It might work.
Then again it might only work if you hit the roach with the hedge apple. Of course that also assumes that the girl with the problem has access to bois d’arc trees.
FIRST: VACUUM AND SHAMPOO ALL FABRIC AND CARPET AREAS IN CAR. THIS WILL REMOVE EGGS AND BABIES. WITH ANY LUCK YOU MAY SUCK UP A THE FEMALE.
SECOND: GLUE BOARDS ARE USED TO CATCH MICE, RATS AND INSECTS, THE LARGE ONE 5 X 7 INCHES.
PUT FOOD ( FRUIT OR CAT FOOD) IN MIDDLE AND PLACE UNDER SEATS. THEN WAIT A DAY OR TWO.
THEY CAN’T RESIST IT.
Temperatures above 39C (102F) for 24 hours will kill most roaches. Temperatures of 46C (115F) are sufficient to kill almost any roach in 1 hour.
The problem is making sure that every nook and cranny of the car is hot enough to kill them. It may take a long exposure to temperatures significantly hotter than these to bring the internal nooks and crannies of the car up to the thermal death point of roaches.
If the car could be placed in a powder coat oven for 24 hours at 140F (after draining the gasoline of course), or possibly build an insulated box it can be pushed into and heated with a turbine heater…
Read this study on the thermal death point of roaches:
Hi guys…love your show. Actually I think dry ice will not help the Madagascar hissing cockroach situation. CO2 is a wonderful anesthetic for insects…it puts them to sleep, with a very, very big safety margin before killing them. It is used in most insect labs to put bugs to sleep so they can be transferred to new cages, or cut open, etc. My suggestion would be to use a bug bomb, the kind used to kill fleas and flea eggs in carpets. It is lethal…to bugs…but dissipates completely after about 12 hours.
PS. Not only will the cockroaches be scary to drivers and passengers, they will likely end
up eating wiring insulation, seat stuffing, etc. Hisssssssssss.
Roaches in cars
These were Florida roaches not Madagascar hissing cockroaches, but who knows?
In my hippie days I had a '66 Ford van (purple with stained glass windows of course) which became infested with cockroaches?very happy and peaceful ones perhaps, but not wanted! Maybe it was all the munchies everybody had on the way to the Iron Butterfly concert. My ears are still ringing!
Anyway, I tried everything with no luck until that winter when I drove up to Iowa to visit the folks. The temperature went down to 20 below zero a couple of nights and when I had been back in Florida for a while I realized?no roaches! (Er, cockroaches anyway)
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.
I DO wish people wouldn’t buy animals – any animal – as a prank. It’s like the people who buy a pet rabbit for Easter and then foolishly let the (domesticated) rabbit out in the wild two weeks later when the novelty has worn off. I don’t think they’re giving out cats, dogs, rabbits, cockroaches, fish, or turtles for us to kill in experiments or give out as gag gifts.
Place several sticky bug pads (for roaches andmice) around the car under the seqats with a small bit of food. Should capture most all roaches without killing them.
Bob Usher
Huntsville, AL
bjusher@aol.com
Please try not to harm these gentle creatures. I have raised generations of them as part of my science curriculum in my kindergarten. They are harmless (cannot bite or sting), interesting, and actually quite beautiful. If you look closely (easy to do as they stay on your fingertip) their bodies appear to be made of burnished wood pieces put together with a row of tiny nails. They are easy to care for, but the babies can escape through very small holes in cages. Our night custodian would find one from time to time in various parts of my classroom. I did accidently kill one when I left her in my hot car one late afternoon, as I was going to bring her into my science methods class at UMass Amherst later that day. I felt terrible! Perhaps the best way to trap one that’s in a car is to lure her with a slice of melon or sweet potato and go out at night to catch her in the act of eating. Do not be afraid of grabbing her. She CANNOT hurt you. The hissing is just air coming from her abdomen because she’s sacred and is trying to protect herself. Good luck, and and please try to be patient and gentle with these little guys.
