how to kill roaches without killing everything else?

[juggalo69]

I just moved into a rental house. The people who lived there before us had a roach infestation. The house has been fumagated since but I still have seen a few live ones. How can I keep them out of my house without putting my collection at risk? I have put some combat roach traps out and I plan on letting some wolf spiders slings loose in the house once they hatch. Any thing else I can do to keep their numbers down. I know I will probably never be totally rid of them but I don't want an infestation either.

 

[ScorpDemon]

another suggestion would be to let a tokay gecko go in the house

 

[Elizabeth]

If this is a really bad infestation, try this advice from Uncle Cecil to get your roaches under control. Then, after you clean up the borax, go with your predator plans and a good dose of cleanliness to boot, to keep it under control.

I love this guy. Have fun!

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_019.html


Added by edit: Um, just reread your post and you probably don't have a bad infestation, but the link is fun anyway.

 

[padkison]

Too bad your location's not "Here", you could borrow my cat for a couple weeks. He'd take care of the roaches for you and there would be nothing to cleanup.

 

[John J Starr Jr]

Cats

Too bad your location's not "Here", you could borrow my cat for a couple weeks. He'd take care of the roaches for you and there would be nothing to cleanup.

What is it about these cats and roaches

I gave a coworker 20 or 30 medium to large Eublaberus distanti nymphs and his cat tore into the aquarium through the aquarium top just top get at them it and ate a several of them :wall:

John J Starr Jr
.

 

[cacoseraph]

two things
1) if ur house has been fumigated enough to reduce the number of roaches i have doubts about ur collection living there unscathed

2) use mechanical/sticky traps... not poison

a smaller point to think about with using poisons. most are not fast acting... the most bang for the buck is to have roaches carry the poison with them to spread it to other roaches... the problem with this for us, is that german roach nymphs are so small they can run (or at least squeeze) in and out of most vent holes for our bugs... so potentially ur pets would eat poisoned roaches. and i can almost guarantee that a tiny roach could carry enough toxins to hurt or kill a much MUCH larger exotic predator

 

[juggalo69]

another suggestion would be to let a tokay gecko go in the house

Why a tokay gecko?
I would feel bad if in the long run there wouldn't be enough roaches to keep it alive. I have only seen 4 live roaches since I moved in but that is four too many IMO (unless they are caged like my discoids).

 

[Mr. Skakun]

Tokay gecko are good, because of size of their head (ideal for eat some cockroach ) and their speed Am I right?

 

[Drachenjager]

house geko

I have a couple house gekos running loose in here they were about 1 inch long when i caught them and they are about 4 inches now and fat all they have to eat is roaches and the occasional escaped cricket. now as to how to exterminate the roaches id try borax, or boric acid and diatomacious earth. these will prob hurt your pet bugs too tho but shouldnt be carried around by the roaches like insecticides would MAYBE hard to get rid if a bad infestation man i been trying for years even terminix runs from mine lol prob will have to use diesel and a match to do it

 

[willywonka]

Check this site out:

http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3630244

 

[John Apple]

Throw some diatomaceous earth around as long as it does not touch your other inverts you are OK, also instead of a tokay [when they get big they want bigger than a german roach] toss in a few house geckos . they just like roaches are night creatures and they stay around 4 inches or so .

 

[juggalo69]

I have only seen five live roaches. Do ya'll think that there would be enough prey for a small gecko to survive? I have heard the saying that for every roach you see there are twenty more you don't, but I don't know if that is true or not. The house was fumagated before we moved in so that decreased the population I'm sure. Also I would be worried about the roaches having small amounts of toxins that would be leathal to a gecko. Is that something I need to worry about?

 

[Scolopendra55]

Even if you have only seen 5 roaches BELIEVE ME theres more. I would say let a house gecko or two go and they'll take care of the roach problem (might as well take care of the problem before it gets out of hand).

 

[Stylopidae]

I have only seen five live roaches. Do ya'll think that there would be enough prey for a small gecko to survive? I have heard the saying that for every roach you see there are twenty more you don't, but I don't know if that is true or not. The house was fumagated before we moved in so that decreased the population I'm sure. Also I would be worried about the roaches having small amounts of toxins that would be leathal to a gecko. Is that something I need to worry about?

Why not leave a small container full of B. dubia nymphs out a few times a week? That way, the geckoes will still be fed enough to keep them alive, but will also still tackle your roach problem.