How do I get rid of cockroaches?

[Evansmama]

Anyone know of a non-toxic way to get rid of these things? We moved to a new house a couple of weeks ago and they are all over the place! One crawled out of my laundry and onto my lap today!! My DH wants to spray something, but I won't do that because of DS. HELP!!

[frogguruami]

Boric Acid works. You put it under all the appliances and in any cracks and crevices that the little ones can't get to. It isn't really toxic in small amounts but if they were to get it on their hands and rub their eyes it would be very irritating!!

The problem with roaches is that they are easier to keep out than get rid of. The pest control companies have many products that are not sprays and many are starting to carry environmentally friendly products. So you might want to make some calls to see what your options are. If you have German roaches the chances of getting rid of them without some sort of chemical are not very good! The big scary looking things are easier to get rid of!

[Belleweather]

Deep cleaning, Boric Acid, and taking the garbage out 2x per day.

[mean_jeannie]

In addition to the above, try to eliminate moisture spots - like around sinks. I have the big scary ones and I find that they are much less prevelent when I don't give them an inside source of water. So, no soaking things in the sink overnight and such, no water left over in the coffee pot well, wipe down the sinks and the tub, etc.

The buggers will eat anything so all food should be airtight - including pet food - if you really want to stick it to them.

[loraxc]

Just FTR--I live in the deep south and our house had a roach problem when we moved in. I tried boric acid and hygiene and never fully got rid of them. (We'd see one once a week or so.) I was willing to live with it, but imagine my horror when DD developed asthma and tested as allergic to cockroaches. She'd been exposed since babyhood and it's a common allergen.

We now use the baits. I hate it, but they work. I have an entomologist friend and he says the baits are very safe.

[stacim]

We have had success with the bait stations (Combat, Raid, etc.).

We tried diatomacious earth and a Borax mixture (later read that it should have been boric acid, which is different; but have also read that some have had success with Borax). Neither worked for us, but once we put the bait stations out, we stopped seeing them (except a few dead ones) after about a week. Now that it is spring, we have found a few "live ones," but no where near the number we were seeing before. It is recommended to replace the bait stations every 3 months, and ours had been out longer than that, so I am hoping that the new ones will take care of the few live ones we have found.

I should also add that we sealed a wide open entry point that we found, too. I would definitely recommend going over your house and sealing any gaps or openings you find. We live in a 88 yo house with asbestos shingles, so we know we will never be able to seal all the gaps, but every little bit helps.