's ago now it's big ones too! This stuff is great! I shot some behind pictures, along baseboards, under stove, fridge, microvave, cabint's, drawers. Today I'm going to move my and tv and put a light dusting underneath all. I have a question~I'm noticing roaches up high(by the cieling) since I started with the boric acid. Is it a sign that they're dying? It's not cold so I know they're not up there for heat. I know they'll climb when you've sprayed them and them just fall dead. I've been seeing lot's of dead ones in my tub also. This stuff is a miricle! I've stopped cooking becouse my roach problem is so bad. they say it takes 3 month's at least to get rid of roaches. that's what an exterminater told be, becouse of the life cycle. I also learned that a dying roach drop's one last egg. I have also been putting bleach in my drains and toilet. Just make sure you leave the lid down or door shut if you have animal's. I'll keep you all posted.

one last thing~it takes 21 days for a roach egg to hatch!

I have just moved into my new place. There are five of us living there and had no idea that the place was so infested!!!! I have never had roaches before and I am so clueless on what to do. I have been reading the forums and have tried many of the suggestions, however the house I live in is very old and there are cracks and pipe problems all through out the house. I am so upset at this. I have not slept in the dark for days as I know if I turn the lights off I can wake up with them!!! I have used the Boric acid that I bought at Wal-Mart called Roach Away. I didn't really know how to apply the powder as it has no directions! I put it in all the cracks and under appliances etc. It seemed to work for a while (1 day) but now they are back and huge! I haven't noticfed the motion of their mobility, but I will see if they get slower. I haven't really unpacked all my boxes as I am so overwhemled with putting my things in the closest and draws knowing they will get on them! I really like this site as I feel ashamed to talk to most people about the problem. Can I use the Boric acid mopped on my floor if we live in the house? Will it hurt my child? I think I just need to move!

Babs21 you need to call your landlord and have them come and spray or set off a bomb or something and then maybe try the boric acid treatment. You sound like you need help right away. I have just a few, they are not crawling all over and the boric acid is working great for me. I wouldn't even unpack until the exterminator comes and bombs your place. That will give you immediate relief and then you can go with the boric acid treatment if you still need to. Good luck you have my complete empathy.

It's been 7 day's since I put down Zap a roach (from dollar general) Every day I'm seeing less roaches, the ones I do see are dead or walking really wierd. It really works! I'll keep u posted.

Well, it's October 17th and for the last 12 days we haven'y seen 1 cockroach. I feel my efforts to get rid of these bugs is actually working. I am still cleaning like a freak every night and every morning to insure that there is nothing that they can find and I am not using my dishwasher at all. This is a lot of work but it is very gratifying now that we have gone all this time without a sighting. I still get up at like 2 or 3 in the morning to scout around and still nothing , along with the usual question to my family have you seen any bugs today? They must be so sick of that but I think the alternative would be worse. Now I'm wondering how long I should continue all this before I can be considered bug free. Just thought I would send out an encouragement to anyone using boric acid , it really does work.

I moved Into an apt 1 Year ago. There were no roaches That I noticed. Then I saw 1 then 10 then at least 100 one night when i got up for a glass of milk. I called exterminators, put out baits TAT,RaID, Used Countless foggers. Nothing works.
1.000 die but there are 50.000 waiting at their Command post.
I am not a dirty person. I am saving my money for a product
Called BIOROACH. Its biolocal warfare for for roaches. It actually infects them with a nasty parasite that eats them
from inside out and if they eat each other the infection is passed. Its Like 20 $ for the product.A month supply.
But they are really gouging on shipping, And I cant afford it yet its made by thr BioLogic Corp. and they have a website if anybody is interested. Let me know how it works if anyone orders it. Leave a post

I'm going to consider my home roach free as I haven't seen any more of them. I have started to use my dishwasher again and am considering cleaning up all the little bait traps I made using the boric acid and cocoa powder mixture. The $3.99 that I spent on the boric acid powder was worth every penny. I hope the rest of you have as much luck in ridding yourselves of these pests as I have . I wish you all the best as this will be my last post unless anyone has a question they need answered. I have won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Know thy enemy... and in this case, know how best to KILL them. :)

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Roaches belong to a large group of very familiar insects that includes crickets and grasshoppers.

Roaches have chewing mouthparts and can feed on practically anything.

