# Getting rid of Roaches



## Ledean (Sep 18, 2005)

How do you guys get rid of roaches.
I have tried Combat . Did not seem to work.
Spraying boric acid also did not do the trick . Roach spray only kiils a few.
They are slowly increasing in number.
I even tried to blind them with my flashlights .
So I come to you guys for help.
What are the methods that are used by flashaholics ?


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## tvodrd (Sep 18, 2005)

In my experience, Roach Motels actually work! They're a little cardboard box with an inside super sticky surface. They're kind of cruel in that they starve the suckers to death. They check-in and immediately get stuck to the floor. Pick up a 2-pack at the market and give them a try. Put them out against a wall, and check them the next morning. (Ever look a really pissed-off cockroach in the eye? :green: )

Larry


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## KevinL (Sep 18, 2005)

When all else fails....bash them. Really hard. 

We too had a roach problem until I asked some professional pest control folks their opinion, and they were kind enough to let me try some of the pro-grade bait instead of the consumer-grade crap you get at supermarkets. 

One night, I stumbled across a roach that had just eaten the stuff, saw me, jumped off the bait container, ran two feet and fell over dead. I'm quite sure it wasn't my Surefire which did it. Even the USL takes longer to set things on fire  

Now that's what I call power tools. Talk to the pros - they have all the good stuff.


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## yuandrew (Sep 18, 2005)

A lot of roaches seem to build up "imunity" to bug spray. I've read somewhere that it is possible to actually create a "super" bug that can't be killed with insecticide.

Well, for one thing, you can hit them with a 6 volt [email protected] and crush them if you want. 

The roach motel is a bit messier as they take a while to die. If you're like my uncle*, you can wait until you've trapped a few in their then put them near a heat source and see if they bake to death. 

*My uncle had a similar problem using the sticky traps only he was trying to control his mouse problem. They don't die right a way once they get stuck so he checks the traps once in a while. If one's caught and it is still alive, he take them outside and burns them to death with a propane blow torch (no kidding)

The baits you can get by "prescription" (ok, you can also order them from some websites yourself) from a pest control company may work better than over the counter stuff you buy at the supermarket. Still, it is possible that roaches can become immune but it is less likely with the less commonly used insecticides.

I wonder if you can vacuum them up then vacuum up some chalk or diatomacus earth after. The dust might choke them. I know it works for ants.

If all else fails, you can also set off "Fumigator" bug bombs; I've mentioned this in a thread before dealing with spiders. Don't confuse it with the aerosol spray bug bombs; Fumigator is a small can about 3 inches high and produces smoke when activated. Make sure you throw some in the attic and the crawl space


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## mattheww50 (Sep 18, 2005)

The first step in succesful eradication is to find the source of water. Invariable there is a leak somewhere that is providing water for them.

Until that problem is addressed, you will never get rid of them. Once it is addressed, any of the typical pesticides or baits will kill off the Colony, but if you don't address the water issue, you will just get colonized by roaches again.

If you cannot use pesticides, if you can cut off the water supply, the use of adhesive baits (non toxic) will evenutally take them out of circulation.
They step onto the adhesive, and promptly get stuck permanently. A package of 6 is about $2 at Walmart. They smell like peanut butter to attract, but have no toxic chemicals.

If you see them, and have fish or birds, you can use a mist sprayer used for plants filled with rubbing alcohol instead. Getting the roach wet will produce a lethal concentration of Isopropyl Alcohol for the Roach, and kill in about 30 seconds, while the fumes will remain far below toxic levels for pets.

Pick your treatment carefully if you have pets.
Birds and fish are especially sensitive to most sprays. If you have to spray, get birds and fish out of the house, and keep them out for at least 24 hours. If you use liquids that you apply, make sure they are applied only in places your pets cannot get too.

If you bait, make sure the bait is in places your pets cannot get to.


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## Ledean (Sep 18, 2005)

Lots of useful suggestions.
Will go and get the sticky from walmart.
Will have to get the roach motel.

