Help!!! German Coackroach (appliances, house, purchase)

[aDad]

Hello. We've been living here for a few months and love North Carolina. We recently purchased a used blender (looked very new just needed a bit of cleaning) at a swap meet. I regret a million times. Since I bought it I saw a cockroach on the counter, but I didn't know what it was and it escaped. I've never had cockroaches and in my mind they are big and black. This one was small and brown with two dark stripes on the head and with antanaes. I later saw two in my patio, where a artificial tree stood that I also bought from the same person. I later found one in my bedroom! Since I discovered they are cockroaches I have put boric acid everywhere and put some traps out...my floors are covered with it and we are calling a pest control company, but need recommendations. I have found 9 total since I bought the blender two weeks ago. When I was cleaning the blender one came out!!! I am paranoid about this! I found a dead one yesterday in the boric acid. The blender and tree are gone!!!! What else should I do besides calleing pest control. I put all food in gallon plastic bags and anything that was open or uncovered was trashed. I am very, very clean in my kitchen and am so grossed out. -aDad's wife

any advice please help! Pest control recommendations????

[saturnfan]

Dodson Brothers Exterminators are roach experts,

[Bilirubin]

Call a good, local exterminator - not one of those "chains". I believe we use Swift Creek Exterminators, and they got rid of our bug problems very quickly after we moved into our new, albeit older and neglected house. Good people.

Not to pour salt in the wound, but you bought a blender at a swap meet? You're going to put food in there. There's not enough bleach in the world to get rid of whatever my imagination can come up with that was blended in there - chum, body parts, puree-o'-horse manure. Swap meets are good for three things, and three things only: 1) used books, 2) Japanese porn, and 3) confederate flags.

[aDad]

I know, I know...what was I thinking...mine broke and this one was an expensive one and looked fairly new....dumb, dumb, dumb....I never occurred to me to think about the things you mentioned. New here and swap meet looked interesting.

[emuneee]

Try Bengal's Gold Roach Spray. I just bought a house that was sitting on the market (vacant) for 3 months, so it leaves and all that by the foundation (great place for roaches). I bought the spray and sprayed along the foundation/crawlspace and everywhere in the house (cabinets, behind appliances, closets, under sinks, entry ways). The spray flushes roaches out and kills them and also lives behind a chemical that sterilizes the remaining. Needless to say the next day I swept up about 40 dead roaches and haven't seen one since (two weeks).

I doubt I had a very big roach problem, but I did get those leaves up at the foundation so that may have helped as well.

[aDad]

Thank you befriend. Were the roaches outside ones are the german cockroaches?

[emuneee]

I couldn't even tell you.

[le roi]

German cockroaches will often live in your food (in the pantry), or in the walls of your house. They are good at eating through paper and plastic containers. I'd take others' advice, and contact a local pest control company.

Boric acid works well, but I've always used it to control the entrance/exit for American cockroaches that generally live outside, under the house, in piles of leaves, in rotting plants, etc.. I'm not sure what sort of strategy would be effective for German cockroaches, maybe bait traps?

[mia78]

Most people are all wrong when it comes to using boric acid. The understanding if a little is good than a lot is better is the opposite of what you want to do. You don't want to have it covering your floors. Roaches are smart and they will walk right around it. If you can see it, so can they. You HAVE to purchase a decent duster and use it properly so it comes out as a fine mist. The nozzles on the top of the 'Roach Away' type products will NOT achieve this fine misting action you want. You shouldn't be able to see it when is applied. You want the dust to be light enough so they'll walk over it and be effective.

Also, I've read some great reviews about Bengal spray online and you may want to try that. You never want to try two different things at once as they may cancel each other out.

[nomoreFLA]

The very next thing you should do is contact a professional exterminator.

I bought a house in SC that had roaches. I tried to fight them - bug bombs, sprays, boric acid, traps - but none of that got rid of the problem. When I finally broke down and called a professional, I expected him to tell me I had a huge problem. His response was "Oh this isn't that bad." Within two days of his treatment, I stopped seeing roaches. Within a week, I stopped having nightmares.

DO NOT try to fight them yourself. The OTC stuff is just not strong enough.
GOOD LUCK!!