How to stave off an Infestation?

[sr71blackbird]

I have always been afraid of getting an infestation, especially cockroaches.
I live in a three family house and the people above me a Latin american and the people above them are Brazillian.
Just to be safe I have a contract with Terminix and they come 4 times a year to spray. I never have seen any bugs, except what you would expect in a basement (centepedes, spidrs or an occasional ant or beetle or a fly or two).
This morning I see a bug in my bathroom and I trap it and study it and googled it and it seems to be an American cockroach nymph (image) (http://www.geocities.com/colin_l_miller/other/roach_03.jpg)
I am flipping out! I do not want these freaking things in my apartment. I have a call out to Terminix to see if they can come spray tomorrow. I have seen no other evidence of an infestation, and I have asked the people upstairs in the past if they have bugs and they always say no. I hope they would not lie to me, but since my brother in law owns the house I wonder if they would? Lets say that it was a fluke and this got in here somehow. What are the odds that a baby roach would make it here without others? It was not scurrying when I found it, it seemed to move as if drugged.
I cleaned my apartment like a mad man today. I used vinegar to wash the floors. If I cant get Terminex to come tomorrow, and I do not see any others, would you think that it was a fluke or would you assume you are about to start seeing a lot more? I never keep food here. If I eat here I clean up and throw anything left over away.
Am I being paranoid? Is there anything else I could do?

[BlackSpider]

There's almost never just ONE roach.
I live in an apt. and there are four units per building.
I never see roaches in my apt. except when someone vacates one of the other units.
twice that's happened, and each time I've seen ONE roach in my unit a week later.
Black Flag or somebody makes poison bait things to place around the house.
There are two types in the box, one kills any roaches that visit it, and the other type kills the eggs when they go back to their "nest." I've used these both times, and never saw another roach after the first one. I wouldn't use an exterminator, 'cause the poison they use will kill spiders... :nono:

[sr71blackbird]

Thats what I was thinking; that there is no such thing as one roach. The last time the Terminix came, he did give me some bait traps because he knows I am a wuss with these things. I still have them scattered around the apartment. My mother told me horror stories when she was a kid in Brooklyn and would go into the kitchen in the middle of the night for a drink of water and the walls were black with them! It used to scare the shit out of me. Still does. Now, this roach I found was like 10 am this morning. Not the middle of the night, but the bathroom was dark and this is the basement.
I have it now in a plastic container to show the guy if he comes tomorrow or the next day. I did summon the courage to ask the guy above me and he swears he has no bugs and he even let me in the check on something else and I did not see anything. But you do not always see stuff anyway.
Now, before I had mentioned that they are Central Americans, and the people above them and from Brazil. I did not mean to imply that these people are known to have roach problems, even though I knew a lot of them growing up and most of them did. The people next door that share our driveway are Chinese, and they own a restaurant and I know from experience from reading meters in chinese restaurants that they are crawling with roaches, so I suppose its possible this one was a "scout".
I gotta move out of this neighborhood! When I was in high school, this jewish girl I knew lived in an apartment complex and I remember her kitchen by the stove as being absolutely teeming with them and it skeeves me out thinking of it!

[Chigworthy]

I would stick with the "blame it on the minorities upstairs" routine no matter what happens.

[Don Stugots]

best way: don't leave any food out and DO NOT have Reef over.

[sr71blackbird]

What I was wondering is since I am going to be getting someone in here soon to spray, should I or would you do anything proactive now? I mean, if you saw what I did today to get this place clean, vaccuming and mopping..this place is pretty sterile right now..should I do more? Would you spray your own bought sprays? Would they effect the potency of the stuff the exterminator will use? Or did I do enough and should just sit and wait? Sorry, my mind os going a mile a minute over this.. :sad:

[Sue_Bender]

I would stick with the "blame it on the minorities upstairs" routine no matter what happens.

