Screw apartments and neighbors...

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: Kruse
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl

Also a new neighbor moved in around about when this started happening, not trying to blame her solely on coincidence, but a sudden roach appearance is kind of odd.


Is there any chance that the roaches were in her apartment this whole time and now she is insecticide-bombing them and they all suddenly just moved out of her apartment into yours?
No matter what, it's not acceptable.


I think it's more likely to be a new infestation due to the design of the building with indoor hallways and such. If they were already anywhere on this floor, I would have been seeing them.

I think it's possible they came in with boxes. Not seeing many larger ones yet, those are out in the hallway. The ones getting into my apartment look like they just recently hatched...very small.

Unfortunately with it being a 1920s building, it's just about impossible to seal up or even find every entry point.

Might look into the gel if I have to, but if the landlord isn't responsive to the issue, I may just look into breaking the lease and moving. Have also thought about one or two of those ultrasonic bug repellers, but again, I want the landlord to make an effort to correct it, especially since it will take treating the whole building to really stop the issue.

Bugs are more common in the South, but it is possible to keep them out of a residence by keeping it clean and doing a minimal amount of treatment. This is definitely abnormal.

 

[01rangerxl]

Originally Posted By: 97f150
We had a similar problem at the apt we lived in before we bought our house a couple years ago. Shortly after moving in, a woman and her 4 kids moved in next door. Before long, we started getting roaches. We called the management, they had maintenance come out with different approaches to extermination...all unsuccessful. Out comes Orkin....still unsuccessful.

A few months rock along with Orkin coming once a month, and the maintenance guys putting out roach motels and other poisons in the interim. One day a piece of paper pops up on the neighbors door, an eviction notice, which I can clearly read through my peephole is for non payment of rent. They pack up and leave in the middle of the night, and where their car was laid a pile of trash, dirty diapers, skid marked underwear, and smelly socks. BUT, the roaches disappeared a within a couple weeks and never returned for the remaining 2 years we stayed there.

Edited to add: Funny coincidence. As I was typing that a friend texted me complaining that her neighbors are again playing loud music and talking loud enough to wake her up and prevent here from going back to sleep. Nah, I dont miss apt living at all.


That's what worries me. I may be up against a total pig who just doesn't care.

I don't understand living like that. It's really not hard to not be a slob.

 

[GumbyJarvis]

Are they German cockroaches, palmetto bugs, or common roaches?

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: datech
I think sometimes roaches come in with boxes. Sometimes boxes of food. Sometimes boxes of other goods that might have been stored somewhere with roaches present.

Even if your walls are full of bugs, they have to have some kind of opening to enter your premises, so check for holes and cracks, especially under sinks, etc., where they can get in around the openings for pipes.

One place that's hard to block them is from the drain pipes. Roaches can live underground in the sewers and come up the drains.


Ditto, ditto, ditto.

I hate roaches with a passion. Down here in Florida, they grow as big as a small dog. (I had one as a pet when I was younger until he bit through the chain).

Like you, I try to remain as vigilant as possible, (it's the reason bags of potatoes get opened outside in the driveway BEFORE they even come on the house. It's also the reason when I spray for bugs, I remove all the light switch covers and wall socket covers and squirt a dose of spray inside because that is one of their main avenues inside a dwelling, (aside from doors and windows). I also spray liberally around doors and windows and make sure all doors and windows have a good seal, (why make it easy for them to come in).

I don't know about Alabama, but here in Florida, a roach infestation is a viable reason not to pay rent until the problem is resolved. Granted, the landlord must be contacted and it doesn't hurt to call the health department, but that might be something to check out if the problem is not resolved.

 

[GreeCguy]

True story.

Probably the biggest roach I ever saw in my life happened a few years ago. I went to visit a buddy who lives way out in the woods in an old double wide.

We're sitting at his kitchen table and he's just poured me a cup of coffee. We chatting and I'm waiting for my coffee to cool a bit - that's when I hear it - "click, click, click, click."

I look across the kitchen floor and think I see a large mouse, but once my eyes focus to my horror I realize it's the biggest palmetto bug I've ever seen in my life! This thing is huge! It even has a tattoo on it's side - the word "Mom" written gracefully surrounded by a heart done in blue ink, (there was another one on his other side that was less creative and detailed. It said, "I eat dog food for breakfast"). With authority, he makes his way under the kitchen cabinet where my friend keeps his coffee can.

Suddenly, it occurs to me that roach poop looks strikingly familiar to coffee grounds.

"Don't let your coffee get cold," says my buddy.

Yummy.

 

[GumbyJarvis]

Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: datech
I think sometimes roaches come in with boxes. Sometimes boxes of food. Sometimes boxes of other goods that might have been stored somewhere with roaches present.

