British Expats - Cockroaches

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- - Cockroaches (https://britishexpats.com/forum/barbie-92/cockroaches-807302/)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kapri (Post 10873583)

We're in a house Jon.

The agent hasn't got back to me, no surprise there :rolleyes:

Got to be honest with you, they might have had a bit of a laugh at it, 'bloody poms moaning about roaches' might have been their attitude.

Many Aussies just get on with trying to control them and some will expect the same from you, not saying that is the right attitude as they should take any issue seriously, but many won't.

Least it is a house so you stand a better chance of controlling them :thumbup:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon77 (Post 10873647)

My agent is a d!@k so any chance I get to hassle him will be taken :thumbsup:

I hate cockroaches and still hate them after being here for 40 years. You will hear the screams if i see one and the x rated words.

I would keep on and on at the Agent to do something. normally when you leave a rental accomodation the carpet cleaners and pest controls comes in.

there should be a sticker about under the kitchen sink or pantry nside. saying when it was last fumigated.

Yuck I hate them. Hope you get it sorted :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by brissybee (Post 10871851)

I don't think landlords are liable... however, if I was living with a cockroach infestation I would pay to have the place professionally treated.

I don't know if they are where you are... but here we've used Amalgamated Pest Control and they offered to come back, free of charge, within the year if the problem wasn't fixed.

The bigger cockroaches are easier to get rid of. The smaller ones, German cockroaches I think, can be very difficult and may need pest controllers to use different treatments.

+1 I always have the house sprayed for roaches as soon as I start to see live ones. The treatment usually lasts about 2 years and the last bill was $120.00 for all of the interior of the house and the underneath ( piers ), and the garden shed and fences.

As a roach hater, the cost of the treatment would be cheap at twice the price, why stuff around with a "useless" agent when you can have the pest people in for about a hundred bucks ?

As for minimising the problem......make sure that all your inside water traps are full, bathroom and toilet drains etc can easily dry out in this warm climate. Check the outside area for gulleys that may have also lost the water in the trap. On my property I have glued wire fly screen over all of the gulleys and I found that this really reduced the problem. Also make sure that the fly screens are in good order and make sure that they are in place well before dusk.

Had a profession spray about 42 years ago.Hated the smell and emptying cupboards. All I usually do when I see one is put baits under fridges and washing machine and in cupboard under the sink, spray outside doors and floor drains. Result.

No message at all from the agent but just got a call from the pest controller, so they are onto it even if they don't actually communicate with me :thumbup:

I was on the phone yesterday to the insurance people when out of nowhere a roach dropped onto my keyboard (I was at the computer looking at my files) so cue screaming and flapping about. The indian on the other end was amused.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon77 (Post 10873553)

The truth is any treatment will be only temporary, it will keep them out for another 3 or 4 months but they will be back. I have had just as much success with the do it yourself outdoor barrier spray and is apparently 'what the professionals use'. If you are in a unit complex it will be even more difficult, unless everyone gets together and gets treated at the same time they will be back.

You shouldn't have to accept cockroaches but unfortunately they are a fact of life in Sydney. So many people move their things from rental to rental, like fridges and washers and take the pests with them often and infest a place that was previously clean.

We have had them in a few places and in the warmer months I have seen a few around here, this is what we do to limit the numbers and make them want to move on elsewhere -

Keep you kitchen worktops very clean
Keep any small food that has been opened in the fridge or a container
Fully seal up any larger food
Place baits under the fridge, washer, under all sinks and near electricals
Vent the place as much as possible, they love humidity
Spray barrier spray around all the outdoor walls, window edges and doors and under the house if you have access.

I actually prefer the big bastards, they are easier to deal with. It is the smaller german cockroaches that are the bigger problem, they get in the walls / electrics and are very hard to totally get shot of.

I don't freak out now when I see one, I just deal with it and keep up with the above list which limits them at least.

I'll second all off the above. When we first moved into this house 10 years ago we had a lot of cockroaches. I woke up one night with one scuttling across my face, not nice.

We use the Mortein bombs twice a year. We let them off when we are going away for the weekend to give them a lot of time to get into all the nooks and crannies. I also use the Coopex barrier spray powder from Bunnings twice a year to the outside of the house.

We only rarely get cockroaches now, you can't get rid of them completely though.

Keel

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kapri (Post 10871817)

My worst creature nightmare has come true. I'm sharing a house with cockroaches.
We set off mortein bombs before we moved in about 5 weeks ago and I'm finding, on average, one cockroach every two days. Some are quite small, tonight's specimen was a huge bastard.
For the first 3 weeks, they were either dead or dying but the ones I'm finding now are very much alive.
Any advice?
We are finding them in the bathroom and bedrooms but not the kitchen. We think they are in the loft and dropping through the light fittings.

We are currently renting and have only been in for 5 weeks. Does anyone know if the landlord has any obligation to pay for treatment? They were obviously here before we moved in, we are keeping the place clean and we have tried mortein.
The can of Raid is currently my best friend!

OMG I couldn't stand that! For them to be that bad obviously the previously people just let them breed and breed. We have only ever had the odd one but all the same, I get the place treated every couple of years just in case.

It's no coincidence that New South Walians are referred to as "cockroaches" and Queenslanders as "banana benders"

They love wet areas such as laundries and kitchens and under bathroom sinks and cupboards, and do their marauding from there, so treat those areas first. Aerial bombs don't do much good, best to treat the damp areas intensively.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kapri (Post 10878651)

No message at all from the agent but just got a call from the pest controller, so they are onto it even if they don't actually communicate with me :thumbup:

Soon be time for a party at Kapri's house.
BYO drink but food provided.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bix (Post 10878948)

Soon be time for a party at Kapri's house.
BYO drink but food provided.

:sick:

Pest controller coming this week :thumbup:

All food is now in airtight, plastic containers.

Anyone got any ideas for storing fruit? I don't want to put it all in the fridge, particularly things like bananas, but putting it in airtight containers is not good either.

One night in our old house in Epping I got out of bed in the middle of the night to go and get a glass of water. I was walking across our living room floor towards the kitchen when I felt a 'pop' under my foot, I stood on and squashed a big ****** cockroach :eek: It guts were stuck all over the bottom of my foot!

The first rental we had in Canberra appeared to be cockroach free. That was until we discovered dozens of the buggers creeping out from gaps beneath the skirting boards at night time :eek:

The other two rentals have been okay. :fingerscrossed: