Cockroaches now? I really want to cry. Please give me advice!

[mommy2serena]

OK I know my question is about the roaches but a little background here to help elxplain why I am so ticked off about it. We am paying to rent an apt right now that we are not even living in because we have been painting and renovating till about 3 AM every night for a week because the landlord is "too busy" to do it. (We don't have much rental history and this was the only landlord who was relaxed about renting to us so It seemed worth it at first) We've spent hundreds of dollars on paint (to cover up the lime green) carpet shampooer, ect. and have even discussed letting him "borrow" money to replace the disgusting living room carpet if he would take the cost off the rent later. ETC, ETC. (Him and his 4 kids lived in the apt. and just moved upstairs and are now renting out thier old apt.
So back on topic. After wearing ourselves rugged for a week renovating, we were just getting down to cleaning and disinfecting the whole place ourselves : which was disgusting, we saw 2 roaches in the kitchen.
I know It seems nieve (sp.) and immature and they are pretty common I guess but I have a huge phobia of any kind of anything that infests like that. I mean a real phobia, like Im afraid of having nightmares about it tonight. (I had a real problem with even my cats having fleas).
I'm hoping not to get flamed for this, and I hope Im not offening anyone.. I am by no means saying that people with roaches are dirty people. I know they can be attracted to old houses, or from neighbors, ect... I'm just saying that my landlord's housekeeping habits are most likely the cause in this situation.
Sorry for the huge rant but I needed to vent. I was so exited about this place and just spent so much money and the apt. itself is old.. but really perfect for us otherwise, and I was so happy we found the perfect place. I called my mother and broke into tears because I honstly dont think I can live there now, because I would be forever paranoid of finding one in the dirty laundry or something.
So I read up for an hour on them and I don;t want to bug bomb or Raid Ive heard of using orange oil cleaners and all but I guess my question is.. is there any chance that maybe they just got taked in with some bad groceries or something? Im clutching at straws I know. I guess I just want to know if there is any chance It isnt an infestation? I dont know... my mind is so jumbled right now... I could ask landlord about it but he wasnt honest about it before we paid him all that money to move in, so why would he be now? (he ovbiously knew about it, he lived there!) :
Just needed some advice/support, and hoping noone laughs at me for my weird fear.:

*added note: I had mentioned that the LL now lives right upstairs so he will obviously have them in that apt. now, Im sure. I read that you can seal up your own unit with caulking to keep them out... anyone try this?
***Also.. we bought a chest freezer from home depot the day before we saw them. Its came in a cardboard box where I heard they can breed. We never saw any before we got it.. but we were just painting so we wern't even in the kitchen.. box isnt even opened yet though.. am I really reaching to far right now for hope?

[4evermom]

I found out that there were roaches in one of my apartments by leaving a new sponge on the kitchen counter. The sponge was treated with whatever it is that makes them soft until they are first used. I left a bunch of cleaning supplies, including the sponge, on the counter. When I came back, there were a bunch of tiny beetle-like bugs hanging out in the sponge. I quickly figured out that they were baby roaches, evidently attracted to the moist environment.

What bothered me the most about living with roaches was not being able to leave a glass of water by my bed w/o worrying one would crawl in it. I lived alone, so it wasn't too bad keeping all my food (including flour and sugar) in the fridge. It was a big building, so pretty impossible to get rid of them, even though it was sprayed regularly. Sorry I don't have any real advice.

[NoMariposa]

Roaches are hard to get rid of according to our pest control service tech. We stayed last summer in our friend's duplex that she said had roaches in the kitchen (they were living in the wall behind the kitchen sink attracted to the leaking water heater pipes). We never stored anything in the kitchen, but had roaches crawling out of our stuff on the way home. I bagged everything up and left it bagged for months if I couldn't wash it and I carryed laundry load by laundry load into the house 1 at a time.
Now this summer I went to stay at my sister's place, it's cluttered and flithy dirty. As my mother and I were cleaning roaches were everywhere and my sister claims she didn't have a problem. The little german roaches are a tried and true sign of filty dirty living IMO. Truth she never cleaned anything to know there was a problem. Then she thought oh they are just in the kitchen, um, no, they were in the living room, the dinning area, and the bathroom -- so likely everywhere. I didn't bring anything into her house I didn't have to and we went to a hotel for a few days before we left.
Now I get to the solution part! I read up on roaches extensively after coming home with them last summer. Spray only sprays them away from an area, so nix the aweful spray. Baits work, my friend used baits as I told her and her roaches were gone in a few months, she also got the LL to do pest control service the last 6 months she lived there. My parents bought baits for my sister's house, it will take a while, but they should do the trick. The baits kill the roach and the fertility of eggs, you've got to get the live cycle broken to get rid of roaches.
Set up some of those COMBAT road bait stations and tell the LL you would like pest control service. That should solve your problem and let you rest easy at night.

