To not see what I can do about cockroaches

[notagainnellie]

I feel sick even writing this, but I think there are cockroaches behind my kitchen cabinets. The kickboard is broken and there is a gap between the cooker and the worktop, and I suppose the bits of food that get dropped are what have caused the problem.

I have noticed for a while that both cats spend a bit of time looking/sniffing at the broken kickboard, and then one evening I came into the kitchen to find one of the cats killing a cockroach. I cleaned the area as well as I could and sprayed pesticide into the gap. That was a few weeks ago, but this morning there is a huge roach corpse on the kitchen floor. The cat had been locked in the kitchen after bringing a live frog in (also loose somewhere, but that’s another issue) so I suppose he got bored and investigated that area again, or I guess they come out at night anyway.

I dread to think what it is like behind that part of the kitchen, but I just don’t see what I can do about it without removing it all. I am divorcing at the moment and there is not going to be any money for a new kitchen for the best part of ten years, realistically. What on earth do I do?

[acasualobserver]

Call in the pest controllers?

[JennyOnAPlate]

Call in pest control company or your local council may offer a service.

Or burn your house down.

[Laiste]

''I just don’t see what I can do about it without removing it all''

Not much. You need to pull out all the cupboards and the cooker and clean thoroughly behind it all. Then get a specific cockroach pesticide.

Or call in other people to do it for you.

[Ifailed]

cockroaches aren't that bad, it's just that they are visible because of their size. You'll have plenty of other insects sharing your house with you, live and let live.

[rainytea]

You'll only get rid of them with proper insecticide used by professionals. You'll need to clear the kitchen and then stay out of the house for a few hours after they've been. Then you need to wash everything again. The professionals also know where they're likely to live or escape to (possibility of them going in bathroom pipes) so they'll basically know how to get the suckers.

I used to live somewhere hotter and this was essentially the only way to control them.

All the sprays you can buy yourself won't make much difference I'm afraid.

[Blu]

Can you take the kick board out and see what is going on? I am sure you don't need a whole new kitchen.

But maybe you can get some baited cockroach traps (I would call some pest people) and get the gaps closed up?

'Live and let live' does not extend to cockroaches and surely if you leave them to it they will multiply in millions?

[thecapitalsunited]

You need to call in the pest control people and start throwing out anything in your kitchen which isn't in a sealed plastic container. Keep any rubbish outside - throw everything straight into your outside bin and stop using your kitchen bin until you've got rid of your infestation. Basically remove anything cockroaches could possibly see as food.

If you live in a terrace then I'm afraid you are also going to have to tell your neighbours. Cockroaches spread like wildfire so your neighbours will need preventative treatment even if it's just to make sure that when they've been evicted from yours they don't move straight in with your neighbours.

[EveryoneElsie]

You can get sticky traps in the pound shops. Go mad with them.

[acasualobserver]

As I understand it, the sticky traps are only a way of monitoring whether your pest control measures are working. I don't think you can deal with a cockroach infestation by catching them one-by-one.