Funny call, but I was more impressed with the caller. A 15 year old, very bright and articulate young lady who didn’t stutter and stammer her way through each sentence and didn’t say “like I…” every other word. She was such a pleasure to listen to. I’m an airline reservations agent and talk to a hundred people a day. Most of the ‘grownups’ I talk to don’t hold a candle to Bibi, like when they ask what time their flight is ‘departuring.’ Bibi, you rock and you will be great at whatever you do in life. Call again. A definite for “Stump the Chumps.” Steve Berk, Houston
Madagascar cockroaches infesting a car
It’s not a mechanical issue your caller had; it was what to do with
roaches in a car. I had the same situation when I bought a used car
which was FULL of running roaches in the passenger area and in the
trunk. Someone suggested I get some powdered Boric Acid from the
local hardware store and sparingly sprinkle it throughout the car.
There is no doubt this is worth a try because this worked
quickly (w/in two days). Hope this helps:)
Jeff Robinson
I still say get some hedge apples and put them in the car (see earlier thread). It worked for me.
For a humane roach trap use a jar that rounds out just below the lip, such as a mayonnaise jar. Spread peanut butter inside, about an inch below where it rounds out, covering an inch or so wide band all around. Put the jar in the car where you think the roach is lurking. The roach will try to get at the peanut butter and will fall in and not be able to get out - and you can relocate it. This works with Haiku, Maui, roaches - I hope it works on ones from Madagascar.
Boric Acid we use here in the south where the Mucho Grande Cuckarachas are called "wood roaches). They do anything but stay in the wood. They are 1-2 inches long and FLY into your HAIR. Anywho- you can also use the boric acid POWDER (not crystals) which is as toxic as salt (so don’t let your dogs and kids lick the car seats)to keep your house flea free. I sprinke it into the carpet at the edge of each carpeted room one time every 3 years.
I generally love your show – it always
makes me chuckle. Today’s show, however,
was no laughing matter. Sale and accidental
or intentional release of non-native species
from fish to decorative plants has been a
source of many problems at the very least
costing huge sums of money and time to
control and at the worst causing the demise
of important native species that could not
compete, clogging waterways, and making life
unpleasant for human beings. Imagine –
battling large cock
roaches at home! Wouldn’t it be wise
to use the incident to highlight the link
between keeping or selling something non-
native and the potential, if inadvertently
released, for unchecked reproduction and
consequences? I know the show is meant to
entertain, but I’m sure you could figure out
an angle.
Dear Tom and Ray, As mechanical experts I am surprised that your first suggestion for eliminating the cockroach did not include a running engine,a simple hose and duct tape. Carbon Monoxide is quite lethal not just to humans but other pests and a homemade suicide trap should have come to mind immediately. Plus, by simply airing out the garage and the car, no permanent damage. Of course, boric acid and sugar makes a good trap too, but care should be taken not to dust the car if other pets are going to ride in it. Thanks, Leolani, Honolulu
When you gave that advice, frankly, I cringed. I didn’t hear you suggest that they make sure every single LCD they might have left in the car needed to be removed first.
Maybe it wouldn’t get cold enough to freeze them, but on the other hand, maybe it would.
The dry ice is an amazing idea.
Personally, I would use a simple bait made for borax and peanut butter.
Borax kills cockroaches and can’t be tasted by them.
You could also use common roach baits available at stores. The best ones use either arsenic or some variety of boric acid.
As for less deadly solutions, I’m not sure of any. You may be able to look at humane mousetraps, however the lower weight of the cockroach may be an issue, regardless of size.
Madagascar Cockroaches - Answer to the caller.
To rid a car from Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, you need a natural predator; a snake.
Simply put a snake in the car and the job’s done.
The next thing to do is find the snake.
So, to make that whole job a lot easier, use a rattle snake.
Hear the rattle, find the snake. Easy.
To catch the snake, place a large pot with some burlap in it on the floor.
The snake will crawl in the pot and under the burlap to feel secure.
To help lure the cockroach out into the open for the rattle snake, put a small pan on the
floor with some over-ripened fruit in it.
Mangos work well and double as nice air freshener.
Feel free to drive the car during the cockroach cleansing.
As you drive over the pot holes and frost heaves, sing along:
"Hissin? and a rattlin? banging on the pots and pans. YEAH!"
Added benefit, you won’t need to lock your car anymore.
Leave one window cracked. Dry Ice is just frozen CO2 Carbon-di-oxide. It will be heavier than air and if you get enough of it in there with a cracked window or sunroof it will repace the warmer air and there are not many living things that can live long in a C02 enviroment. Once it has replaced the air and killed the critters you can open a door and in a few minutes the car will air out.