This is a tough question to answer specifically. I say this because in the end, it will depend largely on how many roaches are living in the structure. For example, if you have 25 or less roaches, one tube of ROACH GEL will be enough. In fact it would be enough to treat several times so you might go through half with the initial treatment and then use the second half 1-2 months later.

But if you have a bad infestation, it could require several tubes of gel to knock the roaches out for good. This partly due to the fact that the more roaches you have locally, the more they’ll eat. Other variables include how long it will take for all of them to be affected, how dispersed the infestation might be, etc.

Now if you decide to spray with some ORTHENE and GENTROL, the same is true. Mild infestations can many times be resolved with 1-2 applications. But when several hundred roaches are nesting in the home, it will no doubt require more material to knock them out.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Roach Gel:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/bait/gel/maxforce-magnum-roach-gel-1-oz

Orthene WP:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/wettable-powder/orthene-wp-1-4-oz-pk

Gentrol:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/igr/gentrol-vial

Definitely the CYPERMETHRIN. This active is both fast working and repellent by nature. Spray it on the building and in the turf. If you cover the entire area between the two houses, you’ll stop any from migrating to your mothers house. ‘

I also suggest you apply some COMPLETE GRANULES to the turf first, prior to spraying, as they will help provide longer protection and overall better results. They’ll also take care of any that may be nesting in the turf which cockroaches will commonly do.

As you now know, German cockroach infestations can get large and when left uncared for, will spread from house to house throughout the neighborhood. Be sure to treat the inside with some ROACH GEL so you’ve got the inside protected. And be sure to spray the yard again if you find out the tenants are about to be evicted. Many times the act of tenants leaving can cause a large exodus of roaches from the infested house seeking a new location and during this time, they’ll leave the rental house in droves. It’s then that you’ll want to refresh your granules and Cypermethrin to make sure you’ve got the area well treated.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Cypermethrin:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/liquid/viper-cypermethrin

Complete Granules:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/insecticide/granule/complete-insect-killer-granules

Roach Gel:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/bait/gel/maxforce-magnum-roach-gel-1-oz

Cockroach Control:  http://www.germanroaches.com/roach-control

I recently went to a family members’ home to visit and didn’t realize until it was too late that they have a german roach infestation. I am pregnant and the point of the trip was to get some stuffed animals I had there when I was a kid. I am concerned because I thought that I wouldn’t have a problem as long as I washed the toys immediately, but my husband won’t allow them in the house. And after I mentioned that I had seen one in the car, I don’t blame him! However, I was wondering if there was a way to prevent the roaches from entering the house on/in the stuffed animals. I have them outside in garbage bags at the moment and I also cleared out my suitcase and inspected it and put all of the clothes in garbage bags to be washed at the laundromat. Please help! My husband and I are horrified that these things are going to end up in the house!

No doubt roaches can live on and in stuffed animals. The folds, spaces and voids of the material is an ideal location for them when given the chance, they’ll readily take advantage of any they can find close to food. To be sure the ones you have are roach free, storing them out of the home in plastic bags is the first step. Next, you’ll want to place some of the ROACH GEL into each bag too. This will readily be found and consumed by any roaches that might be present and once they eat it, they’ll die. The use of the gel is by far the safest method of treating given the item that’s infested and with you being pregnant. In fact the gel doesn’t have to contact the animals at all; you only need to have some placed in the bag and they’ll find it since they will no doubt be starving.

Once the gel is applied, let it sit in the bags for at least 2 weeks. In fact I would say to let the treatment sit for 6 weeks to be 100% sure you don’t miss any egg sacs that might hatch following the initial treatment. This is the general guideline we use when treating homes and apartments and the same time line applies regardless of what you’re targeting. By waiting it out this long you’ll be sure to break the cycle.

Here’s a direct link to the roach gel and more information on roaches:

Roach Gel Explained:  http://www.germanroaches.com/roach-control#roach_bait

Roach Gel in Cart:  http://www.bugspraycart.com/bait/gel/maxforce-magnum-roach-gel-1-oz

Roach Control Article:  http://www.germanroaches.com/roach-control

1. Is this gel something that has to be done once a month or every week, what the time frame for treatment again?
2. How to remove gel that is left on the wood surfaces for treatment and how long to leave gel?

The general rule when using roach gel is you should retreat as needed. Obviously this is “vague” to say the least. But here are some guidelines that should guide you along the procedure.

1) Make initial placements where you’ve seen active roaches. And keep track of every placement. Try to make these placements small. As explained in our ROACH CONTROL ARTICLE, gel placements should be small and discreet. The more you make the better. Many small placements, about the size of a grain of rice  and spread out over a small area, will prove to be a lot more effective compared to one large placement. So for the initial treatment, make 5, 10, 20 or some other “round” amount of dabs where you’ve been seeing roaches. And keep these dabs close together, maybe one every foot or two, so you can look them over anytime to monitor acceptance. By making a number of placements like 5, 10 or 20 in one area it will be easier to monitor them when checking.

