Hi Click and Clack
The woman who let loose a female Hissing Cockroach (Gromphodorhina portentosa) in her dad’s car shouldn’t worry a bit!
These things are not like ‘regular’ Cockroaches in that they mature slowly (in other words, do not reproduce quickly), have a small number of babies per brood, and probably cannot survive too long in Pennsylvania - 6 weeks is surprising - a good cold snap (especially if the car is left outside, not garaged) should take care of her.
The dry ice idea is wacko.
Buring up the car is crazy.
The Cockroach did NOT jump on her Mom (though I believe that’s her story and she’s sticking to it!) Her Mom should have GRABBED it!
These things are harmless and will not infest the car.
Dry ice? What are you guys thinking?
love the show! hahaha…
Mark (BUGMAN) and P.R. Mantis – www.BUGS.org
I’ve seen frozen roaches come back to life–the dry ice won’t work. Roaches tend to nest around food sources, such as under car seats where crumbs fall. Roaches can survive for years on just crumbs. To get rid of them without toxic sprays, put roach bait (available for a few dollars at many stores) under each car seat. A roach will eat the bait and return to its nest, where it will die. The other roaches will eat the dead roach (they are cannibals) and also ingest the poison from the bait, effectively killing all roaches in a week or two. If that doesn’t work, setting the car on fire sounds good, too:)
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Keep food out of the car. If there is nothing to eat, the roaches will leave or die. Vacuum the car well, especially in cracks and crevices, to remove any food crumbs. (If you happen to vacuum up any roaches, sprinkle boric acid in the vacuum cleaner bag, which will kill them. Then seal the vacuum cleaner bag it in a plastic bag and discard in an outdoor trash container; do not bring it into the house. Caution: boric acid is toxic to pets and children if taken by mouth. Follow all directions and warnings on the product package.)
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Roaches are said to dislike catnip. After cleaning the vehicle as described above, sprinkle catnip liberally inside the car and trunk, especially under carpets and seats and in corners and dark compartments. It won’t kill them, but the remaining ones should leave to avoid the herb. After a week or two, vacuum away the catnip.
Above all, during this process, park the car outdoors. Do not park in a garage, especially an attached garage.
While living in HI my 65 Mustang 2+2 was infested with roaches. Don’t know how it happened, but there they were. I used a locally available bug bomb, closed the windows, activated the canister, and let it do its thing overnight. I never saw another bug in the car after that. Give it a try.
Those of us in the South who don’t like to spay for roaches employ Boric Acid to control palmetto bug which can rival her Hissing in size. Boric Acid (20 Mule Team variety)is available in most grocery store near the laundry detergent. I have found the best to apply it is to fill up an old sock, tie off the end and kick around the floor and into the corners. One wants to avoid breathing it directly.
Roaches breath through a series of hole all over their bodies. The boric acid will clog up their respiratory system and suffocate them. Roaches don’t have as much water content as one of Tommy’s tomatoes so they won’t take forever to dehydrate especially in the winter with the heat running.
One treatment that works to get rid of cockroaches is to place osage oranges (hedge apples) where the cockroaches have been seen. A custodian where I taught told me about this rememdy. When I was later back in school and living in married student housing, the couple that had an apartment next to our apartment apparently left food out. The sink in this apartment was on the opposite side of the wall and shared the same drain line. I went to the country and picked up some hedge apples and put them under the sink. The cockroaches disappeared. My son has an osage orange tree on his property and he has people stop by and ask if they can have a hedge apple to get rid of cockroaches.
I agree with Mark.
But, to make her happy, one could use those Hi-freg. plug-ins. That you would use in a home, to get rid of mice and spiders. Run an electric cord to the inside of the car, and plug in one or two of these units. Should work If the car is tight, you may want to leave the doors open a bit.
79F350
From this http://www.gpnc.org/osage.htm article, see below.
Do Osage Oranges repel insects and spiders?
Many people believe that the fruit of the Osage Orange will keep insects out of the house. They will gather and place them around basement windows and other likely locations to discourage entry by crickets and other insects. Other people say this only works as long as the fruit is green. (Of course, by the time the fruit is dried up, there will no longer be any bugs trying to get inside!) Other people say it does not work at all. Research at Iowa State University has shown that there are chemical compounds in the fruit that repel cockroaches, although the fruit itself does not. One method that definitely works is to pick up the hedge apple and smash the offending bug with it. That is a sure thing!
I personally think the dry ice might work…NOT because of freezing, but because of the CO2. If there is enough CO2 in teh car AND it displaces enough regular air (crack a window), they might all suffocate.
But there is another thing to keep in mind:
Hissers are NOT considered a ‘pest species’ like the german roach (the ones you might get in your kitchen)
Not only do hissers breed and grow very slowly, they need a good bit of heat to start breeding: 85F. If they don’t get this heat, they will typically behave themselves. So even if the female had some babies, they are unlikely to continue generating more.
Lastly if there is an infestation, there is a REAL easy and safe fix:
Reptile keepers (lizards, snakes, etc) sometimes have a run in with a very nasty little pest called the reptile mite. Its essentially a tiny tick like bug that attacks reptiles. Its very hard to get rid of them because they are so small and can actually hide under reptile scales.
In addition, reptiles have delicate respiratory systems. So a ‘bug bomb’ is very likely to kill a reptile.
To combat this little menace, there are several products out there. One is called Provent-a-mite. It is a chemical spray that you spray nside an animals cage and let dry (before reintroducing the animal). Since the chemical is now dried on, there is no gas to harm the snake or even people.
So very simply, get a piece of newspaper or cardboard and spray this mite killer all over it. Let dry a good hour and then you can just place the paper under the seat, in the trunk, etc. Bugs that touch it are pretty much doomed.