Roaches do not directly transmit disease; however, they can contaminate food with various microbial pathogens including Salmonella, E. coli, and Shigella, which can lead to gastrointestinal problems in mammals.

Roaches have an unpleasant odor, and, as most of us know, their presence can be very annoying.

Roaches have been shown to contribute to the increased severity of symptoms among asthma sufferers and others with respiratory problems due to the presence of their cast skins and feces which can be allergens.

Some studies indicate that roach allergen exposure early in life could even be used as a predictor for the development of asthma.

The detergent, Spic ‘N Span™ can be used to remove these allergens, but be sure to discard the rinse water to prevent the allergens from being redistributed around the house.

Portable vacuums such as Miracle Marketing’s Optimus® HEPA are available commercially to help remove roach allergens more effectively.

To discourage roach appearances, caulk closed cracks at the interface of walls and floors, counters, backsplashes on sinks, and around electrical boxes and other wall-hung fixtures where roaches live.

The German roach prefers to settle in small, tight spaces. It is most common in kitchens and bathrooms. Sealing cracks greatly reduces its preferred habitat. This roach is also highly attracted to odors (pheromones) in the feces of other German roaches. Good sanitation and vacuuming can be effective tools in reducing their numbers.

German roaches can be attracted to baits that contain bread, stale beer, peanut butter, or Jack Daniel’s Whiskey®. Among these attractants, bread and beer combos seem to draw the most German roaches.

Unlike American roaches, German roaches must eat in order to reproduce. They also prefer fats over proteins and carbohydrates. If water is available, they can live for about a month without food.

The American roach is considered more of a tropical species, and prefers temperatures over 80 ° F. and humid conditions. It is often found in basements, restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores. These roaches often cannot survive very long in residential homes if humidities fall below 45% and moisture or water is unavailable.

The American roach is one of the fastest animals on Earth (the tiger beetle is the fastest land animal), capable of reaching speeds of 200 miles per hour in short bursts. At top speeds, they have been videotaped running on only two legs, much like a human.

Smokeybrown roaches, which are actually large and shiny black, can be found mostly outdoors on structures around suburban homes. They are often found flying towards porch lights.

Smokeybrowns occasionally enter homes where they can be found in areas where moistures levels are high. They also like to infest attics, and like American and German roaches, can be reduced or eliminated with the use of blowers or fans since they are very vulnerable to drying out.

A bowl of cheap wine placed under the sink will kill roaches; they drink, fall in and die.

Mix four parts borax, four parts flour, one part cocoa, and put mix wherever you see roaches run. Mixing equal parts of boric acid and oat flour will also produce an effective bait for controlling roaches.

Set out water and dry cement where roaches visit; they will ingest both and die.

Ultrasound is not effective in repelling roaches.

Cedar, Japanese mint, scotch spearmint, and bay leaves are good natural repellents and make good barrier treatments.

Woodstream Corporation’s Victor Poison-Free Ant & Roach Killer® uses a 4% Japanese mint essential oil blend as an effective knockdown treatment for American and German roaches.

Ordinary soap sprays or solutions that use common dishwashing liquids can also be used against roaches for similar knockdown effects.

Dorsey Inc. (Shellshock®) is a desiccant made up of 85% diatomaceous earth and comes in a squeeze dust applicator. It is slower acting (six weeks or more), but roaches will stay away longer.

Desiccants such as silica gels and diatomaceous earth products stimulate roaches and other insects that come into contact with them to immediately seek out a moisture source. Without a water source, they will quickly dehydrate and die.

Dorsey Inc. (Repeel®) is a desiccant made up of diatomaceous earth and citrus oil from orange peel and is useful as a barrier treatment.

Silica gel and diatomaceous earth can both be used inside houses to treat cracks, wall crevices and voids, and attics to repel roaches and deny harborage in these areas.

Organic Plus Inc. (Organic Plus®) is a desiccant registered for home and garden use for roach control.

Pyrethrum, a botanical derived from Chrysanthemum flowers is effective against roaches.

Pyrethrins are considered to be slightly toxic to humans and animals, and should therefore be used with some caution. There is some evidence, however, to suggest that German roaches are becoming increasingly resistant to the use of pyrethroids.

Use silica gel plus pyrethrin (e.g. Drione®) in wall voids to prevent roaches from migrating between rooms; the short-lived pyrethrin serves as a repellent barrier, while the silica gel provides long-term residual control.