2) The next time you treat will depend on what you find following your initial treatments. For starters, if you find any roaches active where you treated, there is no need to do anything but let them be. In other words, let them feed and don’t kill any you see feeding! Contaminated roaches will effectively kill other roaches so let the product work it’s way into the nest. People will many times kill feeding roaches thinking they’re helping but actually you are delaying the process. Let them feed!

3) If you see roaches in areas where you DID NOT apply gel initially, be sure to add gel immediately. It’s not uncommon to miss a few locations with your initial treatment and it’s important all known active locations have roach gel available for the foraging population.

4) Inspect your placements daily to monitor how much is being consumed. I’ve seen where all the placements have been eaten in one day. I’ve also seen where only a small amount is eaten over a 2 week period and then no roaches are ever seen again. If you note fast acceptance and some of the “dabs” disappearing after a day or two, renew them once they’re gone. One thing about bait is that once it’s all eaten, you won’t have any left working for you so it’s important to keep a steady supply available. In bad cases where the roach infestation is high, they can eat quite a bit. In other words it can sometimes be necessary to rebait every 2-3 days for a few weeks in order to “feed” all the inhabitants.

5) Since adult roaches will feed right away, most all should feed and be dead within 7-14 days of your initial placement. In general, if you’re still seeing live activity after 14 days and what you’re seeing are adults, bait these areas again. You’ll do this because the fact that you’re seeing live adults means some still haven’t ingested or come in contact with the gel yet. Most of the time you won’t see any activity after 2 weeks but that doesn’t mean you’re done. As our article explains, roach eggs will hatch young baby roaches which won’t feed till they grow a bit. For this reason it’s important to keep the gel active for at least 2 months; preferably longer. So if you’re not seeing any activity after 2 weeks following your initial treatment, let it go a total of 4 weeks from the initial treatment and then retreat. This insures you’ll have fresh gel for the babies as they develop and start to feed like adults. Follow this pattern for at least two months but 3-4 months would be better to make sure you get them all since roach eggs can lay dormant for long periods of time. And in general, the gel will remain fresh for at least 2 weeks but usually up to 4 weeks. Once it’s a month old it tends to get too dry to quickly accepted so renew placements to make sure this doesn’t happen.

I believe number “5)” answered your question as to “how long to leave gel” out. As for clean up; all it takes is a damp paper towel or napkin to wipe up any gel misapplied or if you need to remove some after you’re sure the roaches are gone. Nothing fancy cleaning wise is needed; you only have to wipe it off but you can employ any standard cleaner if desired. But as our article explains, there is no need to make placements “out in the open” so really there should be little cleanup needed when treatments are done properly. Since roaches will easily find roach gel, making discreet placements where it’s hard to see any gel at all will work so there is no need for it to be out in the open. Placements can be on the bottom side of a cabinet, shelf or drawer. Gel works fine inside a cabinet, the back side of a door or behind an appliance. And as explained above, gel placements should be small so even if you were to have a direct “line of sight” to where you dabbed some, it would tough to see when the right amount has been applied.

Hope this helps answer your questions! Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Roach Control with Gel:  http://www.germanroaches.com/roach-control#roach_spray

Roach Gel:  http://www.germanroaches.com/roach-control#roach_bait

If you read through our ROACH CONTROL ARTICLE, you’ll learn the ROACH GEL is what we feel is the easiest and most effective way to treat a roach infestation. That’s because you only have to set it out where you see activity and in a week or two, most all will be gone. Clearly spraying would be faster but that would only prove true if you knew where each and every roach is hiding. The reality of using a spray is that you’ll miss some and in the end these few will reproduce and reinfest effectively thwarting your effort. For this reason we believe the gel is the best way to go.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Roach Control Article:  http://www.germanroaches.com/roach-control

Roach Gel:  http://www.bugspray.com/item/magnum-roach-gel.html

Roaches can cause lingering odors long after they have been removed and controlled in homes, restaurants and other structures. Their feces are easily set airborne and their body parts disintegrate into dust which many people find to be irritating when breathed. Since you’ve done a lot of cleaning in this house already, it’s apparent the lingering odor is living in the floor, the walls or the attic space. I’m inclined to initially believe the major part of the problem will be where the roaches were most concentrated when they were active. However, without seeing the initial infestation or the current condition of the house, it’s not possible for me to offer direct advice from first hand knowlege. But here is a “process” which should, through the step by step elimination resulting after each step, and in the end help you solve the problem.

If you read our ODOR CONTROL ARTICLE, you’ll learn we have a product called NNZ which we recommend for some harsh odors. That’s because this product has proven itself highly effective in many kinds of conditions. I say start with this product.

