Get a medium to large metal coffee can, or any old metal can I guess. Make sure it’s cleaned out and dry to start with, and is not rusty.

Then get some spray cooking oil and a few scraps of bread. Spray the inside of the can with cooking oil, then drop some bread scraps in there.

Now you have a roach trap, set it near where the roaches are generally at their worst, and they’ll crawl out of the walls and into the can to get their munch on, but won’t be able to crawl back out.

Check it every couple or few days or so, eventually the roaches will start piling up and most of them that have been in there for a bit will end up dying because they’re covered in the cooking oil and apparently can’t absorb oxygen.

Take the trap as necessary and either dump it in the toilet and flush them away, or if you have access to a bonfire burn pile, bag the little demons up and burn them. Then clean the can out and reset the trap as necessary.

Even with the worst infestations I’ve ever seen, this tends to eliminate over 99% of them within about two weeks, if not less.

A few thoughts about the different approaches between my trap vs poison…

If you poison them, then they just go back into your walls and die, further stinking the place up, is more dangerous to people and pets, and honestly isn’t even nearly as effective as people would hope.

But roaches are simple and stupid. They’re really easy to trap, and why the hell would I want them going back into the walls in the first place? Especially when I can just flush them instead?

    • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
      13·
      8 months ago

      Nah, they can’t live long covered in oil/grease.

      Insects don’t have lungs, they absorb their oxygen through their skin. When covered in oil (which will eventually happen as they crawl around in there), they can’t absorb oxygen and will eventually perish.

  • fung@sh.itjust.works
    174·
    8 months ago

    Don’t flush roaches, they wreak havoc at the sanitation plant. Remember the Three C’s of stuff that regularly plugs up the sanitation system: Cockroaches, Condoms, Corn.

    • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
      8·
      8 months ago

      With my other comment aside, and assuming you’re correct (which sounds absolutely absurd that roaches would clog septic lines), how would you suggest to dispose of the roaches?

      Cuz I’m not about to eat them (though the cooking oil and bread makes it tempting…)

    • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
      51·
      8 months ago

      If the roaches are so big as to clog up the sanitation system, you’re dealing with the big ones, not the typical little German cockroaches that infest by the thousands.

      I really don’t see how the little bastards could clog up a system designed to process my much larger turds.

      Edit: Also considering that my trap approach doesn’t use poison at all, shouldn’t the roaches decompose anyways?

      • fung@sh.itjust.works
        2·
        8 months ago

        I think the difference is that turds break down, while cockroaches are more durable. And I’m not talking about the pipes under your house… moreso the waste water treatment facility down the line.

        I do not work in sanitation, I just remember reading that somewhere and the Three C’s stuck in my mind.

        As for an alternative disposal method, I would suggest throwing the carcasses into a volcano.

        • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
          2·
          8 months ago

          We use septic grinders where I’m from, figured the city would be smart enough to do the same.

        • over_clox@lemmy.worldOP
          2·
          8 months ago

          Meh, maybe that’s why we’re smart enough to use poop grinders in our septic systems out in the sticks.

          What, you didn’t know that’s a thing? God fucking damn, rednecks actually know a thing that city folk don’t!