Mattheww50,
what is the proportion of isopropyl to water thatI should mix? Sounds like a great plan.
Thanks guys. I feel better already


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## Roy (Sep 18, 2005)

To avoid the "imunity" problem use two different poisons. Make sure that they use different poisons (chemicals). Alternate poisons every 2-3 days.


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## raggie33 (Sep 18, 2005)

when i lived in lagrange at first we had milions a em .so we drove to alabama i think it was to a do it your self pest control asked him for the best they had .well the man was a older guy and said this stuff will smell awefull ya will be alost sick with the smell but it works gret.i forget its name it was a powder in a green and white envelope with black writeing if i recall ya had to mix it ya self .that stuff was so good all roaches went away


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## jtr1962 (Sep 18, 2005)

First of all, you have my deepest sympathies.  Roaches are one of the most disgusting things you can be infested with. We had a bad infestation when we lived in a housing project thanks to a welfare family living under us. When we moved to a private house we got some from the house next door which was being rented to a bunch of slobs who never cleaned. They actually crawled 10 feet across the driveway and into our house! Thankfully they never established themselves.

Next, you need to get rid of their food sources and water sources. If any place is very moist fix it. Empty the drip tray under the refrigerator frequently. Don't leave glasses or pots half-full of water in the sink. Cover all soap (one of their favorite foods). Put all your food in glass jars since roaches can chew right through cardboard boxes to get at the food inside. Clean your floors frequently, wash your sheets often (they eat dead skin), clean your toilet (another irresistable food source to them, yuck!), don't leave pet food out overnight, etc. Seal any cracks in walls and under baseboards so that you keep them from hiding in the walls, or using the walls to come from elsewhere. By following these guidelines, using strong insecticide, and stomping the ones you see to death you can control the problem to some extent. If they've gotten into the walls you might need to have the whole house bombed. Clean up any dead ones immediately since that's another food source for them. They'll even eat each other alive if food is in short supply.

Good luck! You're going to need it as roaches are probably the hardest vermin to be completely rid of since they eat virtually anything.


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## bjn70 (Sep 18, 2005)

We once had a lot of the little ones. I used the aerosol "bombs" and that wiped them out.

In our house now we have the occasional large one that comes in from outside. I bought some of the boric acid powder to spread around in the back of cabinets and so forth. Supposedly they track this back to the colony and it kills all of them.

I remember the episode of "Dirty Jobs" on Discovery channel recently where the host joined an exterminator crew. They used a bait that was not a strong poison but killed the roaches in another way. In other words they would all eat it and it would take a few days to kill them, but it stays effective for awhile unlike the poison that they use that works quickly but dissipates rapidly.


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## Nitroz (Sep 18, 2005)

bjn70 said:


> We once had a lot of the little ones. I used the aerosol "bombs" and that wiped them out.
> 
> In our house now we have the occasional large one that comes in from outside. I bought some of the boric acid powder to spread around in the back of cabinets and so forth. Supposedly they track this back to the colony and it kills all of them.
> 
> I remember the episode of "Dirty Jobs" on Discovery channel recently where the host joined an exterminator crew. They used a bait that was not a strong poison but killed the roaches in another way. In other words they would all eat it and it would take a few days to kill them, but it stays effective for awhile unlike the poison that they use that works quickly but dissipates rapidly.



I remember that episode. They used two poisons, on that killed them instantly and the other one made them starve to death somehow until they died. That house had a ton of roaches.


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## tvodrd (Sep 18, 2005)

I'm told that roaches are very fastidious- if you (heaven forbid) touch one. the first thing it does is go home and clean itself. That's how most roach powders like boric acid work. I have renters from "down south" on both sides of me. About twice a year, I encounter a big one (la cucaracha, la cucaracha...) and have to buy some traps. One neighbor's trash went out one morning and there was a "convention" surrounding it! That was before the city went to the 65gal wheeled things.

Larry


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## IsaacHayes (Sep 18, 2005)

Sticky traps are good, and also try other brands of bait traps. We did that and finaly got rid of our ant problem as the major brand bait wasn't working. I heard roaches can even be imune to lethal doses of radaition that would kill humans!!

