War on Pests

[soilentgringa]

I know a few people will recall that earlier this year the apartment building I live in was partially destroyed by a fire. The damage has not yet been repaired and I've noticed a serious increase in 6 legged intruders as the temperature drops.
We clean daily and mop the floors with a diluted vinegar solution. Food isn't allowed anywhere but the table and everything is wiped down periodically throughout the day with vinegar solution or lysol spray (bathrooms).
These are the most persistent cockroaches I've ever seen. I've put bay leaves out, used tea tree and eucalyptus oils in the mop water, and have become obsessive about cleaning. My hands are peeling due to being in hot water so much.
I don't mind spiders, beetles, isopods (we put them in with the crabs), or any other insect that happens to wander in, but these roaches gotta go!!!
Can any of our experienced crabbers or mods offer suggestions as to what I can use organically that would be safe for the crabs. I also have children so I don't use chemical pesticides or repellents.
Thanks!

[wodesorel]

Glue traps really work for roaches. When my Lats (smaller and just as fast as Germans) got loose in my roach room, I set glue traps to get the stragglers before they got loose in the rest of the house. The problem is that if you get them stuck to you, they are a pain to remove and you'll be sticky for days. (I stepped on them three different times, actually...) We also had to cut one off of one of my cats' tails after she snuck into the room.

I've also used live jar traps which are completely harmless to everything. Take a large glass jar, smear a good ring of vaseline around the inside of the jar near the top (so they can't climb back out). Take a strip of paper and rubber band it to the outside of the jar, with the top of the paper bend over the top of the jar a little, like a diving board. Put something really stinky in the bottom of the jar like fish food or fruit, and leave the jar on the floor. The roaches climb the paper, jump in to eat, and then can't get back out. This can even be used inside a crab tank if it came to it. It's how I gutted my scorpion tanks of the lats because the scorps wouldn't even eat them!

Diatomaceous earth should work, as will borax and sugar baits, if you feel comfortable using those sorts of things. Roach eggs take a couple of weeks to hatch, so as you clean up the adults you'll have more hatching out for a bit.

Cleaning is not going to stop them. They are going out exploring for food and water, and they can eat non-human foods just as readily as crumbs. Cardboard, paper, glue, wood, the backing from drywall, and other dead roaches. They really like humidity, so they should congregate around the kitchen sink and bathroom. I've never had them as pests in my house, but I've been keeping exotic species as pets for nearly three years now so I've been able to watch them and see what they like.

[dinky]

I like all natural stuff, but when It comes to these critters I have found only one thing....combat trays placed under sink and under something near doors and behind toilets. I use large trays due to having lots of the larger ones here......I never see 1 anymore. If you have a big problem with them then put out a go of trays then change them out in 1 month....after that I went to changing them about once a year. They also worked in my old farm house that was not on a slab of cement, they were bad under that old house but the trays worked, never had one in house, dogs didn't bother trays.

[LucasBinx]

I tape the edges of the crabitat to catch roaches if they have invaded that. I had a huge German Roach problem for months and it's finally getting better, but only after a pest control company came in to fog. I have found that taping the edges of the tank catches them when they come out of the tank.

I've tried glue traps and they never worked. I would only catch a few Germans if I was lucky. It was the fogging done by the pest control company that finally helped get rid of them

[soilentgringa]

Thanks guys!