Manage multi family. Paid for monthy roach treatments. Tenants tell me no change. Bug guy telling me they are using the best stuff they have. $1000+ later. Kinda fed up. Feel like buying some products and providing it to the tenants since it may be more affective than the current pest company… or just trying a new company. Any thoughts?
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I would change companies. Giving the tenants chemicals and the responsibilities isn't a good idea to me.
I worked on a house that had a heavy infestation and I can tell you that it was 90% the owners bad habits.
I was listening to a radio show on the problems with animals and humans and the guest speaker said a lot of the problems are from humans feeding the animals.
Either the animals are getting food from you, shelter, or both. You can go a long way towards solving the problem by removing the food and shelter.
But how do change people's habits? Killing the bugs with the right chemicals might be easier.
Will Rogers
makes sense. very messy bunch. i dont blame the pest control company. just thought they would be able to get it under control. i know the tenants tell me they dont even spray. 1-2 then leave. will try another company and see...
Edited 8/26/2009 10:52 pm ET by bc
Also, the timing of the spray matters. Some of the sprays only kill adults, leaving the eggs to hatch. The next generation has time to reach adulthood, and lay new eggs before the next time the exterminator shows up to spray again.
I read once that a roach can live on one cheerio for a month, but that they need a source of water every day. Do you have any issues with leaking plumbing under sinks, etc. They like it dark and wet.
"Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words." - St. Francis of Assisi
No, I didn't vote for him; but he IS my president. I pray for the his safety, and the safety of his family every day. And I pray that he makes wise decisions.
To the rescue .
Fire the guy and tell him to have a good day.
Permithin, use by directions and a gallon sprayer . Do it twice two weeks a part .
New sherriff in town with a knock down club.
Ive never been beaten in a roach fight .
Ants can whup my butt but never a ROACH.
I love the challenge .
Ok I gotta know what you doing for the ants. I'm loosing my mind right now.
I have been using the bait mixture of honey, sugar and boric acid. It worked for a few months. It still is, but 75% of the ants bypass and are on the hunt for anything. Right now, it seems to be sugar/syrup or crackers. The numers keep rising.
You are right about cleanliness, but 2 teenagers are not helping the matter. Their idea of clean is using a dirty, wet dish rag and smearing the mess around instead of cleaning the mess up. Wife won't let me use the bait on them....
I think it was junkhound who recommended the mixture 4-6 months ago. My wife thought I was a miracle worker. Gone in one in one night. Now, she is starting to think otherwise.
Treating the inside of the house with permathin will detour ants out side . Once per month spraying will keep them out side . But I cant kick ants butts. . Thats what I said before. I can keep them out of the house . Boric acid should be used all the time but Ive never seen it eliminate them. Just go out side and look. They are always there just like flies are there. .
sorry, I miss-read your post. i thought it said you whipped their rears, not them whipping yours
First thing you do is check up on the tenants. Enforce a cleanliness rule. No storage of garbage in the house, even over night. No food left out after meals. Wash all dishes after use. If they are cooking with a lot of grease make them wash down the walls and ceilings.
I've worked on houses here in sunny, hot, moist Florida that were occupied by pigs and infested to the hilt with roaches. They would come out of the cracks everywhere just to see what I was doing and critique the work.
Roach Killer:
I got a gel product called "SIEGE" by American Cyanamid Co. Dispensed via syringe. Comes 4 syringes to a box. Active ingredient: Hydramethylnon [tetrahydro-5,5-dimethyl-2(1H)-pyrimidinone (3-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1-(2-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl] ethenyl)-2-propenylidene)hydrazone]
Place small drops of the gel in strategic locations, in corners, under appliances, pipe entries, door corners, where ever you think those sneaky bastids will travel. They eat this stuff up, go back to the nests, share it with others, DIE and when the carcasses are eaten by their cannibalistic brethren they too, DIE.
Cleanliness and a little of this stuff (a little goes a long way) will wipe out a roach population in a short time. Check the drops once in a while and replenish as necessary.
Man said he was manageing multi family.
Now you come up with a feeble but workable roach fight .
But you havent done a thing for ants , termites, spiders, flies, waspers, feas, and ticks. As a landlord you came to a gun fight with a small pocket knife used for triming fingernails . Permathin will knock it all down at once with out guessing inside and out .
