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I've lived in a few neighborhoods in Manhattan and Queens. Never had a huge problem. I have a cat. Once in Manhattan, I had been away for a few weeks so someone had taken my cat in while I was gone. When I returned and didn't have the cat back yet, I saw one mouse in the apartment. Never again while the cat was around. There was also construction in the building next door at the time, so I feel like the mice might have been disturbed and moving around more.
Cockroaches I see occasionally. Once in a blue moon in Manhattan. In Queens, I think our neighbor had an issue with cleanliness and we started to see a lot of them at one point. Although we cook a lot, we are super clean and have a cleaning lady each week. We got rid of them by sprinkling some boric acid powder on the ground around where we saw them coming in. Haven't had an issue or seen any since.
I had a friend in Hoboken with a huge mouse problem. She opened her breadbox once and there were two baby mice inside the bread bag feasting. I can't imagine what I would have done. She would find them in closets, everywhere. They got an exterminator.
For those of you who have had bed bugs. Do you see them when you look under you bed and such? I always check hotel beds whereever I stay but I know sometimes they can be hard to spot.
if you live in a neighborhood with a lot of restaurants and garbage, then you'll have rats n roaches. I know on the LES there would be roaches in the VCR, behind the calendar, rats under the stove... crazy
A resounding yes to the ugliness of the waterbug. Woke up at 1am this morning - didn't get back to sleep. Anyway, I tried the Boric Acid thing and poured it on a roach (maybe this is not quite how it's supposed to work) and the thing just kept crawling around and around, so I just flushed it down the drain and cleaned the drain later that day. (This was when I thought they were coming from the drain, until this morning there were 10s of them crawling on my floors, Americans/Germans alike.) And I'm a neat-freak, I really am! So frustrating
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kefir King
The basic roach of New York is the GERMAN COCKROACH. The big waterbug is the AMERICAN COCKROACH, less common but twice as ugly. Those new bait-type creams that come in a syringe are good because they don't poison YOU. You apply in hidden spots near pipes in the kitchen and bathroom and the roaches eat the stuff, bring it home and die.
It helps if there is nothing ELSE for them to eat so don't leave scraps around.
But nothing you can do if your neighbor is a pig who says "oh, I would NEVER alllow an exterminator in MY apartment." Then no matter how many times you extinguish YOUR roaches you get more of HIS,
Here's my very own invention. Buy a pound of Boric Acid at the Dollar Store and take off your electical plates and your medicine chest if you can...then puff the boric acid copiously into the walls, howevber you get access. Use the whole pound.
It lasts forever in a dry place and slowly kills any bug that walks over it.
(I PRAY it works for bedbugs but I'm not sure if they clean themselves. Some SAY that diatomaceous Earth works but it's pricey.)
I saw ONE roach in the outside hallway in the last 6 months...apartment itself had only one FLY! As far as I know the building is bedbug free although I heard there was one infection last year that was exterminated...including all the adjacent apartments.
I can manage ANYTHING...except bedbugs. They would cause me to really, reallly PANIC.
Some of you guys are lucky. I saw tons of roaches and rats in Sunset Park while growing up. Funny enough, I moved back into the same place years later and haven't seen nearly as many since. It definitely depends on how clean you and your neighbors are.
Bed bugs are absolutely horrible; I wouldn't wish them upon anyone. They can hide just about anywhere, crawl and bite all over you --- while you're sleeping!, are damn near impossible to exterminate, and you feel uneasy for a long time after you do. Roaches have nothing on them.
For those of you who have had bed bugs. Do you see them when you look under you bed and such? I always check hotel beds whereever I stay but I know sometimes they can be hard to spot.
I've never had them but THOROUGHLY researched them.
No, you don't look under the bed, rather you lift the sheet and carefully examine the seam around the mattress and box spring for spots of red or brown blood, feces, and 1/8 to 1/4 inch bugs. Put Scotch tape in your suitcase and if you ever see a bedbug, stick it with the tape for evidence should you need it later.
Ehiesl,
You can't kill a bug by dumping boric acid on it. You want them to walk on it and later clean themselves, ingesting the stuff and poisoning themselves SLOWLY. Boric acid is a long time cure unlike a bugspray..or a shoe.
Honestly though, life is better roachwise now that they have developed these very effective, odorless, dangerless (to occupants anyway) baits. They really work wonders.
Yeah clearly the boric acid was not the right way to go. Never had this problem before, I'm a newbie. But let's see if moving out works. So far staying with the 'rents is going ok... I'm just worried that I'll get another roach-infested place once I move. But then again, I realize it could hardly be worse.
Yeah clearly the boric acid was not the right way to go. Never had this problem before, I'm a newbie. But let's see if moving out works. So far staying with the 'rents is going ok... I'm just worried that I'll get another roach-infested place once I move. But then again, I realize it could hardly be worse.
Make sure when you move you don;t take the roaches with you. All it takes is one egg case in one dresser, or toaster and you're off to the races again.
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As far as I know the building is bedbug free although I heard there was one infection last year that was exterminated...including all the adjacent apartments.