Sprinkle boric acid powder or borax along baseboards, under and behind refrigerators and stoves, at the back edges of pantries and closets, and along cracks and crevices to repel roaches.

Blue Diamond Manufacturing produces baits, gels, and pastes (Blue Diamond® and Pro-Joe-S®) which contain varying concentrations of boric acid, and which can also be purchased commercially.

A 0.5 - 2% boric acid/sugar water solution (10 - 25% sugar) is an effective control bait against German roaches.

Boric acid is inorganic, does not emit toxic vapors, and is considered to be one of the most effective and cheapest treatments used against roaches. Roaches do not easily develop resistance to boric acid treatments. Boric acid baits are also less repellent to roaches than are baits composed of hydramethylnon (e.g. Maxforce® and Combat®). Boric acid treatments also provide long-term residual protection, but are also slower acting as a control method.

Use Maxforce® or Combat® bait stations along walls and inside equipment wherever you actually see roaches. These baits contain hydramethylnon, an odorless, solid chemical compound that is considered to be slightly toxic to humans and animals. They should be used with some caution, but are certainly far less toxic than residual spraying with insecticides. In general, hydramethylnon bait stations also take longer to control and remove roaches from an area, but offer longer lasting protection.

Some Maxforce® and Combat® bait stations may contain fipronil as an active ingredient instead of hydramethylnon. Fipronil is even less toxic to humans and mammals than hydramethylnon due to its bait formulations containing very low concentrations of the active ingredient. Fipronil gels or baits are among the fastest ways to eliminate roach populations, so, if you are in a hurry, this is what you want to use.

Nematode bait stations can be effective against roaches, but are much slower acting.

BioLogic produces a gel formulation (BioRoach® and Roach Stopper®) which contains live nematodes in bait stations which can be used in areas where roaches frequent. Roaches are attracted to the water in these baits, and are then infected and killed by the nematodes. Nematodes are microscopic parasitic worms that are harmless to humans and animals, but are able to infect and kill insects.

For baits to be effective, proper placement is essential so that roaches can find them easily. Favored locations are behind refrigerators and stoves, underneath kitchen and bathroom sinks, and in areas where walls interface with floors since roaches prefer walking along or near baseboards.

Homes that maintain good sanitary conditions will also help provide better control of roaches compared to those with moderate or poor conditions.

Garlic oil is highly repellent to German roaches.

Studies out of Taiwan seem to indicate that essential oils from citrus can provide a quick knockdown effect and mortality against German roaches.

The use of talc with citrus oil soap sprays will facilitate cuticular penetration and control roaches more effectively.

Most roaches are repelled by airflow, and the managed use of air movement has been used successfully to control roaches. Most roaches tested are repelled by air velocities of four meters per second or higher.

When using airflow systems to reduce roach populations, be careful to avoid contaminating ventilation systems with roach allergens. Use filters that stop or neutralize these allergens.

Roaches are also repelled by light, temperature extremes, and low relative humidities.

Use Teflon barriers to protect pet food bowls from contact with roaches.

Pheromone traps and fecal extracts have both been used to attract roaches to bait stations.

Woodstream Corporation’s Victor Roach Pheromone Trap® is an effective, sticky, baited pheromone trap used to monitor, control and reduce roach populations. It is now commercially available for public use. The trap contains a food bait plus an aggregation pheromone that lures roaches to a sticky glued surface. It is suitable for indoor or outdoor use.

The oils of catnip, and fruit extracts of Osage orange, have been shown in preliminary studies to be repellent to German roaches. Catnip is also repellent to American roaches.

Argentine studies have shown that peppertree extracts (i.e. Schinus molle) are toxic and repellent against German roaches.

Nutmeg seed extracts have shown some toxicity to German roaches in laboratory experiments in Korea.

Selected fungi (e.g. Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium anisopliae) have also been used with some success in biocontrol programs against American and German roaches.

EcoScience Corp. markets a fungus-based bait station (Biopath®) for control of cockroaches.

Some evidence suggests that noviflumuron, a chitin inhibitor, can be used in baits to control populations of German roaches. They have been found to be just as effective as other traditional bait stations such as Maxforce®.

