Worrying about cockroaches

ninman

Hall of Fame
Hi folks, so I recently found a cockroach in my home, just one, no others since. However I'm certain that I'm going to see more, and it feels like there is very little I can do about it. I have a phobia of insects, and I live in China, and nobody in China seems to care about cockroaches. So they are in the building I live in, which means that I'm probably going to see more in my home at some point in the future.

I actually can't sleep thinking about it, because I keep imagining the disgusting things crawling on my bed while I'm sleeping. I can handle some insects, like most nights I get moths in my house and I don't care about them, and if I see a spider while scared, once it's been killed and disposed of I feel safe knowing that I'm not infested with them.

But cockroaches give me a whole new level of terror, simply because I know that if you do get infested (likely since the building is probably infested) then you will start seeing hoards of the horrible things everywhere, and I really can't stand that. My landlords advice "clean up". What can I do?
 

meowmix

Hall of Fame
There's this chalk that's supposed to be quite effective. It comes in a orangish small box, and you apply it to the boundary of your home. It's really quite popular, and when we go back to China, we've been able to find it everywhere.

Keep in mind the conditions that cockroaches will come if you leave food around, or aren't careful when cleaning up. The advice your landlord gave you is sound: clean up!
 
a solution to what's buggin' you

Hi folks, so I recently found a cockroach in my home,


I actually can't sleep thinking about it, because I keep imagining the disgusting things crawling on my bed while I'm sleeping. ....and if I see a spider while scared, once it's been killed and disposed of I feel safe knowing that I'm not infested with them.

But cockroaches give me a whole new level of terror, simply because I know that if you do get infested (likely since the building is probably infested) then you will start seeing hoards of the horrible things everywhere, and I really can't stand that. My landlords advice "clean up".

[size=+1]What can I do?
[/size]"Crawling on your bed while you're sleeping?" Your bed is the least of your worries. Cockroaches like "company." What can you do? Here's what:

Plug up your ears and nostrils with candlewax before going to sleep and wear a screen mesh over your mouth to prevent:

roach-in-ear279x278.gif


OR EVEN WORSE:

t.jpg


Myself, when it comes to cockroaches, I leave the cock out and smoke the roaches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsUhMylZfnc
 

Talker

Hall of Fame
I was in a building quite awhile back that became infested with coachroaches.
Finally the owner had a company come out and put a brown like paste substance at a few areas around the apartment, corners, inside cabinets etc. Within 2-3 weeks the coachroaches were all gone, I saw only one in the 3 years after the treatment.
The cockroaches eat the stuff and die slowly, as they are dying they go back to their nest and die there. The other cockroaches in the nest eat the infected dead cockroaches and die too. ALL of them were gone within weeks, amazing.
 

marsh

Semi-Pro
Go to your local John Deer Lawn Care and get some Talstar or order it on line. It's safe and easy to mix and spray. It works great. We live in the city limits and have always had a tough time with roaches outside. I bought some and applied it and we haven't seen one yet this season.

This is the same stuff that a lot of professionals use and you can buy approx 5 years worth for $35.
 
what can you run 'the hundred' in ?

ninman, you hate "creepy-crawlies?" .....it could be worse.....



[size=+1]"What 'r you lookin' at?"[/size]
House-Centipede.jpg




Dipped in chilli oil, yum! - awesome flavor:
House_centipede.jpg




[size=+1]So, [/size] it's the day of the "Animal Kingdom Super Bowl" (this one played in a 'warm-weather' site) between the defending champion Vertebrates and the young upstart Invertebrates, a 14-point underdog. The game goes as scripted, the bookies are all smiling and after totally dominating the first half, the Vertebrates take a 21-0 halftime lead into the locker room.

The teams come out onto the field for the 2nd half and immediately the Vertebrates score to make it 28-0. The Invertebrates coach is looking around, scouring his bench, desparate to find an answer to the onslaught. He sees the Centipede sitting on the bench and barks: "GET IN THERE!"

No sooner does the hundred-legger get into the game before he wriggles and wiggles his way to an 80-yard TD. His team now amped, forces a fumble and returns it for a TD: 28-14. On the ensuing possession, the Centipede makes a brilliant "5-handed" interception and takes it to the house. By now, "mo" (momentum) has clearly swung 180 degrees and Jungle Stadium is going apeshiate! The turnaround continues with three more unanswered TD's by the Invertebrates (the last one coming on a *flea-flicker*) and they win going away, 42-28.

In the locker room afterwards admist the champagne spraying and the TV cameras, the Invertebrates coach seeks out the Centipede and finds him over in a corner: "Hey, great game buddy!....but where the hell were you in the 1st half?!" ........."Oh, I wuz puttin' on my spikes."
 

