Spraying for Black Widows/Roaches?

[bryverine]

So I'm moving into a house where the previous tenants were disgusting... I'm talking cat urine on the walls and in corners, piles of rotting wood outside, at least two black widow juveniles per room, a few daddy long legs, and plenty of cockroaches.
I'll admit that my walkthrough was at night so I didn't see all the yummies before we signed the lease. Anyway, we've cleaned most of the stuff but the roaches keep coming back.

Is there a preferred way to get rid of the pests without spraying chemicals that will endanger my little ones (8 legged children)? I'm specifically worried about the widows and roaches with my human children around.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Useful info:
My tarantulas will be in a hall closet in the next couple days.

 

[Biollantefan54]

Do you have any pics of these widows? And spraying won't do much for roaches and definitely not spiders, if you do spray though, don't have you spiders in the house at all.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

So I'm moving into a house where the previous tenants were disgusting... I'm talking cat urine on the walls and in corners, piles of rotting wood outside, at least two black widow juveniles per room, a few daddy long legs, and plenty of cockroaches.

Who were the previous owners? Leatherface and his family?

 

[Flexzone]

Jesus Christ lol I feel for yeah man. Unfortunately for the black widows the only solution is that your gonna have to bless that house but in all seriousness the only thing for the pest spiders that I've read online are either going the dusting or spraying route which unfortunately both methods could travel anywhere around your house so if you so choose to go that route keeping them at a friends/relatives house for the chemicals to dissipate may have to be an option or I would just go with the good ole elbow grease way and kill them with a fly swatter or vacuum them up as you see them, For the roaches you can use poison bait(gelform) around/under hidden corners where they concentrate that has a delayed lethal reaction to where the roaches eat it, congregate with the main colony(ies), release the poison in their feces then die and the other roaches eat the feces and die and the cycle repeats.

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Well, kill a spider is easy, roaches on the other hand are another story, those are seriously bulletproof armored buggers... they could survive a nuclear war.

Example: you can smash/stomp those Latrodectus (heresy to say here, ah ah) quite easily, but roaches require another solution. Those breed like obsessed, are millions, jumps out from every hole, sink etc

Don't know, man. What Tarantula1995 said could work, but IMO how much time will took?

 

[Flexzone]

Well, kill a spider is easy, roaches on the other hand are another story, those are seriously bulletproof armored buggers... they could survive a nuclear war.

Example: you can smash/stomp those Latrodectus (heresy to say here, ah ah) quite easily, but roaches require another solution. Those breed like obsessed, are millions, jumps out from every hole, sink etc

Don't know, man. What Tarantula1995 said could work, but IMO how much time will took?

I have a absolute loathing for pest sp. roaches, I used to live in an apartment as a kid and it was teeming with them, literally in the kitchen at night I would turn on the lights and it felt like I was Moses departing the red sea. We used bait for a while and it did take a very long time but we eventually controlled their numbers to were we only saw a few here and their. But getting rid of them completely though once they establish a strong foothold is extremely difficult and requires god almighty level patience. That's why prevention is always key.

 

[bryverine]

Do you have any pics of these widows? And spraying won't do much for roaches and definitely not spiders, if you do spray though, don't have you spiders in the house at all.

Well I squished em already. I feel really bad too...
The closest I could find online that resembled them was a Latrodectus hesperus. They might have been brown widows. I don't know, their hour glass was white. They were mostly in cabinets and under closet shelves. If I see another, I'll take a picture.

This is one I've left in the bathroom for now.

No idea what it is though it looks pretty nifty, like stained glass.

We have the gel and have put it around the house. I'm trying to convince my wife not to spray inside...

 

[14pokies]

Only one way to deal with roaches and legaly binding contracts...
Set the lease next to the toaster Open the window in the kitchen set the toaster on high and drop a fork into it.. Turn off the lights walk away and let the fire do the rest...

 

[Poec54]

I had brown widows in front of my house and garage when I moved in. Their webs aren't hard to spot. I just caught them in a deli cup every time I saw one, especially egg sacs and newly hatched slings. Never needed to spray. There are people and invert dealers that will pay you for them.

Use traps for roaches, like the 'roach motel.'

 

[Red Eunice]

Easy, while living in VA., the apartments had a roach problem, caused by the landlady's filthy son occupying a ground level apartment. Not wanting to use pesticides of any type, went to an LPS, purchased a Tokay gecko. Brought it home a gave it free range, nocturnal and made its home under the refrigerator. It took a very short time, 3-4weeks, and it was very rare to see any pests. Cheap pest controller. IMO/IME

 

[Trenor]

Easy, while living in VA., the apartments had a roach problem, caused by the landlady's filthy son occupying a ground level apartment. Not wanting to use pesticides of any type, went to an LPS, purchased a Tokay gecko. Brought it home a gave it free range, nocturnal and made its home under the refrigerator. It took a very short time, 3-4weeks, and it was very rare to see any pests. Cheap pest controller. IMO/IME

That just leaves you with an extra pet once the roaches are gone unless you wanted one anyway. Also, that's a good way to end up with a poisoned gecko as the other neighbors put out bait poison to fix their roach problems. You could always hose down the landlord's filthy son every time he tried to leave his apartment till he cleaned his act up.

