May not sound like a dumb question, but this isn’t my first rodeo, but it’s the first time I’ve lost.
In my 20s, myself, gf and bf moved into a house crawling with roaches. She and I spent the first night smashing as fast as we could go. The wall behind the fridge was “black” with roach shit. Easy money. We cleaned like hell and laid boric acid powder everywhere. A new generation of tiny ones came along, died quickly, that was that.
Had roaches in this house for years now. I’ve tried the above trick, no love. Got some poison a friend recommended, works OK, but they’ll be back. Had an exterminator in. He gave me some great tricks and his treatment worked great, but I can’t afford $40 a month until this is finally resolved.
And the kitchen isn’t filthy! My wife cleans and wipes it down every day. Not a deep clean of course, but again, it’s not filthy. There are a few around my desk because I often eat here, I get that bit.
They seem to be in the appliances and wall sockets. Pulled a smart socket today, filthy with roach shit, front and back. They’re coming out of the walls! I could probably figure a trick to bag and nuke the appliances, but the walls?!
HUGE bonus would be some advice on trapping them to feed our chameleon! When my wife sees one she’ll trap it in a little tupperware container and toss them in the lion’s den. I’ve tried some methods I found online, not a single catch. Which is embarrassing because I’m pretty handy, understand basic biology, should be a no-brainer.
If I don’t figure this soon, I’m importing some Huntsmen spiders from you Aussie cunts. No wonder my wife thinks lizards are good luck in the house. (Philippines, Florida, same difference.)
H E L P
From what i remember from the documentary Joes Apartment i think you have to befriend them.
And host their party’s. Man I loved that movie. Repeatedly getting mugged at the beginning had 10 years old me dying.
Fumigation after envelope repair.
You need to, or preferably a pro, need to go around and seal up every possible incursion point and then gas the fuckers.
There is no solution but the final solution. Traps and poisons are like addressing a leaking roof with a pot to catch the water falling on the floor. God help you if you are on piers or block foundation, your fight will be Sisyphean.
8-yo house on a slab.
I’ve had some success with poison, the kind that comes inside plastic pods and supposedly they chew on it and bring it back to their nest, wiping it out.
Last year I had dozens running around everywhere (house surrounded with garden/fields) last year, this year I’ve only seen 1 so far.
dude, wtf? “final solution” and gassing?
Word War 2 jokes, in your communities?! It’s more likely than you think.
Can’t deal with it, need help?call now! 123-it was horrible but it has been a few years now, hell we make 9/11 jokes-123
Gentrol point source. It mutates the males so that they’re sterile. It take one generation and then you’ll see them born with crinkled wings. Don’t kill the gross mutated ones. 8 weeks and you’ll notice significantly less. Its also pet safe and okay to be in areas near food. Restaurants use this as their go to. Its just a puck you stick in areas that are the worst.
Releasing the genophage on the krogan, are we?
Had to be me. Anyone else might have gotten it wrong.
This. Got a place just before the pandemic that wasn’t well taken-care-of and had German roaches, assuming that’s what you’re seeing (tinier, and fast as hell) got this kit (granted it was $20 cheaper a few years ago) and rotated out with a couple of the other kits that come after A’s formulation every 6 months. Gone after 2 years. Now I just see the regular ones sometimes- because FL. Saved my sanity.
Also, I wouldn’t advise feeing the critters to your chameleon since you don’t know what the critters have been exposed to or got into, pesticide wise.
No offense, but if I had a roach problem this bad I would find a way to afford $40 a month for an exterminator even if I had to cut back to bare utilities only. Maybe even no electricity and cold showers until they were gone.
First, as an Aussie while I would welcome you to our hairy friends they are actually not doing too great at the moment, so hands off, mine!
That said, cockroach population is almost entirely a matter of the neighbourhood you are in, not the house you are in. If you have a neighbour who’s house is suitable for roaches they will live and breed there and then reinfest your home.
That leads to two main options. Move somewhere without the issue or make your house the most hostile possible place for them.
I don’t know what options you could try that have not already been tried, but I will list a few I have seen work. Roach motels work well. Flypaper under the fridge works well. Some chemical treatments work well.
That said, being diligent and keeping the food for them to a minimum may be the best adjunct. By this I mean making sure food is eaten, dishes are done, surfaces are wiped, and nothing left behind as soon as possible after making meals. Emptying the rubbish bin daily, maybe even switching to a much smaller bench top one so you can have smaller bags. Adding a seal to your rubbish bins in the form of some rubber or silicone around where the lid fits, though this differs depending on your local waste management systems.
First guy from the pest control place said they were from the outside. I let them nuke the yard for several months with no results except for killing off the local ecosystem. (I’ve brought it back five fold!)
