Cockroaches!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[karhu]

Help!!!!

We have a 1 year old and our flat is infested with cockroaches and it is a new-ish flat, just 1.5 years!!!!

What to do? That is not harmful to our little one???

Desperate and quite upset

Thanks!!!!!!!!

 

[Liquorice]

Contact Truly Care and get them to come and spray. They use a spray that isn't harmful to animals or people. We've used them for years.

trulycare.com.hk

 

[Portia]

We used Bio Cycle. We had them in twice around 3 weeks apart and that did the trick. Their insecticide is supposed to be not harmful to humans and pets. Here's the link: BioCycle (Hong Kong) Limited - Ecological Pest & Termite Management. Since then the cockroaches have not returned.

 

[karhu]

Thanks so much to both of you! Got a bottle of bio kill and sprayed it one night, next morning I found 7 corpses!! Will also give those 2 companies a call, hopefully can make then disappear from my home!!! ☺

 

[OldtimerMum]

You might have a food storage or cleaning problem in your apartment.

Agreed, you need to disinfect properly but the roaches will be back if you're not storing your food or more importantly have a husband who leaves crumbs of food lying around.

Consider having your helper do a proper cleaning in the kitchen and areas where the roaches are , with a bleachy water solution every night before you turn the lights out.

 

[rani]

We found roaches coming up the drains in our flat. We also poured a a bleachy solution down our drains.

 

[penguinsix]

We found roaches coming up the drains in our flat. We also poured a a bleachy solution down our drains.

This is very common. We close our drains and have actually taped over the 'overfill' part of the drain to keep things shut. If you have floor drains, you should also regularly fill them with water and maybe even cover them with a trash can or something. You might also consider some sealant on any cracks between the 'finished' apartment and the 'unfinished' bits (take a look under your sink or in cabinets--do you see the raw cement of your building, or is there a finished panelling in place? If concrete then you are basically exposed to the 'underbelly' of the building, where the roaches can cross from flat to flat.

FWIW, unfilled drain pipes in the bathrooms is considered one of the ways that the SARS virus passed from apartment to apartment in the Amoy Gardens during the outbreak. Closed bathrooms with the fans running created negative pressure, 'sucking' the virus up from the floor drains that were connected to the buildings sewage system.

 

[karhu]

Thanks great idea with the bleach down the drain... I've been using biokill every night for 2 weeks and killed more than 20 already so we did have a roach problem I guess.... But it's calming down a bit, fewer dead ones every morning.... And they area much slower when we see them alive

Btw why do husbands always come with crumbs?

 

[Sweetblueberry]

wing on sells drain hole covers with a one way flap that allows water to flow in but nothing can come out of it. They come in the circle shape for bathtub drains and a square shape for kitchen drains. Our aunt uses them and she says they don't have roaches - she also pours in bleach once a week. We actually have two unused spare ones (one circle and one square) so if you can't find them, PM me. I think they were $69 each.

in addition, before we moved in we:
- hired a contractor to clean out and seal ALL gaps in the kitchen and bathroom this was a very tedious process but well worth the trouble for the peace of mind.
- cleaned all surfaces (walls, inside and outside of cabinets, floors) with vinegar
- sealed the gaps in all the doorframes with foam and/or weather stripping . These can be obtained in the industrial stores along Wan Chai

 

[Sweetblueberry]

oh yes, we put window screens up as well to prevent insects from crawling/ flying in.