CCNM

Hall of Fame
I'd take some spray and run it along the baseboards and outside around the house. While we're on the subject of pests I found a wasp building a nest outside my front door! fortunately I was able to destroy it and the nest before it was occupied. I don't hate wasps/bees but I don't want them that close to me!
 

atatu

Legend
Roaches are the least of your problems...at the moment there is a bed bug epidemic in the United States (maybe not in China) they are a lot tougher to get rid of and they travel from home to home very easily. If you are travelling a lot check your hotel bed when you check in.
 

ninman

Hall of Fame
Roaches are the least of your problems...at the moment there is a bed bug epidemic in the United States (maybe not in China) they are a lot tougher to get rid of and they travel from home to home very easily. If you are travelling a lot check your hotel bed when you check in.

I used to live in Canada and have had first hand experience of bed bugs. They don't really scare me anymore. Roaches are just disgusting on so many levels.
 

LuckyR

Legend
Hi folks, so I recently found a cockroach in my home, just one, no others since. However I'm certain that I'm going to see more, and it feels like there is very little I can do about it. I have a phobia of insects, and I live in China, and nobody in China seems to care about cockroaches. So they are in the building I live in, which means that I'm probably going to see more in my home at some point in the future.

I actually can't sleep thinking about it, because I keep imagining the disgusting things crawling on my bed while I'm sleeping. I can handle some insects, like most nights I get moths in my house and I don't care about them, and if I see a spider while scared, once it's been killed and disposed of I feel safe knowing that I'm not infested with them.

But cockroaches give me a whole new level of terror, simply because I know that if you do get infested (likely since the building is probably infested) then you will start seeing hoards of the horrible things everywhere, and I really can't stand that. My landlords advice "clean up". What can I do?


Do you live in a single family dwelling or an apartment building?
 

SoBad

G.O.A.T.
Keep the kitchen pristinely clean first and foremost, any food leftover should be going into double plastic bag bin. Take out your garbage at least daily. Use chemicals, as others suggested. I lived in S China before, keep in mind there’s a lot of insects there but many of them are not true roaches, more like bug/roach hybrid, so they’re okay, and they don’t really look for people in beds anyway.
 

ninman

Hall of Fame
So having found a very big live cockroach in my place and after checking behind the fridge I know that my apartment has cockroaches. I'm totally terrified, I can't even sleep. So I'm going to move.
 

LuckyR

Legend
an apartment building, I live alone, and I'm worried my place will end up looking like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFse9Z4srTU

You can move but as long as you are in an apartment building you will have roaches. They gravitate to the least clean apartment but then infest the entire building. Cleaning your apartment does nothing. You can make your living space uninhabitable by them though, but you have to keep up the defense indefinitely. In a single family home you can eradicate them (if they are already there) and keep them at bay with perimeter measures without actually introducing anything into the home (once they are eradicated).
 

ninman

Hall of Fame
You can move but as long as you are in an apartment building you will have roaches. They gravitate to the least clean apartment but then infest the entire building. Cleaning your apartment does nothing. You can make your living space uninhabitable by them though, but you have to keep up the defense indefinitely. In a single family home you can eradicate them (if they are already there) and keep them at bay with perimeter measures without actually introducing anything into the home (once they are eradicated).

Yeah, maybe I'm just going to have to conquer my fear and kill them whenever I see one, but I'd rather not have to live like this for the next 7 weeks. They are smoky brown roaches, look like American ones, only a little smaller. I had a friend come over to kill it and the first thing he said when he saw it was "mother******* that's huge!" Watching it die freaked me out like crazy.
 
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Mike Bulgakov

G.O.A.T.
"Hey, I think that cockroach is following us..."

http://www.newscientist.com/article...kroaches-could-power-own-electric-brains.html
Cyborg cockroaches could power own electric 'brains'
30 December 2008 by David Robson

PITY future cyborg insects. As if being remotely controlled by a human isn't bad enough, their every movement may be harnessed to power the electronics that hijack their bodies. This could also extend the length of their enslavement, since the microchips had previously relied on tiny batteries with short lifespans.

Engineers have been attempting to gain control of insects' bodies for some time, to act as discreet spies or to take advantage of their advanced sense of smell to detect chemicals or explosives.

To do this, researchers implant electrical stimulators that zap certain nerves or brain cells, triggering an impulse that makes the insect move in a desired direction. This process can be controlled by a preprogrammed chip or by remote control (New Scientist, 6 March 2008, p 40).
 

ninman

Hall of Fame
reading this thread has made me realise how truly nasty and sadistic some people are. I have a phobia of insects, it's really severe, and all some people want to do is take pleasure from that, and revel in my misery.

I have a British "friend" here, who also doesn't seem to understand how some people can have a phobia of insects, because according to him "I used to live in the jungle", like a comment like that is in any way helpful.
 

Fedace

Banned
reading this thread has made me realise how truly nasty and sadistic some people are. I have a phobia of insects, it's really severe, and all some people want to do is take pleasure from that, and revel in my misery.

I have a British "friend" here, who also doesn't seem to understand how some people can have a phobia of insects, because according to him "I used to live in the jungle", like a comment like that is in any way helpful.

so that means, you won't be trying the delicacy above...???:confused:
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
reading this thread has made me realise how truly nasty and sadistic some people are. I have a phobia of insects, it's really severe, and all some people want to do is take pleasure from that, and revel in my misery.

