Cockroaches

[Fisher1]

Hi all

I have just beaten a cockroach in my kitchen to bits and squirted killer spray everywhere but I know this isn't the answer. It's the fourth we've seen since we moved in five months ago so we clearly aren't doing enough to keep them at bay.  I'm very careful about cleaning up after meals, keeping food in plastic containers, wiping the tops etc etc ... All the usual things to keep a kitchen clean. Then this bloody thing is sitting on my work top to the manner born. Ha anyone got any tips for keeping them out? I've just read something that says you should restrict water supply by stopping up plugs at night ...    Thanks in advance for all helpful replies.

 

[tea4too]

Hi @Fisher1, Rentokil Australia has  all sorts of information about cockroaches, including how to prevent them:

"•    Eliminate food sources - store dry foods in tightly sealed containers or in sealed plastic bags and do not leave food sitting out on counters. Do not leave liquids in sinks or buckets.

•    Clear all waste food and liquid spillage - clean up food debris from food preparation areas, under sinks and appliances. Empty the rubbish on a daily basis and keep all garbage or compost in sealed bins.


•    Remove pet food - and drink and litter trays before nightfall.

•    Rinse cans, bottles and plastics - before putting them in recycling bins.


•    De-clutter - remove old stacks of newspapers and magazines, unused cardboard boxes and all other forms of clutter from the floor or bottom of cupboards. Cockroaches release an aggregation pheromone in their droppings telling others they have found a safe harbourage.


•    Varnish or paint wood shelves - to seal them, and wipe them clean regularly.

•    Seal entry points - to deny access to cockroaches. Key risks are gaps around pipes, drains and common walls with neighbouring properties when dealing with German, Oriental and American cockroaches. Even tiny cracks around skirting boards and behind electrical sockets should be plugged to reduce potential hiding areas."

www.rentokil.com.au/cockroaches/

Hope your time as cockroach terminator is limited !  T x

[Fisher1]

4 hours ago, tea4too said:

Hi @Fisher1, Rentokil Australia has  all sorts of information about cockroaches, including how to prevent them:

"•    Eliminate food sources - store dry foods in tightly sealed containers or in sealed plastic bags and do not leave food sitting out on counters. Do not leave liquids in sinks or buckets.

•    Clear all waste food and liquid spillage - clean up food debris from food preparation areas, under sinks and appliances. Empty the rubbish on a daily basis and keep all garbage or compost in sealed bins.


•    Remove pet food - and drink and litter trays before nightfall.

•    Rinse cans, bottles and plastics - before putting them in recycling bins.


•    De-clutter - remove old stacks of newspapers and magazines, unused cardboard boxes and all other forms of clutter from the floor or bottom of cupboards. Cockroaches release an aggregation pheromone in their droppings telling others they have found a safe harbourage.


•    Varnish or paint wood shelves - to seal them, and wipe them clean regularly.

•    Seal entry points - to deny access to cockroaches. Key risks are gaps around pipes, drains and common walls with neighbouring properties when dealing with German, Oriental and American cockroaches. Even tiny cracks around skirting boards and behind electrical sockets should be plugged to reduce potential hiding areas."

 

www.rentokil.com.au/cockroaches/

Hope your time as cockroach terminator is limited !  T x

Thank you!    We are already doing most of these things, but I hadn't thought about sealing entry points ... We are in a rented house, so not sure how to do this ... Anyone got any suggestions?   crikey I didn't realise cockroaches had different nationalities! I'm not even going to think about that! ... One thing I can do is empty the rubbish at night and not wait for the bin to fill ... Honestly I knew there was a cockroach problem in Sydney but I really thought that if I just cleaned as normal we'd be okay ... 

One last thing, do you think the gap under the door from the garage to the house might be a problem and would a draught excluder stop it? As I've said, it's a rental so we can't do anything permenant. 

 

Thanks again.

[Peach]

Four in five months is hardly a plague.   It's Australia, your life will never be 100% cockroach free.

[Gbye grey sky]

We are in Queensland and own our own home here for 2 years and 4 months.  In the first few months we had about 4 of those large ones and a few other unwanted visitors.  We changed our pest control guy based on a recommendation as we were not impressed with the large company who had the contract with the previous owners.  He sprays once a year around May.  In the past 2 years only had 1 cockroach and he came in through the front door one day.  Our ant problems are much less now.

The large cockroaches are creepy, fast buggers but not really a hygiene issue.  The ones that are a real concern are the small ones as if you see one you will certainly have dozens or hundreds of them and they are linked to poor food storage areas etc.

If you are living in a rental then you probably have no control over the pest control company used but my, in my opinion, they are not all the same.

As Peach says though you are never 100% clear of insect pests here.