It’s nothing obvious like food on the counter. As I said, my wife wipes down every night and I’ve never seen one in or near the trash can.
I used to live in a house hopelessly infested. My family is clean. We nuked, to no avail. Even if you don’t leave food behind, the fuckers will find things to eat. Examples of things the roaches ate in that house:
- my favorite boot soles (leather)
- cold porcelain souvenirs
- wax used to lubricate drawers
- rotting wood from the actual wall panels
- debris stuck in brushes (hair and tooth brushes)
- paper
You can’t win. They probably have plenty of food in the form of decomposing organic matter inside the walls. For example dead animals, mold, rotting wood or else. I’ve had some success sealing with OCD levels of precision every single possible gap in the floor, wardrobes, walls, you name it. But there is always this or that thing you can’t seal such as power point sockets or else.
There are some mini black plastic baits for them (with poison), they eat and go back to their lair, dying and infecting everyone. Every 3 months I replace mine, never had cockroaches after I’ve put them everywhere in my apartment, even living on top of a restaurant.
Just bought it!
I couldn’t find the brand I use on Amazon in the US, maybe they don’t sell it there. I’d go with something that explicitly claims to target the nests, like this maybe.
Have you tried diatomaceous earth (wp:Diatomaceous earth#Pest control) and sealing everything?
Not in this case! I’ll get some.
You can get a duster/blower applicator and blow it into the walls. Talking about removing wall plate for plugs and light switches to blast it in there.
You can also blow it into any crack you see. Baseboards, trim under stuff.
Diatomaceous Earth Powder Duster Applicator
There’s a food source somewhere. Assuming they’re not getting food from your kitchen (you’re not finding them in the pantry), there must be something else nearby. What’s around? Anything you can get rid of? Old cardboard boxes? Dead plants/yard waste? Pet food?
How old is the house? Does it have wallpaper? If you are unlucky they might be eating wallpaper glue or something like that. Also have you made sure there isn’t a sewage leak under the house?
House is only 8 years old. But yeah, they’re getting food somewhere, and it doesn’t take much.
Depends. If you’re in a tropical area they could just be part of the local wildlife.
Get that bait gel. They eat it then die back in the walls where others eat it and die.
Glue traps.
Seal up everything. Foam for the larger gaps, caulk for everything else. All baseboards.
There are a few around my desk because I often eat here, I get that bit.
Stop that. If you’re feeding them then you undermine the entire effort. Stop it.
Have you tried fumigation? Like bug bombs or getting an exterminator to do it professionally? You might have to leave your house for a couple of days but it would attack all of them at once that way
Roach motels when the situation becomes unmanageable.
From what you’re describing, the roaches are probably laying eggs and living inside rotted wood or old furniture.
I’m not a fan of fumigation since it is expensive, rarely works anywhere near 100%, and uses toxic chemicals, so it makes your house dirty and then the roaches are back in a couple weeks.
Buy a large pack of these glue traps with packaged bait, bait the traps as you need them, and put one trap in the area of each room you see the most roaches, somewhere dark, under furniture or out of sight.
You don’t need more than one trap per room, roaches are plenty mobile. Check them daily in the beginning, replace them when they are one layer full of roaches trapped in the adhesive.
You will have a whole bunch of live roaches you can feed to your chameleon and you will notice the roach infestation going down rather drastically. They catch young and old roaches with equal effect.
Very simple traps, and I’ve always found them to work very well.
I recommend buying the highest rated variety of baited glue traps with the highest amount of people who have bought it before.
You, your gf, your bf, and your wife? I’m very confused regarding who lives here
So, I think this story has two parts to it: one from years ago, wherein he moved into a place with his girlfriend and his best friend; and another from today, wherein he moved into a place with his wife. Unclear if it’s the same person as the girlfriend from before.
I was a bit loose with my pronouns. :)
Myself, my girlfriend, my best friend, all moved in together. LOL, that place turned out to be condemned by the city and we had to put in our own windows. It was an adventure.
Polyamory maybe 👀
Yeah probably a polygroup. Some folks date in groups larger than two 🤷
Its more common among queer folks, and also kinky folks (who are also often queer)
Hate to break it to you, but OP is a Mormon
Like actually or are you making a joke?
Got a post history about not invading because of long range mormons
I professionally managed many buildings… A big part of that was pest control.
Let me just cut through all the things that we try that don’t work and just tell you what works :
Use the baits that destroy the nest, but you’ll need many by how bad it sounds. It’ll take a bit to see the effects of wiping out the next generation but I don’t see how else you’d handle this on a small budget
Also it probably goes without saying but remove all their food sources and seal whatever gaps you can
