How do I kill cockroaches and prevent them from coming back?

Question

I don't have much money, time or friends. What I do have plenty of though is cockroaches, trash and squalor.

I want to change many aspects of my life, but feel trapped....especially by the bugs that share my apartment.

Answer 1

Try cleaning your house. And don't leave any food out.

Answer 2

The best thing to do is buy the "bug/flea bombs" for your apartment. If your problem is bad...set a couple off in your apartment, open all cabinets, closets, etc. leave your place for about 4 hours...go back open all the windows...

START CLEANING...clean up all the trash and squalor...
'
Know that that is done...if the cockroaches come back then they are coming from your neighbors...then I would report it to the landlord. There could be a bigger problem than just with your apartment.

Be clean...pick up after yourself and throw your trash away. Good luck!

Answer 3

First get rid of the trash. If you don't know where to get MaxForce or Advert buttons get some Boric Acid. This can be gotten at a pharmacy usually off the shelve but ask the pharmacist for it. Get yourself some peanut butter and cooking oil. Mix the boric acid and peanut butter in a ratio of one tenth to nine tenth Boric acid to peanut butter and add cooking oil to moisture it. Form smaller lumps and put it where the cockroaches are most common or around water pipes which are sources of of water and entry. It is important that you clean up. Maybe if you did not live in squalor you may have some friends.

Answer 4

Oh, what funny people we are privileged to have answering q's tonight! Baking soda ar. baseboards helps, & a gallon of bleach divided between all drains in the place once a month is a great help, as many of them do come in thru the pipes. When u live in an apt. complex, u are only as free of bugs as your dirtiest neighbor. Since they live in the walls, & can eat just about anything, & keep mutating, there is no all-kill guarantee short of a pro coming out & tenting the place. Just get things as clean as u can, try bkg. soda (bugs can't burp, so when they eat it they explode), roach traps & bleach down drains, bleach to clean, bleach, bleach, bleach! It doesn't actually kill them unless they drown in it, but they do seem to hate the stuff.Believe me, I had to learn, living in Arizona for 9 long yrs! They have the biggest, baddest roaches I have ever seen or heard of. They even have a yrly. contest in Tucson, with a prize for who catches the biggest roach! (There is something seriously wrong with those people.) You may be surprised how much just getting your house clean will do for your outlook. One more thing; u sound as if maybe you could use a little inner house cleaning to help u, also. Don't be afraid to address that side of your life, also. LOL & LOL

Answer 5

Diatomaceous Earth!! I copied this off a pet forum when I was trying to get rid of fleas a while back. I do have pets, but even when you don't, the little flea monsters can live in your lawn and come into the house. It is supposed to work on yukky old COCKROACHES, too! I bought this at a Fred Meyer store, probably you could buy it at a farm supply place or pet store? You might have to call around for it.
Anyway, I got it, put it in my carpet and used on my lawn and NO FLEAS SINCE!!
Here is what I copied:

In Reply to: PLEASE help me posted by Ina on September 27, 2005 at 13:14:43: Insect Dust Diatomaceous earth is a mechanical insect killer. Insects cannot become immune to its action. When insects come into contact with diatomaceous earth, the sharp edges lacerate the bugs' waxy exoskeleton and then the powdery DE absorbs their body fluids causing death from dehydration. DE kills insects by drying them up. Insect Dust stops bugs fast. Diatomaceous earth replaces Diazinon and other harsh chemicals. Intended for application with a hand duster, diatomaceous earth is so safe it may be rubbed right into your dog or cat's fur. Use outdoors in the garden, on the grass, and around the foundation of home. Inside on pantry shelves, under sinks, closets, on rugs, and in corners and crevices. To use for flea and tick control, apply a light dusting over the lawn, in dog runs, around pet bedding or favorite resting spots and sprinkle a little on your pet between baths of a mild herbal soap.

Answer 6

Bomb your house with roach/insect killer it should last for a while .. make sure you keep food cleaned up like pizza boxes and dishes done, if there is no food for them to eat they wont come back .. also if you live near a factory or another neighbor that has them and sprays quite often they will come back... but try the Roach killing bombs you can pick them up at any hardware store and it doesn't cost too much!.. hope that helps =) good luck!

Answer 7

I know that many people will say that over the counter products don't work, but Bengal roach spray works! I live in the Houston area, and although I don't have a roach problem now, anytime I even see one I use that stuff around perimeters, and I will find dead roaches for a couple of weeks. I mostly use it outside when I notice a tree roach. By the way, we have the huge flying roaches here, and if it works on those, it will work on small indoor roaches too.

Answer 8

The one an only thing that i know for sure that will take them away forever is lime! Not the fruit either. I buy a big bag of lime and spread it around my house to keep roaches, flees, spiders, ants and anything else that crawls from my house, I was doing my neighbor a favor by washing his cloths for him since he was working all the time, I got his bugs! I used everything that i could think of,, but then someone told me about the lime, So i went to my closest co-op and got me a big bag of lime and since i didnt have any pets at the time i used it in the house, I got lids an put some lime in them an set them in my kitchen area, cubbords and places where i knew they wouldnt get into my food. I put lids of lime everywhere ,, til this day i havent seen another roach since.! Lime is the only thing that really worked for me. I was tried of spending money,, becareful tho its toxic!
take care and happy roach killing! soon as they walk in it an take it back to their nest the all die!!!!! good luck x0x0x0x

Answer 9

You poor guy! You have got advice of all kinds with this question and it is all good or looks like 90 percent of it is.

When I was married for about a year my husband and I bought a mobile home from some folks who lived in town. We moved it to a country site and I thought we had moving walls when I walked in after the movers unhooked from it. It was so bad I refused to move in until we had down a lot of spraying.

But you know a roach can live two weeks with out its head. Something like that is hard to kill and keep it killed.
but we tried. I always washed my dishes and took out my trash each day. You can't let them have anything, I mean nothing to eat. They find crumbs and stuff anyway so keep the big spills and stuff picked up and wiped away.
I put all food that went into the cabinets into tupperware bowls. sealed up tight. I put the bread and coffe and tea in the refrigerator. ceral in bowls flour in bowls, every thing leave nothing unsealed.
we set off a whole bunch of bug bombs. and i swept up massive amounts of the gross things for a week. We sprayed under neath the trailer with bug spray mixed with somekind of paint stuff. it smelled awful but it helped.

Then I bought boric acid, You can get it at the spices section of your grocery store or they sell roach stuff at the dollar store called roach pruf. that is 100 percent boric acid. put a trail of it around all baseboards cabinets and under the stove.A favored place for the things, you are going to have to keep this stuff out from now on. every once in a while sweep it up wipe it up and put some more down. it works, but be patient it takes a while and with the neighbors having them too, you will always have to fight to keep them down to a low roar.
but you can win the war.

Answer 10

Buy a can of Roach Prufe (big yellow can) and sprinkle it along the walls, under the sink and at the back of the counter tops. It can get a little messy, but it works.

Answer 11

start by developing some self respect and self discipline, which most certainly would lead to self confidence. this can be achieved side by side with getting rid of all the trash in your room, which will be the first step in getting rid of the squalor and the first step in self betterment. oh, and let some light and fresh air into your flat. roaches don't like light, clean and dry places. then get out of your bed, wash yourself and seek out people to befriend. but you have to start soon and with determination.