Where to treat will involve the process of elimination. For starters, I suggest wiping down an NNZ diluted formulation over the areas where you know or suspect the roaches were congregating or mostly focused. This would no doubt be the prime location of the odor. As explained in our article, certain odors are “alive” and the act of painting or cleaning won’t eliminate the odor. True it can help to reduce it and or keep it from getting worse. But once it becomes living and then after it locks onto something like wood or concrete, a true odor neutralizer is needed to completely render it gone and deceased.

If after a week you find this didn’t help much, proceed by treating the floor. Obviously this could be tough if the floor is covered with tile or hardwood. But carpeting and other furniture can be lightly misted with the NNZ formulation and tile or hardwoods can be wiped down with the same formulation.

Again, if this doesn’t solve the problem, consider wiping down the walls and ceiling paying particular attention to hot spots like crown molding or certain pieces of furniture.

Lastly, wall voids and/or attic spaces can be either foamed or misted as explained in our article. Though many people believe these areas are where all roaches want to live, in fact, it’s far away from where they much rather be residing. Remember, roaches eat what people eat so to be happy, they want to be as close to us as possible. Attics and wall spaces wouldn’t provide such close proximity and is probably why it’s rare such places ever need to be treated.

If done right, you should be able to identify which of your treatments works within a day of when you treat and when you achieve success, you can then further address that treatment area again to knock out any odors you still detect a week later. If you are able to directly treat the odor living molecules with the NNZ, you’ll no doubt eliminate the source of the problem.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Odor Control Article:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page200.html

NNZ:  http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page884.html

There’s a chance we’ll be asking them to move us to a new apartment if they’re not going to handle exterminating them here properly. My roommate and I were wondering what we do to prevent them from clinging to our stuff and taking them to the new apartment? Will washing our clothes be enough to kill them if they’re on them? And what should we do with our dishes etc? Basically just any helpful hints about moving so we don’t accidentally take them would be great. Thanks!

As you can read in our GERMAN ROACH CONTROL article, apartments are a common location to find active roaches. One of the big problems with apartments and controlling roach infestations stem from the fact that it is sometimes difficult to have access to all the units in the structure. Failure to treat the structure in a uniform fashion will make the problem difficult to control and seemingly never ending.

Keeping that in mind, we’ve learned the best way to handle invasive roaches is to take advantage of that which they want most: food. In general, roaches will only migrate and move as food and shelter becomes scarce where they currently reside. To take advantage of this behavior, apartments can prevent infestations by “pre-baiting”. The simple process of setting out some roach gel prior to acquiring a real infestation can really help. If you do relocate, it is strongly suggested that you pre-bait the new location. This will ensure a thorough baiting is both easy to do and properly applied but most importantly, it will control any roaches that may be present or attempting to invade from neighboring units.

As for your concerns regarding the moving and packing of your belongings; there really shouldn’t be much that has to be done. When packing clothes, books and other items, a visual inspection is really all that is needed. When disturbed, roaches tend to scatter so if any are uncovered during the process of packing your belongings, they’ll be seen immediately. The real risks of transporting roaches during any move or relocation seems to be linked to the boxes which are used and the time in which they are kept before the move. In other words, if you collect boxes from restaurants or warehouses that typically have roach infestations, there is a strong likelihood one of the boxes you use for the move may contain roaches. This means you must choose your ‘box supply company” wisely. Additionally, storing the boxes you intend on using for several weeks in your apartment is not a good idea. As our roach control article explains, boxes have many ingredients which attract roaches and letting empty boxes sit out is a direct “housing invite” to any foraging roach that might be around.

In summary, if you end up staying in the apartment where you now reside, I suggest you take an active pest control stance to control the roach problem you’re currently experiencing. Even though there are treatments being done, you can successfully add to it by using some roach gel. Placements should be subtle and small and focused in discreet locations where roaches are still active and the liquid spray is not making contact. These locations will almost always be high up, in cabinets, the backs of TV’s, microwaves and other applicances most service companies will not “spray”. I’m sure this strategy will help to minimize the problem currently active. If it turns out that you do relocate, be sure to use clean, new boxes for the move and try not to store them more than one week prior to moving. Additionally, a good visual inspection of everything being boxed before it leaves your present apartment should be all that is needed to make sure you don’t carry or transport roaches with you to the new location. Lastly, prebait the new residence with the same roach gel in key locations like kitchen cabinets pantries, bathrooms, closets and dining rooms. Pre-baiting the new residence before you settle in will go a long way in keeping your new home roach free and as the following video shows, roaches just love this stuff to death!

But yet ever time I visit to do work, I find roaches all over the place.

Why are they coming in to the house when there is no food to be found???

