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We have a home in a tropical forest and we get the big “wood” roaches (I believe @jaquo calls them palmetto bugs). These roaches eat decaying matter in the forest but come into our house in search of water, especially during droughts. Since our home is not sealed (it’s an open-air design, the epitome of glamping) and the doors are left open much of the time to catch the breezes and enjoy the view, these roaches just waltz in. Their nests are outside, so indoor treatment doesn’t get them. I use the Hoy-Hoy traps, but we don’t catch a lot in those because we really don’t have an infestation in the house.
I stumbled on roach bait called “Vendetta”. The adults eat the bait and go back to the nest and die, and end up killing the infants, too. It’s like Terro ant bait which works wonders.
Anyone use this stuff before? I’d love to hear from someone that has used it.
Not used it, but my daughter, who lives in southern Baja, where roaches are prevalent, turned me on to boric acid. Mix it with a little sugar and enough milk to make a paste. I’ve used it, too. It works and is non-poisonous to humans.
What I know as saw palmetto bugs are the flying cockroaches. The crawling ones are just cockroaches.
The Terro ant gel is boric acid, sugar and water, and maybe some attractant. The ants eat it up like crazy. Usually within 24-36 hours, the ants are gone. I’ve never been that successful when I try to make the mix myself.
I use diatomaceous earth for roaches, but that only kills the ones that crawl through it.
I’m afraid you’re mistaken. Boric acid is wildly poisonous to both humans and pets and any “friendly” bugs that go near it.
" Boric acid is a dangerous poison . Poisoning from this chemical can be acute or chronic. Acute boric acid poisoning usually occurs when someone swallows powdered roach-killing products that contain the chemical. Boric acid is a caustic chemical."
I have used it extensively living in roach-infested NYC as well as here in Florida. I don’t make a paste, I do put it in the walls in powder form using the sockets or spraying it under baseboards (only when I don’t have pets). In NYC, we used to make a powder mixture of boric acid and chocolate powder, which worked a treat. You can also make a paste with this combination as well.
Boric acid is a poison! Be careful around humans and pets!!!
Thanks for the correction, but after reading up about it, boric acid isn’t what I would call “wildly poisonous”. It may cause skin irritation in some people, but unlike a lot of other heavy duty insecticides, it isn’t considered dangerous to touch. And an adult would have to consume a fair amount of it to be poisoned. Of course you wouldn’t want to leave it where your child or pet could get to it and eat it.
But compared to many other insecticides out there, some of which are carcinogenic, which boric acid isn’t, I prefer using it to other stuff.
I apply it in places no one would ever come in contact with unless they were doing a super deep cleaning, like on the inside frame of undersink cupboard doors, way up in the corners.