That's a good life lesson though. My first apartment I rented sight unseen from out of state. I was going to trade school in TN and needed to have a place ready when school started. I ended up with a decent, clean apartment in the middle of the worst drug/prostitution neighborhood in Nashville, TN. That was a long 6 months. After that I always took time with finding new apartments. Which only makes sense, you're going to be living there a for a while.

 

[Sana]

@Poec54 has a really good point about the spiders. The widows wouldn't be a huge issue to me but the roaches... Gives me the willies just thinking about.

 

[Red Eunice]

That just leaves you with an extra pet once the roaches are gone unless you wanted one anyway. Also, that's a good way to end up with a poisoned gecko as the other neighbors put out bait poison to fix their roach problems. You could always hose down the landlord's filthy son every time he tried to leave his apartment till he cleaned his act up.

That's a good life lesson though. My first apartment I rented sight unseen from out of state. I was going to trade school in TN and needed to have a place ready when school started. I ended up with a decent, clean apartment in the middle of the worst drug/prostitution neighborhood in Nashville, TN. That was a long 6 months. After that I always took time with finding new apartments. Which only makes sense, you're going to be living there a for a while.

It wasn't considered a pet, just pest control. There where 4 apartments, only 2 were used, he in lower front, we in upper back. Gecko was fine for nearly 2 years, gave it to a shipmate when my duty station changed to CA.
Had no pest problems until he moved in. We put up with it, it was a great location, 5 minute walk to the beach. Plus the fact, no lease, fully furnished and $75 a month rent.

 

[Oreo]

Send the widows my way

 

[AphonopelmaTX]

My suggestion, move your tarantulas out of the house and call in a professional cleaning crew and pest management company. If the place isn't clean then the bugs and their predators will most likely come back eventually. Depending on your agreement with the landlord, look into sticking them with the bill. That's just outrageous someone would rent a property to someone and their kids that wasn't clean and pest free. There is a bias here to save the widow spiders and all other spiders living in the house, but the comfort and peace of mind of having a clean and pest free home for you and your kids should come first. If the spiders (the "wild" ones that is) have to go along with the roaches, I say so be it.

 

[darkness975]

I know this isn't 100% related but it made me think about how I hope the native Widows are not fully displaced by the invading ones. It's a shame the native species have to be killed in this case (unless you hand catch them and release).

 

[Chris LXXIX]

Well, if you can't win the roach battle, don't despair and think about Italy my friend as a sort of solace. We are a G8 Nation (i mean... G8, seriously lol) with plenty of roaches and rats in the hospitals, muahahahahahah.

You can say: yeah ok, i'm one of the few remained with the original Beetles at home, check that shady, dark "White Album" here u_u

 

[The Snark]

I have one way, but you might have to be a little demented and psychotic to go that route.
Background. A friend bought a piece of property with a very nice Airstream antique trailer on it. The trailer sat disused with the door open in the middle of a cattle pen with geese, ducks and chickens calling it home for a few years. The floor was trashed but the cabinets and furnishings were all there. Now how to get rid of the several hundred widows and other vermin.

Remove everything of value you don't want dissolved. Close all windows and doors. Take an electric cook top that has an over temp cut off and place on the floor. Place a 2 gallon or larger cooking pot on the cooker. Fill almost full of water. Place a 4 inch swimming pool chlorine tablet in the pot. Turn cooker on it's lowest setting: simmer, not boiling. Leave and wait 24 to 48 hours.
Nothing quite like a prolonged exposure to chlorine gas to kill and sterilize everything in the place.
(The chlorine will destroy the pot and probably cooker.)

 

[BorisTheSpider]

Cockroaches hate tea tree oil , mint and bay leaves . I have never tried them but my hippy neighbor swears by them . I'm sure that more then a few recipes exist on the internet .

 

[darkness975]

I have one way, but you might have to be a little demented and psychotic to go that route.
Background. A friend bought a piece of property with a very nice Airstream antique trailer on it. The trailer sat disused with the door open in the middle of a cattle pen with geese, ducks and chickens calling it home for a few years. The floor was trashed but the cabinets and furnishings were all there. Now how to get rid of the several hundred widows and other vermin.

Remove everything of value you don't want dissolved. Close all windows and doors. Take an electric cook top that has an over temp cut off and place on the floor. Place a 2 gallon or larger cooking pot on the cooker. Fill almost full of water. Place a 4 inch swimming pool chlorine tablet in the pot. Turn cooker on it's lowest setting: simmer, not boiling. Leave and wait 24 to 48 hours.
Nothing quite like a prolonged exposure to chlorine gas to kill and sterilize everything in the place.
(The chlorine will destroy the pot and probably cooker.)

It is really that Powerful to affect items in the air? This seems like an extreme but very effective course of action. Do you have any experience with pure nicotine bombs? Would this message be more or less effective than getting one of those off?