Love your website by the way.  Also had a chance to visit your store last week.  Great service, great help.  Thanks!

There are several reasons why this happens. First, roaches don’t do much except look for food and nest sites. When food is scarce, they are forced to forage more than they’d like. I suspect this is happening at your second house. When food is plentiful, roaches are able to get their fill when they feel most secure and will spend more time hiding out of sight. But if the local food supply is limited, they’ll have to come out more and forage more so in the end, there is a greater chance of them being seen. Clearly this is happening at your location.

Second, as explained in our GERMAN ROACH CONTROL article, roaches can live 6 months or longer without food. So even if you removed all there was for them to eat, you would still expect to see them foraging around for a good 6-12 months under normal conditions expected life spans.

Third, roaches are cannabilistic. They love to eat other roaches. I’m sure there are lots of dead roaches hidden behind walls and under things which are providing ample nutrition and food for the local population. These carcasses can conceiveably sustain an active roach population indefinitely.

Fourth, roaches will commonly feed on things people don’t consider to be food. These items include fabric (furniture, drapes, carpets, etc), paper products (boxes, paper plates, paper), wall paper, wall paper glue, insulation and basically most any construction component found in most homes these days.

In summary, roaches are great survivors. They’re both adaptable and persistent. They’re able to survive on material commonly found around most any house that most people don’t consider to be “food”. With this in mind, it’s no wonder they can remain active in an abandoned house indefinitely. So if you wish to get rid of them, you’ll need to do some baiting and the ROACH GEL is ideal for this type of problem. Since it’s so much more attractive to what they’ve been forced to feed on, the gel will readily be accepted and in most cases, the population will be knocked out in 3-6 weeks once it works it’s way into the bulk of the population.

Would you agree?

I am unwilling to keep treating my kitchen, unless there is a comprehensive attack to the problem.
If you were the managment company, what would you recommend?
Your information and product line is very helpful. I will be buying some product as soon as I sort out the managment company’s response.
I look forward to your reply. Thank-you.

Having been in pest control for over 30 years, I can state with confidence that it is quite rare to hear or see any management company willing to treat in excess or more than what might be needed. Though I’ve seen it happen, in 99% of the cases where there are legitimate roach infestation problems, the infestations are related to management not doing enough. Based on “frequency” you cited above (…third roach treatment since May), it sounds like they are close to the mark on where they should be based on the quantity of roaches being reported by you.

If it is true that during these past three months you’ve only seen two roaches, I would have to say that these citings would be expected based on the length of time involved, the size of the units involved (more than one floor) and the fact that treatments are being done in the first place. In most any home here in the South, when it ‘s warm outside during the summer months seeing roaches is about as easy as going out at night with a flashlight. Inevitably some of these make their way inside. To see 3-5 a month could happen without any infestation being present in or on the building so for you to be seeing 1-2 in a few months isn’t anything I’d worry about. That being said, there could be more information you didn’t provide which may lead me to believe something different.

The bottom line is that if you want to get rid of the roaches in your unit, having it treated on a regular basis will be key. Furthermore, the hot spots or key areas must be treated during these regular sessions. Clearly the kitchens are such areas but other areas should not be ignored. If your management company is willing to treat the kitchen with something that’s mild like MAXFORCE GEL or the ADVION GEL, I would gladly accept these treatments and be happy. Even if you aren’t seeing any roaches in the kitchen. Now if they are asking that you empty all your cupboards so they can spray the area from top to bottom and you aren’t seeing one bug in the area? I would say this would be overkill and not needed.

In summary I don’t have enough information to make a good assessment of your problem or how it should be treated. It does sound like your management company is making an effort and I must confess that in this day and age, this is impressive and rare. Management companies are notorious for ignoring such problems so I think it could be much worse for you. That being said, at this time I would continue to accept the treatments they are offering and then consider supplementing their effort with some ROACH BAIT and ROACH TRAPS just to be sure enough is being done. If you start catching roaches in other areas of your unit using our roach traps, it would be quite easy for you to make a case as to where treatments should then be made. Clearly a single roach sighting isn’t cause for alarm but if you can show an area has a concentrated population present, our traps will accomplish this goal. But for now, just seeing one randomly foraging isn’t reason to be concerned.

As a general rule, you should remove your pets dog dish and anything of else of his prior to treating. I recommend placing his feeding station elsewhere for a week or two following the treatment till you know the problem is satisfactorily under control.

As for the treatment, there are many options you could employ here that will work. The quickest option would be the ORTHENE WP featured in our ROACH CONTROL ARTICLE. It’s both fast working and deadly on roaches. It would be wise to spray the whole house so expect to use a gallon or two. If you’re not seeing them inside, you can limit your treatments to just the outside for now. Expect to do this once a month when it’s warm outside and you should be able to keep this pest under control.