We are overrun with roaches

[Metspitzer]

First I tried roach bait. Next I tried boric acid. Next I tried those 4 hour foggers.

I have 3 bedrooms upstairs and a 3/4 sized basement with a bedroom/bath down there. I called the exterminator. He wanted 85 bucks for the first visit and 40 bucks for follow up. It has been three days since the first treatment and the kitchen still has lots of roaches. The exterminator said to wait a month and he will come back and spray again. I think waiting a month will only give them a chance to grow. I think I will call him again Monday.

I hope the guy was using poison and not water in that sprayer of his. I don't feel like I am going to get rid of them by the amount of roaches I still have left. I guess I need to ask what kind of guaranty I can get. A unscrupulous exterminator could milk a customer for quite a while.

He wanted us to get everything out of the kitchen counters. (we should have done that before we did the foggers. It would have saved us from having to clean all the dishes) In the bedrooms we took out all the drawers and he sprayed the sides of the drawers and inside the furniture. He sprayed the closets and windows inside and out.

[micky]

i DON'T know what the normal time between first and second treatment is, but iirc the second one is to get those that were just eggs during the first treatment.

Probably was.

Is the number going down each day?

I don't know what you mean by foggers. In Brooklyn NY, I ddidn't have roaches for the first 6 years, but they started after that and got to be a problem in 2 years. In NYC (30 years ago) they sold what were called bombs. I removed everything from the counters, got everyone out of the apartment and triggered aerosol cans, then I left myself while the cans on the floor were still spraying up. I put one in the kitchen and one,. that might not have been needed, in the hall for the rest of the 6 room 1400 sq ft. apartment. No one came back for 24 hours. Those were the instructions, on the can probably. No more roaches after that.

If the foggers aren't like that, I would have no special expectation they would work, but I don't know if these are available outside NYC or even inside 35 years later. .

[Stormin Mormon]

Years ago, I had Indian Mealworms. An online friend suggested I visit Gardens Alive (dot com). their stuff worked nicely for the mealworms. perhaps the stuff will work for roaches, too?

They also had stuff for carpenter ants, which did a good job.

Best wishes, that sounds totally no fun. Oh, memory. One realtor lady said to me years ago. If you've got cockroaches, clean the oven. That's often a food source for them.

. Christ> First I tried roach bait. Next I tried boric acid. Next I tried

[nestork]

No, don't phone on Monday. Wait the month for him to come back and spray again. Almost certainly your exterminator sprayed with 2% Diazinon. Diazinon has a 30 day "residual" which means that it remains effective for about 30 days after spraying. So, if over the next 4 weeks a cockroach walks over that dried up Diazinon, that's a dead roach.

That's also a sure fire way for an unscrupulous exterminator to go out of business.

There are different kinds of cockroaches; the American cockroach, which is large and darker than the German cockroach, which is much smaller and brown in colour. German cockroaches like a warm climate, so it's important to spray behind your fridge. Both kinds of cockroaches like to live where they can quickly squeeze into a crevice so that no larger bug can crawl in after them and eat them, so it's important to spray along baseboards. Also, all bugs drink from the condensation that forms on cold water pipes, so it's also important to spray where pipes come out of walls.

Diazinon was banned from sale to the general public about a decade ago. I think it's still available for professional use. It's one of the best insecticides to use for a wide range of bugs, and hopefully that's what he used.

[recyclebinned]

[trader4]

It's illegal for residential use in the USA, courtesy of the EPA. Apparently still allowed for limited agricultural use. So, poor Metz can't get sprayed with what works.

[Stormin Mormon]

I think that's the operating rule of government. If it works, ban it. Freon, switchblades, automatic weapons, etc.

. Christ>

[Ed Pawlowski]

Before that, Chlorodane was outlawed. I used that years ago and never had a bug in the house. I was lucky enough to score a quart just before the pan and it lasted me a few years, but is long gone now.

[Frank]

Phased out in 2004. I used to circle the house with it every spring to ward off ants. No longer available and ants became a problem but no longer a problem as I had the house circled with Termidor for termite defense.

There are chemicals restricted to professionals or phased out by the EPA. Pisses me off as I worked in the lab as a research chemist for years and handled chemicals considerably more toxic than diazinon which is really only moderately toxic.

