Those wonderful cockroaches

Pastel Tortie

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Positive, 100 percent sure. I trust our Cooperative Extension Service, along with many other reputable sources. :)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/document_ig093
"The name earwig is derived from an old superstition that these insects enter peoples’ ears and bore into the brain. This idea is entirely unfounded as earwigs are harmless to man."
 

ascott

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Positive, 100 percent sure. I trust our Cooperative Extension Service, along with many other reputable sources. :)
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/document_ig093
"The name earwig is derived from an old superstition that these insects enter peoples’ ears and bore into the brain. This idea is entirely unfounded as earwigs are harmless to man."

Hmmm. I read word for word and did not see anywhere that stated and assured that they will not climb into my ear, lay their 50+ eggs and bam, I am littered with Nymphs that are ready to eat one another (friendly bunch), well, that is if the Mother does not eat them first....jeeezzz....I am not comforted what so ever. I pity the next vicious earwig that sets all its feet in the house....
 

Pastel Tortie

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Do earwigs actually pinch and cause pain with those pinchers?
I've never let one get me.
But they look serious.
Once the earwig hits an inch or so in length, and gets more heavily bodied (relatively speaking), Yes, those pinchers can smart. They don't use them unprovoked...but trying to apprehend and feed one to your box turtle... Apparently that counts as being provoked.

One time, maybe a year ago, a medium- to full size earwig pinched one of my box turtle's front feet while she was in her soaking water. You know on cartoons where a character's hand gets bitten, or caught in a snare, and they go running around all over the place, shaking the hand frantically, trying to get it off? That's basically what my box turtle did, running/swimming from one end of the container to the other, trying to shake it off her foot. I quickly helped remove it from her.

After that, my boxie didn't want to eat earwigs for a while. That's also when I started incapacitating the earwigs I fed her. I made sure to crush the pinchers with tongs, and also crush somewhere around the head area of the earwig. My boxie eventually started eating them again.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Hmmm. I read word for word and did not see anywhere that stated and assured that they will not climb into my ear, lay their 50+ eggs and bam, I am littered with Nymphs that are ready to eat one another (friendly bunch), well, that is if the Mother does not eat them first....jeeezzz....I am not comforted what so ever. I pity the next vicious earwig that sets all its feet in the house....
Understand, but they still might earn their keep outdoors. It's interesting about earwigs reducing populations of aphids and other pests.
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/ringlegged_earwig.htm
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/european_earwig.htm
The above references are from Florida, but you have to admit... In Florida, we KNOW bugs!

As for your ears, they are perfectly safe unless you're in the habit of keeping pockets of soil in your ears... :p
 

ascott

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Understand, but they still might earn their keep outdoors. It's interesting about earwigs reducing populations of aphids and other pests.
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/ringlegged_earwig.htm
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/veg/european_earwig.htm
The above references are from Florida, but you have to admit... In Florida, we KNOW bugs!

As for your ears, they are perfectly safe unless you're in the habit of keeping pockets of soil in your ears... :p
Outdoors is fine.....lots of critters who happen into the house from time to time find mercy and if they work with me I swoosh them into a cup and flick them back outside... :)-
 

