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  • How to best battle the roaches

    Being new to Hawaii I would like to hear some tips/tricks for doing battle with the roaches.

    Our apartment has them by the bunches. Our dishwasher looks unusable, roaches have made quite a home inside. Luckily this is a temporary apartment for only a few months.

    So my questions are
    1) How do you keep them out of your appliances such as your toaster?
    2) How do you keep them out of electronic equipment, receiver, ps3 etc
    3) Are all the little black dots they leave around eggs or waste? (Sorry about the gross factor here) Not sure I want to know.

    We are keeping all our food in sealed containers and we placed traps and poisons all around the kitchen.

    These aren't the B52's just the little guys so far.

    Anyway any tips would be helpful.

  • #2
    Re: How to best battle the roaches

    Originally posted by desperado View Post
    Being new to Hawaii I would like to hear some tips/tricks for doing battle with the roaches.

    Our apartment has them by the bunches. Our dishwasher looks unusable, roaches have made quite a home inside. Luckily this is a temporary apartment for only a few months.

    So my questions are
    1) How do you keep them out of your appliances such as your toaster?
    2) How do you keep them out of electronic equipment, receiver, ps3 etc
    3) Are all the little black dots they leave around eggs or waste? (Sorry about the gross factor here) Not sure I want to know.

    We are keeping all our food in sealed containers and we placed traps and poisons all around the kitchen.

    These aren't the B52's just the little guys so far.

    Anyway any tips would be helpful.
    LOL......welcome to hawaii!!!! I use lemon pledge to spray the little chingamathings..it leaves a lemony smell......i think the tiny black chingamathingys are the eggs or little turds....not sure
    stay forever young

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    • #3
      Re: How to best battle the roaches

      hahaha! if you have food, you will have roaches. This is the tropics - roaches happen. But, keeping food in sealed containers and using the roach traps will help. Just make sure you don't leave crumbs on the counter or open food and you should be able to control them.

      The other method is a rubber slippah - works great!
      "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."
      – Sydney J. Harris

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      • #4
        Re: How to best battle the roaches

        You can use Trap-a-Roach, they come 5 traps to box and deploy them around the place. And yeah don't leave any food uncovered.

        You can use a bug bomb to kill them but you need to turn off your gas stove and vacant the place (you and your dogs) for around 4 to 8 hours or so.

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        • #5
          Re: How to best battle the roaches

          The little black specs are poop, I believe. The egg cases are roughly the size of puffed rice and look like this:




          Boric acid seems to be the most recommended treatment. It's applied as a fine powder. The roaches walk over it and it sticks to their legs. When they clean themselves, they ingest it. It dehydrates them or something. Basically gives them constipation.

          Here's a useful guide from the University of Kentucky.


          If you're the vengeful type, you can get a Hoy Hoy brand roach trap, common in Hawaii (ours are colored black):



          It's basically a non-toxic sticky pad thing. The roaches get stuck and slowly starve to death. You can watch them struggling and get themselves more stuck.

          Not the way to go if you're squeamish or Buddhist.
          "By concealing your desires, you may trick people into being cruel about the wrong thing." --Steven Aylett, Fain the Sorcerer
          "You gotta get me to the tall corn." --David Mamet, Spartan
          "
          Amateurs talk technology, professionals talk conditions." --(unknown)

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          • #6
            Re: How to best battle the roaches

            "Luckily this is a temporary apartment for only a few months"


            Hahahaha! Poor you....or do you mean that you'll only be in Hawaii for a few months?

            PS Boric acid.
            http://thissmallfrenchtown.blogspot.com/
            http://thefrenchneighbor.blogspot.com/

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            • #7
              Re: How to best battle the roaches

              somebody recommended soapy water on this board. It works very very well. The problem is, that if you consistently use it on your floor, the floor becomes slippery over time if you let it build up.

              That is one thing since I've been in Hawaii that I have never used, and that is an oven. I know they are in there and I just cannot think of the idea of roasting them along with my food. so no oven use for me. evah.
              n'importe

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              • #8
                Re: How to best battle the roaches

                Originally posted by Kaukura View Post
                somebody recommended soapy water on this board. It works very very well. The problem is, that if you consistently use it on your floor, the floor becomes slippery over time if you let it build up.

                That is one thing since I've been in Hawaii that I have never used, and that is an oven. I know they are in there and I just cannot think of the idea of roasting them along with my food. so no oven use for me. evah.
                No worry...the roaches will just take a walk while the oven is on, and come back later for the crumbs and the drips.
                http://thissmallfrenchtown.blogspot.com/
                http://thefrenchneighbor.blogspot.com/

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                • #9
                  Re: How to best battle the roaches

                  Roaches, ants, and sand in your crack. If you plan on staying here, you better get used to all three.

                  Or, just start killing each one that you see, and eventually you will kill EVERY SINGLE ROACH in the state. Thanks for your help.

                  A meticulous kitchen helps, but there is no cure.
                  FutureNewsNetwork.com
                  Energy answers are already here.

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                  • #10
                    Re: How to best battle the roaches

                    This is funny! I remember having the same questions when I first got here, cuz we never had bugs (except black widows) in California!

                    I agree, boric acid works! Sprinkle a little across your windowsills, behind the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, behind your entertainment center, behind your computer desk, behind bookcases, and in the back of those under-sink cabinets. Then get a can of Raid Max and spray it directly on the perimiters of all windows, doors, baseboards, and along cracks. I spray it along the bottom of the doorjambs on my car, too. You'll also want some Terro ant baits, cuz ants will likely be visiting you next.

                    Also, search here on HT for more tips and info and some crazy bug stories.

                    Or get a chicken. They love to eat bugs.
                    ~ This is the strangest life I've ever known ~

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                    • #11
                      Re: How to best battle the roaches

                      We have always had good results with the Combat large roach poison thingies...sometimes go months without seeing any bugs at all. Change 'em every 6-8 months. Box of 8 on sale @ Longs for appx 5.98 every now and then.
                      (house, not an apartment)

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                      • #12
                        Re: How to best battle the roaches

                        Here's a link to our other HT roach discussion.

                        Also, be sure you always cap your toothpaste. Roaches and ants love to feast on it
                        Last edited by turtlegirl; October 28, 2008, 08:35 AM. Reason: typo
                        ~ This is the strangest life I've ever known ~

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                        • #13
                          Re: How to best battle the roaches

                          My husband told me not to shoo away the geckos, as they like to eat the bugs (doubt they eat roaches). We have LOTS of geckos, and it's a little strange sharing house space with them. Do they really help with bug patrol?

                          Can't think of anything creative this time

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                          • #14
                            Re: How to best battle the roaches

                            Originally posted by surlygirly View Post
                            My husband told me not to shoo away the geckos, as they like to eat the bugs (doubt they eat roaches). We have LOTS of geckos, and it's a little strange sharing house space with them. Do they really help with bug patrol?
                            Geckos are really good at keeping the roach population to a minimum (only the little roaches, not the big B-52s). Whenever I had a roach problem, I welcomed their presence. The only problem is they leave their poop around, and they do have a tendency to "chirp" a lot.

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                            • #15
                              Re: How to best battle the roaches

                              Thanks for all the tips. What do folks do about their toaster? I am not sure I even want one if it will become a roach condo.

                              I will learn to live/deal with them but best to get tips from the experts. I would have replied sooner but too busy and also just enjoying my new like in Hawaii. Looking forward to the next forum get together so I can meet some of the hawaii threads ohana.

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