cockroaches and deep freeze

[NorthCoastJoe]

We had some in a couple of rental houses. We used the bug bomb 2 times, traps, and finally roach paste. Took a month to get rid of them. We went through several hatch cycles. Can not hurt to be overly aggressive with them. The paste seemed to finish them off. Also prior to all this we did an intensive cleaning of the units.

[seasick]

I have returned to Puget Sound (not nearly as cold as RI) from the South Pacific on three separate voyages. We always had a few cockroaches aboard and they never survived a winter in the PNW.

[KiminAK]

I think so, too, if they are Palmetto bugs.

[travellerw]

Originally Posted by phorvati

Got few larvae and two small(I guess german) ones in a jar. My freezer is 0F as per IR thermometer. Well see what happens. As I was pulling stanchion bases toI saw one come out on teak deck that was warm in the autumn sun. They do seek warmth. I'm doing some major tlc and in the process taking off headliner etc etc, getting into all the places where they like to hide.

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The problem is the cold will not destroy the egg sacks. Each sack has about 50 eggs (for a German roach). Come spring, the eggs WILL hatch and the infestation will start over again. Even if you remove all the food from the boat, the new nymphs will just munch away on the frozen to death adults (yes they are cannibalistic). If you really want to wipe them out, get some paste and apply it in early spring The nymphs will eat in upon hatching and your infestation will be gone!

[SV Bacchus]

I was watching one of the sailing channels, yeah I know I need to get a life, and saw an episode where it showed them provisioning somewhere in the Pacific.

No paper or cardboard ever made it on board. Contents written in Sharpie on end of can and labels torn off. But heck, we all know that.

Here is the interesting part. They would find a market or butcher or whoever had a freezer and work a deal to leave big bags of rice and flour in the freezer for a day or two and then pick it up. No bugs in the rice a month later!

Nifty!

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by KiminAK

I think so, too, if they are Palmetto bugs.

I "think" a Palmetto/water bug is a beetle. It is not as invasive as the smaller German roach. I believe they are like fleas, the eggs can lay dormant for years under most any condition. Someone may correct me if I am wrong. I live in the Palmetto state.

[liveaboard60]

Originally Posted by phorvati

I don't need to know about poisons etc, I'm not asking how to get rid of them. I am wondering about how cold and for how long before they die. Shrink wrap or not it will get to single digits for consecutive nights/days this winter. Some nights might see below 0F. I will monitor temps with IR thermomenter throughout the winter. Particularly in those hard to reach places.

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When I was a kid, I once took a roach, put it into a small medicine bottle filled with water, and froze it solid in a freezer.. To my total amazement, even after a week of being frozen, when the ice thawed the roach ran off with little apparent harm..

Even the Mythbusters found exposing roaches to as much as 10,000 rads of radiation did not kill them all (p.s. exposure to just 1000 rads is considered fatal to most humans)..

I somehow think a winter up in RI will rid your boat of those nasty little creatures.. flk k
flk k

[sck5]

After several failed attempts I decided to choose ALL of the above remedies at the same time. I sprayed. I bombed. I put boric acid treats in all the right spots. I did it all twice. Then I left the boat for the winter and when I came back there were only dead cockroaches!

Don't even try to figure out what is the best remedy. Full scale chemical attack. All the chemicals. All at once. Kill them all. Little bastards.

[phorvati]

I took my sample out of the freezer last night. it was 24H at single digit temperatures. IR showed anywhere from 0F to 9F depending on where I point it in the freezer. Well the jar was out for about 3 hours at room temperature and so far no movement. I will leave it at room temperatures for a while to make sure. This was a German cockroach and another small one. I didn't find any usable palmettos.