Also, you need to seal your house to get rid of the point of entry. Unless just one craweled in when you opened the door and layed eggs (I've had them run in like that!).

Another tough "bug" to get rid of is brown recluses. I dumped a ton of acetone on one, and it was still alive after 3 minutes! Same goes for carb-cleaner and rubbing alcohol! Those suckers are tough!!


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## cy (Sep 18, 2005)

really surprised no-one has mentioned the most effective ingredient known. Fipronil

Fipronil works by disrupting normal nerve function. Fipronil acts by blocking the GABA-gated chloride. 

translated micro dose is taken back to nest. roach die, then other roaches eat dead one. then they die, then others eat those dead ones. 

Pretty soon entire colony is wiped out. 

Fipronil was used on termites in Tanzania and almost wiped out the entire termite population. creatures that depend on termites to survive also were effected. 

farmer use Fipronil to control certain pests. very selective . 

Fipronil is active agent best flea control for dogs known.


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## tvodrd (Sep 19, 2005)

My (albeit, limited,) understanding is that termite "emissions" make a greater contribution to "global warming" than all of mankind. (Potential for FFF empowerment? :thinking: ) Fud for thought. Alarmists do tend to get the most "press."

Larry


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## cy (Sep 19, 2005)

forgot to add, you can find Fipronil in Combat roach traps. also comes in a syringe. looks closely at ingredients label to make sure that's what you are getting.

there was a TV show about the worst roach infected house in America. they used std combat roach traps with fipronil. wiped out the entire roach colony.

Frontline with fipronil is most effective flea med known for dogs & cats.


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## Zackerty (Sep 19, 2005)

Right...
The BEST way, is too take an old plastic ice cream container...
Smear butter around the inside, on the top 3 inches of the container.
Pour in sugar water, about a cup of sugar to half a gallon of water.
Make sure that the water does touch the butter area...

The process works like this...
The roaches smell the sugar water, climb, and run/slide into the water, where they drown, as they cannot get a grip on the butter.
You then flush the bodies into the toilet, and use fresh sugar water to start it all over again.
I have had 100 % success rate with this process, and can get about 20 roaches in the container in a half hour period. One night we caught over 150!

Environmently safe, too.


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## IsaacHayes (Sep 19, 2005)

cy: Fipronil, is that toxic for pets/humans, I guess not as that front line is a pill right?
Zackerty: wow, that's a lot of roaches!


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## turbodog (Sep 19, 2005)

Local mexican restaurant (no racism, just happened that way) had a roach fall from the ceiling onto a person's plate. Health dept comes in and does an inspection. HD estimates 40,000,000 roaches in restaurant. They are in the walls, packed solid.

Exterminator comes in and drops a bug bomb. Roaches all flee to next bldg in the strip mall. They ended up having to exterminate the entire complex. Witnesses said there was a river of roaches pouring out of the building.

yuck!

good restaurant though


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## chmsam (Sep 19, 2005)

Eh, it's all protein, anyway. 

Train the cat or dog to like 'em for dinner -- solves two problems at once.

Roaches are why there are professional extermiinators. Perisitent critters that have been around for millions of years and even then the species will outlive everything else on the planet. So, that said, how much do you really save if you end up treating again (and again)? And if you have one you have hundreds.

Pack all the food you can in containers. Clean up immediately after food prep. Keep the water leaks or water lying about under control. Do this and you stand a better chance of keeping them from coming back.


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## Ledean (Sep 19, 2005)

Wow so many useful suggestions. 
You guys are great.
By comparison a google search hardly gave me any results.
Things that i have to do that i hav'nt tried.
The ice cream bucket method(neat idea) and the sticky method.
I guess you guys have covered just about all methods known


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## AJ_Dual (Sep 19, 2005)

I think roaches will be a thing of the past once nanotechnology and micro-robotics takes off.

They just need to make small insect-like robots that can replicate by the millions as they hunt down roaches and use them as raw materials to make more roach-hunting robots.

Then once the plauge of scurrying insect vermin is gone, your home will be covered in a plauge of scurrying insect-like robo…



I gotta work on this idea some more.


