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Hi everyone, I live in an apartment in NYC so its fairly common, but does not make it any more acceptable. Ever since my neighbors moved in I've been in an epic battle with pretty much any insect you can think of.. Ive tried bombs, baits and recently I changed my tactics by adding boric acid to the mix. I dusted my kitchen and other areas of common sightings (the bathroom mostly) and the roach population has been virtually wiped out but I am still having problems with another insect, the lack of roaches seems to tipped the scales causing the population of other insects to increase drastically.
I cant exactly identify what the most common species is but they appear to be some type of beatle (There are some ants aswell, but they are far less common than the beatles). They are about half the size of a common roach but round, darker and a bit wider. They have also become a bit bigger in the absence of the roaches, I imagine it is because there is more food for them with less compitition. So I'd like a few tips to augment my otherwise successful elimination of the roaches.
As this is effecting a high traffic area, one that involves food and I have house pets, I'd like to avoid toxic pestacides and if possible inexpensive.
I don't know if this helps but here goes. When I lived in a condo there was a couple of bug problems... including roach like looking bugs. The problems came with the new neighbors down stairs too. I used sticky traps in the kitchen... inside the shelves and lower cabinets. My pet cat never goes in those areas. I used pieces of food that these bugs appeared to be eating as bait... placed in the middle of the sticky trap. You can sometimes reuse the traps by removing the bugs with an old pair of tweezers. I flushed the bugs down the john.
Remember the bugs are getting in somehow. I checked under the cabinets for any holes leading down to the construction below and found one under the outside of the kitchen cabinet. I did not see it until I got down on the floor and looked under the cabinet door. I bought that foam that spreads and dries (looks like whip cream coming out of the can)... to block the hole. (Can't remember the name of this foam stuff... but the salesman at Home Depot pointed it out to me.) Remember a little goes a long way. I put a little too much... and sanded down the excess after it dried.
I took off all the electrical plug plates in all areas of the condo... and put bug poison/bait/dust... for ants/roaches behind each plate. I paid particular attention to the kitchen and bath rooms fixture plates. After I reattached the plates... I wiped off the outside of each plate with a cleaner like Windex to be sure I did not leave any residue.
Look around the areas where your plumbing connects... like the pipe going into the wall under your sinks... and behind your toilet. Make sure these areas are sealed with caulking. If not... then get a tube of clear or white caulking... and cover all areas between the pipes and the wall... where a bug could crawl in.
Another idea in case you ever have a rodent problem. A friend of mine thought she had a mouse in her closet. We put a sticky trap inside a shoe box... and put some food in the middle of the trap... peanut butter and other food. We held the box in place against the wall with something heavy. We did not want to take a chance that the sticky trap would get on her clothes... if the mouse was moving around trying to get out of the trap... so that is the reason why we placed the trap inside the open shoe box. She caught the mouse... with no damage to her clothes... as the sticky trap was still inside the shoe box. She had a male neighbor remove the box from her closet. :)
If you ever have a moth problem... those sticky traps for moths worked pretty good in my closets... and pantry. The trap looked like a small tent and comes with bait. Change them out every couple of months or so. I put these only on the upper shelves.
If you have a patio... then try to secure that area too. The idea is to try to cover the areas where the bugs could be getting into your apartment. Hope you find a useful idea in my suggestions.
Oh... and I forgot to mention Diatomaceous Earth. A friend used that behind her light fixtures and around her patio. You can read about it at this website... or get more information in the google search.
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I don't think you are going to be able to do much on your own if the neighbors are feeding them. Buy some ziplocks and put all of your food inside of those to keep things out of your food for your own sake. Roaches can live on lots of things that you don't consider food. The combat bait things work pretty well and are encased in plastic. Don't leave a supply of food or water out in the open. And don't leave the pets' uneaten food or water in their bowls.
I think that you should contact the owners of the building and encourage them to hire someone to spray, and announce that inspections will occur from time to time of all of the units because this has become a problem.
