Roaches

[eurgh]

Please can someone recommend a good way to get rid of cockroaches?  We have seen 4 in our serviced apt in the last 6 weeks.  While it's not exactly an infestation, I can't stand these things and get very "European" about it all.  I realise that living in a foreign country you have to accept all the residents, even those with 6 or 8 legs but this is ridiculous.  We live on the ground floor with terraces which doesn't help.  The management of our apt block has put down bait traps but these seem to have had no effect.  They are considering the next move.  What do you recommend? (apart from moving!)

[evehow]

I heard Combat is good for ridding cockroaches.  Haven't tried it yet as there is no need to, for now at least.

Boric acid is also apparently good but unfortunately it's a controlled poison in Singapore.

Otherwise, I always use a rolled up newspaper or boiling water...

Do check your rubbish chute.  Most cockroaches come into the house this way.  However, some of those big ones do FLY.... (Eeeyuh!)

I used to have at least 1 of those tiny cockroaches fly into my flat every night.  Then they slowly disappeared.  Now large cockroaches come in by the chute, but the Town Council does fog the chute every now and then.  Maybe another fogging is due.... I just smashed a big one last night...

[PhilM]

Catherine usually gives them a quick squirt of extra hold hair spray - the little sods don't run far after that! Seriously this method has ourperformed the bug sprays without the chemicals in the house.

[Angel#1]

I know what you mean - they make my skin crawl!

Extreme as it may seem - we got a cat and now they don't come in at all.  They did used to come in in phases, and timed it to always coincide with a visit by friends from back home.  Nice of them really.

I love the hairspray idea - I had a friend did that to a spider at uni and it stayed a whole term petrified to the top of her hifi.  Personally i love the spiders (and geckos) for keeping out the mozzies.

[Diane]

I have to admit I have used the hairspray idea also.  And here I am thinking I am the only one.  It outperforms any bug spray for certain

[creepy]

I find the cockroaches to be quite bold around here. I wake in the night, go for a snack, see one on the dining room floor, step over it, and it doesn't flinch. I return to bedroom and consider the possibility of squishing the darn varmit...but wonder if it is female and killing her will allow thousands of eggs to remain in my domicile, multiplying voraciously...allowing the bold-gene to continue in generations to come....

[kat]

Thnks for all your help.  We got home late last night to find not only a letter from our management saying they had had pest control spray our apt but also the Guiness-Record-holder of all cockroaches doing its make-up in the bathroom mirror!  Anyway, got the boyf on the case and half a can of Elnett later, we have the only normal-to-strong hold cockroach in the building.  Works like a charm and highly recommended.  Thanks to all!

[Bandit]

Regular (typically monthly) pest control is the answer.  Your landlord of the serviced apartment block should be engaging a pest control service to handle the task for the whole complex.  Anything less is NOT acceptable.  COMPLAIN loudly to them and I think they are obliged to do this anyway and certainly should OR perhaps the quality of the serviced apartment is NOT up to scratch.  You can always move and when you do, ask about their pest control contracts.

[Jasper]

Four in six weeks, that's a record.
Just get some traps that you leave around your apartment/house and you should be rid of them in no time.

[kat]

Traps? Ha!  These roaches are over 2 inches long.  They laugh in the face of traps!  They use them as paperweights!

[Mel]

I don't know if this is true but it came from a local Singaporean colleague. He recommended Pandan leaves (apparently you can buy them at a wet market) apparently cockroaches love them but the leaves are fatal to them. It might be worth a try!

[Ski21]

Have reduced our infestation through the use of boric acid powder; brought some back from the US on our last trip there--approx. 350 g (lifetime supply) bottle for S$6.00 or so. Couldn't find it in Singapore, but I didn't know it was a controlled poison. As it is  harmless to humans in small doses, and actually used in eyewashes most frequently (which is why it's sold over the counter in US) it didn't occur to me.
Still have about one roach come in the house every month or so, but when we moved in, we'd have 10 or 12 eating out of the frying pan in the time it took us to carry the plates into the dining room...must've been thousands living in the false ceiling above the kitchen. Previous renters were less than hygienic, and owner less than honest about "cleaning".

[ciess]

I don't actually have roaches in this place now (guess they're too lazy to climb up to the 9th floor--THANK GOODNESS!!!!) but previously, I have found that pandan leaves do work well.

If you are having problems with them around the garbage shoot, just tie the pandan leaves into one big know then set it along the edge of the shoot. They also work well in cabinets/cup***. I've not noticed them eating the leaves as I don't really want to have to clean up the dern things when they die either, but it seemed to work o.k. (I really cannot STAND to step on them, though. It's the sound that makes my skin go manic.)

Pandan leaves can be bought at pretty much any local outdoor market or most, if not all, grocery stores. they are usually somehwere around the leafy vegetables.

[kat]

Thanks everyone for all your great advice.  Now have re-stocked with hairspray and pandan leaves (they smell nice too) and haven't seen a roach for a week or so ... they're probably busy breeding or sth  

[llani30]

Help! I just moved into a new place on the ground floor and have found 5 roaches in the past 3 days.

Can someone tell me how to make use of the pandan leaves again? I found a small hole in my kitchen by the cabinet under the sink. Apparently that hole leads to the outside wall of the apartment (which is probably where those roaches came in from).

Would it be advisable to fill that hole with pandan leaves? Or should I just cover it up (checked with the landlord already and he said it's okay for me to cover it up). Yet the question is, with what should I cover up the hole?

Appreciate any help/advice anyone can give me.