I have a British "friend" here, who also doesn't seem to understand how some people can have a phobia of insects, because according to him "I used to live in the jungle", like a comment like that is in any way helpful.

It is all in your upbringing. There are people, whom we dismiss as "tribals," who live in remote areas where the only protein source is insects. They also eat slugs and snakes. Children there are not afraid of these creatures.
 

cghipp

Professional
Dedans, what is that thing? I lived in an apartment once that had them everywhere, no lie! Thanks for bringing that nightmare back to me... They were so creepy - especially because they are FAST. I thought they were a kind of silverfish, but they seem much more menacing than the "usual" silverfish.
 

cghipp

Professional
Never mind - just found it. It's actually a "house centipede," Scutigera coleoptrata. I totally have the heebie-jeebies right now - must be some kind of post-traumatic thing!
 
Dedans, what is that thing? I lived in an apartment once that had them everywhere, no lie! Thanks for bringing that nightmare back to me... They were so creepy - especially because they are FAST. I thought they were a kind of silverfish, but they seem much more menacing than the "usual" silverfish.
Sorry cghipp....I was looking to get the hairs on ninman's neck to stand up given his "creepy crawly" phobia. That pix was of a "house centipede" a horrid little animal which invades homes where moist/damp environments exist (esp. damp cellars of old houses). They are amazingly fast and yes, alarming in appearance.....they look like running mustaches. Again, my apologies.....but I hope you at least liked my "Centipede Super Bowl/football spikes" joke.
 

LuckyR

Legend
Yeah, maybe I'm just going to have to conquer my fear and kill them whenever I see one, but I'd rather not have to live like this for the next 7 weeks. They are smoky brown roaches, look like American ones, only a little smaller. I had a friend come over to kill it and the first thing he said when he saw it was "mother******* that's huge!" Watching it die freaked me out like crazy.

What is going to happen in seven weeks?

Don't waste your time killing individuals, that does nothing. Your options for this problem are limited to one: you need to make your space uninhabitable to them. The product is diatomaceous earth. Hard bodied insects (like roaches) cannot live where this is placed. You will need a professional "puffer" or blower to aerate the product so you get lots of coverage from a medium amount of the product. Luckily the tip of the instrument is almost needlenosed so you can drill very small holes into hollow walls and get behind them as well as get behind cabinetry (their personal favorate place to be).

Good luck.
 

ProCoach

Rookie
Hi folks, so I recently found a cockroach in my home, just one, no others since. However I'm certain that I'm going to see more, and it feels like there is very little I can do about it. I have a phobia of insects, and I live in China, and nobody in China seems to care about cockroaches. So they are in the building I live in, which means that I'm probably going to see more in my home at some point in the future.

I actually can't sleep thinking about it, because I keep imagining the disgusting things crawling on my bed while I'm sleeping. I can handle some insects, like most nights I get moths in my house and I don't care about them, and if I see a spider while scared, once it's been killed and disposed of I feel safe knowing that I'm not infested with them.

But cockroaches give me a whole new level of terror, simply because I know that if you do get infested (likely since the building is probably infested) then you will start seeing hoards of the horrible things everywhere, and I really can't stand that. My landlords advice "clean up". What can I do?

Clean good with a light bleach water and then sprinkle boric acid in your nooks and crannies. It kills them like there is no tomorrow. Actually put a decent amount (the size of a penny) in a few hidden areas so that it will last, and they will soon disappear. There is something called Bengal insect killer that works like nothing else. If you can find it, buy it online. Spray it in the corners and adios. They will disappear for months. I just don't know how safe it is compared to the boric acid which is safe and odorless. Good Luck.....
 

Tina

Banned
It tastes just like Oriole cookies. Crunch on the outside and cheewy Creamy inside.........yummmmmmmmmmmm:)

Are you serious? BBQ styles, no? Hey Fedance, I have a question for you. How long have you been playing tennis? I am very curious about it. -T
 

Fedace

Banned
Are you serious? BBQ styles, no? Hey Fedance, I have a question for you. How long have you been playing tennis? I am very curious about it. -T

Since i was 12. and i still made the College Varsity team. Talk about talent...:)
 

ninman

Hall of Fame
What is going to happen in seven weeks?

Don't waste your time killing individuals, that does nothing. Your options for this problem are limited to one: you need to make your space uninhabitable to them. The product is diatomaceous earth. Hard bodied insects (like roaches) cannot live where this is placed. You will need a professional "puffer" or blower to aerate the product so you get lots of coverage from a medium amount of the product. Luckily the tip of the instrument is almost needlenosed so you can drill very small holes into hollow walls and get behind them as well as get behind cabinetry (their personal favorate place to be).

Good luck.

I live in China, I don't know where to get that sort of thing. I'm leaving to go back to the UK in 7 weeks. Nobody in China cares about cockroaches, every single person I've met has them in their apartment. Or has had some experience of them.

The action I'm taking is basically spraying raid everywhere, and sealing up all the cracks and crevices so it's harder for them to get in.
 
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