Roaches

We've found two cockroaches in our bathroom since last night. Is there a natural remedy I can use to get rid of them, so it won't hurt Cammy? We aren't that messy, but we do leave clothes on the floor in there, plus there's this space between the tub and the sink. Not even wide enough to stick your hand down but they probably like it there. We're going to stop leaving any clothes in there and take everything but the trashcan off the floor. YUCK! I have a major phobia of cockroaches. I hope I don't see any when I clean in there!!!!!

I may get flamed for this, but I've left the Raid roach bates out. Typically the areas I place them are far too small for my cats to reach so it has never been an issue.

I found this on an all natural website:
"Catnip is a natural repellent to cockroaches. The active ingredient is nepetalactone, which is non-toxic to humans and pets. Small sachets of catnip can be left in areas of cockroach activity. Catnip can also be simmered in a small amount of water to make a "catnip tea" which can be used as a spray to apply around baseboards and behind counters. This natural repellent should only be used in homes without cats! "

But a commenter on the site wrote this:
catnip for cockroach control:
"Hi! Thanks for your advice. The catnip spray works! And my kitties don't seem to even care that I spray it everywhere. I haven't seen a cockroach since (hopefully, it will stay this way)!

Ants started to appear as well, so I went back to your web site and saw that I could use mint to deter them. I use fresh mint, as it's all I have. It works! So do coffee grinds. Strange to see coffee grinds and mint on the floor, but it's much better than those nasty chemical sprays.

Thanks again for your advice! Carly"


I don't know if that will drive your cats crazy though, mine would go nuts.

Actually, I have tons of catnip and cat nip spray that Cammy shows no interest in. So that works out perfectly. I've found one in the bathroom from time to time so I'm not to worried about and infestation. I think keeping it clean and maybe the cat nip should take care of the problem. Thank you!

There's nothing wrong with using roach bait traps - the best places for these are cabinets and drawers that roaches like to hide in anyways.

Your description of your bathroom sounds a bit like mine. There's a tiny space between the sink and tub, and I hate it. It's a terrible design to put a sink cabinet that close to a tub.

Has it been raining a lot lately? I'd ask you what the roaches looked like - nymph or adult, male or female, but most people can't tell the difference. Hopefully all you spotted was nymphs/sub adults so you don't have any egg cases to worry about.

My only other suggestion to you is to clean. If there's nothing at all to attract them you have a better chance of not having an infestation of them.

Yes, my bathroom sucks. My whole apartment sucks, actually.
The roaches I usually spot are very small. I didn't see what Jon saw, hopefully small one.

Very small isn't good - that means they hatched not long ago. You might as well bait some areas.

My question about rain had a valid reason, by the way. Often when it rains a lot people will see an occasional roach inside. It doesn't mean they have an infestation, just that roaches are moving about and one snuck in.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Very small isn't good - that means they hatched not long ago. You might as well bait some areas.

My question about rain had a valid reason, by the way. Often when it rains a lot people will see an occasional roach inside. It doesn't mean they have an infestation, just that roaches are moving about and one snuck in.

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I forgot to answer that. It rained yesterday. It hadn't rained for a while before that. By small, I mean about half the size of the mature ones that I used to see.

Originally Posted by DragulescuGirl

catnip for cockroach control:
"Hi! Thanks for your advice. The catnip spray works! And my kitties don't seem to even care that I spray it everywhere. I haven't seen a cockroach since (hopefully, it will stay this way)!

Ants started to appear as well, so I went back to your web site and saw that I could use mint to deter them. I use fresh mint, as it's all I have. It works! So do coffee grinds. Strange to see coffee grinds and mint on the floor, but it's much better than those nasty chemical sprays.

Thanks again for your advice! Carly"

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I'd be wary of using the coffee grounds. They're toxic to cats. I don't know if they'd eat them or not, but I wouldn't want to find out the hard way they would.

I am curious about this topic. I, too, have seen a few cockroaches lately and I think it's because I've switched over to wet food. There's almost always some food on the floor except right after when I mop.

I used to have a LOT of roaches, especially during rain season... I started using this repellent and haven't had even one roach in the last 2 years!
It is somewhat noisy, so I have one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom.
I tried many others plug in ultrasonic ones, and they don't work... This one is amazing though - really good!
I bought mine at home depot.

Originally Posted by kscatlady

I forgot to answer that. It rained yesterday. It hadn't rained for a while before that. By small, I mean about half the size of the mature ones that I used to see.

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That could be it, and that size would mean they're old enough to be traveling around. I hope that's just the case.

I saw one in my den a couple weeks ago. I don't wear my glass or contacts around the house so how I noticed it was pure luck (for me, not the roach ). It (she, not yet breeding age) was trying to slowly creep past me..... but didn't make it. I went on a cleaning spree - wiping out and scrubbing things that were already clean. There's no roaches in my house, thankfully. Because like most other people they bother me, not the insect itself but the thought of my home being dirty enough for them.


