Summary: A cockroach
infestation cannot always be fixed with pesticides alone. Living in clutter and failing to do a good job of cleaning can cause a major cockroach infestation to occur.
Felicia; Anniston, AL asks:
I am the only one in my household that gets bitten by roaches. Why is that? We have roaches really bad and have tried everything to get rid of them. What can I do? I went to my doctor and she said there was nothing she could do. She gave me hydrocortisone cream for the bites.
Dear Felicia,
I'm going to try to help you through, what appears to be a serious problem with cockroaches. First, cockroaches do not intentionally bite humans. If you
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have cockroaches in or around your bed they may be attracted to the smell of food coming from your mouth, face or hands and "bite" you as they attempt to get at the food residues
With today's advanced technology available for the control of cockroaches there is no reason why you should be suffering with these insects. Roach baits like
Maxforce FC Roach Bait Gel and
Maxforce FC Roach Bait Stations are known to be very successful in controling cockroach populations. However, pest control is only part of the answer. Cockroaches live among us because we provide them with food and shelter. We can just as easily remove that food and shelter with a bit of work.
Cockroaches love clutter. If your home is not kept clean and organized you are giving cockroaches places to live. If you have things stored in cardboard boxes you are giving cockroaches shelter. the construction of the box gives the roaches places to lay their eggs and the glue gives them a food source. Get rid of the boxes. I'd rather see you put items in plastic garbage bags.
If your kitchen is not spotlessly clean, and that means all cooking surfaces and sides of the stove and refrigerator, legs of tables, under equipment and furnishings, you are giving cockroaches ample food to survive and multiply.
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Just the smallest amounts of grease accumulating on the sides of appliances is ample food supply for a nest of cockroaches.
When you tell me that you are being bitten I can only guess you are experiencing that while you are asleep. (Cockroaches cannot chase you down when you are up and moving around.) Wash your bed linens, vacuum under your bed, empty garbage and do what you have to do to eliminate all the things cockroaches need to live. Food. Shelter. Water. Take away just one of those items and the cockroach cannot survive.
There is simply no reason to live with cockroaches, but you need to work at it. Pesticides alone will not resolve your issues.
Comments
nathan zalta
25 Jun 2009, 20:40
I saw a roach in my office during the day walking at a normal pace it had a
clear plastic like body dolor what kind of roach could it be
candace
28 Jun 2009, 23:16
this is actually for rebecca, i hope she checks back. i have roaches too
and they used to be really thick. since i have small children and dont want
to use chemicals i use about two teaspoons of dawn dish detergant and water
in a spray bottle, its dirt cheap and trust me it works great. the added
bonus is that since they like the smell of it, it draws them out and i can
kill more of them. you have to really saturate them though. i even use
psychological warfare on those little pests, i take a glue stick and smear
some on the wall near the areas i know are hidey holes, turn off the light
for about 45 minutes, then go in there and kill em off. it takes a while to
really see the difference but it does work.
eileen
31 Aug 2009, 16:31
We cleaned out our outdoor grease trap today. It is in a flower bed about
5 feet from my kitchen sink. When we opened the trap thoussand of roaches
of various sizes came swarming out. How did they get in the trap and how
can we get rid of them. We have some roaches in our house occassionally,
but nothing terrible. Thank you for any advice you can give us.
Baughb
04 Sep 2009, 18:05
I used to have a serious bug infestation and my solution was to use
fumigators. I have found that the best kind are the ones that you have to
remove the cartridge from the small plastic it comes with, add a small
amount of water and replace the cartridge. Repeating this procedure a time,
or two has rendered my mobile home free from roaches, spiders and fleas.
Also, what really helped was to repair all plumbing leaks. My old mobile
home came with cheap, black plastic plumbing which frequently spawned
leaks. I replaced all of it with PVC, which was very inexpensive. I did it
myself in one day for around $200.00. It was also the first and only time
that I had ever done anything like it, so don't be afraid to do it
yourself. Plumbers are way too expensive, if you ask me. With no more water
freely available, the bugs had nothing more to attract them.
Antoine
06 Nov 2009, 21:56
I have a very big rear projection television. On a few recent
occasions,late at night I have seen cockroaches crawling across the inside
of the screen. Help!
There was recently major plumbing renovations on the floor beneath my
apartment.
patrice
10 Nov 2009, 11:17
2 weeks ago I found a small (baby) roach in the bathroom. Last night my
husband said he saw one in the computer room. We have been in the house for
4 yrs and this is the first we see of them. How do they just appear? I
remember one of his friends coming to wash his clothes and complaining
about the roach issue at his sisters hows where he lives. Im thinking he
may have travled with them. Is that possible? If not, how can we have
attracted them?
Two is enough for me and I am afraid to wait any longer. I have an
exterminator coming this weekend to start treatment but wanted to find out
if there is an alternative. Can I do this myself or do you think store
brought stuff will not do it.
Thanks
JRG
24 Jan 2010, 21:19
Bay Leaves -- Buy them in the store and spread them all over the bathroom
and in the kitchen cabinets. Put them all around the fridge. They do not
like the smell and will run off to get away from them
Eric
24 Aug 2010, 19:51
Hi I have been having a bad roach probblem for years I had exterminators
come and they still come, And they are German cockroaches. So please if you
can give some advice to get rid of these cockroaches.
Thanks
Ask the Exterminator
25 Aug 2010, 09:30
This article and lots of other cockroach articles on my website provide you
all you need to know. Roaches can be easily controlled via good sanitation
and the proper placement of cockroach baits.
