MetaChat - On Cockroaches

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17 November 2014

On Cockroaches →[More:]I am not a fan of roaches. Since moving to North Carolina, I have in the past made an uneasy peace with the fact that I will probably encounter them in any home from time to time.

Currently, I'm living in a (pretty cheap for the area) studio that's very woods-y. The previous tenant informed/warned me about "bug visitors" which I downplayed as a guy from Arizona being unfamiliar with the occasional roach. So far I have spent three months weatherproofing, bug-spraying, and foaming/caulking/puttying nearly every place that I can find where bugs could get in, with limited success.

In the last week, I got a millipede, a slug, a wolf spider meandering across the "seating area" rug, and 5 or six roach visitors (not including various easily-squishable small bugs in the bathroom.) This was a high point.

I'm tired of fighting, and I can't sleep well with a nightly roach in my kitchen sink looking for water - Raid Max around the entire apartment perimeter just slows them down. I found three dead roaches in the storage loft today, and just killed another that somehow materialized by my feet with a boric acid blast (who still managed to make impressive progress across the floor while I fetched the shop-vac to dispose of it.)

I don't want to give up the last chunks of my free time to be able to afford a place where I don't have to wear crocs all the time just to avoid stepping on a roach. I guess probably don't have a choice, though. I need "Dr Strangeroach, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bug"

post by: sysinfo at: 01:10 | 8 comments

One of the reasons that I'll never live south of Pennsylvania. No roaches and darn few mosquitoes up here (at least compared to where I grew up in Jersey).

posted by octothorpe 17 November | 07:45

They are awful, you have my sympathy. Do you do the traps? I feel like the traps help some.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 17 November | 09:27

I live in Coastal Carolina and can offer sympathy and suggestions.

It sounds like there is an already entrenched brood of roaches living (yes, yucky) in your walls attic and subfloor. To really deal with it you'll have to go toxic chemicals: either bombs or an exterminator, and you'll need to repeat until the eggs are through hatching.

Once that's taken care of, I find success with a monthly perimeter spray using Bayer Advanced Complete Insect Killer (yeah, they didn't want to leave any marketing term unused).

The bugs are much worse when you live near a wooded area.

*sympathy hugs*

posted by mightshould 17 November | 09:46

Sysinfo, we also have the occasional roach visitor, but we solve it (mostly) by this - monthly, we use Demon WP and a sprayer from Home Depot to spray the entire perimeter of our home, including around doors and windows. You may have less success, living in a more wooded area than we do.

We buy it from Do It Yourself Pest Control, which is a local place, but they do ship.

They may also be able to suggest other items they carry as well, if you call them - we've always found them to be pretty helpful.

I would try that before you move. It does not stop spiders (apparently little does, as their bodies are held above the ground) and we haven't found much that stops slugs - they still make their way inside.

Good luck!

posted by needlegrrl 17 November | 10:46

If you cut off a roaches head, it can live for a month. The decapitated head can live even longer.

posted by apoch 17 November | 18:33

good to see you around, sysinfo. My sympathies about the roaches. Damn bugs! *shakes fist*

posted by Firas 18 November | 12:42

I'm from Texas, land of big-ass cucarachas, and when friends from the Pacific Northwest used to tell me there were no roaches where they lived, I didn't believe them. Now that I've moved here myself, I can confirm that it's true. And it's heaven!

posted by Atom Eyes 19 November | 23:23

I hate roaches more than I can express. One of the squickiest moments of my life was back when I lived in a Brooklyn walkup. I reached up in my teeny kitchenette to open a cabinet door and a roach ran down my bare arm. EEEEE EWWWWW.

This is just one reason I love the Pacific NW. Haven't thought of roaches in years.

posted by bearwife 21 November | 13:52

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