I have a question about roaches

[rockymountaindem]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but cockroaches like to avoid light areas, correct? So, if a certain unidentified bug I saw last night crawled out of a dark area and into a well-lit one, I can assume it's not a roach. Also, any good ideas for bug control besides boric acid?

This might sound like a dumb question but Colorado doesn't have very many bugs besides moths, and this is my first time living on the E. Coast in a building that's not made entirely of cement.

[LynneSin]

1. Roaches will come out in light but generally try to avoid it

Boric acid is your best bet but I also like that Combat gel.

I've dealt with roaches for way too long (the joys of apartment living) and here are some things I've learned:

Keep all food areas clean and dry
Roaches love cardboard! I would put any food that comes in cardboard boxes into ziploc bags or plastic containers

Boric acid is your friend

[rockymountaindem]

2. Well I'm a very neat person

and so far I only saw one bug that *might* have been a roach, and that was last night, in my bedroom, right before I was about to go to sleep (guhhhhhh). I actually think it wasn't one, but since I've only actually seen a roach once (many years ago) I thought I'd ask. I think what I saw was actually some kind of beetle. It was slightly bigger than a quarter and wasn't as oblong as roaches I've seen in pictures. So it probably wasn't a roach. But it's got me thinking about ways to keep my 80 year old apartment pest free. I gave it a thorough vacuuming just now.

Where can I get boric acid?

[Midlodemocrat]

3. I think you can get it at Lowe's, or places like that, and one other thing.

The goal is to get the roach to get it on their legs, so spread an extremely thin layer of the boric acid, not a heap of it, or they will just around it.

Exterminator who was here four times this summer because of ants told me that. I would have definitely thought more is better.

[LynneSin]

4. I got mine at the local dollar store

but if it was in your bedroom I doubt it was a roach. The kitchen is where these folks hover. And just because you're neat doesn't mean you won't be affected. If there is one slob in the building everyone else will suffer

[rockymountaindem]

5. Yeah, I know

but I've been conscious of the insect issue so I've been extra tidy. Other people on this floor, not so much unfortunately. I don't understand what's with people sometimes but some individuals seem content to live in a mess of their own creation.

[Midlodemocrat]

7. Ain't that the truth.

I moved out of one apartment because it had mice into one that had roaches. They sprayed every month, but there was no way to prevent them. Ugh.

[LynneSin]

8. mice don't bother me since I live with the spawn of satan

6 years at my apartment and only one mouse - dead, thanks to Evita.

[Midlodemocrat]

10. And how many songbirds?

:cry:

[LynneSin]

13. Just 2 - but that was the old neighborhood

I'm hoping that her days as a Natural Born Killer are behind her since we've moved to the new location

[NOLALady]

18. The entire apartment building can be neat.

All you need is someone to have a paper bag with eggs on them. Eggs hatch before the bag has been thrown away and instant building infestation.

[RebelOne]

6. Combat is the best for killing roaches.

[AirmensMom]

9. We saw a few cucarachas when we lived in FL.

Right out in the daylight in our concrete house. They were not invited but they came anyway. The bug man usually took care of them. :shrug:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. i am having an ongoing battle with roaches. i think they are winning

i have gotten rid of most cardboard.

there is no food lying around aside from the catfood.

roach motels are set up/ raid is on hand

[LynneSin]

15. Get Boric Acid and move the food dish around from place to place

Once they know where the food dish is located the roaches will keep going back there. However, if you move the location it'll confuse them and keep the bugs away.

Another option for the cat food is a food dish that is surrounded by water. I've seen them for sale online but my stepfather made me a cat dish in the midle of a cake pan. I fill the cake pan up with water and then put the food in the middle dish. Roaches can't swim

[La Lioness Priyanka]

16. brilliant lynne sin. pure brilliance.

i cant move the cat dish around cos its attached to the wall but i can do a water surrounded dish.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

[SacredCow]

12. Roaches normally prefer dark areas....

but it's just a preference. Much like we humans prefer climate controlled environments, but from time to time have to venture outside...

As for control, the boric acid powders or tablets really work fairly well, and don't leave a pesticide residue all over the place. Is there some reason that you don't want to use it?

[rockymountaindem]

14. This problem only cropped up last night

and I actually don't think it was a roach. I'll go looking for some boric acid this week. Honestly it was probably only one generic bug, but it was pretty big for my experience and I'm freaked out by it.

[SacredCow]

17. They can get pretty big....

Personally, I hate the bastids and they're all over the place down here in the south. It's not so much a question of IF you have them, but rather how MANY you have.

The last house I built from the ground up, I went to the site just before they put in the sheetrock and sprinkled a little boric acid powder between every single wall stud around the outside of the house, and around all of the plumbing and electrical conduit. Then, for good measure, I also sprinkled some sporadically around the interior studs- especially near the kitchen. I rarely saw a roach in the 10 years I lived there, and the ones I did see were obviously not well.