Anita
16 Sep 2010, 07:25
hey my name is anita
and i have a 7year old daughter
and i moved into this apartment so quick that there was no time to get it
sprayed and the previous tenants i guess were really nasty and its a
privately owned unit so yeah....i am having so many problems in my
apartment i havent be able to stay in there since the first of september
2010 cause these roaches are really bad on my apartment door the floors
kitchen walls living room washroom my room they are walkin all over my bed
and on my daughter what ma i supposed to do
Anita
16 Sep 2010, 07:28
And the thing is that i havent been able to cook or do anything in that
apartment and its really grouse its nasty will maxforce help after i get it
sprayed out...which is today and tomorrow i will be paying a pest control
company to come over to my apartment and spray and after how long since im
getting it sprayed 2 days in a row will the roaches take to disappear
completely......out of my room......
and what else can i use..can there are so many gaps and the floor corners
and how do i go about sealing them after its sprayed
Ask the Exterminator
16 Sep 2010, 09:22
First things, first, Anita. Hold off on the exterminator. The apartment has
to be scrubbed clean. That means the sides of the stove and refrigerator,
the doors where the roach fecal material has accumulated, the floors under
appliances, shelves and cabinets, all have to be cleaned. Then, you can buy
a bag of Maxforce FC Roach Bait Stations and put the stations in all the
places where roaches like to hide. Dark, warm places. You cannot use roach
bait stations if your place has been sprayed. The two products do not mix.
If you put out enough stations you will see a reduction in roach activity
over a few days. Clean first! Then treat!
trish
02 Oct 2010, 03:38
hi im so desperate my mom's house is full i mean its like walking in a
floor of cockroaches and everywhere u look they are there im scare the
house its full of those things please help me what should i do
Ask the Exterminator
02 Oct 2010, 08:30
Read the article and the comments. Plus, read the other cockroach articles
on my website.
alex
12 Oct 2010, 14:51
i have a bathroom infested with roaches evry day i have to kill them plz
help me i checked every where i checked to seee if there anyholes in the
bathroom but nothing i hate roaches!
Ask the Exterminator
12 Oct 2010, 15:48
Buy the Maxforce FC Roach Bait Gel. Use no other pesticides with this
product. Follow the label instructions exactly and you can get your roaches
under control.
SandraD
17 Nov 2010, 21:41
Something that I found useful and safe(I had a one year old at the time) is
hot sauce mixed with water. We moved into a house that had them kinda bad
and we had an exterminator come with green products. Then every two weeks I
would mix one tablespoon of hotsauce with about a glass of water and spray
all around my baseboards, never had roaches again! Now I don't know if it
would get rid of them if you already have them, but according to this book,
roaches hate hotsauce, and it will keep them away.
siera Arizpe
31 Mar 2011, 03:03
Hi my name is Siera and i recently moved in with my mom. Our house is
pretty clean and clutter free. its fairly old so might have a few cracks
here and there but nothing major. we tend to get big roaches every now and
then. it would usually be bathroom and kitchen now it our rooms. are we
infested or is it normal to get one or two every now and then. p.s. we have
never ever seen roach eggs or little roaches around our house. lived here
for 22 years
thank you
Ask the Exterminator
31 Mar 2011, 15:11
"Big" roaches is not giving me much to go on. It could be an Oriental
cockroach or a wood roach. One would come from, perhaps, a broken sewer
line, while the other would fly toward the lights on a house. Knowing the
exact species would help you determine where your roaches are coming from.
Collect one and take it to your local county extension agent for a free ID.
Then, you'll better understand where your roaches are breeding.
JoDgo
25 Jul 2011, 23:26
My husband brought dinner home tonight in a big brown, paper bag. A couple
hours later, I found either a wood roach or german roach on my kitchen
countertop. GACK! We have NEVER had roaches and am wondering if my freak
out and cleaning frenzy after the incident is plausible? What are the
chances we have a problem? I looked up the different types online and am
pretty sure it is either a german or wood roach.
Ask the Exterminator
27 Jul 2011, 11:17
Big difference between a wood roach and a German roach. The great, big wood
roach would be an occasional invader. No interior nesting worries. The much
smaller German roach would have been carried inside or it may indicate the
presence of a nest inside.
Marion
12 Sep 2011, 20:14
My Boyfriend and I recently moved into a new appartment. Before we moved
in, we looked everywhere for evidence of roaches, we didn't see anything.
The night after we moved in we began seeing them. The next day we got some
max force bait stations and bait gel and put them around. We have also been
using boric acid the last couple of days. We have been waiting to see if
there is a reduction of any kind.
We live in a large 40 unit building in an urban area. The building gets
sprayed every few months but the manager has told us that many of the other
tenants don't let the exterminator come into their unit. We are trying to
get the landlord to exterminate more often.
My question is, is the situation hopeless with a large building? are we
wasting time and money trying to control the problem in our appartment? Do
we need to move?
Thanks Exterminator!
Ask the Exterminator
13 Sep 2011, 10:39
Your situation is dependent upon the severity of the overall cockroach
infestation. If your next door neighbors are overrun with roaches, you will
likely continue to have roaches in your unit regardless of your pest
control efforts. If the infestation is minor, your baits and gels could fix
the problem.
Felicia
24 Sep 2011, 01:22
Can A Cockroach infection cause Vomiting nausea and cause you to be tired
all the time and can they cause you to have a bad cough....
Ask the Exterminator
25 Sep 2011, 11:03
They can affect you via allergies. Not sure about vomiting, nausea and
being tired.