Chitin synthesis inhibitors (insect growth regulators) act by preventing insects from successfully molting, and have been widely used around the world. These chemicals work at very low concentrations, and are considered safe for use around people, mammals, and other non-target organisms. They may, however, take longer to eliminate entire local populations.

Some research suggests that combining bait stations using fungi and boric acid formulations can actually cut the time needed for mortality in roaches.

Some preliminary reports out of Florida suggest that liquid soaps may have some potential in roach control since they seem to induce high mortality when consumed.

(link: http://www.symbios-witticism-page.com/bug.htm#6)

About roach wrasslin'...Howdy from Houston, TX, prime roach territory!
I did not read all 100 responses to the question of how to deal with roaches in an apartment. I thought I'd go over stuff I think is important -
1. They need and must have access to water/moisture. Poison treat all areas leading to water. That means every single place a water or other pipe pierces a wall. All the piping under the sink. They're often roach highways. Best to spray all those areas then seal all holes as best you can. Aluminum foil works. That expanding spray foam stuff works too. I haven't seen a roach eat aluminum foil or the insulating foam...yet.
2. Watch out for landlords that tell you the place you're about to move into is roach free. Look around carefully for roach droppings, little brown dots in places roaches might like to hang out, like the dishwasher. If possible, make sure that a professional exterminator has been through the place recently, otherwise you may wind up introducing all your stuff to the apartment's roaches. You don't want that.

Well, I guess we know who "inherits" the earth next!

I've tried professionals, fogging, borax to no avail.

My cats just torture them...although at this point I really don't want them eating them as I don't want my cats poisoned! Will try keeping the pet dishes in a shallow pan with soapy water to see if that helps.

I wondered about the buggies coming up the water drains...had already bought drain covers so will start to use them every night for sure.

I believe it is the refrigerator compressor that has become a roach incubator that is the problem. Unfortunately, I can't just go out and buy a new refrigerator.

So, I guess I'll try either that Bioroach, Maxforce or Roach Prufe to see if one of them will help.

Gotta say, though....if you are considering renting a place and you see dead roaches, DON'T rent!!! Save yourself the grief. That is where ALL my problems started....and now they have just moved with us to our new place.

Uggg.

Disgusted in Texas,
lisa

Hi, everyone.

I want to inform you all of the Cockroach Control Manual from the University of Nebraska website, which can be purchased but is also free to download chapter by chapter at the below link. Just copy the link into the address bar.

http://pested.unl.edu/pesticide/pages/index.jsp?what=pageObjD&pageObjId=106

This is an excellent and detailed manual designed for low toxicity riddance of cockroaches, so you and your family don't get poisoned while trying to get rid of the cockroaches. It goes into great detail on knowing the enemy and assessing the situation and planning a strategy. It also covers higher risk poisons, if you want to go that route.

I feel for all of you after reading your posts. I am shocked at the extent of the infestation some of you are going through. I have a lesser infestation, but it is terrible anyway. So far my infestation has been relegated to the kitchen. I live in a studio apartment that has only a living room, bathroom, and kitchen, so everything is close to the kitchen. I saw one scuttling across my filing crates and another one zipping across my desk, which scared me, since those things are in the living room, and I thought the infestation was spreading over the whole apartment. However, I have not seen any outside the kitchen since then so far.

I am really uptight and feel my whole body tensed up from these cockroaches. When I stand at the sink to wash dishes, I am afraid one of them is going to get on me because I saw one crawl under the frame of the sink earlier. I feel paralyzed about doing anything about this because I feel overwhelmed with horror. I tell myself that this is not something to get paralysed about. It requires action! Then I go hide.

I found some cockroaches on my sink counter, in my kitchen cupboards, on the back of my stove, in my sink, going in and out of the electrical outlets in my kitchen, and under my telephone answering machine where they took up residence as a group. I can't get my phone messages without disturbing that cockroach family that then starts to scatter, which gives me the willies. I had to stop using my microwave because a cockroach ran out of it the last time I tried to use it, and I don't want my food where cockroaches can walk on it. I don't want to get close to them, either. It makes me shudder. Ugg!

However, then I got mad about being invaded like this and started murdering the baby cockroaches that run around on my sink about twice the size of ants by drowning them in running water and grinding them up in the garbage disposal. Every baby that dies is one that doesn't become a big cockroach. Adult cockroaches do not get too close to the sink when I am there, but I got two of them, too.

