New Orleans Pest Control Recommendation?

[melmcwhorter]

OK - I give up. We need to call in a pest control company for my house, which is being slowly taken over by the large roaches, in spite of our efforts to combat the problem ourselves.

I'd love to find a company that knows a thing or two about environmentally and/or children-safe ways of handling this, but I have no idea where to find that here. Thought I'd call on my Tribe!

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[TinaM]

I don't have any company recommendations. But I've always thought the large roaches are the ones that come in from the trees outside. It's the small ones that indicate they are breeding indoors. We sometimes see large ones inside after rain storms. I'd start by sealing off windows and doors so the roaches cannot come in from the outside.
Those little roach baits (small round black things) work good too.
Good luck.

[tug]

i agree with tina. the large ones come in from the trees outside. we used to have a big (ugly) tallow tree in our front yard and had way more of a problem than we do now. that said, they do still come in if they can...and it's almost impossible to seal your house against them if you live in a typical nola house. sigh. we have terminix for termites and just got tented last week. the poison is scary. it is nice not having any buggies inside at all now though.

terminix does a treatment every three months for everything i think (all sorts of bugs plus rodents) that is around maybe 350 a year, i think?

oh, also, you might get the "roach hotels." those seem pretty helpful too.

[Nolamom]

Just noticed your post...

I am roach phobic - have even had nightmares about those outdoor 3 inch ones - and we've discovered something that works great! I haven't seen a roach in our home in over 3 years. Amazing in New Orleans!

Max Force bait gel. A tube of brown paste that you apply on the exterior and interior of your home. We applied it only in places that the kids couldn't access. I believe it's only available at specialty pesticide stores and can be expensive ($50-$100). But well worth the $, IMO. You don't have poison spray coating everything and can control where it is applied. We applied twice so far - once about 3 years ago and once this season.

I highly recommend it!