Five days ago I ambled into my kitchen first thing in the morning to start coffee, flipped on the light and AAGHHH HOLY SHIT FUCK A COCKROACH ON MY KITCHEN COUNTER!!! So then I let the dogs out, went back to bed whimpering and considered my options.
I’ve never lived anywhere with cockroaches. I’m not sure I’ve even seen one in well over a decade except when my brother was living in a NYC apartment and had them. I am extremely disturbed by this, even moreso after reading stuff like “if you see one, there’s 1,000 of them in your walls.” :eek: I’ve been flinching and steeling myself against the sight of one of those disgusting little motherfuckers every time I turn on a light or open a cabinet door.
(It was definitely a cockroach, BTW. In times past I’ve seen plenty of them. Probably an American cockroach, since it was about [del]six feet[[/del] an inch long.)
What I did:
Read up online, including searching SDMB and so yes, I have readCecil’s column on borax and roach elimination.
Bought a jumbo package of roach motels and a borax roach control powder. I have both, everywhere, right now.
Have been maniacally cleaning and disinfecting the kitchen and bathroom. Even pulled the stove and fridge out and cleaned under and behind. I’m not the best of housekeepers but not horrible either. Right now my house is as clean as it’s ever been.
My questions:
Where did this thing come from? I’ve owned this house for four years. The nearest dwelling to me is a good 100 feet away and I am assured he has nothing of the sort, and I know he also keeps a clean house. My line of work (painting contractor) gets me working in all sorts of locations. Usually nicer homes. But in the last couple of months I have painted two supermarkets. Is it possible that I tracked in eggs or something on my shoes?
Please tell me that it’s not true that for every visible roach, there might be a thousand more. Or I might just have to sell my house and move somewhere even colder. I’d rather not do that.
Since dusting and putting out the roach motels, I haven’t seen any dead ones. Or live ones. Shouldn’t I be seeing room temperature, upside-down roaches? Is it possible I have a Lone Roach? (The desired answer would be yes, here.)
Apart from seeing roaches dead or alive, do they leave any other signs of infestation? I’ve not seen anything resembling roach poop. Ugh.
Is there anything else I can do? The next step is professional bombing but I am hoping that if I’m proactive that I can nip this thing in the bud.
Short-term–>Get roach-killing spray and spray them.
Long-Term–>Get the roach traps that have poison food in them. Don’t get the sticky kind so the roach will take the food to their little hide-out and kill everyone.
Don’t be afraid of roaches. I’ve been known to just grab a paper towel and snatch them. Maybe not the big ones though
Well, since I’ve only seen the one in five days, I didn’t think about roach spray. And I cup errant spiders and moths in my hands and take them outside rather than kill them; I’m fine with non-venomous bugs generally but the idea of grabbing and squashing a roach seriously squicks me out.
Huh, well I guess I got the sticky sort of traps, but OTOH the borax is supposed to work because they carry it back to their nests. And along with the roach motels I got three traps that have something or other that attracts the roaches, then after they make contact with it they go back to their nests and <something happens> and the eggs are rendered infertile.
Get some lizards to eat the roaches, then to get rid of the lizards, there’s a kind of Chinese needle snake you can import. To deal with the snakes, you can buy these types of gorillas that love snake meat. The beauty about getting the gorillas is that when winter comes, they’ll just freeze to death
So last weekend, being fine and warm, I decided to get the BBQ going. A few lamb chops, some pork ribs…you know the deal.
Lifting the lid of the BBQ saw umpteen squillion cockies (and their babies) scurrying for cover. I’ve never been so grossed out in my fucken life! No way was that BBQ getting cooked on!
My nausea has abated, I’ve nuked the BBQ to within an inch of its life…
Two springs ago I had two of those big American Cockroaches in my apartment. I’m on the 4th floor, and it’s a bit unusual to find them so high up where it’s do dry. They’re more generally attracted to damp areas and areas where there’s damp rot - such as under piles of fallen leaves and leaky basements and trash. I’m pretty sure they came under my kitchen door from the porch I share with a neighbor. My neighbor at the time had been putting a smallish covered trash can with food waste (like salad cuttings) outside their back door, to keep the dog from getting into it. I told them what happened and recommended my method of putting that stuff in the freezer instead. After that, no more of those big American ones.
I’ve lived in three apartments since moving here. I’ve seen the German variety exactly once in each. First apartment I found one shortly after unpacking groceries. I freaked out about it and never saw another one in two years. Second apartment I saw one dead one once in eight years. Third and current apartment I saw one inside a kitchen cupboard. Freaked out. Called management and they sent an exterminator out the next morning. In the meantime I had pulled the cabinets apart and dusted surfaces with diatomaceous earth. The exterminator put some bait paste in strategic places and said between that and what I did, I should be fine. Haven’t seen another one in 4 years.
Just wanted to give you my experience and maybe you can take some assurance that in three apartments in Chicago, it’s been ultimately no big deal. I also think it’s entirely possible they can come in on produce from the grocery store. I think what you’ve done so far should have you covered for a while if it’s even something to worry about. If you have any vegetation settled against the outside of the house that could be wet and decomposing underneath, like grass cuttings or leaves or flowerbeds or something, those could be attracting the big American ones.
**SDT **- I’m so glad that you’ve had the experience of seeing just one roach and no more on three occasions! That makes me feel much, much better.
Ayatollah - better than any of the links I’ve come across! That, and Kaylasdad’s question about having deliveries, just made me realise something. The “hidden” side of my house behind the shed has become a sort of outdoor storage area, and I’m afraid not very tidy right now that leaves are starting to fall and we’ve had such a wet summer. About a week ago I started to clean it up and hauled a huge tarp out onto my deck to clean and fold it properly. There were all sorts of bugs on it…
I didn’t think about the roaches breeding outside on old tarps and leaf litter. I may have introduced this one inside by shaking out the tarp. So I guess I need to finish cleaning up that damp woodsy outdoor area, trim back and rake grass and shrubs and get to work sealing any possible cracks. And get more traps for the outdoor areas. And maybe some DE. And a bug bomb or two for the crawl space, perhaps? It’s all screened and everything but this is an almost 60-year old house with wood siding so I don’t think it’s possible to hermetically seal the entire thing.
kambuckta, agh!! OTOH, you could have just cooked and eaten the cockroaches. Lots of recipes online.
