Roaches (Mountain View: apartment, houses, cabinets)

[BCGSD]

Are any of you having a roach problem? At work (granted I work in Mountain View) there's a ton of roaches. Yesterday there was a massive one under my desk while I was working.

When I moved into my apartment, I saw a small roach coming out of my sink!

I'm guessing it has to do with the humidity.

[moved]

I haven't seen any roaches, but I had drain flies coming from the kitchen drain, and took care of that problem right away. I didn't have any bug problems last year, so I'm sure any problems are from the heat and humidity.

[TwinbrookNine]

"Big" roaches are different from "small" roaches. The small ones are likely German cockroaches that actually "infest" houses and are based indoors - usually seen like near sinks, stoves, cupboards, etc. Those are best eradicated with boric acid powder wafted around in the areas they frequent. It must be kept dry! It clings to them electrostatically, and they (and their nest mates) ingest it and die. Takes a few weeks to notice the results, but, those results are permanent. Boric acid is cheap, best found online these days, and its results are fast and for good. Nothing works better.

Large roaches (sometimes called "palmetto bugs") are outside inhabitants usually where there are palm trees nearby. One or two somehow find their way into buildings usually during the summer. They are not permanent inhabitants of houses etc. No need to address those with the exception of the remote possibility they are imports from SE Asia which has large roaches that infest houses. Very rare to see those in the US.

[BCGSD]

Originally Posted by TwinbrookNine

"Big" roaches are different from "small" roaches. The small ones are likely German cockroaches that actually "infest" houses and are based indoors - usually seen like near sinks, stoves, cupboards, etc. Those are best eradicated with boric acid powder wafted around in the areas they frequent. It must be kept dry! It clings to them electrostatically, and they (and their nest mates) ingest it and die. Takes a few weeks to notice the results, but, those results are permanent. Boric acid is cheap, best found online these days, and its results are fast and for good. Nothing works better.

Large roaches (sometimes called "palmetto bugs") are outside inhabitants usually where there are palm trees nearby. One or two somehow find their way into buildings usually during the summer. They are not permanent inhabitants of houses etc. No need to address those with the exception of the remote possibility they are imports from SE Asia which has large roaches that infest houses. Very rare to see those in the US.

Should I just pour boric acid down my sink? I just moved into my place and didn't see any in the cabinets.

[moved]

When I lived in Tucson, everyone poured bleach down their sinks to keep the sewer roaches from coming out. I would try that. Boric acid is a powder, so you can't pour it down your sink.

The massive roach that you saw at work is probably a water bug. But when I worked in the Pentagon, the roaches were so big that we would put little American flags on them. And the rats were the size of a housecat.

[BCGSD]

Originally Posted by moved

When I lived in Tucson, everyone poured bleach down their sinks to keep the sewer roaches from coming out. I would try that. Boric acid is a powder, so you can't pour it down your sink.

The massive roach that you saw at work is probably a water bug. But when I worked in the Pentagon, the roaches were so big that we would put little American flags on them. And the rats were the size of a housecat.

The sinkhole is fairly large though. You think bleach would still be better than boric acid?

EWWWWW on the flags!! This thing was massive and had huge antenna things (I don't want to look up pictures of roaches to see what the actual name of those 2 things are called). My office also has some bug feces. I'm thinking it's from the roaches. The roaches at work are all different sizes. So far I had that large one in my office under my desk and then there was a huge dead one in the bathroom.

[moved]

If you have all those roaches where you work, they need to call in an exterminator to start the process of getting rid of them. In the meantime, get some Combat get for roaches, it works really well.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by moved

The massive roach that you saw at work is probably a water bug. But when I worked in the Pentagon, the roaches were so big that we would put little American flags on them. And the rats were the size of a housecat.

Oh yes, the Pentagon roaches. Those were some nasty m-fers. Many of my office mates refused to drink from the water fountains because of them.

Never saw the rats though.

As for the roaches here in SD, I've been seeing the big ones out on the sidewalks. I'd scream like a girl if I ever encountered one inside my house.

[1AngryTaxPayer]

Usually it's water bugs here and if you have ice plant right outside that is the culprit. I've never seen a place with a lot of small roaches here.

[luv my dayton]

I use boric acid powder and a big bottle of powder is under $3. Got mine at Family Dollar but many places sell it. Keep drain covers in sinks and use a small night light as **** roaches hate light. I use the powder around the patio to keep down the insect population outside.