keeny

So ok I am sure this kind of question/post has been asked a million times on this forum. But I'm going to ask it again, as I am totally freaked out and need some honest answers.

Tonight I had two little creepy cockroachy looking things scuttle out of a paperpad on my kitchen worktop. Both about half the size of my little fingernail, not minute but not massive. Will they have been baby cockroaches? Do you think this means we have an infestation somewhere? There were these two tonight and then one a few days back. Have no idea where they are coming from. Have done a quick check through all kitchen cupboards but saw nothing. What clues - other than a bloody great roach - would I see to make me realise it's an infestation?

We are renting - so if it is a problem, is it our responsibility to get rid of them or should I contact the agent to sort it?

Thanks.

pricklykina

Hi there...I would say get onto it quickly and yes...I think it is your responsibility not the landlords.
They do come in during the wet weather...so you can risk waiting and seeing but because I hate the critters, i would get the exterminators in.
You could use gel bait yourself but they know where the best places are to put it and many of them will keep coming back to rebait at no extra cost until they are gone.


Good luck (they are very common here so don't be too upset!)

Bo-Jangles

Okay stop panicking, they're not usually the types that infest houses and are usually lone strays from outside. They are most likely bush cockroaches that have come in from outside, through the windows on these warmer days and evenings. I have killed two this past week. They are quite flat and you do get less scared as time goes by - well I am a little braver at least I can now get close enough to douse them in fly spray and put a glass over the top for someone else to dispose of.

Watch the papers and stuff you bring in from the letter box, they seem to like hiding in them and then you bring them indoors. Euuck!

Get a Raid / Robocan asap http://www.raidautomatic.co.nz/faq.html

If you can bear the graphic details and pictures this website might help to confirm the critters you are dealing with.

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/re....asp?Bu_Id=260

littleal

I think it is the big antennae that give them away as cockroaches, but yours sound a bit small. Ours are the size of scorched almonds. Do you live near a gully? We are near the river and we get quite a few. I hate them

Has anyone tried one of those electronic things that emits a noise that puts them off?

BEVS

OK ! Like! Major ! YUK !

sirplug

Oh dear..........wait till summer's really here and the Weta come out to play!

You should try getting a cat and see what they bring back with them!

Expat Kiwi

You know that does sound like a baby cockroach, usually the bush ones are quite a bit larger than that. You could always get some of those sticky trap things to see how much of a problem you have, if at all.


I wouldn't worry about it though, just get your house sprayed with pyrethrin spray once a year. Contact your agent and ask them to sort it out.

BEVS

Not quite the same though.

Bo-Jangles

I too thought they sounded a bit small, they're like pigeons: hard to imagine baby ones as I have only seen big ones.

The analogy of an almond is a good one and made me chuckle. A few weeks ago when I was vacuuming, I spotted signs of shiny brown cockroach coloured thing in the carpet. With no spectacles on, it certainly had the shape and colouring of the dreaded beast. So with no time to waste, heart racing and adrenaline kicked in for fight or flight, I donned my armour, gathered weapons of mass destruction only to find only closer inspection that it was a roast almond dropped on the floor.

keeny

Thanks for replies guys. I did a big blitz of all kitchen cupboards and found another tiny one yesterday afternoon, although nothing that I could describe as droppings or anything. I have bought some of them cockroach traps and put behind fridge and under sink. Am proper paranoid about them now though, I know they are pretty common here but thought we were lucky having not seen many in our 16 months here, only a couple of big 'uns that have come in through open windows.

Haven't seen a Weta before, I guess I don't really want to either by the sounds of them! We don't live near a gully or anywhere near water really.

I'll see how we go with these traps down, just been informed our next house inspection is coming up soon, so I will mention it to agent then, unless it gets any worse before that.

jayandbill

I've lived with cockroaches in the past, In bahrain, Gibraltar and germany and really hated them. They're different to the ones we get here and for some reason I don't get so jittery with these. These are garden cockroaches as someone pointed out and I find they usually stay still and let you spray them, unlike the house ones that scurry. A tip I read to get rid of them them is to put little piles of a bicarbonate of soda and sugar mixed around the house. They eat it and suffer the consequences!!! I get about 2 large ones a week and and a few tiny tiddlers.

bevissa65

yuk, I absolutely loathe the bloody things and its been one of the very few things about living here I hate Used to run away screaming (I'm a big girl and that looked ridiculous!!!!) Eventually we brought 2 of the battery operated spray thingy's. They spray every so often and we get very, very few in the house now (also zaps flies) If I do see the odd brave one I laugh cos I know its going to die!!! Still have great trouble getting them from the floor to the bin tho Still very wary of walking in the dark barefoot just in case......Bevissa

bevissa65

Them Weta's are mean looking things! Look them up and you won't forget them Bevissa

Flower Pot

We had a rogue one the other day in the spare bedroom, picked up my hairdryer and it scuttled across the desk, they would have heard my scream down in Welly

I spray the inside of a glass with bug killer then put glass over it... dead in less than a min, poor sod.

Havent seen any more since so am thinking he just wandered in when I had the doors open

Oh now Weta's... jeez, they are nasty looking critters, heres what you have to look forward to!

Woodpigeon

Don't have a problem with cockroaches down here, but we have the terror-inducing huhu beetle instead

http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/re....asp?Bu_ID=199

Living next to native bush we get loads of these in the garden, and I regularly come across their grubs when I'm weeding (they hatch from eggs beneath the soil). The only time I've come across one indoors was courtesy of one of our cats!! Oh, and they make a gross crunching noise when the cats eat them ........ and their feelers can get caught in between the cat's teeth

They fly too, so I often hear them thumping against the window at night