Water Bugs and Shads and how to control them.

The oriental roach goes by a couple of different aliases. The water bug, the shad, the black beetle to name a few. They can be scary to stumble upon, in the dark, scurrying around the floor. Some people experience them crawling up the walls of neighborhoods or along the pavements. No doubt they are creepy. So how do we get rid of them. IN the good old days, there was a great product called Baygon Bait, which recently was re-released under the same name. This was a granule bait that pest controllers would sprinkle under water heaters or corners of the basements, or in cracks and crevices of the outside areas they are being seen. The next day would be like a mass grave. Dead shads all over. The control is pretty much the same these days. The scatter baits seems to be the best to control these roaches, another bait is called niban bait. This too is a granule that works well. A good inside perimeter spray also will help control the roaches, since their tendencies seem to be to crawl along the floors, although they will cluster on walls and in between joists as well. Like all insect control you want to be careful and safe and thorough. Good luck and happy hunting.

Products that work to kill roaches

Roaches are tough to get rid of if you do a sloppy and not so thorough job, but if you decide to give it a go yourself or you are looking for some products that will help get rid of that roach problem that is plaguing you, then here you are. To start with there are many roach control gels out there. Maxforce, Maxforce FC, Maxforce FC Select, Dupont Advion Roach gel, Avert roach gel, Magnetic roach food, Avert dry flowable, Maxforce roach bait stations, Advion Roach Bait Stations, Gentrol, Gentrol Point Source, Sprays and mixtures too numerous to mention. Yes, there are many products out there that controls and eliminates roaches, the trick is in the application and thoroughness of that application. Good luck and happy hunting.

Get rid of roaches

Roaches are not a pleasant thing to deal with, in fact, most people panic when they find them in their home. They worry about how they got them and if they are dirty etc. The fact is roaches can come from anywhere. You can bring them home on a shopping order or one can hitch hike home with you on your shoe. One gravid roach, or roach with children, can get bad fast. So what is one to do when faced with such a problem? I can tell you what not to do. Do not spray and do not set off foggers. This will only spread or push the roaches deeper into hiding. Yes you may kill some, but the drawbacks are worse. Baiting is the best way to control them. Gel baits work best. Maxforce or avert gel are good ones. Avert dry flowable bait is good also. Bait stations work effectively also. The best way to handle bait gel is to put dots in corners of cabinets or behind splash boards, always using caution and keeping safety in mind. Another good tool is the victor roach pheromone traps. One very effective tool to incorporate into your plan is gentrol. This is a growth regulator that will prevent the roaches from reproducing. A comprehensive and integrated approach is the best way to go with roaches. You can buy some of these products at your local home store or hardware store, or online at a do it yourself website. Good luck.

Food Roaches and thier control

German roaches have alot of nicknames like food roaches, dirt roaches, and plain old roaches. There are many tools in the arsenal to control and kill these roaches that reproduce at a rate of about 40 babies per egg. Some things that are effective against roaches would include gentrol point source, phantom, maxforce roach gel, avert roach dust, victor pheromone traps. These products speak to an integrated approach to the control of roaches. One thing you do not want to do is spray with a repellent or agitating chemical. This would simple disperse the roaches to other areas and render the baits ineffective. Phantom is a product that is non-repellent and works pretty well on these insects. Baits are always very effective, especially when used in conjunction with gentrol. Good luck and happy hunting.

Roach traps

As nasty as roaches are, they are one of the easiest pests to control in my opinion because of the great arsenal of products available for their control. Baits, sprays, glue boards, and pheromone traps. Victor has a great trap that attracts roaches using a sex pheromone that can be used effectively as a monitoring tool to see how a control program is going, or for use in extremely sensitive situation to knock down the population. With pheromone traps and a good IGR like gentrol, you can rid a site of their roach problem. Be sure to stress the word patience in this case. Happy hunting.

