# Javea/areas free from rats, cockroaches?



## Pedro Zapfel (Sep 3, 2013)

A good day to all of you,

we, a family of three, are thinking of buying a property in Javea. At least we were, until we read in a forum (maybe this one, advanced search did not retrieve the thread) that there were black or "tree" rats climbing over some properties.

We also noticed cockroaches in the streets of the port area. This is no surprise, but we would not like to invest in a property full of these creatures. Same applies to mice.

Is there any area in Javea which is completely free from nasty animals like this?

Is there a way of detecting whether a property has this problem, maybe a technology that a tasador could apply for us when assessing a property?

Is there a way of keeping them out 100 per cent (we won´t have neither a cat nor a dog, sorry)?

Is any of you experienced expats aware of successful operations against the beasts by the municipality?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pedro Zapfel said:


> A good day to all of you,
> 
> we, a family of three, are thinking of buying a property in Javea. At least we were, until we read in a forum (maybe this one, advanced search did not retrieve the thread) that there were black or "tree" rats climbing over some properties.
> 
> ...



:welcome:

I live in Jávea - there are tree rats everywhere in Jávea- they're pretty harmless & don't come indoors

there are also cockroaches everywhere in Spain pretty much - you'll see them now & then

I live in the port & rarely see one IN my house, & don't see them in the street all that often either tbh

I don't think there's a way of keeping them out 100% anywhere you live thouh


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## Pedro Zapfel (Sep 3, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> :welcome:
> 
> I live in Jávea - there are tree rats everywhere in Jávea- they're pretty harmless & don't come indoors
> 
> ...


Thks, but I have been living in Spain before - without cockroaches.

And I have read reports of "tree" rats climbing on to balconies, hiding and mumbling in ivory hedges. I have not done research whether they are harmless in the medical sense, but we simply do not want to hear or see them on or in our property.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Aww, poor rats.

Well if you wont have any pets then poison is probably the best way, I'm sure you could probably find one that only affects the rats and not any wildlife that may choose to eat the dead rat. 

Also I believe you can buy sonic plugs to plug into your walls that are supposed to keep all sorts of pests at bay, rats included.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pedro Zapfel said:


> Thks, but I have been living in Spain before - without cockroaches.
> 
> And I have read reports of "tree" rats climbing on to balconies, hiding and mumbling in ivory hedges. I have not done research whether they are harmless in the medical sense, but we simply do not want to hear or see them on or in our property.



what about spiders then, and snakes, geckos, mice, voles, birds, cicadas????


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Pedro Zapfel said:


> Thks, but I have been living in Spain before - without cockroaches.
> 
> And I have read reports of "tree" rats climbing on to balconies, hiding and mumbling in ivory hedges. I have not done research whether they are harmless in the medical sense, but we simply do not want to hear or see them on or in our property.


It's very unlikely you lived without cockroaches - you just didn't see them. The same way millions of people in cities all over the world live above sewers full of rats, but without ever seeing them.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> what about spiders then, and snakes, geckos, mice, voles, birds, cicadas????


Don't forget the bats. Last time I was in Javea there were plenty around at dusk.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Chopera said:


> Don't forget the bats. Last time I was in Javea there were plenty around at dusk.


those too 

I LOVE sitting in my garden watching them whirling around overhead


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Pedro Zapfel said:


> Thks, but I have been living in Spain before - without cockroaches.
> 
> And I have read reports of "tree" rats climbing on to balconies, hiding and mumbling in ivory hedges. I have not done research whether they are harmless in the medical sense, but we simply do not want to hear or see them on or in our property.


Just think of them as squirrels without the fluffy tails.  They are quite harmless.

I haven't ever seen a cockroach in my house. I spray all the skirtings and door frames with Cucal every month, which deters ants too. That and keeping floors and surfaces scrupulously clean and free from crumbs etc seems to do the trick.


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

I understand that northern Norway is pretty much free of cockroaches; anywhere hot is not.... And we've never had a cockroach present itself for viewing in our house but then maybe 8 cats has something to do with that...


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Alcalaina said:


> Just think of them as squirrels without the fluffy tails.  They are quite harmless.
> 
> I haven't ever seen a cockroach in my house. I spray all the skirtings and door frames with Cucal every month, which deters ants too. That and keeping floors and surfaces scrupulously clean and free from crumbs etc seems to do the trick.


I have seen two rats, both dead, in our garden. They possibly died of fright on being leapt at by Azor! Our neighbour has chickes in her garden and told me that she has seen rats climbing up the rejas of her kitchen window

I think the reason we don't have or rather haven't been bothered by live rats is that we feed several feral cats at the bottom of our garden. They don't come near the house and are no nuisance at all. We've got a big garden, ideal for wildlife but I've only seen one rather skinny snake. 