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## Trashman (Sep 19, 2005)

The Roach Motel...."They check in, but they don't check out!" 

Zackerty's roach swimming pool of death sounds like a pretty good idea.


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## Zackerty (Sep 19, 2005)

I must add....I used to live in Durban, South Africa, where roaches breed like,...well, roaches....

Here in New Zealand, I have seen the grand total of one! Dead!


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## Zackerty (Sep 19, 2005)

I instruct survival methods to interested persons...

Roaches, after been removed from the ice cream pool of death, if placed in a frying pan, with about two tablespoons of butter, will be ready to eat, body and all, when the legs fall off by themselves...


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## KevinL (Sep 20, 2005)

Roach motel, now features swimming pool, and "HOT TUB" with butter...


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## Zackerty (Sep 20, 2005)

..and later on...a tour DOWN a Mystery Tunnel...


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## cy (Sep 20, 2005)

IsaacHayes said:


> cy: Fipronil, is that toxic for pets/humans, I guess not as that front line is a pill right?
> Zackerty: wow, that's a lot of roaches!


Frontline comes in drop form. you put dose on back of neck on dog's skin. lasts aprox. one month
farmers use fipronil on food crops

if that mexican restarant mentioned with roach infestation used fipronil, entire colony would have been destroyed.

forgot to add, not all Combat brand roach traps contain Filpronil. some use other less effective ingredients. 

Fipronil is made by a French company with no generics available. Pricing is highly controled, meaning high.


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## KevinL (Sep 20, 2005)

Frontline also comes in a spray gun....I think I know what to carry on my next cockroach-killing mission!

I don't like conventional insecticides because they stink (even the "can't smell it" ones), plus they leave chemicals behind. On the other hand I'm fine with isopropyl alcohol in a spray bottle, because it evaporates double quick and what's what I use to clean up after smashing the roaches (immune-whatever, my Mags are still useful!)


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## Lunal_Tic (Sep 20, 2005)

My grandmother told me that Bodarc "Horse Apple" tree fruit would keep away all sorts of vermin including roaches. None of those trees near where I am now but it would be a slick way of handling them, no poison or immune problems. 

Also is some seriously dense wood, second only to Iron Wood IIRC. They used cubes of it to pave the roads in her town of Paris, TX when she was young.

-LT


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## cy (Sep 21, 2005)

It's called Osage Orange around here (Tulsa) and plentiful. didn't know about anti-insect effect of fruits. we call em hedge apples and have always thought they are good for nothing.


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## Lunal_Tic (Sep 21, 2005)

I'd never heard of that name though I've seen Bodarc also written Bois d'Arc. IIRC she used to quarter them and put them on a saucer in various locations. The trees also have wicked thorns that will go through a radial tire easily. Also seen fence posts made from the stuff turn into trees; all in all a tough tree.

-LT


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## raggie33 (Apr 18, 2021)

hey if i use roach bait will it just cause roaches to come in my home?


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## greenpondmike (Apr 18, 2021)

raggie33 said:


> hey if i use roach bait will it just cause roaches to come in my home?



I doubt it. I've used them before with mixed results.


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## 1313 (Apr 18, 2021)

This stuff worked good for me. I put a small dab behind just about everything in the house and it wiped them out.



https://www.domyown.com/advion-cockroach-gel-bait-p-304.html


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## ledbetter (Apr 18, 2021)

Bleach all surfaces and keep ALL FOOD in refrigerator or sealed in plastic or metal containers. Unlike ants, roaches carry diseases and pesticides don’t get rid of them unless you get rid of their food sources first.


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## raggie33 (Apr 18, 2021)

i dont have roaches i just want to keep it that way


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## greenpondmike (Apr 18, 2021)

raggie33 said:


> i dont have roaches i just want to keep it that way



Raggie33, I don't know if you live in a mobile home or not, but if you do, roaches are all part of the mobile home experience. 