:clap:

[WhistlePig]

What I was wondering is since I am going to be getting someone in here soon to spray, should I or would you do anything proactive now? I mean, if you saw what I did today to get this place clean, vaccuming and mopping..this place is pretty sterile right now..should I do more? Would you spray your own bought sprays? Would they effect the potency of the stuff the exterminator will use? Or did I do enough and should just sit and wait? Sorry, my mind os going a mile a minute over this.. :sad:

I wouldn't spray yourself--wait for the exterminator. At an apartment I lived in years ago I saw a couple of roaches so I bought some spray and sprayed around the baseboards in the kitchen. After about 5 seconds HUNDREDS of roaches starting streaming out from everywhere! I started screaming and ran and hid in the bedroom and moved out the next month. Disgusting!!! Let the professionals handle it.

[bobstevens4]

I have always been afraid of getting an infestation, especially cockroaches.
I live in a three family house and the people above me a Latin american and the people above them are Brazillian.
Just to be safe I have a contract with Terminix and they come 4 times a year to spray. I never have seen any bugs, except what you would expect in a basement (centepedes, spidrs or an occasional ant or beetle or a fly or two).
This morning I see a bug in my bathroom and I trap it and study it and googled it and it seems to be an American cockroach nymph (image) (http://www.geocities.com/colin_l_miller/other/roach_03.jpg)
I am flipping out! I do not want these freaking things in my apartment. I have a call out to Terminix to see if they can come spray tomorrow. I have seen no other evidence of an infestation, and I have asked the people upstairs in the past if they have bugs and they always say no. I hope they would not lie to me, but since my brother in law owns the house I wonder if they would? Lets say that it was a fluke and this got in here somehow. What are the odds that a baby roach would make it here without others? It was not scurrying when I found it, it seemed to move as if drugged.
I cleaned my apartment like a mad man today. I used vinegar to wash the floors. If I cant get Terminex to come tomorrow, and I do not see any others, would you think that it was a fluke or would you assume you are about to start seeing a lot more? I never keep food here. If I eat here I clean up and throw anything left over away.
Am I being paranoid? Is there anything else I could do?

American roaches are relatively easy to eliminate. They do not breed like German roaches (kitchen roaches) and are considered seasonal invaders. A good baseboard spray and crevice dusting should do the trick.

[bobstevens4]

Also, cleanliness is not an issue with these roaches.

[sr71blackbird]

Thanks, I want the exterminator to make this apartment a toxic zone! I will tip the guy extra just so he adds more poison. I am not concerned with how it might effect my health, I just want these things dead

[A.J.]

Apparently you build a fence along the border.

http://democraticspace.com/blog/images/border-fence.jpg

[sr71blackbird]

Terminix just came and they sprayed everything. I tipped the guy well and he did a lot extra. I told him my fears and he said I really have nothing to be concerned about, because if I had them, he would have seen then running out from where he sprayed and he did not see anything. I showed him the one I found and he confirmed that it was a roach, but he thinks I either brought it home in groceries or that it came in from either another house or apartment. The spray he used he says works for 3 months and he sprayed along the where the floors meet the walls. I forgot to ask him to do the windowsills though.
That should be it, I hope!

[bobstevens4]

Do exterminators typically receive a tip in the New York area?

[Sinestro]

Haven't roaches been around forever? I don't remember where I heard it, but if there was a nuclear war, the roaches would outlive us all.




And if the exterminators were really any good, why are there still roaches around? You think they be extinct already.


Are you that way too with mice and rats?

[boosterp]

How to stave off an Infestation?

Shave them pubes!











:D

[MisterSmith]

Did anybody else think this might be an anti-FBA tread when they read the title? :lol:


Glad it wasn't, but still funny.

[cougarjake13]

Haven't roaches been around forever? I don't remember where I heard it, but if there was a nuclear war, the roaches would outlive us all.




And if the exterminators were really any good, why are there still roaches around? You think they be extinct already.





they reproduce quicker then you can kill them


plus the spray is only going to kill the ones that come into contact with it , the tech isnt spraying the whole house, or behind the walls, or the space between your ceiling and the upstairs floor, etc.

also they may be coming from outside through a crack in the foundation, wall, plumbing penetrations or the windowsills (when we do a house part of the service each time is to do the windowsills)


lastly you could be the cleaniest motherfucker on the planet and it wont mean shit if your neighbors arent