# How long before I know there's no more?



## Uneasy (Dec 29, 2019)

I just had a couple of pretty big roaches in my house in the middle of the night. One dead and one alive. Never seen roaches in the house before. It's been about 24 hours and I haven't seen any more. How long does it have to be before I can safely assume this was a fluke and there aren't any more?


----------



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Uh...never. Roaches will be here after we are gone. If you are seeing some of them, usually means there are more around where you can't see them. Question is will you ever get rid of them or are they that big an issue. There is a big difference between a onsie-twosie and infestation.


----------



## Uneasy (Dec 29, 2019)

Yeah. Obviously I wasn't asking when will they go extinct. I meant how long does it have to he without seeing any more before I can assume it was just a "onsie-twosie".


----------



## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Uneasy said:


> Yeah. Obviously I wasn't asking when will they go extinct. I meant how long does it have to he without seeing any more before I can assume it was just a "onsie-twosie".


Consider researching the breeding cycle for an estimate.


----------



## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

You can't ever know they're gone/dead, unless, you live in a deadly fog of pesticide. Only you can make that decision.

Buy a couple or more roach glue houses like Roach Motel & put them by the door, in a kitchen drawer, pantry & bathroom, overnight. That will give you an idea of how many there are.

You don't list where you are. If you're in Bangladesh, the tropics mean more roaches. Same with apartment houses.

A couple roaches can come in the door. Or an egg case can ride in on objects.

When I lived in Hawaii, my cats loved dismembering roaches. Do you like cats? I've seen one roach here, dead, even with a gap under the door. Cats. Plus, the management sprays outside, infrequently. I also have Combat discs.

I always wonder where people grew up that they had no bugs.


----------



## Old Thomas (Nov 28, 2019)

Upstate NY, winter kills everything.


----------



## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

@Uneasy, where are you?

That can tell a lot.

And, happy new year!


----------



## Uneasy (Dec 29, 2019)

Sorry. I (unfortunately) live in Tampa, Florida. I'm hoping it was just a couple got in under the door but I don't know. It's been 48 hours now and still haven't seen any more.


----------



## Windows on Wash (Aug 30, 2011)

Roaches in Florida are flying birds. I grew up in Miami. You will never get rid of them, but you can run some traps and keep them out of the kitchen. Biggest issue I have always seen with regards to roaches is food clean up.


----------



## Uneasy (Dec 29, 2019)

Yeah, I've heard people say that before, but I've lived in FL for almost 2 years and this is the first I've seen of them. Maybe I've just been lucky, cause I am extremely phobic of bugs. Hopefully we won't get any more (knock on wood).


----------



## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Uneasy said:


> Maybe I've just been lucky, cause I am extremely phobic of bugs.



I had a neighbor in Hawaii, a Marine Major's wife, who put steel wool in any open spaces. She was also phobic about bugs & they moved a lot.


----------



## ChuckF. (Aug 25, 2013)

Roaches are incredibly good at sneaking into homes, if your threshold under the door doesn't drag as you close the door, that's enough for a roach to just walk in. They can come down the stack from the roof and come up the sink drain. They will use your HVAC ducting as their subway system. I killed one once that snuck in when I opened the door to the deck; instead of coming across on the ground, it entered at the top corner of the door where I would be unlikely to notice it. 

There's always 'more'.


----------



## Nik333 (Mar 1, 2015)

Uneasy said:


> Yeah, I've heard people say that before, but I've lived in FL for almost 2 years and this is the first I've seen of them. Maybe I've just been lucky, cause I am extremely phobic of bugs. Hopefully we won't get any more (knock on wood).



Some people really blast the yard & until it's like Silent Spring. Maybe an owner did that?


----------



## Domo (Nov 9, 2018)

If you see small roaches you have a problem.

The large palmetto bugs (size of you thumb) wander around everywhere.

My advice would be to get some boric acid roach and ant powder and "puff" it behind/under all your kitchen and bath cabinets. 

If you have to, drill 5/16" access holes in the back wall of the base cabinets and puff a bunch inside. When any bug walks through it and then cleans themselves they will ingest it. Then, the boric acid will penetrate their exoskeleton from the inside and they will dehydrate and die.

Patch the holes with some gorilla tape or duct tape.

Boric acid - read up on it, as it's pretty safe everywhere around people and pets - but do your own due diligence.

You're in Florida - welcome and consider doing your own pest control by spraying the outside perimeter of your home EVERY month with a product, such as Talstar (on-line). Get a garden sprayer, read the instructions, and spray 6" up around your entire foundation and around all wall penetration and door frames/sills. Anything that gets inside will be in the process of dying... I've had centipedes and scorpions get into the house, but they're moving really slowly by the time they actually come into the center of a room (and scare the crap out of me) however, they're dying...


----------



## DoomsDave (Dec 6, 2018)

Uneasy said:


> Yeah, I've heard people say that before, but I've lived in FL for almost 2 years and this is the first I've seen of them. Maybe I've just been lucky, cause I am extremely phobic of bugs. Hopefully we won't get any more (knock on wood).


If you're bug-phobic in Florida, you will have a problem, and this is not meant to be rude and condescending. I visited there in 2007-2008 and insects were all over; Ohio, like Florida, was full of bugs in the summer. California has a lot fewer of them. But they're still around. 

As noted by others, the roaches in Florida often run heavily towards the larger, outdoor flying "Palmetto bug" types. They're different in many ways from the smaller "German" cockroaches that bug killer makers make so much money off of. They're more of a nuisance problem than anything else, most of the time.

The German roaches are much worse, oy vey. As I can attest. :vs_cool: :vs_mad:

If you have a large roach or two in the house, I'd just toss them outside, or, as I used to, give to the kitty-cat to play with . . . . 

If you get a really big number of them, that might warrant an investigation.


----------