[littlest birds]

The only thing I ever used was boric acid which is quite safe, since it is not a poison--and the roaches are not getting immunity to it like with the poisons. It always worked although we never dealt with major infestations.

[KeanusMomma]

I'm having the same problem! I got some borax, and have had 3 extermination visits, but I am still seeing them. : It makes me so mad. I saw one on the kitchen table this morning as I was eating breakfast. I, too, have a horrible phobia with things like that. I have trouble sleeping at night, and sometimes I leave the light on in hopes that it will keep them away as I sleep! I'm going to try the combat bait thing.

[Emilie]

io have a huge phobia too... we have fleas roaches,,,, and a mouse....
i want to cry to.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Emilie

io have a huge phobia too... we have fleas roaches,,,, and a mouse....
i want to cry to.

Sorry to say it, but as my grandma would say "where there is Mickey, there is Minnie." You need to assume you have at least 2 mice that are breeding like crazy. Don't get the spring traps that have that cheesy plastic "cheese" part. The plainer ones that are just metal and wood work much better.

[RiverSky]

We also have experience moving into a rental that we were excited about and finding cockroaches, the afternoon of our moving day actually, climbing over the boxes of food we had in the middle of the kitchen floor, while still moving in. It was horrible. We got a pest service immediately (paid for by the landlord, I'm sure it's the law in every state that landlords are responsible for that type of thing) and I called them constantly to come back out. Within the first few days of living there, there was one hour where my DH stood there and killed 40 cockroaches in the kitchen while I screamed. We threw out all our food and did not eat in the house for a while. (what a pain)

Anyway, you saw two, I'm sure there are hundreds in the wall. I hate to break it to you, but it's true. Get a pest control service pronto, they will safely bait the roaches to stop them from reproducing (might take up to 2 weeks for them to die). by placing the gel stuff inside electrical outlets, behind appliances, etc., where it will be safe from children's fingers.

Also, try diatemaceous earth in addition to the pest control service.
You can purchase it as Home Depot or Lowe's, just use a mask and gloves, as it can be a lung irritant. Otherwise, it is non-toxic. It's a powder made of fossilized exo-skeletons that you sprinkle where the bugs cross, they cross over it, and it scratches their exo-skeletons and all their juices leak out and they die. I would sprinkle it all behind the fridge, in the cupboard beneath the sink (empty it out entirely for now), all along the entire outside of the house, etc. Try to put it in places that young onese will not touch.
http://www.snow-pond.com/Soapetc/somctrl.html
http://www.gardentalk.com/?page=insectdust.htm
http://www.epestsupply.com/cgi-bin/s...on&key=DIATECT

There are better links, I just couldn't find them right now.

Perhaps you should do a search on MDC for past threads that talk about Diatemaceous Earth.

By the way, we lived in that rental for a year and a half and the cockroaches never fully went away. We would go for a month or two inbetween sightings but they'd always come back. I believe our landlord was negligent and should have had a pest control service contract for the entire ownership of the house (it was only 10 years old).

[mommy2serena]

Here is an update: The were not German roaches!! I was up for 2 nights straight researching and then my mother found and smushed one of the exact same one in HER house. She mentioned that she had seen the same exact bug over a year ago, and I know German roaches infest quickley so I knew It couldnt have been one of those. I took it to a pest control place and the guy said it looked like a wood roach. Lo and behold, that makes sence considering there is a huge pile of old wood scraps stacked up as tall as my kitchen window right against the house: but Im still happy that I dont have to worry. I read up on them and if you ever see one its only because one or two can wander inside by accident, but do NOT breed inside, or infest. We moved in here 5 days ago after the news, and havnt seen one since. Now all I have to do is get our lazy bum of a landlord remove the wood pile. Thanks so much for all the advice and support!!!

[RiverSky]

Originally Posted by mommy2serena

Here is an update: The were not German roaches!!

Whewsh, that is GREAT news!