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Old 08-17-2019, 03:42 PM   #1
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Hot Springs Village , ARKANSAS
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Roaches in vacant AS

Latest problem.. we are at the beginning stages of demo on my 1992 AS.Excella..pulling cabinets out, couch, beds, closet, etc. Today we were welcomed by a colony of roaches...there has been no one living in this AS for years..my question.. where are they coming from and how do we get rid of them?? Thanks for any info much appreciated.
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Old 08-17-2019, 04:35 PM   #2
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If you’re taking things out, you may try fumigating with a bug bomb. Don’t know the toxic affect on humans in a tight space. Call an exterminator and see if he would give you free advice. Good luck
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Old 08-17-2019, 07:10 PM   #3
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Being a landlord for the past 35 years I know a thing or two about roaches. Fortunately roach elimination is easy if done correctly, thanks to advancements in products. You do not want to use a bomb, it will only kill the ones that the fog contacts, it will not kill the egg sacs, and it will leave a residue. Same with sprays.
The best approach is gel bait like Advion and 3M glue boards. Use the glue boards first to locate where they are concentrated, then put the gel there. They eat it and they poison the ones back at the nest. This is important because they might have a nest outside your trailer and this will kill the ones there too. Others will eat the dead ones and get poisoned. They will all be dead in a few days, but keep the bait and glue boards out for when the egg sacs begin to hatch for the second batch. After a couple weeks you will be free of them. At that point if you feel the need you can place some insect growth regulators like Gentrol in the unit which will prevent any returning roaches from maturing and reproducing, but if you do the gel and glue boards right you shouldn't need that. Keep in mind roaches need water to survive and they hang out near water sources like pipes etc.
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Old 08-17-2019, 07:25 PM   #4
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Great tutorial Brian, appreciate that.

We found some (meaning more) in our Avion after our last camping trip. Kids are pretty sloppy with their food but I also neglected to seal up any soaps. We use the hippy soaps that sound like you could have a snack while taking a shower and I’ve read that roaches will feed on soaps and even residue.

Also, I’ll sift some diatomaceous earth around the tires, stabilizers and jack to help with roaches and other critters like ants when parked at home.

Ian
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Old 08-18-2019, 05:10 AM   #5
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Thanks, Brian, for that thorough advice.

FEI here are other mentions of "roaches" on this site: https://www.google.com/search?q=roac...com&gws_rd=ssl

Lots of good advice in a variety of threads.

For sure . . . crumbs or scraps of foods, carelessly left lying about, are going to attract any neighborhood roaches.

Peter
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Old 08-18-2019, 05:35 AM   #6
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We used the same exterminator as in our house.
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Old 08-18-2019, 10:58 AM   #7
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Ive had great luck spreading dryer sheets like "bounce" around the AS when putting in storage. Been doing it for several years and never seem to have any bugs/rodents when we open it up 5 months later...... I put them in drawers/stove/cabinets etc.
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Old 08-18-2019, 09:53 PM   #8
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You don't want to use Bug Bombs in an Airstream because of what the Toxic Fog does to plastics, but bug bombs worked great in my tiny apartment 37 years ago. I lived in a very old part of San Diego, all houses and apartments had roaches no matter how clean you were. It was sooooo gross! I placed three bug bombs in a 1 bedroom apartment. Overkill? If you ever opened your cupboard and had a roach fall onto your face you would understand, overkill is simply not in your vocabulary at that point. I thank God all the time that my mouth had been shut!

I set the bug bombs on Friday night, when I came home Sunday evening and walked in, each step went CRUNCH! I almost vomited. It took me over 5 hours to sweep out of all cupboards, shelves, drawers, sweep up all floors, and dispose of their tiny dead bodies. They actually did all die feet up, ha Ha!

Then I took out all my trusty bottles of Boric Acid USP. You used to buy this from the pharmacist, it was completely unadulterated and 16oz cost only $2. I began laying out nice neat little lines of defense in cupboards, on shelves, under the sinks, around pipes and into any/all holes in the walls, and all along baseboards, behind furniture and everything, took me about 3 or 4 hours. I slept a full 20 hours after this. For a few days the occasional roach wandered in, not taking chances I killed it. But soon the only roaches I saw were dead ones. And then there were none at all. I became the only roach free apartment in our complex. It was awesome!
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Old 08-19-2019, 06:19 AM   #9
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Roaches

Thanks all for the suggestions on killing the roaches...I think I will call an Exterminator and then follow up with your suggestions...my fear now being of course there is probably no insulation behind the walls (must be what they fed on?) and wondering what other critters might be in there...ugh!
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Old 08-19-2019, 07:34 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by clarsen0829 View Post
Thanks all for the suggestions on killing the roaches...I think I will call an Exterminator and then follow up with your suggestions...my fear now being of course there is probably no insulation behind the walls (must be what they fed on?) and wondering what other critters might be in there...ugh!
The reason I use the method/products I detailed in my post, and do it myself, is because I can do a better job (and leave no chemicals behind) than the exterminator. I would gladly pay an exterminator if they would do as good a job as I can but in my experience they don't. It's not about saving money it's about getting it done right, and safely.
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Old 08-19-2019, 07:56 AM   #11
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Thumbs up

Quote:
Originally Posted by ITSNO60 View Post
. . .
. . . it's about getting it done right, and safely.
Bingo!
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Old 08-27-2019, 01:35 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ITSNO60 View Post
The reason I use the method/products I detailed in my post, and do it myself, is because I can do a better job (and leave no chemicals behind) than the exterminator. I would gladly pay an exterminator if they would do as good a job as I can but in my experience they don't. It's not about saving money it's about getting it done right, and safely.
I can vouch for this method. After over 20 years of not having to deal with these tiny demons we moved to a new part of town. After a year of living there I encountered a German Cockroach in the kitchen one morning, still somewhat sleepy I didn’t manage to kill it before it escaped. Where there is one, there are many; I called the manager. Within a couple days they sent out a very personable and knowledgeable young man, he was the owner of the pest control company. When he told me it was a roach bait I wasn’t excited, I’d seen those fail before, but he further explained how besides killing them slowly enough to provide the poison to the rest of the nest, it interrupted the breeding process and stopped their eggs from growing. Roaches were gone VERY quickly. I was impressed, I had never in my seen anything look so easy and work so quickly or well. Never had another roach in that apartment for the six years it was lived in.

It turned out that the next door neighbors, who had only just moved in last month, had the roaches travel in with the cardboard boxes, (from grocery stores, liquor stores and the like). Which is why I always paid for new boxes.
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