Last week, I had my first encounter with a medium sized cockroach. It scurried accross my bedroom/living floor (I live in a 1k). I sprayed it with the Jet spray, smacked it with my slipper and disposed of both.
I then proceeded to buy black caps- I put two packs around my home, and sprayed the ゴキブリがいなくなる around doors/windows. I also bought a dehumidifier because my kitchen gets really humid, like a moisture box.
I’ve been monitoring the situation and to my horror would frequently find roach poop in my kitchen and sometimes bed/living room.
Finally, today I woke up to use the washroom at 1:30am just now and found tiny baby cockroaches where I keep finding the poop in the kitchen.
My question is wtf do I do now. This basically means I have an infestation right? Should I try the ホイホイ, insect bomb products or tell my landlord? I don’t wanna be that gaijin who brought in cockroaches… or should I call pest control services?? FYI this is my first time dealing with cockroaches as I used to live in north Japan. I have been cleaning diligently everyday and losing sleep over this.
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~~Before calling an exterminator, etc., I would suggest that you try placing something like Black Cap first.If cockroaches are breeding in a room, I think the only commercially available products that actually work are poison bait type traps, not sticky sheets or sprays.~~
Usually, over time, the adults and hatchlings will die from the poison.If you are clean and careful, then I think the rest of the problem is outside rather than inside the room, since it is more likely that they are entering the room from the filthy environment outside.
Out of curiosity, what floor ?
1. Put repellants near the entry ways and/or gaps.
2. Use Black Cap and Gokiburi Hoihoi but be careful not to use it past expiration, it will turn into a nest instead.
3. Take out your trash daily
4. Dry up moist areas. Thus, you need to keep your exhaust fan running 24/7 especially in the bathroom area
5. Use airconditioner as it keeps the air dryer.
That’s pretty much it for me. I haven’t seen any roaches in 3 years within my house.
Send your landlord photos and then move. You will never solve the problem because they’re coming from outside your apartment. Chemical attacks will harm you more than the cockroaches.
You may want to try sprinkling diatomaceous earth on molding and where the walls meet the floor. Otherwise it looks like everyone else has some very good advice
I hear boric acid is also very effective so you could try sprinkling some in obvious entryways
The only solution is to burn the building down.
Cleanse it by fire.
My experience is that no matter how clean you keep your place, if they are around they will get in. And the small German cockroaches are the worst for living inside/around electronics.
The only solution is yearly sprays with an exterminator.
Finally someone needs me!!!
My friend I am an ex property manager of almost a decade. Ive fought them all, German roaches, ants, and the worst of all, bed bugs.
Firstly you CAN win this battle. In fact, it is unfair just how well we can work against these turds.
First a visit to the hardware store is in order. You need caulking or sealant. I usually do this in white because I can see gaps. You MAY need expanding spray foam. If your hardware store has diatomaceous earth that is great but sadly many don’t so you may have to order it online. If you have poison bait that’s great save it. You will also need bleach and 90% rubbing alcohol.
Step 1:
Caulk/seal cracks between the wall and the carpet. Yep. Seal it all. The floor should have a full line on both sides. If you have carpet I’ll give you another method. Anything with hard floor and wall should have no seam, it is now sealed.
Step 2: now you must se your kitchen and cabinets. Put sealant on every corner of each cabinet and anywhere you find a hole. No problem if you think the roach is living between cabinet shelves, they will die sealed in. Cool right?
Step 3: check under the sink or all plumbing for large open gaps for piping. This is where you need to use the expanding spray foam. Seal accordingly. Don’t forget your bathroom. Don’t forget your tub and shower head.
Step 4: You may be ready for diatomaceous earth. This is the BEES knees. Take this magical miracle of dust and spread in corners of all carpeting. Spread on light sockets and outlets. This will literally kill them as they drag their bodies over it it cuts them and they bleed out but for us it’s completely safe they even make food grade DE.
You aren’t quite done there
Step 5: bleach your fucking sinks. This also kills flies. Pour straight up bleach down all your drains. Bye eggs.
Step 7: rubbing alcohol kills eggs and bugs on contact. This can be sprayed in any existing areas where you find droppings or around it to kill any unseen eggs. This can also be used on fruit flies place out the bait in any drawers etc to catch stragglers.
This should actually take care of the issue entirely. I have had full blown infestations remediated with this.
If you have bed bugs it’s the steps above plus bed bugs proof mattress and pillow covers and a full bedding wash in hot water.
It’s less challenging than people think.
The first think I do in any new apartment myself is seal everything. From there it’s upkeep. Oh also if they come from outside you can pour a line of salt at the front door or windows to stop bug entry.
Hope this helps!
Boric acid. Spread it around baseboards and cracks. Sweep it in good. Sweep up excess.
> I don’t wanna be that gaijin who brought in cockroaches
Alas, it is Japanese societal pressure that proves more fearsome than cockroaches
Diatomaceous earth powder is dangerous to humans and animals if inhaled!! You need a super mask to apply it. Cheaper diatomaceous earth is usually for building purposes and does not have the sharp edges to kill bugs/injure your lungs.