[rammygirl]

Get a barrier spray from Bunnings and use it outside all doors and windows.  When you see the dead things outside you will know where they are coming in.  I sprayed all the perimeter of our house and now just do the areas where the body count is highest!  Mainly wood lice and millipedes for us though!  I do sweep up the corpses every morning before the birds can eat them.  Autumn and spring are the worst!

[Marisawright]

Are they big cockroaches or little ones?  

The little ones are the ones that infest your house if you don't keep it clean.  In a rented home, there's a very good chance they've already set up home inside the dishwasher, or behind the hot water tank.  Try spraying with a cockroach spray (the kind that lasts three months and destroys the eggs) around those areas.  Also set off a cockroach bomb.  

 If it's the big ones - you can't do much except kill the buggers when they turn up.  They live outside your house, and if you're in a cockroach-infested area, they are all around you and will keep coming in, no matter what you do.    Buy cockroach baits and put them in dark corners.    It's impossible to stop up all entry points, because your home needs air!   

Edited February 25, 2018 by Marisawright

[calNgary]

We got the industrial type Pest Spray ,diluted it in a backpack and sprayed inside and outside the walls ourselves. This kept pretty much everything out. We did it every month or so when we first moved over now its dropped to once every 5 or 6 months as im not as scared of the spiders and crawlies anymore,lol

Cal x

[Fisher1]

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I was more concerned about not getting infested with them because I didn't want the embarrassment of telling the rental agency we had a problem! I will be trying spraying outside and one of the cockroach bomb things ... I suppose if I ask at Bunnings theyll know what I want?     

I think the one thing that might send me scurrying by to the UK to end my days is the wild life - but maybe we'll get used to it ....

[rammygirl]

I had more spiders in the house in the UK.  We are in a similar semi rural area here. Also we get fewer biting insects so can sit out without issue, we got bitten a lot by midges and had a wasp issue in the UK.  Really not worse here, just different!

[Johndoe]

What you see ain't what you're getting. Cockies can disappear at the first hint of light or movement and if you see one, odds, are there are a dozen that you haven't seen, especially in your bedroom at night..............creeeeeeeeeepie! :-

They're a fact of life in Oz, and yes, you can try all that's been mentioned regarding cleanliness and food removal, but IMHO it doesn't mean bugger all.............explain please, why, when the dishwasher door is always kept shut, that after a cycle I can open it and there may well be a live cockie in there? They're survivors and can find their way into anything, even via underwater access,............how else do they get into a dishwasher with closed doors?

All you can do is spray as well as you can with contact spray, along skirtings, around fridges, basically anywhere they can feed or enter................and one area that gets missed, is light fittings. They come down from your loft/wall cavities, so spray around ceiling fittings. Just 'cause you don't see any dead ones, don't think that contact spray isn't working. They're tough buggers and they will crawl off somewhere to die, but be sure, contact spray is the best solution, whether via household spray can, or via the bunnings "industrial type" spray.

FWIW, I don't believe in using that "industrial" type stuff outside as it kills everything...............nature's plan.................outside belongs to them, inside is mine...............so I only spray inside

Edited February 25, 2018 by Johndoe

[Marisawright]

15 hours ago, Fisher1 said:

Thanks everyone for all the advice. I was more concerned about not getting infested with them because I didn't want the embarrassment of telling the rental agency we had a problem! I will be trying spraying outside and one of the cockroach bomb things ... I suppose if I ask at Bunnings theyll know what I want?     

I think the one thing that might send me scurrying by to the UK to end my days is the wild life - but maybe we'll get used to it ....

You may have missed my question - are they big cockroaches, or the little brown ones?  Some people imagine the little brown ones are just the babies of the big ones, but they're not - they are a different species altogether.

As JohnDoe says, if you've seen the little ones, you already have a serious infestation.  They're very secretive and you won't spot them until it's already bad.

However, if it's the big ones, you're probably not infested and not likely to become so - they come from outside. And that means there's not a lot you can do about them. 

I just went back and read your first post and fell about laughing.  That was your fourth cockroach in five MONTHS and you're worried?  The average apartment-dweller in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney would expect to see several every month, so you're doing very well.

[Fisher1]

On 26 February 2018 at 13:46, Marisawright said:

You may have missed my question - are they big cockroaches, or the little brown ones?  Some people imagine the little brown ones are just the babies of the big ones, but they're not - they are a different species altogether.

As JohnDoe says, if you've seen the little ones, you already have a serious infestation.  They're very secretive and you won't spot them until it's already bad.

However, if it's the big ones, you're probably not infested and not likely to become so - they come from outside. And that means there's not a lot you can do about them. 

I just went back and read your first post and fell about laughing.  That was your fourth cockroach in five MONTHS and you're worried?  The average apartment-dweller in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney would expect to see several every month, so you're doing very well.