ZEROPILOT

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Ok old post.
I found out a while ago that my attic is the source of my roaches.
They at least WERE attracted to some moisture in a leaking drain pipe in a wall behind a sink.
The leak has been repaired.
I can pop a few bug bombs up in the tiny attic crawlspace and for about an hour, I'll get between 4 and 12 roaches dying in the kitchen and the garage. Same area but separated by a wall. And I can't tell how they're getting in the house.
I just ordered some Amazon 6 ounce European bug bomb/foggers. They are 3 times larger than the old, tiny, BLACK FLAG bombs I get at Lowes.
My plan is to completely saturate the attic with a death cloud. Then repeat again once a week for 4 weeks to kill newly hatched babies.
Yes. I bought a 4 pack.
Wish me luck.
My thinking is that if there is an obvious entrance somewhere that running my AC will cause positive pressure inside the house and prevent most of the bug spray that might escape....to not.
And also, I'll turn off the exhaust fans.
Besides, it's a 6 ounce can.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Ok old post.
I found out a while ago that my attic is the source of my roaches.
They at least WERE attracted to some moisture in a leaking drain pipe in a wall behind a sink.
The leak has been repaired.
I can pop a few bug bombs up in the tiny attic crawlspace and for about an hour, I'll get between 4 and 12 roaches dying in the kitchen and the garage. Same area but separated by a wall. And I can't tell how they're getting in the house.
I just ordered some Amazon 6 ounce European bug bomb/foggers. They are 3 times larger than the old, tiny, BLACK FLAG bombs I get at Lowes.
My plan is to completely saturate the attic with a death cloud. Then repeat again once a week for 4 weeks to kill newly hatched babies.
Yes. I bought a 4 pack.
Wish me luck.
My thinking is that if there is an obvious entrance somewhere that running my AC will cause positive pressure inside the house and prevent most of the bug spray that might escape....to not.
Besides, it's a 6 ounce can.
Yeesh. I wish you luck... Good luck.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Boy I dislike them
And I'll be doing all of this without Kelly knowing what I'm doing or what I've found
Wow... I don't know whether to call you brave or something else...

I know I don't have to tell you to protect the birds and lizards... If your sunroom counts at all as inside, that is... I'm mentioning for everyone else's benefit.
 

ZEROPILOT

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Wow... I don't know whether to call you brave or something else...

I know I don't have to tell you to protect the birds and lizards... If your sunroom counts at all as inside, that is... I'm mentioning for everyone else's benefit.
A professional exterminator (the guy that found the hide out)placed an electric fogger up there once.
That one, I could smell inside the house.
I took the dog and left for a few hours.
The Sun room/Bird room is attached to the house. But it's not under the same roof and not connected to the central AC
 

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I don't think the A/C actually creates any positive pressure house-wide. There is increased pressure at the outlet vents, which is balanced by decreased pressure at the return vent(s). I would think the critical aspect would be complete air-tightness of all the A/C ductwork and sheetmetal connections in the attic. But...bugs. I understand. I would be bombing the attic like a swarm of B-29s over Tokyo...
 

Yvonne G

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I have those large oriental cockroaches, but they don't come in the house. Last year I set out many, many little bait tubs and I hardly ever see a roach this year. I think the trick is to rotate ingredients. so this year I'm using a different bait.
 

Pastel Tortie

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I have those large oriental cockroaches, but they don't come in the house. Last year I set out many, many little bait tubs and I hardly ever see a roach this year. I think the trick is to rotate ingredients. so this year I'm using a different bait.
What kind of bait tubs do you use?
 

Yvonne G

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I'll see if I can find a label when I go out in a few minutes.
 

Yvonne G

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Last year I put out Combat and it really worked well. I've only seen a couple roaches this year so far, over the hundreds I saw last year. I'n pretty sure Lowes and Home Depot ony carry combat , so I'm going to check Amazon for something with different ingredients.
 

Pastel Tortie

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I'm looking for suggestions for a good mechanical (or nonmechanical, it doesn't require moving parts), nontoxic trap to lure out some cockroaches that have taken up in my box turtle's indoor enclosure. There are many good things crawling around her enclosure that I want to keep (earwigs, possibly still some isopods and red wigglers), but the cockroaches have to go. I really don't want to nuke the enclosure and start over from scratch.

My boxie would likely eat any cockroaches she came across that were already dead or disabled. Catching live ones, however, is realistically not her forte. These things are fast. They can fly, too... At least sometimes, at least for a few feet at a time.
 

ZEROPILOT

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I don't think the A/C actually creates any positive pressure house-wide. There is increased pressure at the outlet vents, which is balanced by decreased pressure at the return vent(s). I would think the critical aspect would be complete air-tightness of all the A/C ductwork and sheetmetal connections in the attic. But...bugs. I understand. I would be bombing the attic like a swarm of B-29s over Tokyo...
When the AC kicks in, any open door in the house slams shut.
That new HVAC system is something else
 
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