Like you, we have never seen a cockroach in the house, like you we -or rather Sandra - keeps everything scrupulously clean. Xena alerted us to the presence of one solitary cockroach on our terrace one night last week so I killed it. 

But as thrax says there are rats and other vermin everywhere. You just don't see them. There are rats everywhere outside our house as there are lots of wild, grassy areas and at the bottom of our road is a field of goats. That is a tad smelly...


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Carpenter bees are much more serious, they fly! They are so big they can't control where they are going very well, and sometimes bang into you. I've also been whanged on the side of the head by a cricket.

Our cat chases anything that moves, but she is missing a front paw so rarely catches them. She did blat a baby gecko though, earning her the nickname "Gecko Blaster".


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Never seen a rat nor a cockroach anywhere near the village. There are a number of feral cats and dogs so that might account for them. A fair few bats and of course, swallows, swifts and martins deal with most flying insects. The lizards and jumping spiders deal with many land-based insects but just how many ants can one eat. Our pests are ants!

Have seen the odd snake. We had wild boar in the neighbour's garden one day but it was soon captured and retuned to the mountains from which it came.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

baldilocks said:


> Never seen a rat nor a cockroach anywhere near the village. There are a number of feral cats and dogs so that might account for them. A fair few bats and of course, swallows, swifts and martins deal with most flying insects. The lizards and* jumping spiders *deal with many land-based insects but just how many ants can one eat. Our pests are ants!
> 
> Have seen the odd snake. We had wild boar in the neighbour's garden one day but it was soon captured and retuned to the mountains from which it came.


JUMPING SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Good Grief......Where will it stop
x


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

cambio said:


> JUMPING SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Good Grief......Where will it stop
> x


Yes! You have them here and in the UK - they don't build webs and jump on their prey and deliver the fatal bite. Some can be quite vicious - I had one bite me on the cheek not long after we had arrived and it was quite painful for about a week. 

Another creature to really beware of is a tick. Some can infect you with what is known as tick-borne encephalitis, which, if not treated can be fatal. One of our neighbours was in a coma for a week and took about six weeks to recover.
Tick-borne encephalitis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Navas (Sep 2, 2012)

baldilocks said:


> Yes! You have them here and in the UK - they don't build webs and jump on their prey and deliver the fatal bite. Some can be quite vicious - I had one bite me on the cheek not long after we had arrived and it was quite painful for about a week.
> 
> Another creature to really beware of is a tick. Some can infect you with what is known as tick-borne encephalitis, which, if not treated can be fatal. One of our neighbours was in a coma for a week and took about six weeks to recover.
> Tick-borne encephalitis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ticks are nasty little things! We went mushroom picking in a forest in SW Germany a couple of years ago and came home with four or five ticks between us. OH had the first one he spotted removed at the local hospital, then my first was removed by a nurse at a local doctor's. By then we worked out how to do it ourselves and removed the next couple ourselves with pointed tweezers. They can carry Lyme disease but we were told at the hospital that the area had been free of it for quite some time.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Here, about 32 kms from the capital city I've seen a couple of snakes, wild boar, rats (in the house - twice), mice, ants, lots of bats, lizards, geckos, and this year loads of moths and very few mosquitos.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Here, about 32 kms from the capital city I've seen a couple of snakes, wild boar, rats (in the house - twice), mice, ants, lots of bats, lizards, geckos, and this year loads of moths and very few mosquitos.


I'm having a particularly bad summer with those nasty 'food moths'

every time I think I've got rid of them they re-appear


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

cambio said:


> JUMPING SPIDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Good Grief......Where will it stop
> x


A friend of mine kept a couple of jumping tarantulas in his flat in the UK. He just let them roam round his flat. Didn't get many visitors though.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

xabiachica said:


> I'm having a particularly bad summer with those nasty 'food moths'
> 
> every time I think I've got rid of them they re-appear


Same here.
And those sticky patches from Mercadona are really yukky, aren't they?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Same here.
> And those sticky patches from Mercadona are really yukky, aren't they?


especially when they get covered in moths within a couple of days - just when you thought they'd all gone!


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> especially when they get covered in moths within a couple of days - just when you thought they'd all gone!


but even with them mostly covered by moths they still stick like sh*t to a blanket when you brush against them


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## Swerve (Jun 29, 2011)

So maybe your just going to have to put up with the creepy crawlies rats snakes etc as I think there's nowhere in Spain that is free of such things. The things that bother us mostly are the wasps and ants.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Last two nights we have been swarmed by big black beetles that for whatever reason land on their backs, not a great evolutionary step on their part I must say.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

baldilocks said:


> but even with them mostly covered by moths they still stick like sh*t to a blanket when you brush against them


Try walking into one (NOT!) and then try and get it and all the gluey stuff out of your hair - well, maybe not so bad for you but I have a problem


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