Having literal computer bugs (not for those who are squeamish)

MadmanRB

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Okay so the apartment I live in has a huge and I mean huge roach problem, this is winter time so they are looking for places that are warm and dark to breed in.
They already killed my printer, I had to buy a new one and soon you can bet the little bastards will go in that one too.
And they taken up residence in my desktop as well
Its not like we are not doing our bit but the complex I live in doesnt fumigate and its a old building.
I can only do so much, I dont want to put spray in my hardware and dont know what to do to get rid of them from my hardware outside of buying one of those power air dusters and go to war on the motherbleepers.
I am thinking of putting a trap in my desktop, will that work?
I got room for it but there are risks to doing such things.
 
It's not that roaches are looking for a dark warm place to breed, they are just highly attracted to EMI, and a computer is filled with TONS of EM fields...

I will say the following and hopefully this will not offend you.

1: Be clean - VERY clean! Keep food and drinks far from the desk, wipe everything on the desk down with a minimum of 90% medical grade (red label in the states) rubbing alcohol. Roaches like a "mess" so having things clutter free, clean, and no food present in the area, helps, a TON, even IF your neighbors have roaches. I hear it all the time, well, guess what, they are wondering around your place for left over food crumbs, or anything that they can munch on, if they find something, they will nest in your home and you will have a roach problem.

2: Don't place traps inside the computer, or any type of "bait" based traps. This will bring more roaches into the computer, and trust me EMI + Bait = breeding central buddy.

3: Place GOOD high quality bait traps all around the house, and highly consider weekly bombings with a good roach bomb. Yeah you might have killed a few roaches doing it once, but those bombs don't affect eggs, you need to stay on top of bombings and keep them going rather frequently for a month or so to actually kill all roaches in your part of the home.

If using a bomb, go just slightly overboard with them, not saying double up or be stupid about it, but consider placing an extra can or two in the home, and go for the "DEEP Reach" product line, they DO work rather well.

4: Seal ALL cracks! All those outlet sockets, take the faceplate off, and put some caulking around the edges of the face plate and put them back on, and any unused outlets, put those little plastic plug inserts into them to help prevent roaches from getting in. Walls are pitch black, warm, and many times moist inside compared to the living area, THIS is where roaches like to breed. Check for any other potential cracks or entrances, it may be time consuming to go all over, but a sealed house, will help keep them out.

5: Empty all trash daily, and don't let anything sit inside trash wise, over night, only takes one roach 12 hours to find a trash bin, eat out of it, lay some eggs in a corner, scamper off, then you have an infestation. If the roach doesn't find any food at all, you can most likely bet it will scurry off before laying eggs.

6: Check your HVAC ducts... I don't know how many times I have seen piss poor workmanship when it comes to duct work, especially in apartment and housing complexes. If for some reason, the one that installed the duct work decided, "hey, lets tie a few different units into the same trunk because i'm a cheap bastard", well, you can imagine, your going to have one hell of a time fighting anything when you have a tunnel between homes, or even cracks in duct work (so very common!) letting air, and roaches, pass through a major entrance into the home.

7: Consider contacting your local health department and show them photos - if enough tenants do this, the health department WILL inspect the entire complex, and potentially force the landlord into action, though, at this point, it may also give the landlord easy ways to get rid of the nasty tenants that can't keep a home clean. Here, the health department wont do anything over individual homes (it's considered the tenants issue), but a complex, they could very well spring into action against the landlord.

8: If you argue with any of the above points, I will consider you to be lazy and part of the roach problem and suggest that you tape up all holes in your case, and install very fine mesh filtering over the entire thing if you want to keep roaches out, while still touching the keyboard that has roach **** all over it, because they are almost like mice/rats, constantly ****ting and pissing.


OH - if you have children, YOUNG children that don't listen and are curious about things, don't put roach traps in the open, you are better off with scented glue traps in open areas. They don't let the roach return to the nest with the poison (once they die, others will feast on them and be poisoned too), but it will help capture and kill roaches in most areas of the home, and they do work. We had to use the stupid things at walmart to control pest problems in the food portion of the warehouse because chemicals are no longer allowed.
 
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Since you are in the US I will recommend getting some Bugstop by Spectricide. You can find it at Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It works, period. Get the gallon and hose down ever crack, crevice, seam, dark corner, whatever. It is clear, dries, fast, leaves no smell, is safe for kids and pets once dried, and lasts for months.
 
Let me tell you where they are coming from and you can act accordingly.
Look under your kitchen sink. Where the plumbing is coming in the holes in the wall are bigger than they need to be. Some expanding insulation foam will fix that or some silicone bathtub sealer. They use the plumbing like we use a interstate highway. If you close your exit, they'll have to go on down the road. I'd use the silicone bath tube sealer. it's easier to apply and it flexes in case your pipes sing. Look under your bathroom sink. Seal them suckers up too.
And one other place to look is where the water pipe for the toilet comes out the wall. That metal trim is hiding another over sized hole.

If you want to you can pop the covers off switches and outlets. You'll notice a gap between the wall and the box. Using a unopened tube of bath tub sealer, clip the very end off. You want to be able to run a fine bead. Put the end of the tube in the gap and run a bead that is even with the wall board and the lip of the box. Let that cure overnight before you put the cover back on. Otherwise you'll glue the cover to the wall from the backside. Make sure the plates fit flush to the wall and has next to no gap between the device and the plate.

They hide behind bases boards. Seal the top with the sealer and run a wet finger over the bead to smooth it put. When that cures spray a line of bug spray along the floor right at the bottom of the trim.

Your fridge is one of the most popular hiding places. Usually the fridge is in a cubby. You'll have to slide it out to treat. Unplug it first. Do not spray any thing in the compressor bay. While you have it out clean the cubby like you were going to be sleeping in there. Spray bugstop on the walls. Run a bead of borax powder around the edge of wall. Do the outlet treatment. Plug it in and slide it back.

We're on the home stretch. Bug sweeps on all entry doors is a must have. It not only keeps out the draft, but bugs too. If your threshold has a rubber strip and it's damaged, you can get that from any hardware store. It's fun to put a new one in. You'll need a flat end screw driver.

Check the AC closet. Any pipes and electrical wiring get the sealer treatment.
Now if you want to you can take down light fixtures and do the sealer treatment.

Or just call the city building inspector and the health dept. Do that from a cell phone. Anonymously. Otherwise you may find yourself on the curb from a vindictive owner/manager.
 
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Well the roach problem we have is manageable, we do get the occasional exterminator visit and normally the roaches dont bother us.
I think the roach issue we are having is due to neighbors moving out and their nests getting disturbed in other units and they usually jump ship to where they can find safety.
We personally can only do so much, I just wanted to see what to do with the ones inside my computer as opposed to calling health inspectors and such.
 
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