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
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.
If they are coming out of the walls, can you treat the walls? Like pour the boric acid in there.
Here in Florida, eventually every house has to be tented for drywall termites and that kills everything.
And heck yeah all hail lizards. I love those little guys. Once in the time before cell phones I saw an epic battle between a lizard and a palmetto bug, the lizard was wrestling this bug that was its size.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
Just bought it!
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 :
Impressive reply. Thanks on behalf of Roach killers everywhere.
You, your gf, your bf, and your wife? I’m very confused regarding who lives here
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)
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.
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
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.
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.
Releasing the genophage on the krogan, are we?
Had to be me. Anyone else might have gotten it wrong.
My dad swore by borax and I can attest to it this summer.
You can find it with the laundry detergents.
We sprinkle it on the ground and it covers everything like a scene from Scarface lol.
But what I’ve heard happens is that the roaches get it on their legs and it begins killing them as they have further contact with the powder.
I’ve heard this isn’t toxic to humans or pets, and I’ve not had issues myself or my cat or any of the other animals we’ve had over the years doing this.
I have had really bad roaches and earwigs at my house. I got fed up with it this year and threw down some of this all over the ground outside and inside. I did this at the beginning of summer when they start getting crazy.
I won’t say I’ve not seen any at all, but the numbers have gone down by 98%, easily, on both of these nasty insects.
There’s a place under a berry bush I have that seemed to harbor them and I made sure to sprinkle down a lot around the edges of that plant. About 5 inches away from the base, but still close enough and in a circle around it. I have seen some but much much less than in previous years there and my berry bush is doing fine and not reacting badly to the borax.
Did you mean Borax or Boric acid? I know borax and sugar paste works for ants, but Boric acid works great on roaches and silverfish.
I get them confused sometimes too, but no I can confirm I used borax this year. Here’s a picture of the box I have been using
Same brand we’ve been using for years. Unless Borax is the name of the brand lol but the side of the box says “ingredients: sodium borate”
But that’s good to know on boric acid! I heard that for ants too, mixing borax with sugar and a little water and put it somewhere and let them take it back to their colony where it wipes them out but I’ve actually never tried it that way. We only ever sprinkled this down on the floors inside and outside and then vacuumed it up when the summer season is over.
Speaking of ants, I haven’t had an ant problem like I have in previous years too. But that may also be because I’ve been pouring boiling hot water down anthills in my yard as soon as I saw them appearing in the beginning of summer too. It could be due to this, I’m unsure. I had a really bad ant problem in the house last year too that I forgot about until you mentioned that, but I’ve had none this year, and not sure if this could be related now that we’re talking about it.
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 the trap below with the highest amount of people who have bought it before.
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.
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