[glenn]

Get some bifenthrin off eBay. Get the type you can mix with water, not the oil based type. I spray the exterior of my place at least once a year, it works on spiders & ants, and is supposed to work on roaches. I have sprayed it inside, supposed to be safe for children & pets as long as you follow directions. I can't buy this locally, because it's not permitted. Much cheaper than having an exterminator come out.

[ChairMan]

same with Dursban, I had better luck with it than Diazinon and still have some liquid and 2 bags of double Dursban granules. And lets not even ge into herbicides and the ban of MMSA, the only thing that would kill broadleaf(dallisgrass) weeds and worked fast Soon we will be covered in weeds and bugs, although my Geckos and Anoles keep a pretty good check on the smaller critters like crickets and such

[Norminn]

We had an influx of roaches in Florida condo when an upstairs neighbor moved out...probably with us all the time, but worse when neighbor left. We had Sears extermination work; they used a bait, which was peanut butter and boric acid, and it worked wonders. They used no spray, and there was no need to empty cupboards or clean anything afterwards. They applied tiny dabs of the bait along back corners of kit. cabinets, in wall receptacles, and along baseboards. It was fairly expensive for a one-time treatment, but I can't remember exactly what was included....maybe spraying exterior to keep out ants?

I would not want anyone spraying unknown poison around my kitchen. At another home in FL, we had regular lawn/house treatments....pick a poison each month....and on one occasion, the malathion was so strong that we had headaches indoors even with AC off and windows closed.

[TomR]

Sounds like you were so overrun with them that it will take time to get rid of them. Exterminators used to also spray with "Gencor"(?) as well as whatever else they used. That prevented newly hatched roaches from growing to maturity and multiplying. I don't know if they still do anything like that. But, yes, the exterminator can't knock them all out in one shot. Give it more time. Good luck.

[TomR]

Looks like it is called "Gentrol" now, but it used to be known as "Gencor" -- both are trademarks:

.

[Moe DeLoughan]

It kills birds. That is the primary reason for its banning - using it outdoors as recommended led to birds dying right along with the bugs.

[Higgs Boson]

Years ago I gor roaches in the kitchen -- probably from when our food co-op was still using the cardboard boxes from deliveries for us to tote our groceries home.

It was so horrible; I thought I would lose my mind!!!-

That's when I learned about putting Boric Acid powder under the drawer and shelf paper. It probably took several months but one day I noticed - hey! no more roaches.

What happens AFAIK is that they get the powder on themselves; it blocks the respiratory tract (?) and little by little they perish, ceasing to reproduce. Patience is called for if one wants to avoid chemical pesticides.

People also use Boric Acid powder along baseboards and every possible even tiny opening, like for electrical conduits, etc.

That was DECADES ago and to this day, opening kitchen drawers, I still flinch at the memory...!

HB

[Metspitzer]

From the Internet, I was told to mix part Boric Acid, part flour and part sugar. I used empty prescription bottle tops and put the mix on the counters in the corners and also used the mix under the beds in the bedrooms and closets. After doing that, I read on the Internet that roaches were evolving to avoid sugar. I started just spraying some of the pure Boric Acid beside the stove and fridge and other out of the way places. It still didn't seem to be helping though.

This is about day 5 after the exterminator and I am seeing less roaches, but still have some.

[gfretwell]

The trick with any bait is to simply figure out what they eat and make bait from that.

[Higgs Boson]

-op was still using the cardboard boxes from deliveries for us to tote our groceries home.

nd shelf paper. It probably took several months but one day I noticed - he y! no more roaches.

I'm glad you glomped onto the idea that it is unnecessary to add anything t o the Boric Acid.

Please be patient: It WILL work, but will take longer than an instant spra ying of killer chemicals. Will also probably be more final; no more recurr ence of roaches who have evolved to develop immunity to chemical sprays. T he Boric Acid works on the respiratory tract; hence no way, AFAIK, to devel op immunity.

HB

HB

the respiratory tract (?) and little by little they perish, ceasing to repr oduce.

en tiny opening, like for electrical conduits, etc.

linch at the memory...!

[gonjah]

We have those Texas Roaches here. Nothing I've found works like this stuff does: