I found a roach, the little bugger was climbing up the living room wall.

Ew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Where did it comes from? When I moved here we didn't have these THINGS. But when I moved here we didn't have the housing complex across the street. I suspect my neighbors of bringing to this area the infernal bug that crawls and creeps. We did not have roaches when I moved in going on 8 years ago.

Ants - many, Spiders a plethora from long legged daddies to the evil black widow. Wasps, Bees, Beetles, Crickets, Grasshopper and similar critters which comes with rural country. Not a single roach in all of that time until now.

Due to the Ants we keep everything in sealed jars and containers: We open a bag of cereal, it has its own tupperware container. Sugar goes into large glass gallon jars, everything is sealed up. We live in the country, we know that we can't leave these sort of things just lying around.

We live with the critters here, meaning that unless they are dangerous (like wasps and bees) I let them do their thing until the vacuum comes out for cleaning. Spiders spin in their corners, ants rarely come indoors since we provide nothing for them to eat. I do not use poisons and chemicals, even by-pass a lot of the cleaning chemicals simply because we have a septic tank and I like my bacteria in the tank - they do their job quietly and as long as I leave them alone we won't have septic problems.

I "bombed" the house once days before I moved in, but then the place had been vacant for nearly 2 years and the house was over run with everything from pill-bugs to spiders. Some fool left the screen off the small window in the living room (actually a vent window about 2' long by 6" tall) and left it open, so a nice nest of wasps were here.

I was reading the back of a bomb package which says that I would basically have to shut off the refrigerator, all pilot lights, find something to do for 4 hours with the cats and dog. It also tells me to cover all food preparation surfaces, yet open up my kitchen cabinets to get the best "penetration" into the hiding places of the bugs - then I guess I am suppose to come back inside and then clean, clean, clean.

The Questions:

1. But if my suspicion is true about my neighbors, then no matter how well I bomb and clean my house they will come back, won't they?

2. We live in a Tra - er, um - Prefabricated Home (New speak for Trailer) we have a "crawlspace" beneath the place that I like to call "hell" since I spent a great deal of time under there during the remodel a few years ago (even then there were no roaches, not even in the crawl space). About a month a go I reskirted the trailer the space is now pretty well sealed, with vent holes bow and stern and openings around pipes. Could I set of a bomb under there without vacating the place above? Say if I close the windows and door and turn on the A/C? I assume that that damp, cool, dark place would be ideal living conditions for Satan's little horde of Armageddon Survivors.

3. I heard it said if you see one then there are thousands (or millions) - would bombing the place even be effective at this time?

4. Any suggestions (short of murdering my neighbors and burning their houses) for protecting my home from these THINGS?
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09-11-04, 01:56 PM
frankvan
Go ahead and murder your neighbors, but the roaches they have imported are the hardiest critters in christendom and date basck to the dinosaurs, you can only kill them with a large mallet. Seriously, David, it seems to me that the most common source of roaches is the local grocery store or super market or restaurant. You need to check the bags you bring groceries home in very carefully, and if you find one - use the mallet. Good luck. Wink I have never seen one cross the street.

09-11-04, 03:42 PM
clarebear
You should call The Man . He will take care of it for you.

09-12-04, 12:12 PM
DvdGStwrt
Always plastic and as soon as we are home we toss the bags, front face new product behind old product, repackage, etc.

Speaking with my landlord he too has noticed this new uninvited house guest as well and he does have "The Man".

09-12-04, 08:28 PM
teeceeum
If you treat the periphery and interior of your house on a regular basis, your problem should be taken care of.

09-13-04, 07:16 AM
Jelp01
I had the similar problem a few years ago. I lived in an apartment building in which the neighbor had moved from North Carolina to Washington, bringing with him several unwanted houseguests. It took a couple of visits from The Man, but I finally got rid of those guests.

09-13-04, 10:03 AM
MrsS
Oh, Daviddarling! You have my deepest empathy! I had never seen a roach in any of my homes until this disgusting sloven moved into the downstairs rear unit of my three apartment house(I was in the upstairs flat) Bombs and The Man seem to be the only solution, sad to say.My landlord evicted the slob when she refused to clean up her act....that ended the problem in that building.
A call to the health department regarding any visible evidence of unsanitary conditions across the way will at least make you feel better and may even help the situation.

09-25-04, 11:55 AM
DvdGStwrt
I suppose this means that when we do move I have to trash my antique sofa and chairs? Or anything that the darn critters can get in to? I hate to think what is being done to the stuffing of my furniture. They do live in that - right?

Now do I have the right to ask my Landlord to cover the expense of bug control? Or is that beyond the responsibilities of the Landlord?

David

09-25-04, 12:59 PM
MrsS
Nah, you needn't toss your treasures, you can "fumigate" most furniture by tenting it tightly in a heavy plastic drop cloth and spraying nasty poisonous aerosol stuff in, not on the furniture but under and around it and leaving it tented for two weeks....re-spraying at 3 day intervals to catch hatching bugs.
11-11-04, 09:45 PM

cattywampus
In my part of the world, roaches are as scarce as hen's bloomers. My father saw a roach in a cafe once. He gathered us all up, left the food, walked out and never went back. I am old enough to remember how in California in the 60's they would drape a huge tarp over your house and pump poison in. The roaches all went over to the neighbors until the tarp went on their house. Then they'd go back home.

Catty Wink

03-03-06, 06:44 PM
Floridagirl
Put out Combat roach traps! Work like a dream. They just disappear.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,