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Any entomologists here?
- Thread starter keysofanxiety
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Unlike the others who have posted, I am an entomologist.
The photos aren't great, but I think it is Blattella germanica (Linnaeus), the German Cockroach. They like warm, moist conditions. I'd be concerned about the presence of spilled food around the computers. Lacking food, they might have been chewing on the electrical wiring.
Do you need to spray? Maybe not, but you need to clean up any food in the surrounding area. I would advise setting out some roach sticky traps. See if you catch any more before deciding the problem is solved or before you resort to chemical warfare.
Has anyone developed any allergies or asthma symptoms in the last few weeks? These guys might be the reason.
The photos aren't great, but I think it is Blattella germanica (Linnaeus), the German Cockroach. They like warm, moist conditions. I'd be concerned about the presence of spilled food around the computers. Lacking food, they might have been chewing on the electrical wiring.
Do you need to spray? Maybe not, but you need to clean up any food in the surrounding area. I would advise setting out some roach sticky traps. See if you catch any more before deciding the problem is solved or before you resort to chemical warfare.
Has anyone developed any allergies or asthma symptoms in the last few weeks? These guys might be the reason.
Thanks, will do. we hoovered the whole thing and binned it afterwards. Hopefully none escaped so we'll set some traps to be sure. They just kept coming.
I had a month long war with these ****ers in a cheap apartment I was living in during college.
They are persistent and fast. Chemical war is the only way to win if they have any hiding places or any water source.
They are persistent and fast. Chemical war is the only way to win if they have any hiding places or any water source.
Thanks, will do. we hoovered the whole thing and binned it afterwards. Hopefully none escaped so we'll set some traps to be sure. They just kept coming.
What does "Hoovered" involve? By which I mean, what are you doing with the bag? Hoovering is hardly going to even injure these creatures, you need to take the dust bag and launch it into the sun, otherwise the roaches will just find their way out of it and back into your building. You cannot even nuke these things from orbit, they will survive that.
I've learned that when I see a few innocent scout ants in the spring, there will soon be an army of them.
Henry the Hoover ate them all. Then we binned the bin bag immediately afterwards.
Not a single roach has been found since and it's been over a week since we had the computer in. So fingers crossed, all is well.
Which is kind of typical. Roaches are pretty shy, and they hide from the light. Most often, if you see one roach, you already have a thousand. You might actually be free and clear, but I would not count on it just yet.
Oooer ...
I'll keep that in mind and suggest setting up some traps as a previous poster did. Thanks to all for the contributions and advice. MR, you've got a great community.
Could have been worse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObktirfMcns. I recommend you don't watch this before or after eating.
MR needs a vomit smilie.
MR needs a vomit smilie.
Well guys, an update if anybody's following this ... we're setting up loads of traps. Somebody was using the microwave earlier and heard a massive 'pop'.
"Probably a cockroach in there!" one of the lads quipped. We all laughed. Then they lifted up the microwave and there's 4 or 5 of the f**kers crawling underneath That wiped the smile off our faces.
God knows where they probably are ... behind the fridge ... in the microwave itself ... We're buying traps in bulk and hopefully kill the rest of them.
And it all started with one computer
"Probably a cockroach in there!" one of the lads quipped. We all laughed. Then they lifted up the microwave and there's 4 or 5 of the f**kers crawling underneath
That wiped the smile off our faces.God knows where they probably are ... behind the fridge ... in the microwave itself ...
We're buying traps in bulk and hopefully kill the rest of them. And it all started with one computer
Mike, may I ask how long these take to breed and stuff? I've tried googling but don't have a definitive response. I'm very much in agreement with you with nuking the whole place but the rest of the office aren't as paranoid as I am and think I'm overreacting.
Here's the power supply they were living in. See those vents full of fur-like stuff? They were darting in and out from there. Horrifying.
From what I know (not a lot), each female can carry 30 to 40 eggs and she carries them until they're ready to hatch. So for the sake of argument, say there were 3 egg carrying females that escaped notice. You potentially could have 120 coackroaches running around.
It takes 3 to 4 months to go from egg to adult though I don't know the turn around time from egg fertilization to hatching. If I were to guess probably 3 to 4 weeks.
If it makes you feel better, I've got a ladybug infestation in my house. See the little bastards all over the place upstairs.
And for a real big thrill, I sometimes get...things...that come up from the basement through the vents. I live in an old, old house built in the late 20's, and the basement here is almost like a cave you wander down into for horrible adventures and stuff. Anytime someone asks what's down there, I say it looks like the set to particularly gory snuff film, and nothing good could ever come from an expedition into it. The place just has a vibe of wrongness and terror to it.
Every rare once in awhile, something will escape from there and get into the main part of the house.
...and one time it was a cockroach. And not one of your wimpy little computer cockroaches, either. This thing was gigantic and fat. I remember walking around the corner and seeing it there on the wall next to the inside door that leads down into the basement. It looked at me, and I looked at it. It might've been my imagination, but I think I even heard it chik-chik-chik-chik-chiking at me, almost like it was daring me to have a go at it.