Even if your walls are full of bugs, they have to have some kind of opening to enter your premises, so check for holes and cracks, especially under sinks, etc., where they can get in around the openings for pipes.

One place that's hard to block them is from the drain pipes. Roaches can live underground in the sewers and come up the drains.


Ditto, ditto, ditto.

I hate roaches with a passion. Down here in Florida, they grow as big as a small dog. (I had one as a pet when I was younger until he bit through the chain).

Like you, I try to remain as vigilant as possible, (it's the reason bags of potatoes get opened outside in the driveway BEFORE they even come on the house. It's also the reason when I spray for bugs, I remove all the light switch covers and wall socket covers and squirt a dose of spray inside because that is one of their main avenues inside a dwelling, (aside from doors and windows). I also spray liberally around doors and windows and make sure all doors and windows have a good seal, (why make it easy for them to come in).

I don't know about Alabama, but here in Florida, a roach infestation is a viable reason not to pay rent until the problem is resolved. Granted, the landlord must be contacted and it doesn't hurt to call the health department, but that might be something to check out if the problem is not resolved.


Lost a house cat that way, sigh.
Cats play with, and eat bugs, but in Florida, bugs eat cats, small children, etc.
There actually is many ways to get rid of them, depending on what they are.
German cockroaches are the biggest pain, American cockroaches aren't as bad, borax is a good one. Palmetto bugs, which are Florida hard shell stinky cockroaches aren't too hard to get rid of, but there's normally not as many of them are there are German or American cockroaches.
In my experience, German and American cockroaches are attracted to dark, wet, dirty areas, with the German variety also being attracted to small household electronics (as a kid, the Clock Radio, VCR, Nintendo, and Stereo Boombox were number one areas of interest to German roaches), on that note, we got rid of them via borax, spraying, gel, and Lysol on everything.
This includes as greeC explained, removing switch covers, removing plug covers.


Florida crackers know our roaches, all too well. You ain't a true Floridian until you master the art of war with roaches, Mosquitos, and water bugs... (Off topic but you ain't a true Floridian until you have named that mysterious protected million dollar fine for even looking at, much less touching Mr. Gopher Turtle messing up your lawn)

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: GumbyJarvis

(Off topic but you ain't a true Floridian until you have named that mysterious protected million dollar fine for even looking at, much less touching Mr. Gopher Turtle messing up your lawn)


Thank you, thank you, thank you! When I was a small lad and would watch cartoons on the television, (black and white no less) and a cartoon gopher would be in the scene, I was always confused as he had fur with fluffy ears and a bushy tail. I would think, "them Yankees sure don't know nothing about gophers."

 

[GumbyJarvis]

Originally Posted By: GreeCguy
Originally Posted By: GumbyJarvis

(Off topic but you ain't a true Floridian until you have named that mysterious protected million dollar fine for even looking at, much less touching Mr. Gopher Turtle messing up your lawn)


Thank you, thank you, thank you! When I was a small lad and would watch cartoons on the television, (black and white no less) and a cartoon gopher would be in the scene, I was always confused as he had fur with fluffy ears and a bushy tail. I would think, "them Yankees sure don't know nothing about gophers."


Dont tell Uncle Sam but they're decent eating too

But that was many moons ago, and my grandmother has since passed, and yeah nobody's gonna lock up a 80 some year old woman, even if she's licking her lips while watching one move across the property.

 

[Win]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
..... Today I bought boric acid tablets and Combat bait stations ...


Boric acid will kill them, but the powder is more effective - you can spray it under your baseboards and into all the nooks and crannies along the floor. It will take a while.

The other DIY stuff probably won't do much, imo, spend your money on the boric acid.

 

[dave180]

Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
These are those tiny roaches, about 1 cm in length or less.


Ha! The old school where I work has 'em 1 1/4" in the basement. You can stand on them and they will carry you around.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I second and third the boric acid powder. I've used the tablets for years, and they kept the invasion down to a dull roar. But last year I bought the powder and scattered it all around, and put some on the walkway outside and at the base of the walls.

Funny thing, but the insects stopped appearing within 2 weeks of the powder's application. I haven't seen one in months -- and I used to have hordes of 'em, usually the small ones, in the kitchen and bathroom. (The cats take care of any big ones, I expect: "Ha! A snack!")

 

[spackard]

Someone recently updated their review for an ant bait and recommended a newer bait, DuPont Advion. I notice they market a roach bait containing Advion also. One Advion cockroach listing on Amazon has 525 reviews, mostly 5 stars. Maybe check out what people wrote about it there.

