Listen to this articleYou don’t know where they come from. They invade and then breed creating hundreds then thousands of soldiers that continue to reek havoc in your home. They cause food poisoning, staphylococcus, asthma, and a host of other conditions. I’m talking about the German Cockroach.
These pests invaded my house several years ago and I’ve been battling them ever since. Knocking down their population just to have an ongoing war on my hands because of their prolific habits.
When the invasion started out, I used Combat Max Roach Killing Gel (active ingredient: Fipronil) purchased from Walmart and from the Neshoba County Co-Op. While this approach was my only option at the time and it worked to knock down their population but not eradicate them completely. I battled them for months, following the directions the company put on their product how to treat the infestation. To no avail, I needed another approach.
I called in Terminix, hoping they would fumigate the house like they did in exterminator type television shows. To my surprise, Terminix takes a more lax approach. They charge an initial fee to get started and service a residential dwelling once a month unless you call them to come back more than your scheduled house call. Teminix baited for cockroaches and sprayed the outside of our house. I waited to see a depletion of their forces but it seemed that the gel Terminix uses is just candy to German Cockroaches. After a few months of paying for service, I still didn’t see a resolve of the infestation so, I canceled the service and gave up. I still treated the house every now and again with Combat Gel but it only kept the infestation at bay.
This past week, I finally grew completely tired of all bugs, any bugs, especially the infestation of German Cockroaches that was running us out of house and home.
With a new hope of liberation, I started tackling the task head on! I started out with the Combat Gel. I emptied a whole 60g tube in one treatment. Leaving dots of gel every 8 to 10 inches in every cabinet, under the counter top ledge, under the stove top, down every corner of the kitchen, and every room I have ever seen a single German Cockroach.
A day past and that night, I saw dead roaches everywhere and some places where I treated, the gel was gone. I ordered a couple other products to add to my arsenal. I ordered a box of 4-30 gram tubes of Advion Evolution Cockroach Gel Bait Insecticide (active ingredient: Indoxacarb) as well as 4-30 gram tubes of Optigard Cockroach Gel Bait Insecticide (active ingredient: Emamectin Benzoate).
Another day past, again I saw dead roaches and started an cleaning obsessively. From vacuuming, using scrub pads where the roaches nested, to using Clorox Wipes everywhere. I treated again the same way and used a whole 60g tube of Combat Gel.
I had another off day and then my new arsenal of products arrived.
The next day I cleaned obsessively again and treated with the Advion Gel. I used a whole 30g tube, leaving specks of gel everywhere I previously treated.
As you get the picture, I treat the rooms in the house every other day. Cleaning on the off day or the day that I bait and treat the rooms. I skipped a day and saw an enormous amount of dead cockroaches everywhere from treating with Advion Gel the next.
After treating a second time with Advion Gel and skipping a day. I’ve started treating with Optigard Gel, using a whole 30g tube. Before I finished treating with Optigard, I noticed roaches already attracted and devouring this round of insecticide. I’m hoping that after treating a second time with Optigard, then starting over with Combat Max Gel and going through the rest of the insecticide, every German Cockroach in this infestation will be extinct by early May.
I am an obsessively clean person but being clean is only 1/3 the battle. The rest relies on the treatment plan and giving it time to work. Eventually I won’t have to treat the house every other day and will only have to do so every month. Just remember that this infestation was very bad and I was seriously tired of living with these nasty, prolific pests!
I’ll update when I go a day without seeing a single, live German Cockroach anywhere or sometime the first week of May. Whichever comes first. In the future, I’ll do reviews of the products that I’ve used to combat this infestation and my reviews may even be a video review if I feel comfortable doing it.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. Please like and share this post. Also, if you have any questions, comments, or even suggestions on what I can add to my monthly home treatment plan; feel free to leave a comment below.