and none of my neighbors had them. Cost me $350 for a pest control guy to kill 16 rats. So I also wonder why they picked my house.

They are very apt in hiding in packing boxes. The most effective method of control and containment is Boric Acid. Spread a thin layer in all the corners and along the baseboards where they have been seen. When I lived in NYC I also but lines in the back of my kitchen cabinets. You need to lay new lines at least weekly until the roaches are gone. You need to keep pets out of the area of course. There is also an over the counter product called Combat that works quite well. It is a bait trap. The roaches crawl in eat and go back to their nest where they die. Since roaches are cannibalistic the remaining roaches eat their dead buddy and die as well.

I've seen them crawl out of the walls from behind electric outlet plates.

Sounds like they are trying to blame your parents.

I hated living in apartments.

the outside to my parents apartment 4 times a day as they have around the clock care. They hung out near the dishwasher. They are spraying tomorrow. I hope we have seen the last of the little nasty bugs.

they'll flee to other units. If the pest control guys think that it's due to messiness on your part, they'll let you know, particularly if they see problem areas (the floor under the fridge, stove or toilet are often bad or if there is wetness in the cupboards under the sink) that they think you need to keep cleaner.

not migrate. We are pretty clean. It is just the dishwasher where I have seen two in the last 6 months.

I lived in a very nice (expensive, for back then) apartment that I learned shortly after moving in was INFESTED with roaches. I called and threw a massive fit with management. They claimed that it was "just my apartment" and that maybe I should clean better. I was a fanatic about cleaning (was...not so much anymore ). I called every day for about two weeks with no action whatsoever...so...

I spent about an hour catching the little creepies in a glass jar. I figure I had about a hundred or more in there. I then slid my rent check into the jar, closed it up and dropped it in the dropbox at the office.

About two days later a notice appeared in ALL of the mailboxes and big orange (maybe pink) notices were taped to the inside doors by the mailboxes that an exterminator was going to be "examining" the buildings to "check" for any pests. Problem solved.

Let me add, I don't recommend the jar solution. It wasn't like they went in willingly, nor did they want to remain inside their new glass prison. I had the little fuckers climbing on my arms, skittering over my legs, running up my pants leg. It was an experience I cannot recommend to anyone. Showering didn't help. I felt those damned things crawling on me for weeks.

meticulous about rinsing plates before I put them in the dishwasher I guess.

People are seeing huge, large roaches in the apartment. No small ones. Just mature roaches. Could be a weird migratory thing.

was very dry. This was in Texas, so it was that way often. They weren't looking to move in permanently, they were just trying to find water. My cat took care of them. We'd find them dead in the mornings in pretty bad shape - a wing here, a leg there, etc.

The little ones are the ones that tend to take up residence inside and be difficult to get rid of no matter how clean you are. They'll eat paper and such if they can't get to actual food.

And I keep a pretty clean place. There was no food on the floor or anything like that. It was a serious infestation too. I would come home and find 5-10 of them milling about. I finally got the exterminator in and he said that they were American cockroaches, which are the big ones (as opposed to the smaller German cockroaches). Luckily the bigger ones are easy to get rid of.

It turns out that this species prefers sewers over homes. And we had a lot of rain in April of last year, so apparently this had forced them out of the sewers and into my place. He sprayed, but once the rains abated they left and never came back. It was awful while it lasted though.

I never got a straight answer on why they were in my place and nobody else's, but I assume it had something to do with access. I guess they were temporarily forced out of their home and my place was the closest and easiest substitute. I was a little worried they would come back this spring, but they didn't. It's been about a year since I've seen one.

They are nasty little things though. They creeped me out.

little almost round ones. Not long and narrow at all.

They are much harder to get rid of. That's quite different from my situation, which was a temporary habitat issue with the big American cockroaches. The critters in your parents' place have probably moved in with the intention of staying long-term. You're going to have to get the exterminator to tackle this head-on. From what I know, the best defense against those little bastards is bait. These are food sources containing poison that they take back to the nest. It will take a while, but if you put enough bait out in the right places, it will eventually collapse the colony.

I would recommend your parents get the exterminator out there ASAP and get moving on a solution. They will know what's best. My guess is that they will spray some of the obvious entry points, but then lay bait and probably instruct your parents to keep laying bait until the problem is gone. The problem will not go away overnight, but if you are diligent, you can get it under control in a month or two.

the kitchen and they are going to spray tomorrow. My parents & the cat will move out for 3 or 4 hours. I hope that works. There hasn't really been a huge amount of cockroaches. I think they've been limited to eating what food is left in the drain of the dishwasher.

They all say that bait is the best long-term solution. Those little German guys won't leave unless you drive them out. And bait is good because it inhibits their capacity to reproduce. Spraying might work, but it's probably not going to get rid of the problem for good (though it's a good first step). My guess is a combination of spraying and bait is probably the best way to deal with them.

with.

Even if you don't end up needing it, it won't hurt to put it down. Better safe than sorry. Worst case you have to scrape it off. That's better than doing nothing and enduring their annoying presence more than is necessary.

They'll eat paper, cardboard, wood, glue, and other things.

I did and never thought that could happen. Haven't seen one in 6 months.

Whatever you do - do NOT spend money on any of the crap you can buy in the store. If you can buy it at Wal-mart or Lowes or Rite Aid then you're buying something that has been used to the point of uselessness on cockroaches.

If you have the bugs then if you hire a professional they should do more than just spray. Sprays will kill bugs but those not killed by the spray will just wander elsewhere in the house - if anything sprays just spread the bugs. And just remember you only need one pregnant female and in a month it's back to the same old problem. Spraying should only be done to PREVENT infestation - not get rid of it.

What you need is baits and reproductive inhibitors.

It is better to have a professional do this - they will be able to reach into areas that you or your parents cannot reach but these are the best 2 things you can use. For the life of me I couldn't get rid of these things. After 2 treatments by a pro I don't see them ANYWHERE. I still have those sticky boxes out in a few places and all of them have been empty now since January.

Advion is the stuff you need and it is safe around pets provided you're not placing it somewhere your pets can eat it. Advion is like having a plate of warm yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies out in a crowded - everyone will swamp them to get one. Only thing is Advion, although quite tasty to bugs, is a hardcore killer. You put the bait where bugs gather - usually dark damp places like under your sinks and inside cabinets. Bugs will swamp that stuff to get a bite of the tasty stuff but these 'cookies' have a hardcore killing product in it. It was freaking - after 12 hours I went into my kitchen and the floor was coated with bugs. Swept them up and used a dustpan to dump them into a ziploc bag tossed them away. It was like that for 3 nights straight.

The other stuff is Gentrol - this is a reproductive inhibitor. Basically it ages roaches at such a fast rate that they can't reproduce. So for any bugs that don't get the Advion, they'll just become reproductively dead. What's nice is they are in these plastic button things and you just stick a few in your house.

http://www.domyownpestcontrol.com/roach-control-kit-p-1058.html

This stuff really works. Not only they worked for me but another DUer read my story and used the same treatment and has had the same type of good luck.

getting rid of them from an apartment years ago when I used Roachproof. Or you could just buy some 20 Mule Team Borax from the grocery store, which is the same thing. It is not a poison per se, it works by getting attached to a roach's body and wearing away the exoskeleton, which is fatal to the bug. Roachproof is more expensive because it is electrostatically charged so it will cling to a bug's body better. It works pretty quickly too. A few days after I used it I never saw another roach. Once the powder gets on one roach it will get on other roachs' bodies too and kill them as well. FYI, under the kitchen sink is an area where roaches like to congregate, as it is warm and damp.