# cockroaches!!



## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

one of my cats is to be found dismembering a cockroach most mornings

they are flying cockroaches, so I'm guessing they are flying in through a window or onto a roof terrace (we are on the 2nd & 3rd floor)

as long as I don't get overrun with them they don't bother me - it just seems to be the one every morning & it's dead by the time I get to see it

but I've always thought that you never just get one.............so maybe they have a hiding place somewhere that I haven't found yet

& I just read that they can cause problems for asthmatics - my dad has asthma


any ideas on what I can do to stop them?


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Is it possible that your cat is bringing it into the house?

There is a very good spray called Baygon. We buy it in Consum supermarket but I am sure it must be available elsewhere.

Edited to say : Just thought. You may have to check that it is safe to use with a cat in the house.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

DunWorkin said:


> Is it possible that your cat is bringing it into the house?
> 
> There is a very good spray called Baygon. We buy it in Consum supermarket but I am sure it must be available elsewhere.


we live in a 2nd & 3rd floor duplex - so hopefully they are just flying in & they aren't hiding somewhere

I shall try Baygon - though I guess if they are flying in that won't help...........


where should I look to see if they are hiding somewhere?


edit re your edit - yes - I shall have to read the can...


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Cockroaches are one thing but for the last four mornings I have found a variety of fish heads outside the main door covered in ants.


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## lynn (Sep 25, 2008)

We get those great big reddish cockroaches outside on our drive through the summer, and we discovered they were coming out from round the drain cover. I spray round the cracks with oro (big can from Lidl) every few weeks, and it seems to keep them away....


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

lynn said:


> We get those great big reddish cockroaches outside on our drive through the summer, and we discovered they were coming out from round the drain cover. I spray round the cracks with oro (big can from Lidl) every few weeks, and it seems to keep them away....


Yes, they can easily get to third-floor flats via drains and air vents so and spray round all the edges and keep the plugs in baths and sinks.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

The biggest route for cockroaches is via cardboard boxes being brought into your house. Boxes of water are often the culprit plus of course the drains route


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Alcalaina said:


> Yes, they can easily get to third-floor flats via drains and air vents so and spray round all the edges and keep the plugs in baths and sinks.


well I've yet to find one anywhere but in the cat's paws so far - she seems to like them for brekkie


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## Maimee (Jun 23, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> well I've yet to find one anywhere but in the cat's paws so far - she seems to like them for brekkie


They often come into a house via the kitchen extraction.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> well I've yet to find one anywhere but in the cat's paws so far - she seems to like them for brekkie


Get her some of Harry Potter´s cockroach clusters, might help wean her off them!
Cockroach Clusters - Harry Potter Wiki


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Maimee said:


> They often come into a house via the kitchen extraction.


don't think they're coming in that way - the kitchen door is always shut at night & the cat usually has one in the dining room when I get up in the morning

my money's on them coming in off one of the roof terraces & the cat catching them & bringing them downstairs 

as long as it's just the one dead one a day I'm not going to panic


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

You haven't said what type of cockroach it is, but I will assume for arguments sake seeing as it is winged it is an American Cockroach, they can grow upto 1.5 inches long and are reddish brown in colour, does this match your cat's breakfast? 
There are over 3000 different types of cockroach, some are flightless some have partial flight and some are practically air aces. 

Irrespective of what type it is, if your cat is bringing them in even off the terrace you can bet your bottom dollar they are in your house. With this in mind I recommend a plug in repellant called RADARCAN. It isn't a spray or insecticide it is a sound emitting device that drives cockroaches out, (you can get them for spiders, ants, woodworm etc, etc). They range in price from 20 ish euros to around 40 but they work. Once plugged in they emit a sound only the insect can hear driving them insane and out of the house. In a large house you may need 2 or 3 depending on how many floors square metreage you have etc, etc. I used the cockroach one in Saudi Arabia, and never had a problem (I combined it with regular spraying to be double sure) and now I have one in my kitchen, but this one is actually for Carcoma's thanks to the fact that we could hear the little blighters munching away at the beam above my kitchen door. I had tried every known insecticide, wood treatment going to no avail. I plugged the RADARCAN in and the munching stopped and the beam seems to be okay. 
Whilst you may not be that worried about the odd cockroach being in your house fact is, if you see one you can bet there will be a hundred of his mates hiding behind your cooker, kitchen cupboards, in the space under your bath even in your mattresses. Happened to a friend of mine, she had a spare bed which she didnt use that much but one day she went to make it up she noticed a small hole, when she looked at it she saw something moving and  there was a nest of the blighters in the mattress itself. Poor woman went hysterical as did I when she called me over, (didnt tell me why she needed my help, just that she did). 
I have an allergic reaction to the dust under their shells, (this is what Asthmatics react too) and trust me it is not funny. 

By the way if you stomp on a cockroach you will pick up the eggs on the bottom of your shoe and infest your house or wherever you happen to go afterwards. (roaches revenge is what I call it).


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Jo, where can we get these plug-ins? 

Our problem in our house is ants - the tiny ones. At times, we get so many it becomes a real problem. 

Do these plugs really help get rid of the ants? We think they are in the walls as they come out of the electric sockets in the kitchen.

In the garden they have ruined our garden lights by eating the cables which run under the patio.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

JoCatalunya said:


> You haven't said what type of cockroach it is, but I will assume for arguments sake seeing as it is winged it is an American Cockroach, they can grow upto 1.5 inches long and are reddish brown in colour, does this match your cat's breakfast?



yep - they're the ones.....a bit like this













JoCatalunya said:


> even in your mattresses. .


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

DunWorkin said:


> Jo, where can we get these plug-ins?
> 
> Our problem in our house is ants - the tiny ones. At times, we get so many it becomes a real problem.
> 
> ...


Leroy Merlins, Bauhaus, Carrefor, Suma, Le Corte Ingles and I think just about ,most large Ferreteria's have them or you can Google RADARCAN and buy them direct.

Thus far they have worked for me on Cockroaches, and wood boring insects so I do not see any reason why they shouldnt work on Ants. 

I am not sure about garden use, but the ones I have used do work on the house, I am told the sound actually vibrates through the wall as well as the air and whilst we / and our pets can't hear it, the insects can. 

"There is a whole world out there, let them bother someone else in it" That is my motto and I am sticking to it.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

JoCatalunya said:


> Leroy Merlins, Bauhaus, Carrefor, Suma, Le Corte Ingles and I think just about ,most large Ferreteria's have them or you can Google RADARCAN and buy them direct.
> 
> Thus far they have worked for me on Cockroaches, and wood boring insects so I do not see any reason why they shouldnt work on Ants.
> 
> ...


think we might have to look into these - thanks Jo


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## JoCatalunya (Mar 16, 2011)

xabiachica said:


> yep - they're the ones.....a bit like this


Yep, lovely little things aren't they. (that was sarcasm by the way).

The risk of disease from Cockroaches is very real and can affect humans oh so easily. 
They are known to carry diseases like dysentery, typhoid and poliomyelitis, as well as gastroenteritis.
Their feces and saliva can cause allergic reactions including Asthma attacks.

With regards your cat eating them, you will probably have to worm it more often as roaches are known to carry tapeworm etc which your cat can contract through ingestion. 

Like I said, 'lovely little things aren't they.'


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