I feed wet food, too. I put plastic mats, that get washed daily, under the two messy cats. Sherman doesn't have a mat under his bowl because he'll push the bowl halfway across the floor before he's done - and he always cleans up every scrap of wet food.

I should get a mat for under Cammy's dish. I was sitting over there the other days, and some how she's got like bits of it all over the wall over there. Six inches from her food bowl both ways. I'm not sure how she did that.

I just hate roaches. They freak me out. I don't like any insects at all.

Here is the deal....... Chances are if you see any out in the light, there are many more! They don't like light! What you should watch out for is tiny dark dots on your walls, clothes, cabinets, ceilings....... this is roach feces. Many exterminators use a pet safe spray applied monthly. There is also a paste that you can apply in certain areas that the roaches eat and take back to the nest.
If you see one, there's many more there!

Where there are 2 there are a whole lot more!!!

Best to notify the agency so that they can do the entire building because treating your apartment isn't enough.

I used to live in a highrise apartment that had roaches! They didn't come in and spray. Instead what they did was apply some kind of "paste" to strategic areas such as under cabinets, in corners behind the fridge, under the bottom of the drawers, inside the bathroom vanity etc. It was just like putting a bit of putty. It dried hard and had no smell and you didn't have to remove everything from the walls or cupboards so that they could spray toxic chemicals around. Apparently the roaches like that paste stuff and end up taking some of it back to their nest.

There are really no "natural" remedies to get rid of a roach infestation, especially not in an apartment building. All apartments need to be treated.

Roaches are nasty. They get into food and fridges....so gross!!!

Well, I don't know. If that's true then why aren't they bigger? We've been here three years, I've seen four small ones in that time. And I've never seen them anywhere but the bathroom.

Originally Posted by kscatlady

Well, I don't know. If that's true then why aren't they bigger? We've been here three years, I've seen four small ones in that time. And I've never seen them anywhere but the bathroom.

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That is a pretty low number to see over or a three year period if you had secret infestation.

My in-laws are terrible at keeping their kitchen clean (so much so that I'll go over there and clean it for them). I have seen roaches on occasion there. But usually that's because I'll open doors and drawers quickly and won't turn on more than the little light over the stove if in their kitchen at night. In short - it's hard to miss them and I've seen more than 2-4. They know there's a problem and they know what they'd have to do to fix it...

A bit O/T but somewhat funny. Last summer DH and I were in the next town over, around supper time, and decided to get some fast food. Well, I can't eat what he wanted to have so I got a sandwich from somewhere else and brought it in with me while he ordered what he wanted. I was sitting there eating my sandwich and a roach comes strolling by on the divider between the booths. It stopped and watched me... then tried to come closer to me. Made me glad I had food from somewhere else. I told DH that the place's food was so bad that even the roaches didn't want it. And yes, I told the roach (in front of other people) that it couldn't have my sandwich.

Not so funny is the fact that a lot of restaurants and fast food places do have problems with roaches.

Originally Posted by kscatlady

Well, I don't know. If that's true then why aren't they bigger? We've been here three years, I've seen four small ones in that time. And I've never seen them anywhere but the bathroom.

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Just because you haven't seen them, doesn't mean they haven't been there. It also could be that someone around your immediate area, upstairs, downstairs, next door.... brought them with them from their old place, or from the grocery store, or from someone else's home and they are now just finding their way to your bathroom via the walls and pipe gaps.

Wow! I've never seen a roach except at the zoo...and they were huge. Apparently we don't have climate that they like....too wet and cool, most of the time. I hate bugs ( sorry to all that like them ) I would have heart failure if I saw a roach! Ick!!!!

Hee! It's too funny...I was censored on C....Roaches!

^ There's roaches almost everywhere, but some areas do not have as many problems with them indoors as other areas do. If you went out to a woody area and started rolling over logs you'd find roaches - though not the type that are typically a problem inside.

I don't like the pest species in my home. Outside they become turtle food. I have considered keeping and breeding one of the tropical species (they can't take over a home, wrong climate). There's also a member here, that sometimes posts, who keeps some.

I would contact your landlord. We started seeing roaches in one apartment we had--the neighbors were INFESTED. It was so nasty! The roaches were checking out our apartment because the neighbor's place was so full. Thankfully I was paranoid and kept everything (food stuffs) sealed in tupperwares or bags. Anyway, the LL had to have professionals come in 3 times in a 1.5 month period. We were soooo glad we moved. But paranoid about bringing them with us. The neighbors were garbage collectors (dumpster divers). We evacuated to our in-laws' house each time they bug bombed the place.

To this day I'm paranoid about bugs. It was the grossest thing I've ever gone through.