You can guess I know can everyone's favorite thing to hate.... Cocky-roaches. Welcome to my little freak out- due to past experiences roaches make me want to run screaming, possibly burn things, I mean I'm to cockaroaches what peasants were Frankinstein's monster. I have actually set a coach on fire (safely) because of the fact that they were nesting there. I HATE roaches. As does most of the world, so due to this wonderful little freak out I want share what I know and what I've learned tonight (this was to ensure I didn't set fire to the apartments
).
#1- Everyone knows that roaches want food and water. Common laws of life right? I only one right now but there is a spice that will actually attract these things. I'm saying this fact to be mean or anything- but if you have curry that is not sealed perfectly there is a good chance your gonna have roaches. I'm sorry I don't know what it is about but they love it. I know this because I used to sell this and had to go through amazing effort to ensure a lack of pests.
#2- Everyone looks to incestacides to kill these amazing resilant little plagues- I did some looking and I know better now. My first thought comes from
www.getridofthings.com, not so much for getting rid of them though. Their suggestion is identifcation first, knowing exactly what you are dealing with can make all the difference on how you deal with it. They told me the more common species of roaches in American and what are the ways of figuring them out. I have the wonderful American Cockaroach- big, ugly, and love moisture... hence why laundry next to the bathroom is now like bubonic plague to me. Now I know, now I'm getting some of those wonderful containers of moisture be gone and putting it under the sink.
#3- There are ways to repel and kill these things naturally... it's not as easy some days as calling someone but it's safer than wondering if you just touched poision and if your cat is acting funny because or because you need to drive it to the vet. Here are some of the ways that I have found... I've tried them (there is garlic under my sink) but I will happily try them now.
a) Duct tape Ball- Placed strategically the roaches will seek to hide behind it or under it. Sticky= a new Christmas ornament for the person you hate that right a ball of roaches.
b) On the same basis a sticky mouse trap with small pieces of bread in the middle. Beware though if your having a bigger pest problem you might catch something more than you anticpated.
www.ehow.com c) Diatomaceous earth, non harmful to us but has small crystals that will cut open their outsides. Okay the thing about this one is that they're dehydrating so they will show up more before they go away, but they will go away.
d) Catnip- It's good for so many things. It is a repellent and it will make them scurry. Strategically place satechets and make a tea and spray your base boards. Not will your kitties love you, your food will stop trying to crawl away.
e) Soapy water in a spray bottle- You see one- shoot it. It's like salting the slugs... deadly and simple.
f) Here's one for all you coffee drinkers at home. Take a coffee can, soak a couple of pieces of bread in beer and place inside of can. Bread attracts, beer kills, and can keeps them contained.
g) A wonderful set of repellents- Bay Leaves, Cucumbers, and Garlic (hence my previous comment). I am out of Bay Leaves but I will be fixing that tomorrow- they don't completly live here yet but they are working on it.
eartheasy.com (no www)
h) I really like this idea but: don't own a cat, be comfortable with lizards, and don't be easily startled. Buy a Gecko (don't think car insurance) I am the lizard. In the natural pecking of things meet the roaches worst enemy. So get comfy and set your gecko free on the house, in the beginning you won't see much of him- he's hunting. But as the roaches disappear so does his food and he'll show up more and more in the open when you feel comfortable put in him in a tank and feed him crickets daily. Be a pal give a gecko a home. (*WARNING- do not try to poision the cockaroaches first, you want your gecko to live.)
i) Do a 50/50 mix of sugar and baking soda. The sugar catches their attention and the baking soda screws up the digestive tract, leading to death.
j)Cedarcide- there wasn't much on it but easy to use, non harmful to us, cheap, and can be found at home and garden type stores (or department of your Walmart or Target). She was using it over the entire lawn of her home.... she said she would only have a couple roaches in a heavily roached area.
k) Roach Balls
1 cup borax
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
Make a paste of the ingredients and roll the paste into little balls. Place two or three balls into a sandwich-size plastic bag and leave the top open. Place the bag anywhere you have a roach problem. The roaches will eat the balls and carry them away. The bugs die at home, out of sight, and other roaches eat those carcasses and so on. The onion scent draws them in. This recipe makes about 50 balls for about 10 applications. There is one caution. Hide these bags carefully so that children and pets can't get at them.
If you can't tell this is her direct recipe. She used in a roach infested apartment building she lived in and those of us in apartments know that there is virtually no way to get rid of those things once you have them.
www.stretcher.com So there are other things on these web pages: Do it yourself extermination and other odds and ends. These are the ones that I feel the most comfortable with, I have a child and a wild cat that visits us regularly. I don't like poision, I don't want to risk anyone- so I'm going to go through them and try my best. If there's anything that I have missed please let me know.
