NocturnalSkies
Arachnosquire
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2021
- Messages
- 53
I live in New York, famous for its roach population. I live in a house converted into apartments, and unfortunately pests like German roaches, meal moths etc show up. Especially the roaches. In the summer they start breeding like crazy.
I keep roaches, beetles, millipedes isopods etc and unfortunately the Germans invade the bins. It hasn’t been too bad until the last year or so, where it’s progressively getting worse. They like to hang out in the hinges of the gasket bins, and lately they’ve been making incursions into living in cork bark. I’m getting tired of constantly extirpating them, and I’m concerned they’re gonna contaminate my colonies of smaller roaches etc. Thankfully I live in a place with only 2 other neighbors who don’t use pesticides, but I know they have problems with roaches too.
Before anyone says to clean up, that’s the thing. We don’t really leave trash or dishes laying around, food accessible etc the Germans invade my enclosures to find food and unfortunately end up getting sustenance from the very same food and water that feed my pets. They also eat paint, glue, wood etc at one point I had to throw away all my furniture to try and get rid of them and there was paint dust all over, the Germans were eating paint off the wall to survive.
The other issue is the place seems to hold high humidity. I’ve had hissers and lobster roaches escape for example and stay alive. There was a problem when I wasn’t properly securing my roach bins and hisser nymphs were escaping, they were molting and living fine outside and cavorting around with the Germans at night. My roommates got mad at me and I solved the problem with the hissers but now it’s lobster roaches. They chew through mesh and fly over the jelly barrier(mind you I keep multiple periplaneta species, penguin ectobids, and S. Longipalpa, they’ve never caused these problems) and I’m considering selling the colony. So naturally the Germans seem to live in the walls and floorboards and survive off wood and paint etc. at one point we managed to actually really thin their numbers to a negligible point, until we got a roommate who ended up having a mental breakdown, becoming a trash hoarder and bringing the German roaches back, along with a P. Americana and mouse infestation in her room before we raided her room and managed to get it all cleaned up. The Americana and mice are gone but the damn Germans are still here.
I’ve considered painstakingly cleaning all my bins and enclosures(a Herculean task. I have hundreds and some very large roach and isopod bins, besides the large reptile tanks) driving everyone to a cheap motel for a while that won’t ask any questions, bombing the place and waiting a week or so before cleaning and coming back but I’m very worried about residual pesticides.
I’ve actually completely extirpated German roaches from peoples living spaces before by using insect growth regulator chemical that stops them from reaching maturity properly. This is the only way I’ve ever managed to actually destroy them in New York. Unfortunately though I can’t do that around my pets. I might be grasping at straws here, but I wonder if anyone has dealt with similar issues and how they’ve managed to make it better. I don’t expect to be 100% rid of them unless I move out of roachville, but making it better even would be helpful. The roaches living in the gasket hinges are causing huge problems and they seem to stress out some of my colonies too.
I keep roaches, beetles, millipedes isopods etc and unfortunately the Germans invade the bins. It hasn’t been too bad until the last year or so, where it’s progressively getting worse. They like to hang out in the hinges of the gasket bins, and lately they’ve been making incursions into living in cork bark. I’m getting tired of constantly extirpating them, and I’m concerned they’re gonna contaminate my colonies of smaller roaches etc. Thankfully I live in a place with only 2 other neighbors who don’t use pesticides, but I know they have problems with roaches too.
Before anyone says to clean up, that’s the thing. We don’t really leave trash or dishes laying around, food accessible etc the Germans invade my enclosures to find food and unfortunately end up getting sustenance from the very same food and water that feed my pets. They also eat paint, glue, wood etc at one point I had to throw away all my furniture to try and get rid of them and there was paint dust all over, the Germans were eating paint off the wall to survive.
The other issue is the place seems to hold high humidity. I’ve had hissers and lobster roaches escape for example and stay alive. There was a problem when I wasn’t properly securing my roach bins and hisser nymphs were escaping, they were molting and living fine outside and cavorting around with the Germans at night. My roommates got mad at me and I solved the problem with the hissers but now it’s lobster roaches. They chew through mesh and fly over the jelly barrier(mind you I keep multiple periplaneta species, penguin ectobids, and S. Longipalpa, they’ve never caused these problems) and I’m considering selling the colony. So naturally the Germans seem to live in the walls and floorboards and survive off wood and paint etc. at one point we managed to actually really thin their numbers to a negligible point, until we got a roommate who ended up having a mental breakdown, becoming a trash hoarder and bringing the German roaches back, along with a P. Americana and mouse infestation in her room before we raided her room and managed to get it all cleaned up. The Americana and mice are gone but the damn Germans are still here.
I’ve considered painstakingly cleaning all my bins and enclosures(a Herculean task. I have hundreds and some very large roach and isopod bins, besides the large reptile tanks) driving everyone to a cheap motel for a while that won’t ask any questions, bombing the place and waiting a week or so before cleaning and coming back but I’m very worried about residual pesticides.
I’ve actually completely extirpated German roaches from peoples living spaces before by using insect growth regulator chemical that stops them from reaching maturity properly. This is the only way I’ve ever managed to actually destroy them in New York. Unfortunately though I can’t do that around my pets. I might be grasping at straws here, but I wonder if anyone has dealt with similar issues and how they’ve managed to make it better. I don’t expect to be 100% rid of them unless I move out of roachville, but making it better even would be helpful. The roaches living in the gasket hinges are causing huge problems and they seem to stress out some of my colonies too.