 

[DC44]

I feel your pain. My first apartment had a roach infestation. For the first 3 or 4 months I stayed there, I probably killed one or two roaches. No biggie, it's an apartments. Then out of nowhere they kept popping up more and more. I bought spray and sprayed everywhere. Didn't matter, they still came. I made sure I kept things extra clean, even wiping out the kitchen sink after I ran water in it. Nothing like cutting on the kitchen light to get a glass of water or late night snack and see roaches scatter like someone running from the cops.It got so bad that I would leave the kitchen light on 24/7 since they don't like light. You know what happen? They started to ignore the light and would just be out chillin on the counter top. Of course I was loosing my mind. I contacted my apartment and pest control came out at least three times but it did nothing.

Finally I kept seeing the come from behind the refrigerator area. So, I pulled the refrigerator out and found the mother-ship. They had made a nest in the compressor area. I killed at least 50 roaches that evening If not more. It was so bad that I had to cut some of the linoleum flooring out behind the refrigerator due to roach feces and egg sacs. After that my problem decreased dramatically. I don't know how long the nest had been in the back of the refrigerator but it couldn't have been very long since most of the roaches where not full grown.

At my current apartment there aren't german roaches which you seem to have and are a real pain. If you see one...well you know the rest. This apartment does have American Cockroaches and a lot of trees, which they live in, and it was built in the 70's so approaching 40 years old. A used a roach spray called Bengal roach spray. It's about $13 a can but it works good. I used it when I first moved in, since I automatically assume that apartments will have hidden roaches. For the first couple of weeks when I came home from work I would see a victim turned over in the middle of the floor. I was pleased. After that, I would get a cockroach attack about ever 3 or 4 months that came in under the bottom of the door or I would find dead. But then I got one of those door seals that keep out air drafts and that seemed to solve that issue. So then they (cockroaches) started popping up in my bathroom. I'm thinking water is attracting them. Were are they coming from? I go thru this for about two months. I mean, it was getting to the once or twice a week stage. Everybody in my apartment building seems to want a big dog in a one bed room unit so I'm thinking that that attracts them even more. The last straw was when I had been 'sitting' in the bathroom for a while and did not recognize that there was a fresh out the tree cockroach 6 inches from the back of my head on my face towel the whole time I'm 'sitting' down. Talk about ruining a happy occasion. So I finally narrowed it down to the bathroom exhaust fan based on where I was seeing them most of the time and that connects three units in my section. I taped it up and haven't seen one in 2 months. No amount of spraying would have solved that problem.

Basically they can be a headache in many ways. Everybody made good suggestions. I would find a way to seal the bottom off your door if they're coming out of the hallway. If you got cracks around pipes or something why not by the expanding foam spray and seal the openings. Also check behind you warm appliances like the refrigerator and stove, they migrate toward warm places. I also recommend Bengal roach spray although its pricy compared to other sprays. This last issue I had had me very close to wanting to break my lease. It was absolutely driving me up a wall. I could tell more stories as many others, but I hope you get the issue solved soon. It's the worst thing about living in apartments.

 

[zzyzzx]

I also recommend checking the back of the refrigerator area. I thought it was the water pan that attracted them. I have no way to remove mine for cleaning!!! But adding some sort of poison to the water there might help. I just cleaned what I could and used roach gel inside the working parts area of the refrigerator.

 

[SatinSilver]

I'd be CHECKING in daily with the landlord till those things are gone. Squeaky wheel gets the grease. Maybe lighten the mood with some comedy relief. Tell them you're going to try a catch and release program to move them. Bottle them up and release them at their house.

 

[01rangerxl]

Landlord got on it quick and had an exterminator out here yesterday and today and cleaned the hallway. I found one dying roach today, that was it. No others. It seems the attack on the roaches is having some effect. This is definitely WAY better than the situation a few days ago. Hopefully it keeps up and the problem won't come back.

These are the German roaches it seems. As small as they are, they are some nasty little things.

 

[zzyzzx]

Originally Posted By: satinsilver
I'd be CHECKING in daily with the landlord till those things are gone. Squeaky wheel gets the grease. Maybe lighten the mood with some comedy relief. Tell them you're going to try a catch and release program to move them. Bottle them up and release them at their house.

I'd release them in the Apartment Management's office.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

Roaches can live on a few crumbs and condensation. It doesn't take much.

I was right out of high school and in a hotel in downtown KCMO while in a welding school. The roaches were absolutely in charge. I bought Black Flag pump spray in the large size. I'd go into the kitchenette at wake-up, grab the spray, light the stove, turn on the light, and just start spraying. I think the worst was feeling them crawl over you at night or finding them rolled over on in the morning. It was only for 8 wks, but I hate them with a passion now.