Then I feel guilty about killing living creatures. This bothers me, as they haven't done anything except tried to live their own lives. However, I am outraged that I cannot live in my own home without fear and loathing, so when I get the nerve, I keep killing them.

I'm afraid there will be more babies that will grow up to be a huge infestation. I read that the German cockroach female breeds wickedly, as there can be 40 nymphs hatched from one egg. How many babies will then be produced how fast?

I cannot live here in fear like this. I am so uptight I want to escape. I spent my vacation last week packing my kitchen into boxes. My idea was probably just to DO SOMETHING FAST to get rid of these creepy things. I wanted either to move and get out of here, or else to get my stuff protected so I could poison the cockroaches without poisoning myself and my cat. I was crazed with the urgency of it, and I got worn out from working hard at it. Then I had to go back to work at my job, and the problem is still here.

I did accomplish something. I got everything in my kitchen cupboards out of the kitchen into boxes, except my cleaning agents and other stuff under the sink. I cleaned out a lot by throwing things away that cockroaches might hide in. I used cardboard letter/legal-size filing boxes to pack. I lined them with plastic trash bags, which I tied closed. I also put some of these things inside plastic 1-gallon storage bags as I read that cockroaches don’t like plastic. It took so long to do this, and all I did was the kitchen. What a vacation!

I later read that cockroaches like to get into paper bags and cardboard boxes and files, so having used these cardboard boxes could be a problem. I read that a cockroach can hide between the corrugations of the box, so you can't see them. Then when you move, they go with you. Aaugh!! Instead, the solution is supposed to be to use (expensive) plastic boxes with tight-fitting lids, or else to unpack each box outside the new place and trash it; don’t take it into the new place. I read that one person's solution on this site was to move to get rid of the cockroaches, which seemed to work, but I fear that I will take them with me and just have the same problem in another location.

Now I am living out of boxes. This is terrible because it takes so long to get at what I need, but I labeled it very well, so I can find things. At least I now have confidence that I can move my vulnerable kitchen things and clothing--which could become contaminated by cockroach poisons--out of harm's way anytime I decide to have exterminators come. I am still working on getting all the clothing packed.

However, I am very reluctant to use poisons because I read that the poison gets all over everything, creating a poison surface that can harm people and cats. This really concerns me for myself and my cat. Also, I read that by poisoning cockroaches, one can cause the cockroaches to become resistant to the poison, so that later it does not work as well on the ones that survive. There are lower-intensity methods that do not have that problem, which are covered in the Cockroach Control Manual.

If I keep packing, eventually I will have all my things packed, so I can move. It takes forever when working at a job to get things packed when I have to check for cockroaches before I can pack anything and then I have to pack things in plastic bags to be sure no cockroaches get into these things. I also need to tie or seal the bags better to make them more cockroach proof. Double bagging might be better.

Now that you see what I have been up against, the things I did from the Cockroach Control Manual might be interesting. It says that first you assess the situation. You do not start by trying to get rid of the cockroaches, no matter how bad the infestation is. Since it seems that some of you folks have a monster infestation that would be the death of most of us, can that be true? You can read the Manual and decide for yourself.

The first step is to assess whether I am providing anything the cockroach can use for survival, namely food or water. It says that a cockroach can survive on only one drop of water a day, and any crumb, particularly vegetables, but even glue or paper, is a meal. My job was to make the supplies of the cockroach literally dry up.

If cockroaches cannot survive in an area, they will leave. However, if they accumulate in an area, then more will come, because their feces have an odor that attracts other cockroaches to that area. This is a good argument for getting rid of their feces, which look like various types of little dots and smears, but I have to admit to an aversion to cleaning up the feces, since the cockroaches are also probably lurking nearby. I must get over this, I tell myself. Then I go hide.

What I did was to start by being extremely clean. In fact, it is ridiculous how clean I am. I put all the food I could into the refrigerator, where so far they have not penetrated. I am hopeful that this will remain a safe zone, or I may freak out totally. In the refrigerator, just in case, I put everything in 1-gallon zip-lock plastic baggies or plastic tupperware with tight lids. The rest of the food I took out of the cupboards and packed into plastic bags in the other room in boxes, as I mentioned. There is no food in the kitchen now, except in the refrigerator.