Didn't he ask about roaches?? I came to the roach fight with a bazooka.Resistance (the evolution of a strain of insect that is able to tolerate a particular insecticide) to permethrin has been documented in a wide variety of insects. These species include pear psylla,84fall army-worm, 85 German cockroach,86 spotted tentiform leafminer,87 diamondback moth,88 house fly,89 stable fly,90 head lice,91-93 and tobacco budworm.94 Many of these species are resistant to other synthetic pyrethroids as well as permethrin. The level of resistance is less than tenfold in some of the species but high levels of resistance have been observed in cockroaches (45-fold),86lice (up to 385-fold)91 and budworm (1400-fold).94
My father bought a foreclosed property a few years back that had a major problem. When we finally got into the house it was disgusting. The carpeting was only two years old and I know this because the people who owned it before them had it replaced before selling it to the now foreclosed owners. Imagine drinks and food spilled on a carpet for two years and just mashed into it. That's what the carpet was like. It was so greasy and slick that when I tried to remove it my utility blade just slid across it like it was plastic and not carpet. Eventually the exterminator came out and used a whole bottle of fogger. He told us that for a house that size he should only have to use half a bottle. He came back the next day and used another full bottle. Finally they were dead or at least I thought. It turns out the roaches just walked out through any crevice or opening and walked into the neighbors houses. To this day there haven't been any roaches in that house.
Put more juice in the sprayer.
Ive never had an insect walk out alive . Im glad I dont have those strains.
But if I did I stockpiled chloradane and diazon. Id pep up the juice . Chloadane has a 15 year knockdown with it .
What IM talkin about though is hes talkin about rentals . You need to do a wide variety. Not just roaches.
Get some spiders.We have so many spiders here that roaches and most other insects simply don't stand a chance...Electric bike...
Getting there is not the goal. Enjoying getting there, is..You are always welcome at Quittintime
Well we used to carefully open the paper and scrape the leavings into the bowl ..
Oh... forget I said anything , different roaches.....sorry.
>G<
I am surprised it took 8 whole posts to get to this point... LOL
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Touchee!!!"Shawdow boxing the appoclipse and wandering the land"
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Rotting trees or wood anywhere? Old firewood?
I had a house I purchased as a rental that was filthy with the previous tenants junk and had a bad roach problem. Cleaned all the stuff out, removed carpet, fixed the leaking tub drain, and treated with the gel in a tube in the course of renovation and still had problems. There was a dead tree in the back yard that I finally got around to removing. When I dropped the trunk, the bark split off and literally hundreds of roaches spilled out and started scampering in the yard. Did a two week treatment again and never had a complaint from my tenant after that.
My bet is it is the living and cleaning habits of one tenant that is causing the problems in all the units but if that is fixed (new tenant in a cleaned unit) then it might be an outside problem.
I've worked in public housing for years,have seen some real horror shows as far as roaches are concerned.
If it's really infested,the main problem is ALWAYS a housekeeping issue. The tenants will ALWAYS say differently. It's uncomfortable for you and them,but you have to point out specific things,(the countertop is sticky,the trash barrel is full,dirty dishes,food scraps on kitchen floor,etc). Some people really dont know how to keep a house clean,you have to tell them step by step.Believe it or not ,around here there are non-profit groups that actually have classes on the right way to keep your place clean.
Also was told by an exterminator that roaches feed off of other dead roaches,so if those are laying around,its just as bad as having food laying around,except they have the ability to crawl behind cabinets,under appliances,and into cracks and crevices before they die and make it hard to get rid of them.
As others have said,they like it warm and moist,so look for hidden plumbing leaks,clogs,and condensation.Refridgerators are a popular place due to the heat form the motor and condenser with the evaporator pan close by. Excessive clutter also contributes to the problem.
If it really out of control,you should start the eviction process.Then you'll have them and all thier infested stuff out of there and you'll have a better shot at getting the problem under control. In the worst situations,the only way we were able to make progress is to get them out of there,rip out the cabinets(which are inexpensive to begin with and a good 20 yrs old ),remove heater covers,cove base,seal up any wall and floor penetrations, and have the place fogged repeatedly.
Something has to change or else all you're doing is putting money in the exterminators pocket. I would imagine that eventually your tenants are going to go crying to the health dept. so you might as well beat them to the punch.If you start the evict. first,its looks like you're trying to deal with a problem,if they go to the health dept. and then you try to evict,it looks like you're being vindictive.
I like my Orkin man. Monthly treatments and will return and treat again if you complain that you are still seeing them. One price and treats for any vermin. Five unit builsing $60 per month.
That said, clean tennants are the real cure. In my case the most complaints are comming from the tennant with dirtiest floors. Kid spills not cleand up promply, trash not emptied, cat food scatered under fridge, etc. I know that is most of the problem in her case but she just doesn't see it.
One thought: Worked on a house down in the Biloxi area that had a MAJOR roach problem. (Pulled down a ceiling and it rained roaches -- thousands of them.)
Yes, the people were slobs, but in addition, when we dug in to some of the hurricane-related repairs we found that an area of the slab foundation lacked the row of bricks that held the mudsill up off the slab. Instead there was essentially just a blob of dirt filling in that space, giving the roaches a highway between inside and out. I'm guessing that fixing that problem would have reduced the roach problem by a factor of ten.
