Do I have a roach problem--what to do about it? (floor, fleas)

[kibblesandbits]

I rent a house, and in September, I found a large, dead roach on my first floor in the dining room. It may have died because it was manhandled by my cats, that is my thought. In December, I found another one, dead, a bit smaller. In the exact same spot.

I am in a suburban area on the outskirts of a large city. The house was built in the early 1980's.

Anyhow, last night I found a live, medium-sized roach on the second floor in my medicine cabinet. I was about to floss when I saw it walking around in the medicine cabinet--ewwww! My hubby killed it and flushed it.

I am now concerned about what this means. I think it's very odd that I found a roach in the medicine cabinet on the second floor. I have never seen any in the kitchen, have never seen any except these three. We live in the North, it's winter, and I'm confused about what it's doing there. It's been in the 30's for weeks now.

We have never had any pest control done while we've lived here, 1.5 years already. These three roaches are the only ones we've seen. The first dead one was a huge one. The second two normal-sized, medium ones.

What should I do? Should we be concerned? I am starting to be concerned.

I have lived downtown in major metropolitan areas and never saw a roach, never had any pest control. Now I'm in the burbs, and ironically, am now seeing roaches.

[the painter]

Most of these nasty things come out in the dark, so you may not see them. Hate to tell you this but if there are 3 there are more. At night, turn out the lites for awhile and then grab a flashlite. Contrary to public opinion it is not always due to cleaning. These nasty things, common household roaches, usually are brought into the house from paper grocery bags, card board boxes, ect. So you maybe getting alittle extra for your buck at the store, lol. Yes you need to get a handle on it now or it will continue to get worse, they multiply rather fast...........sorry

[kibblesandbits]

Originally Posted by the painter

Most of these nasty things come out in the dark, so you may not see them. Hate to tell you this but if there are 3 there are more.

I don't doubt there are more, but I find it odd that I found these three so many months apart--Sept., Dec. and Feb. And I would think that our cats would have left a trail of carcasses by now if they see them at night. I am usually up quite late and I have never seen any (except for the live one last night).

We are so super careful about checking grocery bags, boxes, etc. This really sucks.

What do I do now? They were found in 2 different places. I have no experience with this.

[the painter]

Personally since you rent I would contact the landlord and tell them you want the place sprayed before it gets out of hand, or you can get the cans and spray as directed, especially under cabinets ect. The traps are suppose to work pretty well for minor problems, haven't used them myself. I dont have them in the house but I fight them in the barn, they are HUGH & nasty, I get some in the garage but I spray the parimeter of the house every yr.

[Summering]

A house needs to be sprayed every few months, you don't want these to take over........
If you live south you need to get on a plan. Ask the owner or I'd do it myself even if I were you.
After spraying they might come out, but they will come out as pretty much...dead...
Best to keep up with it. Even the best of homes, in the best of places " if south" get this issue.

[kibblesandbits]

I live in the north, though--it's winter here, has been for months. It's been in the 30's for weeks. But I understand what you're saying.

However, I don't like the idea of randomly spraying pesticides when we don't know where they're coming from. How do you prevent animals from eating that stuff?

[juggler]

You could spray the pesticide (or put out roach traps) inside the cabinets and behind the fridge - in places where the cats cannot get to it.

Here is a website that has some other tips for getting rid of roaches without harming pets, mostly involving boric acid.

OR.... you could move out to the burbs of Portland, where I live. When I lived in Texas, I saw roaches all the time. You think 3 roaches over 5 months is bad??? Try about 5 roaches on the kitchen floor when I turned on the light in the middle of the night. Multiple roaches in the garage, beneath the back deck, occasionally in the bathtub, etc.
I've lived just outside Portland for over 5 years and have yet to see a single roach. Not one. People I talk to here have not encountered roaches either. I don't know what is is... maybe they have a problem climbing west over the continental divide?

[harry chickpea]

First, if you live in the south and that is all the roaches you see, you don't have a roach problem. Second, there are various types of roaches. The biggies are also known as Palmetto bugs or American roaches, and don't usually do well inside. Finding one or two of those is not a big deal.