I know, I know, I've already had the teasing from my daughter. They are black horrid ones that seem to come out at night. I have read the advice on a rentokil website and am now hoovering every day instead of every few days (it's good excercise) and drying the kitchen sink and putting the plug in before I go to bed. Everything else we were already doing. I wish my dad was still alive - as a young police officer in Liverpool ... Much of the time on the docks ... He was well acquainted with cockroaches ... I could have asked him for homespun remedies although I think he would have laughed himself silly at my reaction ... It's a learning curve! 

Ps. Is it true that if you put borax out they will feed it to their young and the entire roach population will drop dead?  I thought not.

[Fisher1]

On 26 February 2018 at 00:50, Johndoe said:

What you see ain't what you're getting. Cockies can disappear at the first hint of light or movement and if you see one, odds, are there are a dozen that you haven't seen, especially in your bedroom at night..............creeeeeeeeeepie! :-

They're a fact of life in Oz, and yes, you can try all that's been mentioned regarding cleanliness and food removal, but IMHO it doesn't mean bugger all.............explain please, why, when the dishwasher door is always kept shut, that after a cycle I can open it and there may well be a live cockie in there? They're survivors and can find their way into anything, even via underwater access,............how else do they get into a dishwasher with closed doors?

All you can do is spray as well as you can with contact spray, along skirtings, around fridges, basically anywhere they can feed or enter................and one area that gets missed, is light fittings. They come down from your loft/wall cavities, so spray around ceiling fittings. Just 'cause you don't see any dead ones, don't think that contact spray isn't working. They're tough buggers and they will crawl off somewhere to die, but be sure, contact spray is the best solution, whether via household spray can, or via the bunnings "industrial type" spray.

FWIW, I don't believe in using that "industrial" type stuff outside as it kills everything...............nature's plan.................outside belongs to them, inside is mine...............so I only spray inside

Oh God I'm not going to be able to sleep now !!! Maybe I'll just stop thinking about it and just squirt madly every time I leave the house.   ugh!

[Booma]

On 25/02/2018 at 01:01, Fisher1 said:

Hi all

I have just beaten a cockroach in my kitchen to bits and squirted killer spray everywhere but I know this isn't the answer. It's the fourth we've seen since we moved in five months ago so we clearly aren't doing enough to keep them at bay.  I'm very careful about cleaning up after meals, keeping food in plastic containers, wiping the tops etc etc ... All the usual things to keep a kitchen clean. Then this bloody thing is sitting on my work top to the manner born. Ha anyone got any tips for keeping them out? I've just read something that says you should restrict water supply by stopping up plugs at night ...    Thanks in advance for all helpful replies.

 

since we started using these we never see any roaches. I put new ones out on the day the season changes. makes it easy to remember to do it. 

[Fisher1]

Thank you! I'm going shopping tomorrow so I'll look for them. 

[LKC]

Probably not helpful, but get a cat or two!  We had cockroaches (in my oven gloves amongst other places), but once we got our cats they were no more!  We didn't get spiders in the house either once we got them!

[Cerberus1]

New guidelines suggest it's not a good idea to use a bug spray as a mini flamethrower to kill cockroaches 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-08/insect-spray-flame-thrower-causes-explosion-in-mt-isa-kitchen/9526452

[Davo453]

We lived in WA for many years and always had cats and basically never really saw a cockroach in or around the house.

I do however remember lifting a soakwell lid and discovering literary hundreds in there feeding on the leaf litter, they are everywhere the chemicals used to kill them worry me more than the problem.

Now ants there's a different story....

Edited June 11, 2018 by Davo453

[Fisher1]

On ‎12‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 03:57, Davo453 said:

We lived in WA for many years and always had cats and basically never really saw a cockroach in or around the house.

I do however remember lifting a soakwell lid and discovering literary hundreds in there feeding on the leaf litter, they are everywhere the chemicals used to kill them worry me more than the problem.

Now ants there's a different story....

Strangely enough, we've followed advice we found on google ( and here, thanks Tea4two)  and haven't seen one for months. No the advice was not to burn the house down  

Edited June 12, 2018 by Fisher1

[starlight7]

We have had a few this year for the first time in years.  They seem to come from high up too , not sure where. When you 'kill' them half the time they run off even after a really big whack.  Hate them. 

[Fisher1]

40 minutes ago, starlight7 said:

We have had a few this year for the first time in years.  They seem to come from high up too , not sure where. When you 'kill' them half the time they run off even after a really big whack.  Hate them. 

I tend to do an impersonation of Norman Bates in Psycho when I hit a cockroach … they don't usually get up afterwards. I hate them too. Touch wood we haven't seen any for about four months.