So look for a "highway" somewhere.
Get a $3 bottle of Roach Rid(Boric Acid)...hand it to the tenant...under sink(s), behind fridge, behind stove, next to kitchen toe kicks...30 Days...no problems
You may need to fog (bomb) the entire building, else the spray just drives the critters from one place to another. Fog kills dayum near everything thing, including eggs, so at least you start with a clean baseline. All the tenants have to be out of the building for several hours though.
Agree with others, ultimately, at least one of the tennants is at fault. If they moved from an infested location, chances are they brought the critters with them when they moved in.
I've heard tenants say "what do I have to do to find an apartment that isn't full of bugs!?". They don't realize that all of thier stuff-furniture,appliances,etc., is full of bugs and eggs and they're just bringing them along with them.
We have a policy that all new move-ins agree to an extermination shortly after they move in to try and keep that sort of thing under control,but it feels like a losing battle. I feel bad for people in the building who are keeping a decent house but end up with a residual problem due to thier neighbors.
Those critters just love the warmth of TVs and A/V components. Used to work in a stereo shop, saw some horror stories in the repair department.
Major Roach?
Sergeant Earwig reporting for duty, SIR!
AitchKay
I think the same sort of thing, every time I read the title to this thread.Well, ok, -after- I think the same as Dovetail.;o)..Electric bike...
Getting there is not the goal. Enjoying getting there, is..You are always welcome at Quittintime
Considering moving to Wisconsin. Yes, there are roaches here, but they can't survive outside a structure here like they can in the South. Cleanliness usually takes care of them, plus a good fogging to level the playing field. My years in the South taught me their smell, and I can go into any house now and smell if there are roaches, just as some people can about cats.
you the man! I'm not sure if the smell is the roaches or the spray that makes me kind of gag.
Maybe it the combination of roach spray, crawling roaches, and semi-rotten food.
It's like they are watching you. If you crush one they will all jump on you!
That one house I worked in was crawling with them in broad daylight.
And I was working for free! AAAHHH! you couldn't pay me to do that again."There are three kinds of men: The one that learns by reading, the few who learn by observation and the rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves."Will Rogers
bc
I second what Steve in Cleveland wrote.
We bought our house in 1988.
Found we had roaches.
We redid the plumbing. That seems to do more to get rid of them than any spray.
I haven't seen a roach in many years.
Rich
For those who are reluctant to use chemical poisons, I have the following suggestion.
Set out plates of food in the middle of each room. Then install timer light switches set to turn on one minute and off one minute. In just one week you will wear out the roaches from constantly scurrying away to avoid the light, then coming back out for the food. :)
Nah, you'll just be training them for the roach olympics and the ironroach competitions.....Electric bike...
Getting there is not the goal. Enjoying getting there, is..You are always welcome at Quittintime
Before I went to Vietnam, I included a container of Spectracide concentrate and a spray bottle in my shipped foot locker, as I had heard that the roaches there had grown immune to the standard insecticides, and Spectracide was new at the time. When I got to my hooch, it was overrun with them. A most coveted item then was a plastic cigarette case, as it kept them from eating your tobacco at night. The green Kool cases were even more popular, because they covered an M-16 magazine's open end perfectly, but that's another story. Anyway, I douched my room with the Spectracide, and never saw a roach agin. It didn't kill them, I don't think, just made them move on to another soldier's hooch. I also had a new claw hammer in my foot locker and made the mistake of loaning it out to a buddy. Never saw it again, as it must have been passed around the whole time I was there.
During my hardship tour in Hawaii, the geckos took care of the roaches. You just had to tolerate their chirps at night and the turds on the mantle.
The worst was in Virginia, where we lived in quarters built on a slab. I think they lived in the below ground ductwork, as that's where I'd smell their eggs. I didn't know about boric acid at that time, as that could have helped. These were shared buildings, so it was the Vietnam thing again. Spraying next door drove them to my quarters, and vice versa. My morning drills were to sneak down and try to get the bugs before they made it back to the vent. They can detect your vibrations better than a night crawler on a golf green, so I had to be fast. This was only for a year, thank goodness. Then we went to Germany where there were no roaches, even though they're called German cockroaches here. Go figure.
Good story and thanks for serving .
For what it's worth ...
We had a growing roach problem at our last place ... tried numerous remedies ... then I read in the encyclopedia that roaches cannot survive temps below 67degF ... ah-haaah! ... that's news I can use ... fortunately for me it was autumn in Pennsylvania ... so we waited for a nice cold weekend ... turned everything off ... set the furnace at 45degF ... and we took off for a couple days.
Note that "everything off" includes night-lights, fridges, freezers, HWH, wine-coolers, everything with a motor running! ... if them roaches can find a warm place they will ... I don't know if you can do all this ... but it worked!