I saw two baby roaches in two days. Does that mean my apartment is infested?
May 8, 2011 by darn
Filed under Darn Meaning
My apartment managers and staff are all terribly rude. Every time I’ve had any sort of problem, it’s been a serious hassle to deal with.
I’ve seen two baby roaches, on tonight and one yesterday night. It suddenly got super hot (105 degrees) and dry, so I thought maybe they just wandered in. If that’s the case, i don’t want to deal with the apartment people.
If that means there’s some sort of infestation (I dunno, my apartment is pretty darn clean, but maybe it’s a neighbor) I need to go through my apartment to get an exterminator.
What do you think?
By the way, I’ve lived here for two and a half years, and in the entire time, I’ve only seen one roach (during the first month or so, although it was the biggest friggin’ roach I’ve ever seen).
It doesn’t matter how clean you are if they are in the walls. If you saw roaches you’ve got problems. I’d move out.
go to the dollar store and get boric acid and spread it around baseboards it will have instuctions cause if you dont you will have hundreds in a week, its the best stuff and cheap to buy, go as soon as possible ,
oh yeah, you’re infested, they’ll just keep coming, and coming, and coming, and coming…………………..
I would wait and watch. If you see more bugs, I’d talk to management. Do you have a homeowner’s association? We have a condo and an exterminator comes regularly. The HOA fees pay for it. I would think that any reputable management company would stay on top of that. If they let bugs get out of hand it gets expensive to get rid of them.
You don’t have an infestation yet, but it won’t take long. I’d recommend getting an exterminator before it gets out of hand. Exterminators can buy and use poisons that actually work. We can’t.
They may not be babies. There are a LOT of different species of roaches. Many people only encounter the most common roaches we have in the US. These suckers are about an inch-and-a-half long and are the classic bug you think of when you think “roach.”
However, there are other species in the US that are much smaller as adults. I had some of these little nasties at an apartment once, and they were awful! Even full-grown, this species was only about half-an-inch long and less oblong than their more common cousins. I’d wake up to find 10 or more on my kitchen counter every morning. Blech! There isn’t enough disinfectant in the world to give you peace of mind with that going on!
But regardless of the species, it’s safe to say that if you’re seeing them, you have an infestation. Most homes have a few roaches, but you’d never know it because they are super secretive. If you see one, you can bet there are another 20 or more you’ve never spotted!
I’d really recommend an exterminator. There are home remedies you can concoct yourself (such as the boric acid mentioned above), but they can be very dangerous around kids or pets. When we bought our house 9 years ago, we had the bigger roaches just marching in under our side door. We bought a new threshold (duh), and called a professional exterminator. Now they come every three months, and we hardly ever see any critters anymore.
As for your management, it may be worth it just to spring for the exterminator yourself if they’re that much of a pain. Yes, it is probably really their responsibility, but I find that it’s sometimes worth the money just to avoid toxic people!
Good luck!
Just get a tube of Combat Roach Jell and put it under counter and sink. They will eat it and take it back to nest where it will kill the entire colony.
If there are two then there are many more nearby. Kill them yourselves. It sounds like you have a good apartment.
Remember that for every one you see there are supposedly 20 more you dont. Roaches live in walls and under sinks, behind the cracks in your mouldings. You wont see a huge number unless you have a really bad infestation. If you usually use air conditioning or dont have a lot of food around they stay away, but cockroaches tend to come out at night and when its hotter. My guess is you want to get it looked at right away. Its much much much easier to deal with a cockroach problem when its just a few instead of later, when they’ve spread (and they can live on just about anything, even dead skin cells, pet food, water from a leaky faucet). Don’t let your landlord stop you from making sure it doesnt become a problem because trust me, its something you’ll regret later.
If you have baby roaches in your place you have, at the very least, the beginning of an infestation and you had better do something about it. It does not matter how clean you are I will guarantee that roaches will find a comfortable living space with plenty of food they like. They come in through small cracks all over the place as well as in grocery bags, visitor’s clothes, firewood – all kinds of ways. I’m sure you get the idea.
As for your apt. managers – toughen up. They are required by law in all 50 states to perform maintenance on their building to help prevent infestations. You are required to write your manager a letter informing them of your problem ( and don’t say you’ve only seen two – remember where there are baby roaches there are many many more. More then one comes out of those sacs they lay – plus the adult ones that laid them ) and ask them to inform you as to when you can expect an exterminator to arrive so that you can be present. You owe your landlor (manager) nothing but the rent (on time) each month and to follow any established building rules in place or added since occupying the apt.
I realize being cordial with the landlord makes life simpler but if it comes at the cost of your health and well being it’s time to become just as hard nosed as they are. You have rights and they are obligated by law to enforce them. If they don’t you have legal recourse and can even reduce your rent payments legally until the problems are solved. Go to the Housing and Labor department of your local government building and they have all the information on your rights and obligations as well as the rights and obligations of the building owner and management.
The longer you wait the worse it will get.
What you saw was a ornamental water bug. And yes ,you have an infestation. Those weren’t baby’s,those are household brown roaches, the dirtiest kind. Doesn’t mean your dirty,just that they where brought in probably, by neighbours. Sorry, they are very hard to get rid of.Bye