Waterbugs, Shad Roaches, Oriental Roach

They go by the names shads, water bugs, the oriental roach among others. They scare you at night when you flick the lights on. They are creepy. So how do you get rid of these roaches? I've always considered water bugs to be the easiest of the roach family to control. There used to be a great product called baygon bait that was used for shads, but it was discontinued. These days the granule bait of choice is niban that can be bought on most do it yourself pest control products website. The granules can be spread around hot water heaters, in garages, behind washers and dryers, heaters, crawl spaces, in the corners. Upstairs you can sprinkle behind stoves and refrigerators. Outside it can be sprinkled in cracks and crevices. Always minding children and pets and following the labels. Another way to control water bugs is a good inside perimeter spray using any of the residual insecticides. Shads are floor crawlers, so there is a good chance they would come in contact with the chemical. Another practice is using glue traps. Placing them under the stove, furniture, under the sink, in the basement, etc. As they fill up be sure to track how many there are. As they get less and less you can be assured the problem is resolving. All of these products and tools can almost always be found on a good do it yourself pest control products website. Good luck and happy hunting.

Roaches in restaurants

Being in the pest control business for the past 15 years I have seen alot of things that would make you think twice about eating out. This is not meant to be a shock article, but it is true. I've been in a restaurant who had a cat running around in the back kitchen and it slept under the grill. It also used this area to go to the bathroom. There was a few inches worth of cat droppings under the grill. Needless to say this one was reported to the health department. I've also come across roaches that were so bad that the prep cooks were picking them out of the bread crumbs and then tossed the chicken into the same crumbs. Another report. It didn't matter where it was, whether it be a hospital kitchen or a upper class restaurant, roaches and mice could be and most likely are present. It all depends on the owners, the workers, and the pest control company and how well they communicate and cooperate. Don't get me wrong though, for every one bad place there was twenty good ones. Pest control can be very effective but it needs the cooperation of the workers and managers of the kitchen to keep things clean and the conditions unfavorable for mice and roaches to thrive.

Roach gel review

Roach problems pop up every once in a while and when they do the best thing to use is roach gel. So what kind of roach gels are out there and are they available for the do it yourself project tackler? The answer is yes you can buy them and here they are.
The old stand by and the grand daddy of roach gel bait is Bayer's product Maxforce Roach Gel. It comes in original, FC or fast control, and select. The Maxforce Select roach gel formulation is for roaches that are resistant to the other baits. Another good bait is Advance Roach Gel from Whitmire. Advione Roach Bait is a new kid on the block that has been getting some good reaction and Syngenta has also come out with a roach bait. FMC's product is called Transport Roach Gel and Whitmire has another one called Avert.
The fact of the matter is that roach baits are very palatable to roaches and they work fantastically in their control. The best I've ever used was Maxforce, but as I said Dupont's Advion has been nipping on Maxforce's heels.

Waterbug Roach

What's going on with those big black waterbug roaches that are so big you can saddle them up? Well they are called oriental roaches and can creep out the most seasoned of pest control technicians. The best way to treat for them is to use a product that is not distributed anymore called Baygon Bait. This stuff was fantastic when it came to waterbugs. If you can get your hands on this stuff then buy it up fast. The other product out there is niban bait. These baits work well on the larger of roaches. Another good treatment is just your regular perimeter spray with a product like Phantom. Glue boards are also a good tool in trapping these roaches and knocking down the population. Good luck.

Waterbugs

I had a friend call over the weekend about a cluster of waterbugs he found up in the joists of his home. He essentially found a pocket or a nest of the Oriental Roach and he was wondering how he should proceed. Usually with a waterbug problem I recommend a inside perimeter spray and baiting with Niban or some other kind of Baygon type bait. This time I told him to just get a good premixed spray from Home depot and spray the heck out of them. Half the job was done in finding the pocket of them, now killing the bulk of them will eliminate the problem. As always I told him to use caution and to warn the wife that there might be some strays that got away and retreated from the "waterbug killings". Anytime you can find the source or nest it is a good day.

Roach Control

What's the difference between food roaches and water bugs and how can I control them?