When I make any food, immediately before even eating it, I clean and dry off all counters and wash all the dishes used for preparation. I also DRY the dishes with a dishtowel and put them away in the other room in a box with a plastic liner. I also dry the counters and sinks very well with another dishtowel and try not to leave any moisture. The dishtowels keep getting wet, so I do not leave them in the kitchen. I keep hanging them out to dry daily and then washing them as soon as I get a load. I put the laundry in the hamper inside a plastic bag. I keep everything as clean and dry as I can. I sweep once or twice a day, and I take out the trash once or twice a day. I keep the trash plastic liner tied closed when it is not in use. Believe me, this is a lot of work, and I for one do not believe it should be necessary to be this clean as a rule, but it seems to be working to diminish the cockroach population. While this will not solve the problem, it can make the problem less overwhelming by diminishing it, so it can be resolved more easily by other means.

The next step is to use sticky traps without poison to assess the situation throughout the apartment, so I know where the problem is, not where I think it is. I am doing that now, and I caught some cockroaches in my sticky traps. The Cockroach Control Manual explains how isolate the infestation by finding the source. It even provides a form to use for recording this.

Later it explains that there are methods for blocking off all entrances by sealing them with resin to prevent more cockroaches from entering. This could eliminate the source of the infestation, but I have to be thorough. After getting them to leave and then blocking their entrance (which also blocks their exit), I can eliminate those that remain. Some chemicals will sterilze cockroaches, so they cannot reproduce, and this chemical is not very toxic to people or pets. If the source of infestation has been completely blocked, the infestation will eventually die out, as there will be no future generations. But usually it is hard to completely block all entrances, so there may be some cockroaches entering. It is possible to combine methods of poison with this method of sterilization to cope with this. Other more aggressive and poisonous measures are also covered. One thing I wish it covered better is where to get the particular trap baits/chemicals that are mentioned as I have never had to shop for these products before.

I hope you will read the Cockroach Control Manual for good information to solve this problem. If you have any other information on the best way to get rid of cockroaches while also keeping one's cat safely healthy, please post it for me.

My compassion goes to all who share this miserable problem!

Good post, Angel! I too am concerned about bombing my apartment with toxic chemicals that could affect my cat, and my own research to that end led to what sounds like an interesting solution... an all-natural cedar oil treatment called "Best Yet", available from a company called CedarCide. When I emailed them to ask point blank how this product works against cockroaches, I got the following reply:

"Thank you for your interest in CedarCide products. We have a product called Best Yet and when used in conjunction with our Tri-Jet Fogger, it is absolutely lethal to those roaches (and all other pests) on contact. With
the use of the fogger this solution will get into all the little cracks and crevices where those nasties congregate. Best Yet will not only kill those roaches but, will also create a barrier to prevent re-entry without harm to humans and pets. Use what you need and save the rest for maintenance treatments, because living in apartments you have no control over the other tenants' habits."

Sounds good to me! :) If and when I give this treatment option a chance, I'll be sure to post my results here.

I've also used an all-natural non toxic contact spray called "Orange Guard" which is available from a company called GrowOrganic.com and have had positive results, though I can never get complete saturation of the infested areas due to not being able to get up under the kitchen sink, getting at all the various cracks and crevices in the cabinets etc. Where I have sprayed I've noticed that the roach traffic is heavily reduced. The stuff smells good (very citrusy) and is totally safe for use around pets and food.

I am looking to relocate in a couple months or so to a better area, so hopefully I can neutralize the pest problem before I start packing. Or at the very least hit all my stuff with the cedar treatment.

Results to follow!

http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/com/VerifyAccount/496096feb80574315daf42f94d0ea1ed

Use the Combat Gel which has recently been upgraded. Buy the tube specified as Large. It should say Platinum. Use the whole tube. Get under the kitchen sink, especially in the back, close to the wall or in the wall/ behind or under the cabinet if you can. Squeeze it out in a line, maybe on all 4 sides. Put some on the pipes, in cracks. Drip it behind your refrigerator and stove, shoot some under those appliances. Under any molding or into any cracks you think will get to them. In the bathroom, the same, and if you have drop tiles, deposit a few gobs up there just by lifting or sliding the tiles a little.

You may have to do this every 2 weeks to a month because the stuff dries out, though the latest version may dry out slower. Don't believe what Combat says about long-term kill.