However, you say you live in the north and you have seen a couple of medium size ones. That means you could have the start of a German roach problem. That can get out of hand fast.

I have taken movie theatres from roach infested places where if you turn on the lights the floor moves, to roach and rodent free within a couple weeks. The process is fairly simple. Go to a Home Despot or Low Store and buy a quart of boric acid powder for about $10. Get one can of a pyrethrum type aerosol spray (look at the precentages of pyrethrum and get a reasonably high percentage spray). Snip the top 1/2 inch off the tip of the boric acid container nozzle. Outside, and with the bottle upright, give it a shake and then squeeze the sides hard. You should see a light cloud of fine powder. Once you have mastered the technique and made the tip opening the size that works best for you, come on inside.

Boric acid and borax are not particularly toxic to humans or pets, especially compared to the nerve chemicals used in some insecticides. Boron and the metabolism of insects are incompatible, so some people use borax or other boron based powders, but boric acid is cheap and works well. A bottle can last twenty years or more if you use it properly in a single house. It also decimates fleas if you brush the powder into carpets.

Be warned that pyrethrum sprays dissipate over time and ARE DEADLY TO CATS. Pyrethrum disorients roaches and causes them to scurry about. That is the reason that exterminators sometimes seem to have made a roach problem worse when they first leave.

The combination of surfaces covered in borax and sprays of pyrethrum works well because the roaches inevitably pick up the boron in their scurrying about.

Roaches like heat, and they like moisture, and they like fetid material. If you use the boric acid around those places, you will halt just about any infestation. The very first spots to treat are the water heater, under the sinks, and any warm spots (usually from electricity). The socket behind a night light could have roaches. Unscrew the plate and gently dust the boric acid into the socket. Computers often harbor roaches. TV sets sometimes have them (don't take the back cover off a CRT computer monitor or tv, the high voltages can kill you). In cases like that, puff the boric acid on the surface the component rests on and don't dust for a week. Do your own seach for warm or wet places and apply the powder on or near the area.

If you see an area with a lot of black dots of frass (roach poo), that is a hot spot. Use both a heavy application of the boric acid and some pyrethrum spray.

Organic vegetables are a fantastic source of roaches. I recently was in a high-end market watching three roaches cavort over the carrots. Anything you bring in from a food store and ESPECIALLY a health food or natural food store is suspect. If the packaging has nooks and crannies, beware. washing vegetables immediately can flush out some buggies. A rule of thumb is to always freeze any grains, grits, or bulk items for at least three days to kill eggs.

If you live in an apartment, you have to be especially mindful of the holes where plumbing enters or exits (those trim plates merely hide larger holes - you want to caulk those to seal them), wall sockets and switches (remove the plates and dust with boric acid) and door sweeps and joints (weatherstrip and lay a barrier of spray). Keep all edible food and pet food in sealed containers. Pasta goes out of boxes and into sealed containers upon arrival.

99.99% of all roach infestations can be cleared with a good cleaning to remove frass and eggs, then proper application of boric acid and pyrethrum. The use of the more highly toxic chemicals is just not required.

[kaykay]

Some years back we lived in an apartment which had a big roach problem. We did have regular professional extermination services, but still had the roaches. I finally had success eradicating them with one simple solution ~~2 or 3 boxes of the Combat bait stations spread strategically around the apt.
Again, this was years ago and I don't know if they are still that effective, but it worked for me and our roach problem there was REALLY bad.

[kibblesandbits]

This is all very helpful, thank you so much.

We are pretty careful to avoid bringing roaches into the house inadvertently--but there are just so many ways. I've always wondered about the big bags of cat litter we bring home from the pet store. We don't have a garage to keep those in so they come directly into the house. There could so easily be a roach that hitchhikes in there.

I'm surprised this is the first time we've had a problem with this, especially since we've always lived in big city downtown apartments, with no pest control inside the apartment.

The idea of spraying pesticides inside the house myself makes me very uncomfortable--what if I get some on myself? What if the residues are absorbed through our skin? This stuff is toxic and carcinogenic, right? Maybe not Boric acid, but the other stuff.

The first roach I saw was huge--and nasty. Must have been a wood roach.