O please help, a COCKROACH.....

[chocolatequeen]

OMG OMG OMG......

Just saw a MASSIVE, and I mean an inch long sucker dead cockroach right next to computer. Now totally freaking out. We had a couple on our patio about 4 months ago, but none since but semi-detached neighbour has seen them in our communal garage, which leads to computer room. What do I do!!!!!

Just hear horror stories about the damn things, that once you have them, they are impossible to get rid of. How dangerous are the chemicals they use to kill them? DS is 3, DS2 due in Nov.

Please help - any ideas?!!?

x

Look up your local council's environmental health department and give them a call - they aren't impossible to get rid of at all!

If you find anymore, pour boiling water over them to kill them, do not squash them as it will release the eggs and before you know it they you will have hundreds.

As it was quite big, it had probably already laid eggs somewhere, so you will need to get pest control out, you may need to stay somewhere else for a day as the effective chemicals they use can be quite harmful.

dp's flat was infested with them earlier this year - env health sorted it out in three visits using traps and a chemical spray on the first visit only. We didn't have to leave the flat at all.

I used to work in a hotel that suffered badly from them, and rooms that were treated had to be empty for 24 hours afterwards.

Apparently you can hear them squeal when you pour boiling water over them I always left that for someone else to do

I HATE cockroaches! I grew up in Houston, Texas, where they are indemic and impossible to get rid of. The little bastards are about 2 inches long, with prickles on their legs and wings (they fly at you the moment you try to strike them) and almost impossible to kill. I know I tried! They also crawled up in the drains, even in the poshest of houses, to be found in your showers, sinks, etc.

I once found one in the bathtub. I sprayed it with hairspray. And it lived. I poured roach powder poison on it. And it lived. I poured boiling water on it. And it lived. But at least by that point it was weakened to the point where it didn't fly when I smashed it to pulp w/a newspaper.

I would move house.

lol expat - they are indeed very resiliant and becoming more so.

Call in your local authority pest control (they are the cheapest). The fact that you have found a dead one indicates that someone close by has them and is treating for them. You wouldnt see them in the daytime otherwise unless your infestation was THAT bad. Doesnt sound like yours is.

They can be difficult to get rid of but not impossible as long as you take on board ALL the advice you are given by the Pest controllers and take action quick. With spray treatments you only need be out of the room for a minimum 1 hour which should be long enough for any spray particles to settle. (Fogging/smoking treatments are not common these days and do require longer periods of absence). There are lots of preparations now that can be used with a combination of "housekeeping" that should resolve it for you.

Yes, i do work for a pest control company

or should that be

I read once if you cut of a cockroaches head it wouls die about 9 days later due to starvation.

And apparently they could survive a nuclear war.

We get the odd one or two in our house. You can put down traps to see if you have a problem. One or two is normal, it's when you get 10 or more that you start to worry.

I don't think you should be overly concerned just yet.

They can live off wallpaper paste in your house for years.

oooh? Where do you live then rhuby?

France.

wasnt expecting that answer! lol im such a narrow minded londoner!

IME its not normal to see 1 or 2 but as i said I work for a pest controller and see all aspects of this kind of problem. You'd be surprised who suffers cockroach probs...........

Message withdrawn

Thanks so much all of you.

Forgot to mention, but we actually live in Portugal, so not sure that Environmental Health are going to be willing to pop over for a quick treatment....dammit.

Apparently our neighbour sealed the doors from the garages to their house, and totally disinfected their lower ground floor. From what I've found on the internet, it's the oriental type (at least that's what the corpse looks like...it wasn't quite dead so it was ceremoniously drowned in washing up liquid... ) and they tend to prefer being below ground, so hopefully won't go up to kitchen. Gives me the creeps....Took DS to McDonalds for dinner as haven't scrubbed kitchen from top to bottom yet!

Off we go to DIY store tomorrow. I don't suppose you know if we can order chemicals/traps etc. online, or even have them sent VTM? I would think they would be classed as dangerous?

Once again, thanks! Wish me luck for tonight....

I do believe we have offices worldwide...... will check for you - give me 10 mins......

Head Office Address
Complexo Industrial de Vialonga
Fracção C1
Granja de Alpriate
2626-501 Vialonga
Lisbon

Telephone +351219738400
Facsimile +351219738401
E-mail [email protected]
Website Unknown

There are 4 branches over there apparently but i have no idea where you are so the above is the head office you can contact. Hope it helps!

Ooooh, you are a total star. will you adopt me?!

No more so far tonight, but that could be down to the fact that I'm actually too scared to look at the floor at all, and haven't been in the cupboard under the stairs AT ALL. Lucky DH can deal with that when he arrives home from 12 hours on a plane having worked about 10000 hours this week......

Thanks heaps! x

No probs!

Fraid i cant adopt - DP wont let me have any more kids!

I live in Cyprus and we suffer with them here too. I HATE them. They make me go quite funny and I am ok with spiders etc. Cockroaches make me feel sick. They tend to come out at night. Shudder! The drains here get treated annually and you can tell where has been treated as they move along the drains. They apparently carry lots of germs because of where they live. God I hate them. We have a poison gel in our kitchen on potential entrance points. Hope you can get rid of them. We stayed in a gorgeous 5* hotel here (birthday treat) and were on the 7th floor and still found some in the bath. The reception staff were very matter of fact about it and not at all shocked. I didn't know you could get them in the UK. It is one of the things I was looking forward to not having to deal with when we move back.

They are all over in the south east particularly now.

People coming back from these 5* hotels carrying them in their suitcases........

Its just the way of things, being that they are so resilient they will thrive anywhere and everywhere and because some people just 'accept' them it makes it hard to keep them under control.

Bed bugs are becoming that way too. Now they really ARE disgusting creatures.

Ohh really how horrid!!!
Now bed bugs I have never worried about as I thought everybody had them and they couldn't be shifted and didn't cause any harm anyway (Gross I know). I must be thinking of something else.
I am gutted about the cockroaches in the UK .

Yes, Cooper, they LOVE to use the drains to get around. It's pretty unavoidable, too, although in Texas we had these mesh drain plugs on everything.

They are NASTY! I think that's why spiders don't bother me anymore. Roaches are much, much worse, especially the 2-inch, prickles on legs, flying variety.

They're all in the sewers in hampstead apparently...........?

You might be thinking of dustmite or something - if you had bed bugs you'd know it - they come out at night and bite!

expat, my life is really, truly lovely in the absence of flying cockroaches. And I mean that. I'd rather have H