AVOID the Duane Reade gel which is based on the old boric acid method which it contains and is pretty poor stuff. Grandma swore by it and she was right because there was nothing better at the time. Now there is.

http://pestcontrolproducts.blogspot.com/

This is the link I meant to send.

Fogging the place out may work if you don't have roached-up neighbors. The bugs run to your neighbors except for the ones you have gassed. In a while they come back to you. If you expect company in a few days the bomb may be the best fast solution.

Maxiforce is online in 2 versions -- fast acting; and slower but more thorough. Order a couple of tubes if the Combat Gel doesn't wipe them out in a few days for a few weeks.

I live in a rental house & just started noticing these dirty bastards! We have been there for about 5 1/2 years & I had never seen any! First I only noticed a couple few outside. One morning while making a pot of coffee I noticed one out the kitchen window attempting to crawl up the wall but it fell off. Like it was weak or dying? I scurried out & grabbed a giant brick & put it on top & havent moved it yet to see if he died (that was about 2 weeks ago). We have only seen a handful & most have been outside & showing that same slow dying behavior. A friend stayed with us recently while waiting for her new place to be ready & she spotted one on the wall! The next morning i wondered why she was asleep on the couch & not in the guest room & she explained....while I grimmiced! My 4 year old spotted one in his room up on the wall near the ceiling & i also found a dead one in the master bedroom. So that was 3 in the house! Well this morning my husband said he woke up to one on his arm! His arm! Im so sick! Im not even at home right now but i can still feel them scheming! Im next i just know it.

All these ideas sound great & i will do my best to clean up all around the outside & the gutters ASAP! Im also going to clean out the food cupboards in case any crumbs are in there. Also the water under the fridge probably needs to be dumped out (Ive never done that!) Im going to calk liie a maniac as well.

Im thinking about making a stop on the way home & getting supplies. I cant go home empty handed. I need a riffle.....& some amo. I can shoot them since i dont have the stomach to squash them & i need them to die semi-quickly!

This is terrible! I would rather have spiders or any other sort of bug in exchange for these f**kers!

The fact that my husband woke up to one molesting him is not sitting well with me!

I haven't had a single roach in my apartment for the past 7 months and then I come home from work today to find one in my sink and two in my living room mating!! Does anybody have an explanation for this spontaneous reappearance?

I have tried all of the above and have had a major reduction in roaches but, alas, they are still living in my ovens LED clock. Any suggestions? Also, the best product I've found is called TAT and it costs $3.50 at the dollar store. This stuff kills them dead INSTANTLY! It has a long red nozzle so you can reach crevices but I still can't get them in my oven clock light. I have 2 varieties of roaches which live together quite nicely and have no idea where they came from.

In my last apartment I had roaches really, really bad. I mean, they were everywhere. One time I even woke up with one crawling on my forehead (EW!). I tried everything, baits, sprays, professional exterminator, gels...you name it and I tried it. Nothing worked until I mentioned to my apartment manager how bad they were and she scheduled Terminix to come and put "insiders" into my walls. "Insiders" are little gluey poison things that are inserted through the drywall and into the walls where the cockroaches live. I ended up moving into a bigger apartment (I got married and needed more space) but noticed a 95% reduction in roaches in that apartment before I moved. Just due to the "insiders."

As a side note: yeah, you can definitely smell roaches when you've got a bad infestation. I can't really describe what it smells like but when you smell it you'll know what it is. I could smell them in my kitchen...certain areas of the kitchen smelled stronger than others...but there's really no denying what the smell is when you smell it. It's like no other smell. It's the smell of a severe infestation...cause if you can SMELL them, it's a BAD infestation. I used to joke that I could smell them breeding in my walls. Not a very funny joke really...

In my new apartment in the same complex I do not have an infestation. The main reason I think is that fact that I only have one other apartment connected to mine instead of three connected to my last apartment. I do occasionally find a cockroach here or there, though now I'm finding the really big (inch long) black and red ones instead of the smaller (half inch) light brown ones...but I'm only finding one or two a month - give or take. I think that these ones are more 'water bugs' than cockroaches though...I know they're not the everyday cockroaches, which means I do not have an infestation, but they still bother me.

At least I can't smell them. :) And one or two a month isn't bad at all...on top of the fact that now when I find one of these bigguns it's just lying there...not walking around...it's like it's already dying...weird. I'd like to be rid of them entirely but I don't think that's going to happen as long as I live in an apartment.