oh...my....cockroaches

brooklynleather

I love New York. I really do. I am a city girl and ran away from the county after I decided to spend four years of college there.

No matter what, I can not ever learn to deal with cockroaches.

And now I have 2 cats and I am afraid to let the exterminator in for fear he might use some sort of poison that could make my cats ill or worse...

I need suggestions for dealing and dealing fast!

A baby cockroach crawled right out of my antique desk and I nearly had a heart attack.

How do I rid myself of the creepy crawlies without hurting the kitties?

**Moderator, please cross post to Pets. Thank you.

laura

I encountered cockroaches for the first time when I moved from Michigan to the Lower East Side in the 80s, and it was horrifying but I dealt with it because it was part of the glamorous squalor of it all. Then when I moved into a Park Slope brownstone - no cockroaches for 14 years. Then I moved into my current walkup apartment, and - cockroaches!!. I called up my boyfriend in tears, because I am past the point in my life where I can live with that.

I have three cats, so, like you, I wouldn't let the exterminator guy with the canister come in, so I bought some of those Combat black plastic thingies, and they worked quite well. Then, a different exterminator guy came around, and instead of having the spray canister he just put little blobs of molasses-looking stuff next to the hinges in my cupboards. Totally cat-safe. Unfortunately I missed him the last time he came around and one day I saw a small roach, so I bought the Combat things again, this time a dual-action package ... the usual poison baits but also two other thingies that are supposed to make them sterile or forget about sex or something, I forget. Anyhoo, I haven't seen a roach since.

If your exterminator does the gel stuff, I think that's the best - the guy told me it's like an extra-strength version of the Combat things.

germfree!

Get a gekko. Seriously. It will feast on the roaches while you sleep, and leave adorable, bird-like poops in the sink.

laura

Me, I'd be fine with having a gekko but my cats? Not so much.

I have a plastic gekko. Very cute but doesn't eat anything.

sweet tea

nonsense. the cats would LOVE a gekko. so. much.

the gekko might not love the cats, but if this board has taught me anything, it's that it is the responsibility of the newcomer to adapt to older residents.

rose

Subject: Re: oh...my....cockroaches

brooklynleather wrote:
A baby cockroach crawled right out of my antique desk and I nearly had a heart attack.

Ugh. The same thing happened to me when I lived in Manhattan. I was sitting at my desk studying and the thing walked right across my book. :shock: Another time I found one in my bed. :shock:

My last apartment in Brooklyn was severely infested when we moved in and we got rid of them completely with just Combat disks. I also put all my food in Tupperware-type containers; not sure if that helped too but they did all go away. It took about two months as I recall.

brooklynpotter

a: combat, b: combat gel in the tube, c: caulk your entire apartment with vinyl caulk and a caulking gun, plus some spray foam. (and no, i'm not kidding. hermetically sealing your apartment will keep roaches from getting in.)

erikka

boric acid powder is supposed to work quite well, and according to this catnip is a repellant.

http://www.eartheasy.com/live_natpest_control.htm

My kitty would be having a field day if we had bugs. She is one helluva hunter.

sweet tea wrote: the gekko might not love the cats, but if this board has taught me anything, it's that it is the responsibility of the newcomer to adapt to older residents.

Too funny.

rose

My cats catch and eat flies. Very useful.

bigguy

According to every broker I've talked to there are no cockroaches in Prospect Heights. Only waterbugs. From Flatbush all the way to the other side of PH at Nostrand.

brooklynpotter

waterbugs are a very nice way of saying "monstrous cockroaches"

i once lived in the UES in this horrid tenement with 9 layers of chipping paint on the ceiling. those massive bugs would scurry across said ceiling and the paint would chip as their nasty little feet touched it and they'd fall onto your head.

laura

I was going to caulk my apartment after I saw where they came out of the wall but I never got around to it since the Combat disks worked.

Keeping food in sealed containers is a good idea. Also, don't leave cat food out at night.

brooklynpotter

have you ever lived with a cat who once ate as she wished and then found herself without her wet food in the middle of the night? not pretty!

laura

brooklynpotter wrote: have you ever lived with a cat who once ate as she wished and then found herself without her wet food in the middle of the night? not pretty!

Yes - three of them.

Even without bugs it's better for cats to have regular mealtimes and not have food out all the time. Not that I've been that successful with instituting this regime myself, but I'm working on it ...

brooklynpotter

if you knew the deranged beast i live with you'd understand my fear

doublediamond

you can buy combat at the store and they have this package with the disks and the gel. Obviously not as strong as the professional kind, but I'm finding that it works really well in my place. I also caulked every hole I could find.

laura

brooklynpotter wrote: if you knew the deranged beast i live with you'd understand my fear

My Aubrey goes around knocking things off shelves to try and make me get out of bed and feed him ... :x

brooklynpotter

mine screams. she stands on my head and screams. and in general, when she's now unhappy, i'm the only human she likes.

laura

Devil kitty! My Wanda stands in the middle of the room and screams. If she stood on my head making that racket I think I'd go insane.

brooklynpotter

she's demonic. and hates all people except me. she hates women more than men, with the exception of my brother. she comes up to be your friend and rubs against you then goes crazy and hisses and swats.

alas, with me, she's a love machine.

bolletje

Roaches need water more than they need food, so wipe down your sink at night and also anywhere else water collects, like under the dish drying rack.

I hate roaches and we keep them under control but probably will never get rid of them completely because our building is falling apart, has a ton of leaks and our apartment shares a wall with the trash chute.

rbg

Call BEN! He's uses chemicals that kills roaches but are safe for pets---I have a Yorkie dog. He also uses the gel stuff. I purchased my co-op and had it totally renovated. Within a few days, there were roaches everywhere---I saw three giant cockroaches (waterbugs) about 15 of the regular sized ones within 1 week of moving. I'm terrified of roaches and moved out within a week of moving in. Went back to my old place. BUT, I tracked down Ben and he sprayed the place, put out roach traps, and put the gel all over the place. Within a month, I was totally roach free. He comes every month for $30 bucks and he's the rockstar of exterminators!!! PM me if you need his number.

brooklynleather

Thanks for the advice--I was told using roach traps = BAD IDEA because cats eat roaches and thus roach poision.

Yikes!

poshspice

I agree with RBG - I use Ben 1x a month RELIGIOUSLY. I saw roaches when I first moved into my place 8 mos ago. 2 weeks of hell until I realized the grocery store crap my bldg super was using wasn't going to cut it. Willing to sacrifice $30 a month for my own exterminator. Within 4 days of his first visit the place has been spic and span. Not a one. I even do an ambush once in a while at 2am and turn on the lights in my kitchen and bathroom just to confirm (I get nervous if I'm even days past a month). Nothing. Your peace of mind is worth it, man. Oh, also sealed every crevice I could find in my place w/in an inch of its life, sweep the kitchen floor daily and tupperware'd everything in the cupboards. There is light at the end of the tunnel, trust me.

em26

Cockroaches . . As a kid , okay okay and to this day , I call them caca-roach(es).I never knew I was saying it wrong till I actually saw the word written down. . .It's cockroaches.

Maybe that is how kids would normally pronounce it ? And then when you become an adult , you should start saying it correctly? Well . . . I never got the memo. (shrug)