The thing with black caps and other traps is you need to avoid putting them near doors windows and other entryways. They have bait, you don’t want to attract more bugs into the house. The best place to put them is in dark damp areas that aren’t disturbed often. Under the sink in the kitechen and bathroom is one of the best spots. I highly recommend the new room spray type products like muender aka ゴキブリ ムエンダー. There are other brands as well that I’m sure work just as well. You just spray a few pumps into the air and close off the room. If you use the correct dose, it will kill pretty much all the critters in that room. It’s supposed to last for about 2 weeks but if you can prevent more from entering you shouldn’t need to re spray that often. To prevent them from coming in, you need to secure the perimeter of your house. There are outdoor insect repellents in powder and liquid form that you can use around the outside to prevent entry. Good to try putting in the under floor space as well. Most importantly, you want to keep your house clean. Not just clean of food scraps etc. roaches love cardboard. If there’s a lot of crevices and hiding spots through your home because you have a lot of stuff out and on the floors(think neat vs messy, not just dirty vs clean) then you are giving them lots of places to live and hide. Good luck!
It’s somewhat complicated. The responsibility could either fall on you or on the landlord. So you should contact a landlord and call a pest exterminator to deal with the issue and also asses responsibility.
It can be determined that the infestation is due to your lifestyle, basically not cleaning up the place or taking basic preventive measures, in which case you would have to burden the cost.
It can be determined that the infestation is due to poor building maintenance, such as unrepaired cracks in walls, floors, pipes etc, in which case the landlord has to burden the cost.
Or it can be determine that the infestation is due to unpreventable causes, such as a nearby garbage dump, restaurant, coin laundry etc, in which case it’s a gray area in terms of cost.
The second case is the only case where you can cancel your rental contract without paying any contract specified cancellation fees if the landlord doesn’t do anything to remedy the situation, although you might have to fight for it.
I fought with roaches for 3 years… tried bugsprays, traps, youtube tips and none worked.
The only way i was able to get rid of them is by leaving the windows open during the dead of winter for a couple of weeks.
one of my friends was able to get rid of them after calling an exterminator, they charged around 25K for 2LDK.
Superb advice! Just to add in case of the occasional 4 or 5 over a summer situation I spot, back off quietly, grab long-hose vacuum cleaner and goki spray, approach and in one motion power on and suck that sucker up followed by a couple blasts of spray down the hose. No squishing or splatter and no escapees across 20yrs of doing this. Also lets you get them up on ceilings, corners etc.
Buy boric acid and sprinkle it on the floor around the problem areas, it will solve your problem in a few days. When the cockroaches die, they will eat each other or spread the boric acid through contact and everything will chain reaction die. It takes a few days to work but it’s very effective, slightly bad for animals, and actually can help with human health infections in low quantities ingested (as look as it’s food grade quality). Just don’t put a lot out if you have pets and you will be fine.
I had the exact situation!
You can’t seal these things out. The problem is they have a nest inside your place where you can never reach or find.
1. You need to ELIMINATE all food from exposure. Put everything that has any contact with food in a sealed bag or in the fridge. For example, don’t throw your food wrappers or soda cans in the trash. Put them in a bag in the fridge until you can take out the trash. NEVER leave dishes in the sink, wash immediately. Etc.
2. Put a bunch of roach motel/baits around the place the roaches are/kitchen. These have boric acid. Roaches walk over the boric acid and it gets on their feet. They bring it back to the nest. It will dry them out and destroy the nest.
3. Alternative to #2 is ask the landlord to get an exterminator.
I hear they also manage to get in through the AC. Any recommendations for combatting this?
I live in the mountains. Like deep in the mountains. We get cockroaches all over the house. Our house is a traditional 140-year-old wood structure. The centipedes are our big problem. These sucks crawl across your face around September. We have 20+ ¥100 scissors hanging on hooks all over the house on literally every wall.
The way my leopalace bathroom was built, thereis a big hole right by the toilet. They tried to cover it up but gave up halfway. Its like a shelf made out of two pieces of wood with the side wide open. Saw one of big black roaches when I turned the light on. Tried to snag it tothrow outside. It scurried away and I haveno idea where it went. It went under the door into the small hallway, never to be seen again. You’ve given me somethings to try.
This is only the second one I’ve seen in 4 yrs. What are these “black caps” I see mentioned?
Not sure if anyone will see this, but will just ask a cockroach prevention question in here… Do cockroaches actually take away any of the tablet with them or do the tablets largely remain the same in appearance? I ask because I had used about 20 of those things at my old place and when I went to collect and clean them up, the grey capsules were 100% intact. I didn’t see roaches too often, but one did come around every now and then.
If I may had, I once’s lived in apartments in Madrid and Paris infested with cockroaches. A nightmare. I had to pull the kitchen apart to sanitize it with a vacuum cleaner, bleach and then tons of anti-pest products. I did the same in every corners of the apartment. It did make a difference.