Seriously though, borax is a non toxic ( yes it is I've drank so much one time I sweated it out onto a dark shirt.) alternative and it is sloooow about kicking in (1-3 months), but when it does it kills better and longer than anything I've ever used. It's messy and dusty, but if you're desperate you have to take the negatives with the positives. 
I'm glad you don't have any yet. 
I agree with what 1313 and ledbetter said- good advice indeed. Roach infestations usually don't just happen from scratch in my experience. They come from somewhere else.....a neighbor that just sprayed for roaches and they vacated that place and went somewhere else, or a roach or two could hitch hike on something you bring into your home. It only takes one pregnant female to infest. Even if you kill her- if you don't destroy the egg sack they can still infest.


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## ledbetter (Apr 18, 2021)

I’m afraid to tell you, but borax and boric acid are both toxic, and especially harmful to pets. They can also cause damage to the endocrine system and kidneys in people. Use sparingly and not around animals.


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## greenpondmike (Apr 19, 2021)

NOPE !

Not here. When bucking the establishment's claims of hazardous behavior you'll need far more documentation, and possibly full acceptance of liability.
Post removed. - Empath


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## adnj (Apr 19, 2021)

Use pyriproxyfen, an insect growth regulator. It is nontoxic to the point of being an additive to potable water to prevent mosquito breeding.

I mix pyriproxyfen with a pyrethroid insecticide for immediate knockdown and juvenile growth control. Spray it in a band outside of the building to act as a barrier if you wish.

Pyrethroids are generally safe but are toxic to felines.

Sent from my LG-V520 using Tapatalk


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## jtr1962 (Apr 19, 2021)

adnj said:


> Pyrethroids are generally safe but are toxic to felines.


So if you have stray cats don't use it outside. And obviously don't use it inside if you have pet cats.

Best answer to roaches is to keep them from establishing themselves to begin with. Carefully check all boxes you get. Ideally open them outside. Check bags when you go to stores. Put food that comes in boxes without plastic liners (i.e. pasta and sometimes rice) into jars. When we lived in housing project we had a big roach problem from our downstairs neighbors. Besides the measures I mentioned, we also put steel wool around all the steam pipes. At least that mostly controlled the problem so my mother didn't have to stay up all night spraying and killing roaches. I wish I had video of that. Set to the music from Starship Troopers it would be perfect!

Just had roaches once since living in a private home. Next door had a bad infestation about 25 years ago. A few crawled across the driveway and came in, but never established themselves. Disgusting things.  Can't stand them.


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## KITROBASKIN (Apr 20, 2021)

One night down Louisiana way in the 70's, I woke up to the sound of chewing. Turns out a mouse was eating one of those big cockroaches that can fly and live in pine trees.


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## adnj (Apr 20, 2021)

jtr1962 said:


> So if you have stray cats don't use it outside. And obviously don't use it inside if you have pet cats.
> 
> Best answer to roaches is to keep them from establishing themselves to begin with. Carefully check all boxes you get. Ideally open them outside. Check bags when you go to stores. Put food that comes in boxes without plastic liners (i.e. pasta and sometimes rice) into jars. When we lived in housing project we had a big roach problem from our downstairs neighbors. Besides the measures I mentioned, we also put steel wool around all the steam pipes. At least that mostly controlled the problem so my mother didn't have to stay up all night spraying and killing roaches. I wish I had video of that. Set to the music from Starship Troopers it would be perfect!
> 
> Just had roaches once since living in a private home. Next door had a bad infestation about 25 years ago. A few crawled across the driveway and came in, but never established themselves. Disgusting things.  Can't stand them.



In recommended concentrations, a cat would need to inhale or drink the liquid for the pyrethroid to be very toxic. If you use it in your home, cage the cat or remove it for four hours so that spray is dry. 

Almost every can of bug spray that you can buy contains pyrethroid insecticides. This is the same family chemicals that are used to make insect repellent clothing.

What are Pyrethroids?

Pyrethroids are synthetic insecticides that share some similarities with natural pyrethrins. There are more than 1,000 different pyrethroids in use today, though less than a dozen are available in the United States. Pyrethroids can be found in many types of products such as pet sprays, pet shampoos, human head lice treatments, topical mosquito repellents and of course insecticide sprays for homes, farms, and businesses.

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