We’ve got a german cockroach infestation that is unbearable. We had an exterminator coming every other week or so, but he was only making a small dent in the population, as apparently the roaches weren’t eating any of his baits at all. We keep food and water cleaned up, etc. I have recently noticed that they use the decorative, hollow-backed wall moldings as a means of getting about the house.
So I am wondering if anyone here has any experience with getting rid of these bastards. I’ve been pondering buying some house geckos and letting them go in the kitchen and bathroom. While this seems a bit crazy, I fear the next step is to burn down the house.
Use snail bait, sprinkle it liberally everywhere a wall and floor meet. Roaches love snail bait, for some reason.
This won’t completely cure your infestation, but it will give you a satisfying roach holocaust the next couple of days when you see thousands of dead roaches outside (or inside) everywhere. Honestly i wouldn’t put it inside, though…
It will make a difference if your home is single family or if it’s multi-family.
Our local university has a entomologist who has developed some Integrated Pest Management techniques that have proven very successful in lowering costs while providing more effective pest control than conventional means. If you want to check on the EPA’s suggestion for pest control, see here.
If you want to check out IPM centers in your area, try this link.
IPM tends to be cheaper in the long run, but has higher starter costs. Our local school system is very, very happy with IPM.
We’re in a single-family home, but assume that our neighbors have the same issues. One exterminator told us that these roaches move from house to house easily, so we could kill all of the ones in our home and if a neighbor still has them, we’ll get them again shortly. It doesn’t help that we’re having one of the wettest years in a long time, so everything is thriving.
Catch a bunch, decapitate them, shove their heads onto toothpicks and then stick the toothpicks into the ground in a low fence around your house. That will show them that they are not welcome there.
I apologize for laughing at your misfortune, tiohn, but German cockroaches? House geckos? I had an actual laugh out loud moment with the mental images your thread has given me.
What I was getting at with that question is that you absolutely shouldn’t squash/stamp on them, either because they may leave eggs behind or attract others with the scent of roach blood/droppings/whatever the dominant smell of ex-roach is.
Obviously clearing away the infestation is bigger than this, but what you want in the meantime is a bunch of Gokiburi Hoi-Hois (that’s the Japanese name, don’t know the English but basically bug trap), some heavy duty spray and maybe some bug bombs. Those are all useful in helping you solve the basic problem of seeing roaches around the place, but without knowing details of your building it’s difficult to say any more with regards to cure vs prevention. Silicone gel is good for filling in any identified entry points, if possible?
The freeze spray that you can buy in Japan is pretty awesome for getting them - not sure if that’s available in other countries though. Personally I’m all about the frying pan.
You could get a Buddhist exterminator who will convert the roaches and then set up a situation where they will burn themselves in protest (courtesy of BBC’s Goodness Gracious Me).
Otherwise, I’m out of ideas. Stinks that the exterminators aren’t working though.
I had problems with roaches in a couple of different houses when I lived in NC. One apartment/town home type thing had six units. When one of us would spray for roaches, the apartment next door would get over run and so on down the line. We finally solved the problem by having the entire complex spray at the same time.
To solve the problem completely I recommend you do what I did, move to Colorado. I’ve never seen a roach here.
