So the house that we’re renting was previously rented by a long chain of frat boys, and needless to say, it was pretty gross. We got rid of the gnat problem, but the roaches! They’re still here! (If you go outside at night, you’ll see a lot of them, especially.) We probably kill an average of one per day. (Which doesn’t seem like a lot, probably, but it’s really gross, still.)
We tried using those foggers that you drop into a little thing of water, and that didn’t work. I’ve sprayed the perimeter of the house (inside and out) twice with that ortho something keep the bugs away spray, and they’re still here.
I’d love to get an exterminator over here for an estimate, but I’m afraid that he’ll be like “ooh, college kids with mommy and daddy’s money, let’s jack up the price!” and I wanted to get an estimate of what it should cost before I call them up.
I used to pay something like $30-$40 a visit, but that was on a 12-month plan where the exterminator came every few months. If he came less often, then the visit cost went up but the total yearly cost remained the same. If he came once, I think the cost ran close to $100 or more.
Are these the big roaches or the little ones? If they’re the big ones (American cockroaches), an exterminator wouldn’t help too much anyway, or so I’ve been told. They live outside for the most part, so all you can do is seal up any cracks and try to keep them from coming in.
I’ve got the big cockroaches, living in the South. The exterminator takes care of them. Comes four times a year, and I think it’s $65 each time. I think I get a discount because I have my termite bond with them, though.
Is this a row house or a house that is very near other houses?
One thing I noticed when I lived in a row house was that you have to do the whole row of houses at once or you don’t do any good. You bomb the heck out of your roaches, and they just flee to your neighbors. Your neighbor notices a sudden increase in roaches, and bombs his house, and they flee back to yours. Then the whole process repeats over and over. It was only when all of us got together and coordinated our roach attacks that we managed to get rid of all the little buggers.
Question 1: They’re basically the size of my head. Huge. Well, I exaggerate, but they’re not the little ones.
Question 2: It’s an old house on Main Street of a small town, meaning that it’s not a row house, but there’s probably 50 feet between us and our neighbors to the left and right.
I asked around and most people I know are paying about the same as I am. It seems to really depend on the market you’re in, I guess. My guy does inside and outside every three months for a set price which they told me before he came the first time ($65, like I said previously.) If I see a roach in between, they come out for free and respray. It’s a local company. I’m very happy with my service, but they’re not kidding about the three month thing - twice now the first roach I’ve seen has come on the day they called to tell me to set up an appointment.