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Cockroaches in the apartment building!

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  1. #1

    Cockroaches in the apartment building!

    Since moving to Hong Kong, I consistently see about two cockroaches per week in my apartment. They're not the big ones that can fly, but they sure are quick! They're about the diameter of a one dollar coin. Last night one crawled into the gas burners in the kitchen so I turned on the flame...but it escaped before catching on fire!

    Most of the time I see them in the bathroom, but sometimes in the kitchen or bedrooms as well. I have no idea how they're getting in! I keep my house very clean and I never ever keep kitchen garbage overnight. So far I've sprayed my main door with RAID and laid poisonous traps all over the apartment. Just wondering if there's anything else I can do. I'm thinking the next step up is to do a complete lockdown at night time (i.e plug every sink hole and shut every window)

    I also live on the 11th floor of a 20 year old building if that makes a difference.


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Nov 2010
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    3,377

    If you go to Japan home stores (or something similar), you can buy two products:

    1. Bug bomb - this is basically a DIY fumigator. It is very effective. You activate the fumigator, leave the flat for 2/3 hours and when you come home, all your cockroaches (and other insects, like MASSIVE hairy green spiders (as I have found to my peril)) are exterminated.

    2. Roach traps - we have put these down for the year we have lived here. No roach has ever been trapped but the dogs do like the taste of the bait (which I think is peanut butter).

    Good luck!


  3. #3

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    2,879

    Get some of these fumigators ($60 per) at Park'n shop, put one in every room, and go for a couple of beers in the meantime.

    Edit: LC beat me to it.


  4. #4

    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    They normally come from the bathroom area from the plumbing, so close all gaps includind shower drain and spray in bathroom area.


  5. #5

    Join Date
    Feb 2011
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    We use Baygon roach bait. You stick in under the sink (or wherever the roaches seem to be coming from) and replace it every 3 months. We've used one since the beginning of summer and no longer sees them.


  6. #6

    Join Date
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    Quote Originally Posted by luckycat:
    If you go to Japan home stores (or something similar), you can buy two products:

    1. Bug bomb - this is basically a DIY fumigator. It is very effective. You activate the fumigator, leave the flat for 2/3 hours and when you come home, all your cockroaches (and other insects, like MASSIVE hairy green spiders (as I have found to my peril)) are exterminated.

    2. Roach traps - we have put these down for the year we have lived here. No roach has ever been trapped but the dogs do like the taste of the bait (which I think is peanut butter).

    Good luck!
    OMG, big green hairy spiders?? That's it, I'm staying in Mid-levels!!!

    +1 on the roach traps, we used them in Tokyo as we seemed to always get cockroaches in our bathroom. They worked....

  7. #7

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Pretty normal in HK no matter how clean you keep you flat - they usually come from the plumbing.

    We use fumigators regularly and spray some raid once in a while.

    In 9 years in HK/Macau I have seen this is pretty much everywhere (new building, old building, luxurious or not)


  8. #8

    Join Date
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    Midlevels / USA (MD) / London
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    They are getting in somehow, someway, probably as someone mentioned near the plumbing or somewhere like that. When I opened under my sink I saw several significant gaps between the shelving underneath and the 'base' basic floor of the building (for example the area around the water shut off valves).

    I ended up buying a couple of cans of "spray foam insulation" down at the hardware stores (it's somewhat common). It is a can with a straw attached and you shake it up and spray this sticky foam that expands to fill in the gaps where the roaches can enter.

    Spray Foam Insulation | GREAT STUFFâ„¢ Insulating Foam Sealant


  9. #9

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Gold Coast Marina
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    Quote Originally Posted by penguinsix:
    They are getting in somehow, someway, probably as someone mentioned near the plumbing or somewhere like that. When I opened under my sink I saw several significant gaps between the shelving underneath and the 'base' basic floor of the building (for example the area around the water shut off valves).

    I ended up buying a couple of cans of "spray foam insulation" down at the hardware stores (it's somewhat common). It is a can with a straw attached and you shake it up and spray this sticky foam that expands to fill in the gaps where the roaches can enter.

    Spray Foam Insulation | GREAT STUFFâ„¢ Insulating Foam Sealant

    Let's hope you don't have to access those pipes any time soon......

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Apr 2008
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    2,879

    We had an infestation when we moved into our flat 2 years ago. Fumigation before moving in and keeping clean solved it for good.

    Re: getting in

    My wife frequently watches little cockroaches trying to walk in through the open kitchen window (she's up at night feeding the baby). For years I thought they' would come in through the drain on the base of the kitchen cabinets, which never sees any water, so once in a while I fill it with a bleach/water mixture. Probably I was just paranoid, and having lived cockroach free after moving into cockroach HQ and one fumigation shows keeping it clean pays off.


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