Chik-chik-chik-COME AT ME BRO-chik-chik-chik.
I felt I didn't have any other choice. I took my shoe off, and rushed it, putting every ounce of strength I had behind the smack I was about to deliver. And the thing...there's no other way to put it...it exploded. Juicy parts of ex-bug flew EVERYWHERE. It was like that scene at the end of Ghostbusters, but somehow more horrible because what I was coated with wasn't marshmallow. It was hell bug innards. Took me days to clean up.
So you think you have it bad? That ain't nothing. Some people have it worse.
And for a real big thrill, I sometimes get...things...that come up from the basement through the vents. I live in an old, old house built in the late 20's, and the basement here is almost like a cave you wander down into for horrible adventures and stuff. Anytime someone asks what's down there, I say it looks like the set to particularly gory snuff film, and nothing good could ever come from an expedition into it. The place just has a vibe of wrongness and terror to it.
Every rare once in awhile, something will escape from there and get into the main part of the house.
...and one time it was a cockroach. And not one of your wimpy little computer cockroaches, either. This thing was gigantic and fat. I remember walking around the corner and seeing it there on the wall next to the inside door that leads down into the basement. It looked at me, and I looked at it. It might've been my imagination, but I think I even heard it chik-chik-chik-chik-chiking at me, almost like it was daring me to have a go at it.
Chik-chik-chik-COME AT ME BRO-chik-chik-chik.
I felt I didn't have any other choice. I took my shoe off, and rushed it, putting every ounce of strength I had behind the smack I was about to deliver. And the thing...there's no other way to put it...it exploded. Juicy parts of ex-bug flew EVERYWHERE. It was like that scene at the end of Ghostbusters, but somehow more horrible because what I was coated with wasn't marshmallow. It was hell bug innards. Took me days to clean up.
So you think you have it bad? That ain't nothing. Some people have it worse.
Sometimes I'm hungry and people tell me: "Well, what about all those kids in Africa?! They haven't eaten for days!" I have to say, that doesn't make me any less hungry. It just makes me feel guilty about being hungry.
I didn't want to give the impression that I was trying to say I had it bad. I was just looking for advice as I wasn't sure what the bugs were, and thought I'd post a few photos for anybody interested.
Ladybug infestation would be interesting. That'd brighten up this miserable office.
Koa and I know about roaches -- big suckers. You cannot keep them out of your house.
We won't talk about 12" long poisonous centipedes here, right now.
Consider this (it's not a joke):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T93YOc9_tg8
One reason to go for a trap rather than poisons is that a trap tells you that they're around. With poisons, they most likely go somewhere else to die and you can't be sure what's going on.
It does sound to me as though your office or building has a big problem, though. Somebody might have to mount an attack on the whole place. I remember living in a 4 story apartment complex in Cambridge MA and the idiot owners (or idiot exterminators) would come in and attack one floor at a time. When they doused the first floor, the roaches moved through the walls to the second, and so on up or down as needed.
Be glad you don't live where I do (I don't know where Koa lives) because termites are a serious problem. I'm about to have my house "tented," meaning covered with a giant tent, and then for 2 days the house will be pumped full of poison gas, almost certainly killing all the termites. Then in 6 or 7 years it will need tenting again because they can't be kept out. I'd rather not have my house pumped full of poison gas but I don't want it falling down around me.
We won't talk about 12" long poisonous centipedes here, right now.
Consider this (it's not a joke):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T93YOc9_tg8
One reason to go for a trap rather than poisons is that a trap tells you that they're around. With poisons, they most likely go somewhere else to die and you can't be sure what's going on.
It does sound to me as though your office or building has a big problem, though. Somebody might have to mount an attack on the whole place. I remember living in a 4 story apartment complex in Cambridge MA and the idiot owners (or idiot exterminators) would come in and attack one floor at a time. When they doused the first floor, the roaches moved through the walls to the second, and so on up or down as needed.
Be glad you don't live where I do (I don't know where Koa lives) because termites are a serious problem. I'm about to have my house "tented," meaning covered with a giant tent, and then for 2 days the house will be pumped full of poison gas, almost certainly killing all the termites. Then in 6 or 7 years it will need tenting again because they can't be kept out. I'd rather not have my house pumped full of poison gas but I don't want it falling down around me.
My previous house had spiders big enough you could hear them walking across the wood floor. And when you confronted them, instead of scurrying away they'd get aggressive and take a run at you. I had to watch TV with a spatula handy - if I heard one clicking across the floor I'd smack it a good one.
Which was better than finding them in the sink first in the morning when filling the kettle for my 1st cup of coffee.
Luckily no roaches. Yet.
Which was better than finding them in the sink first in the morning when filling the kettle for my 1st cup of coffee.
Luckily no roaches. Yet.
Nah, don't worry about it. I was going for effect when I said that. Nothing more.