# Cockroaches in Puerto Vallarta



## LadyM1

I will be moving to Puerto Vallarta at the end of September which is the low season for tourism because of the rain and humidity, Can anyone give me some great tips for keeping the Cucuraches out of my apartment?????????? I know that all food has to be in closed containers and things need to be kept very clean with no food left out. But I read somewhere that catnip was a deterent for cock roaches. I am sort of freaked out and I haven't even arrived yet. Any help would be so appreciated.

LadyM1


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## sparks

Fumigate ... it will also help with those pesky little sugar ants and scorpions


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## Guest

A tried and true (and non-toxic) method for both cockroaches and ants is to use powdered boric acid. I have yet to find boric acid in a powdered form here in MX, and have only found a type that resembles salt crystals in the ferreterias. It comes in small envelopes here and is called "ácido bórico".

*Here's a recipe:* 
3 tablespoons boric acid
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 tablespoon sugar
Add just enough water or milk to make a paste.
Roll the paste out between two sheets of wax paper and allow to dry.
Break off pieces about the size of a dime and place in those dark areas in cupboards, under the sink, in corners next to the stove, under the refrigerator, etc. The cockroaches will find it, eat it and carry small pieces away. They will be dead soon.

Also check your home for places the roaches come in. MX construction techniques are sometimes not as you know them. In my house, I found that the original plumber decided to forego the normal trap under my kitchen sink, and just plumbed it in straight to the piping that went out to the sewer line. I was going nuts finding roaches every morning until I saw and changed this to an P-trap that held water and stopped anything coming up from the sewer. If there are openings around plumbing/drain lines, stuff steel wool into these holes and push in a bit with a screwdriver to stop them coming in at these points. For floor drains, the ferreterias also sell flat plastic drain covers that seem to work.

*To adapt this formula for ants, *there are two common different types of ant pests, one type for sweets and one for grease. If you have sweet ants, here is are formulas:

For sweet ants:
2 tablespoons Karo corn syrup
1 teaspoon sugar
Just a pinch of boric acid (too much will stop it from working correctly)

Mix well and allow to sit for a bit, and then remix.
Look for the trail of ants coming into your space, and as close to the outside as possible, such as the window frame or next to a doorway) place a line of this mixture. The ants will feed on it and carry it back to their nest. (too much boric acid will kill the messenger and not reach the nest). The ants will line up shoulder to shoulder like pigs at a feeding trough. After a day or so when the ants stop coming to feed, clean up your line of goo, and problem solved.

For grease ants:
2 tablespoons of cooking oil
Add just enough floor to thicken a bit.
A pinch of boric acid. Same method, different food.


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## maryellen1952

You can buy a boric acid mixture in a bottle at most hardware stores or in the flea markets. I have used this with great success for both roaches and ants here in Tijuana as well as Houston where bugs are all year long. And it is nontoxic compared to those fumigants and with fumigants you have to reapply them continuosly.


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## Lsanchez124

At my apartment, here in PV, (above a local) we haven't had any (knock on wood), though the sugar ants are a pain.. And at my in-laws whose house is ground level, I haven't seen any either.. But we just use/d raid around the house before moving in and once in a while if we see a bug. I've only seen roaches in dark and extremely dirty areas.

Oh and did you already move to the area? Hope everythings going well


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## kcowan

We have seen cockroaches in every place we have ever stayed. Even 4 star hotels. But they are not nearly as irritating as those sugar ants. They appear out of nowhere!


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## HolyMole

kcowan said:


> We have seen cockroaches in every place we have ever stayed. Even 4 star hotels. But they are not nearly as irritating as those sugar ants. They appear out of nowhere!


If I've already told this story on this Board, my apologies.

Ants in Mexico come in at least 5 sizes: tiny, small, medium, large and humongous.
Returning to our hotel room in Zihuatanejo one afternoon, we noticed a trail of ants - the small size - coming out of a hole in the concrete ceiling, down the wall, along the electrical cord for our microwave, along one edge of the microwave, down to the countertop, along to a small electric kettle.... up the side and into the kettle. There were thousands of them, clearly moving house, carrying little white eggs with them. 
What to do?
We waited until the last of the stragglers had made their way into the kettle, blocked the spout with kleenex, ran to a tap, quickly half-filled the kettle with water, re-inserted the kleenex stopper, and plugged-in the kettle. 
Ant stew. Mass annihilation of an entire ant colony. I wasn't proud of our actions, but in the tropics it's them or us.


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## kcowan

HolyMole said:


> Ant stew.


Lucky you saw it happen rather than just returning to make some tea!

During the season, when the palms were harvested, some of the largest-sized ants would be relocated to our patio. I have never seen such large ants before!


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## Lsanchez124

Im hoping this picture is viewable. It's of a decent sized red "ant". And from what I was told their only around guayabo(sp?) trees and that they don't bite.. Does anyone know anything about these?


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## RVGRINGO

How big are they? Fryers, roasters or stewers?


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## gypsymoth

Keep the shower and sink drains plugged up, in addition to all the other good advice above.
Toss some of those boric acid crystals down those drains, too. It helps.


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