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William Helgison I hate to say this, but NYC is home to BOTH the American and German roach.
The German ones are smaller and, I believe, particulary prevalent in NYC apartments. Beacuse of their smaller size, they can spread around more easily within buildings.
The Americans roaches are the 2-inch long things you've seen on the sidewalks and by the street drains.
Regarding getting rid of roaches, I was told that you should NEVER stomp on a roach to kill it. Apparently, if it is pregnant, the eggs can get transferred to your shoe and, in theory, be transported around with you.
Funny I heard that the only good way of killing a roach was to stomp on it since by using pesticides they can get immune to it...who knows I hate them and they should be extinct. Back home (PERU ) we have roaches that fly and are 10 cm long like the palmettos in florida, no word to describe them just
That is not really true: Roach eggs are like chicken eggs: they also break when you stomp them.
Are there a lot of woods cockroaches around now, or am I unlucky?
I have had one in the landing (outside my apartment), one on my balcony, one trying to get in my kitchen window, one in my living room (when I had the balcony door open...might have been the same one as it was the next evening) and one in my bathroom, all in the last fortnight. It's too hot to close the windows.
I assume they are woods because they don't seem to want to scuttle to the dark, just scuttle, and two of them were flying on and off.
Shudder.
Maybe read post number 8 ?
Yes, I have read the tread, but I didn't see any last August or September when I moved here, so was wondering if 5 in two weeks is an unusually high number or if there was a lot or something.
Going to by nets /screen tonight and maybe powder?
I had exactly the same thing. The ants would "attack" every day exactly at 5 PM (!), starting late May,early June, three years straight the same. They would come out of small cracks in the bathroom and the living room (we live in an old house). I think they lived on a pear tree which grows just by the house.
The ant repellents sold in Migros took care of them. Just put them around the house where ants come and go. It's a relatively slow process, but after a couple of days the ants retreat for good. Suprisingly, this year was ant free.
And another one tonight. Turned on the light and it was just sitting on my bathroom wall. WTF. Seriously, is it normal to have this many?
I am less sure of how this works here than some other (warmer, sub-tropic and tropical) places I've lived, but generally the wood roaches who would usually be outside will come in to get dry for a bit when the weather is as wet as it has been lately. Conversely, they also come looking for water if it gets too dry out.
While both wood roaches (outdoor) and "German" roaches (indoor pests who eat food, glue and paper) are common here, if you're only seeing them in the summer, it's more likely that they are the outdoor type.
Here is a wiki about the outdoor roaches, it contains a photo which may help you be sure of what you're encountering.
Yep, certainly look like that. And don't have the stripes of the German. But still freaked out by the shear numbers. I can only really find US sites on wood cockoaches, and they are not that specific anyway.
I live next to some trees and between two wooded hills, so all in all I'm sure they are woods but I was hoping that someone else would know if there were high numbers this summer.
Or if they are higher numbers in early summer than high summer. I moved here last mid-August nd never saw any then.
One of the sites I read said that May - October are mating season for them in that particular area. It happened to be something about Pennsylvania, so again was a US thing (one of the bad things about commonly doing things having to do with US online is that search results reflect this). The climate in that area is maybe not so different from Switzerland, so it would likely be fairly transferable information.
If you would like more localized info though, try searching for " Waldschabe " (forest roach) and you should come up with Swiss / German / Austrian sites. You maybe need to then put it through Bing or Google Translate if your German isn't up to it yet (mine isn't, not quite).
(Actually, here is one from Switzerland " Hausinfo - Waldschabe ")
Hi EF,
I have some kind of repugnant beast crawling around here... the 3rd in a week. Every time I see one, I grab it, squash it and flush it. EW!!!
Mine are about 2 cm long...
They don't fly (thank God), and they are tan/brown
Can I find this at the pharmacy? Is it/does it contain boric acid?
Mine are kind of slow... and I never give up before having smashed them.
I guess I'll get started with getting rid of garbage, storing food in tight containers and giving the place a good scrub with hydrogen peroxide...
ewwwww
I've been leaving my windows closed at night and was about to report a free week, but then I saw 3 yesterday! One in my microwave (couldn't get that one) one walked in my front door when I opened it (sprayed squashed and flushed) and another on my kids shoe on the stair landing (very squashed). Also a dead one in my door frame. So, I guess they are coming from the communal staircase, where there are windows etc. It would also explain why most of them are in my bathroom, as it's right next to my front door.
All quite happy in the light, all brown 2cm long and scuttley, but none with the stripes on the head. So woods. Yuck. I've sprayed the electrical closet and around the landing in the hope that it will deter them.
My daughter asked why I was killing them, I had to explain gently to her, as she got really upset when we went to the dinosaur museum and I told her that all the dinosaurs were dead.
Roaches? They are roaches? I knew they were coming into our flat from the nearby forest, but I thought they were nice beetles. Oh well, big thanks to Peg A for the useful link. We haven’t seen a lot of them this year, though.
I use electric plugs, which I get from Coop, to keep off the insects. orm aatl
From what I can gather, they are both roaches AND nice beetles. I mean that they are nice roaches.
I still kill them, because I hate roaches (mind you, only ever seen one roach before in Greece).
Apparently they can't survive in houses and live on forest stuff. Which is why I was concerned when one was on my kid's shoe, probably found a forest like feast.
I have never killed them. It is easy to catch them and throw outside.
On a funnier note:
http://youtu.be/yp5Uqqxcqa8
"We know where you liveeee... we LIVE where you live"
"Stop following me to work, already!"
Hilarious!
I've discovered these in the US now. If I went into the kitchen and turned the light on at night I'd usually see a small one scurrying away.
I purchased some Roach traps, covers for the sink hole, taped up any holes behind fridges, un-used wall sockets etc. Since then, I haven't seen any. Must have plugged their entrance.
Help! These creepy creatures are in my apartment! I hate the idea of insecticides. Any other solutions?