Here's a question I got from the NE region of the country and there is a big difference. Food roaches are usually equated with the German roach. The small roaches you see in the kitchen cabinets or hiding in the cracks of your door frames. They can be distinguished with the 2 black lines that are on their head (to keep it simple). Water Bugs are really Oriental Roaches. They are usually shiny black and you see them alot outside on the pavements at nights or crawling up your basement wall or they scatter when you turn on the lights late at night on your kitchen floor. You usually won't find these roaches in your cabinets. The best way to control both of these pests is bait. Gel baits work best for German roaches and I found that granule baits work best for oriental roaches. Home Depot sells a gel bait that you can inject behind your splash boards on your counter tops and in the cracks and crevices of cabinets. Use the gel bait where you see the German roaches. Gel bait will also work on Oriental roaches if you can find a cluster of them where they might be nesting. The granule bait (Niban or baygon) can be sprinkled around hot water heaters or under sinks, in cracks or crevices. Read the label for application directions and cautions. Always use caution for children and pets. I would avoid spraying for German roaches, but a good perimeter spray around the inside and outside could give you some knock down with the oriental roaches or water bugs. Good Luck.

Fogging for Roaches

Is Fogging for Roaches OK?

The short answer is no. Using foggers has it's place in a situation where you need quick knock down, for instance, if you went into an apartment that was so infested the walls were crawling and you needed a quick kill so you could clean it out for the carpet guys! If you want complete elimination of roaches then fogging is not your answer. Foggers will kill exposed roaches. It will not kill roaches in egg casings and it will not kill roaches that are stuffed behind cabinets and in walls. Often times you make the problem worse with fogging because you have the potential of pushing the roaches further into the walls. To do a complete job properly you will need to incorporate baits, insect growth regulators and traps. Most exterminators will use this integrated approach, if you are looking to do it yourself then I'd suggest buying a good gel bait and some roach bait stations. Treating all areas very thoroughly.

Oriental and American Roaches (Shads and Waterbugs)

These are the roaches that you can hop on their backs and go for a ride if you wanted to. The ones when you get up for that midnight snack and flip on the light they go scattering. Oriental roaches are black or dark brown in color and fairly big, American roaches are light brown or tan, very large and have wings and sometimes fly from higher up to glide down to the floor and scare the living daylights out of you. If you start seeing the American roaches all of a sudden check to see if you have any breaks in your soil pipe or any other drain problems because they often come up from the sewer or from outside, especially of they are doing work outside. The oriental or waterbugs are pretty common. Both can be treated with either a granule bait called Niban sprinkle carefully in selected areas in the basement, crawl spaces, or other areas you see fit in your home. Also you can treat with a decent residual spray around the inside perimeter. You can pick up a cheap plastic sprayer at a Home Depot or a garden center. It may take treating the outside cracks and holes in the ground with the niban granule bait to get a better control. Again be careful of how you apply these products and be careful of all living things (except the bugs)

GERMAN ROACHES

One way to identify this pest for sure is to look at the top of the roach and look for two dark line that come down from the head. Best solution for this pest is baiting with gel bait and roach bait stations. You may know you have them in your home, but it is important to do a thorough check of the areas you suspect they are nesting. Look under the sink, in cabinets, in drawers, in cracks and crevices of door frames and molding. They love tight spaces. When you have a good idea where the bulk of them are then place out the bait. Use enough of it and don't skimp. The gel bait needs to be used carefully as it becomes hard and sticky when it dries up. I have found that the gel bait works the best. Also use glue traps to knock down the population more quickly. Combat and MAxforce both make great gel bait and bait stations. They gel bait usually comes in what looks like a big syringe. Place this bait behind splash boards and in corners of cabinets and on the underside of counters. Places like that. Use caution if you have children or pets and always read the label and directions. If I can ever answer a question then leave a comment and I will respond. What I would absolutely not do is "bomb" or us "foggers" to get rid of roaches. Although killing a number of them it would mostly wind up scattering the remainder to other areas of the home where you might not want them and make it more difficult to treat. With roaches it is most important to keep it simple and try not to spread them. Fogging is also dangerous because it can spark an explosion if not properly done.