Need Help

sa95035

Hi All,

3 weeks back i bought a second hand cabinet from someone. I saw roaches in it while i was carrying it upstairs in my apartment in CA, USA. I should have thrown the cabinet right away but i didnt. I didnt know what a probelem it would become. 2 days later i started seeing 1-2 roaches every second day. I got over the counter sprays and started spraying everywhere. Didnt help much so i called an exterminator. The professional was here almost 10 days back (which was on th 9th day after buying the cabinet). The exterminator said, i had no sanitary issues, apartment is clean, i have mild infestation, he removed the refrigerator and put some avert dry flowing powder. He had also put avert in cabinets under sink in bathroom and kitchen. Near washer dryer etc. He had only put ONE Maxforce FC bait station near bathroom. He didnt put many in the apartment. My apt is around 800 square feet, i have been here for two years but never saw any roach before. I felt the Maxforce FC station was a good bait. So i have purchased more on my own and placed around 6 baits in kitchen. Its been 2 and a half days since i have put station bait (that has fipronil) and i still see one roach in the night when i wake up to get some water.
I am really going nuts. I never had this issue in my life and now i am having a hard time focusing on my job since i desperately want to get rid of them and not eventually end up living with them
I am also buying gentrol (IGR) point source hoping that it would control reproduction.
Please tell me what should i be doing ? How do i control it ? Completely be rid of them and live in my place like before ...I am getting very sad about the situation. My family thinks i am over reacting, i am always cleaning with 409 the counters and everything. I have not seen roaches in the cabinets yet, but very worried that this doesn't turn into a big infestation ? I am vaccumming every night, running dishwasher every night, cleaning counter tops like 3 times a day..
Please help and advice

sdsester

Give the insectisides a chance to work. If you had no roaches before, and you have no environment appealing to them, they will not survive. Unless they have neighboring apartments to escape to and hide. Or you have stacks of papers, stuff under the bathroom or kitchen sink, in which they can hide?

What possessed you to buy a cabinet in which you saw bugs and then bring it right into the house baffles me. Next find? You might want to deal with insectisides outside and exterminate problems before you bring them in. Or wrap the thing in contractor bags and gas it!!!!

The overuse of "over-the-counter" insectisides can be a real danger to your health. Less is more is often very true with indoor pesticides. Trust the exterminator. Call him/her back if they are not gone in a couple more weeks. He/she is licensed to get things you cannot and less will need to be used.

I ran a staff in the basement of a cockroach infested building. I was diligent about getting it treated but their were college students eating pizza above us. I remember opening a circuit breaker cover and seeing millions of insects. When I redid the design department I found boxes of envelopes with no adhesive on the flaps and dead roaches in the bottoms of the boxes. Remember that Seinfeld episode where George buys cheap wedding invitation envelopes and his fiance croaks? I have never licked an envelope since seeing what I saw.

I never had roaches at home and I carried a briefcase back and forth and wore pants with cuffs and stuff like that. Most of my friends that came to visit were dirty and disgusting with pieces of lettuce hanging off them and so forth. They may have brought the bugs I saw. Don't get paranoid here is what I am trying to say. Or take a trip to Nawlins or even Florida and talk about your bug problems to put them in perspective.

There were roaches in apartments in my rather expensive building in NYC but I never saw but one or two now and then---usually delivered by a proud cat, beheaded, in a shoe. Here bed bugs are prevalent in some apartments and of course roaches are around I suspect. I have never seen one of either in my place. The exterminator comes in, dabs stuff in cabinets and on hinges and it seems to work.

I think you will live through this. If not, private mail me from the other side and we will figure something out. Of course they are nasty bugs and creep you out. They will survive when we are long gone.

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sa95035

Thanks so much for your reply. I was not expecting anyone would reply. I am so glad that you did and in just a few hours.

I am a little confused with your comment "Next find? You might want to deal with insectisides outside and exterminate problems before you bring them in. Or wrap the thing in contractor bags and gas it!!!!" DO you mean i should have bombed that piece of furniture outside the house and not brought it in OR are you suggesting that I start treating the outside of my apartment.

I feel terribly stupid for bringing it in. Even thought i shook the cabinet really well outside the door and cleaned it with 409 after bringing it in.

A mere $30 worth cabinet has caused me a loss of couple of hundred dollars already, in fact i threw the cabinet in 10 days. I wish i had never bought that. In last 3 weeks i have not slept a single night without patrolling my kitchen at least 1-2 times in the night time. This is causing me very disturbed sleep and also i am mentally tired.

I have heard stories that once they come into your apartment its almost impossible to get rid of them.

I feel exterminators are making a fool of me just to make money. They would never do their job diligently to get rid of them or else why would they be in business ?

Will i ever be rid of them ? I have also pinged you separately on your website that was in your profile. Sorry i didnt know how else to send you a private message.

Thanks again.

sdsester

Like any contractors, pest control folks come from two camps I suppose. I never worked with the mainstream uniformed companies. I used the ones restaurants and other such commercial properties used in the area I was living.

Most exterminators I have contracted have been beyond honest. Including those around my California home for 2.5 decades in the 408 area code. I saw your pinged message but dumped it since you didn't clue me in. Not sure I can talk you out of sleeplessnes anyhow.

Look, you have done everything you can to make sure the roaches find no place comfortable to live. If they cannot eat or nest or do what they do. They will go away or given you have blitzed them with every insectiside known to mankind, die.

Adding insectisides to the tremendous amounts you already have is not going to accomplish anything.

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sdsester

Nonsense. All cockroaches you brought into your home will soon be twitching and croaking.

Pest control contractors of mine certainly never withheld responsible treatment from me, so far as I know. We share this planet with lots of little and sometimes bigger other animals including just insects. They are all as entitled to a share of the environment as we are, when you think about it. My folks have diligently moved coyotes, squirrels, snakes, raccoons and even moved bee hives ages ago. They have killed their fair share of things too. I don't think even one of them left a cockroach alive as a way of preserving a business relationship.

It sounds like you could use someone to talk with if you are really so scared of the bugs and are not sleeping. Santa Clara County still has a fairly decent mental health crisis and intervention capability I am told. 411 or better yet 311 would tap you in to the resource network if you lived here. I am not saying you are nuts by any means. We all need to talk things through now and then. Not sleeping can make you not think straight though.

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sa95035

Do you remember the name of any pest control services that you hired in CA, specially 408 area ?

FoundationPest

So sorry for your troubles, but definitely bagging and gassing thrift store furniture finds is the way to go to prevent this kind of head ache.

And as mentioned, lighten up on the chemicals. Even 409 can be toxic if overused. Look into some of the green products available if you need to clean continuously.

scottharrison

Does green pest controls can have a possibility of harming your health? I have been using green products such as mosquito killers on spray form. And when I am using it, I used to dray my children to outside or stay away from the area where I will be treating. I find very haggard though. Thanks a lot!