--Mousetraps and roach traps (but really, leave the damn cardboard ashore).

[Jack Long]

The subject line:

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']--Mousetraps and roach traps (but really, leave the damn cardboard ashore).[/FONT]

Was in an email a friend who spent a year cruising sent me. What does he mean about the cardboard? Mice and rats sneak on in the cardboard? Or eat it when they are here? Or?

[jzk]

roaches do.

[David M]

Cardboard can be food for all kinds of vermin.

[Pblais]

Larvae live in the cardboard of a lot of products. Just because the product might have been in a can does not mean the packaging was all that safe. Leave all packaging behind.

[Robertcateran]

I was anchoredoutin Port Moresby Harbour after being diligant about keeping out anything that could harbour roaches when I saw a cardboard carton (don't use the word box in PNG as it has a quite different specific meaning) float past with a large female cockroach on top. It fetched up against my anchor rope and the cockroach hopped onto the rope. It is hard to keep them out.
Robert

[Chief Engineer]

I am trying to think of the name of that chemical we put around the cleats/bollards in Bermuda......Bermuda has some ginormous roaches...they would crawl through it...start up the line and then drop off......the fish snapped em right up.

Boric acid...I think that's it.

[GordMay]

Boric acid is recommended as a roach poison. However, because boric acid is toxic* if swallowed it is a wise idea to keep it out of reach of children and/or pets. It is effective in extremely small amounts and retains its potency almost indefinitely provided the deposit remains dry. Unlike many insecticides, boric acid has no repellency to insects and, consequently, roaches return to treated areas repeatedly until they die.
Cockroaches succumb to boric acid when they crawl over treated areas. The tiny particles of powder adhere to the cockroaches' body, and the material is ingested as the roach preens the powder from its legs and antennae. Some boric acid is also absorbed through the greasy outer covering of the insect's body. All species of cockroaches are susceptible to boric acid provided the powder is applied into areas where the roaches are living.
* Boric acid is deadly to cockroaches, but is low in toxicity to people, pets and other nontarget animals. It is also odorless and contains no volatile solvents.

An effective roach repellent is catnip. Catnip contains an ingredient called nepetalactone. The great thing about catnip is that it isn’t toxic to pets or humans. Placing small sachets of catnip in a roach’s path creates an excellent roach repellent. This roach repellent should not be used in any home that has cats!

Osage oranges or hedgeapples are reputed to repel roaches.

[Minggat]

Brings back horrible memories.

I didn't know about the cardboard thing. We closed up the boat and left for a 9 month assignment overseas.

When we got back, we battled and battled them. Boric acid, Bug Bombs. I even put out 4 bug bombs (way overkill), turned off anything ignition points I could think of, and left for 10 days. When we got back we found lots of dead bodies, but some not yet dead. I even found that some had found the source of fresh air up under the sliding hatch. They were camping out there, ready to come back in as soon as we aired out the boat.

I could cut them down in numbers, but I couldn't eradicate them.

Finally, when I accepted another job overseas, my wife went to live in her country for a while. But I wound up getting a better job for a year right close to home. So for a year, nobody cooked on board.

During that time I also broke out the bug bombs again. I could leave for a days work and come home to air the boat out. Ya gotta do this every 30 days I think it is, because the bug bombs don’t do anything for bugs eggs waiting to hatch. I couldn’t see them anymore, but I didn’t trust that they were all gone.

Then, I sailed the boat to La Paz, put it on the hard, removed all the food, set off a bug bomb and closed up the boat for 6 months. So far 6 months has turned into 8, with at least one more to go.

But since I’ve been gone, I have also learned (here) that you have to close the thru hulls so critters like wasp don’t come aboard.

Oh. We also had rats. We used to never close up the boat at night while we were sleeping in a marina. I loved that. It took me more than one rat to figure out that they loved it too.

It makes it all sound like we are dirty people, doesn’t it?

I’m so tired of learning the hard way.

[scotty]

another effective way that is completely non toxic is Diatomaceous Earth the food grade type. it is deadly to all insects. basicly it is ground up shells and it acts like little tiny tiny razor blades to bugs. and yes it can be injested by humans and animals

wicky link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

[Karletto]

i have horses and the best technique is a cat or even a snake; next is glue in a circle on a cardboard with cheese in the middle. i tried a chemical that suffocates the mouse first. it will react quickly so the mouse/ poison will not end on food, near humans or animals. the idea is the mouse will immediately search for air first and than die so usually you'll find it on the door or somewhere outside. chemistry is a powerful thing

[cat man do]

Cockie (roach) cookies work well, mix Boric acid (Borax here) with condensed milk.

Blobs on alfoil in strategic spots, no more cockies

Dave

[imagine2frolic]

We were swamped with roaches after a night's stay in a marina. Some peanut butter mixed with boric acid in small ziplock. Strategically placed where they like to run. Ended the ordeal quickly.

[kmgiunta]

I spent almost 25 years in food manufacturing and these two pests (plus rats) were the bane of our existence. You would be amazed at the habitats these gritters can survive in and the foods they can use to remain alive and reproductive. Cardboard cartons are a definite "not" on a boat. Roaches eat the glue and lay their eggs in the corrugation. Cartons of food have to travel through a lot of facilities and trailers before they reach your store shelf and it's almost a given that evenutally you will be infested if you bring cardboard cartons aboard. (Roaches will eat the insulation off wiring and the control panels are also warm. Be sure you check behind the panel occasionally for roach activity.) Instead of spreading glue around, just obtain glue boards made for the very purpose of catching the critters. The glue used is specially formulated so that once a mouse (or rat for that matter) steps on it, the pest absolutely cannot get off. And the glue will remain effective in virtually all enviornments and climates. (Ours were effective in freezers at -20 degrees F). Disposal is a simple matter of tossing it overboard. Boric acid crystals are very effective as long as it stays dry. The crystals score the carapace of the roach and it dehydrates in short order and dies. I've never used it in liquid acid form so I cannot comment on it. The crystal form is available at pharmacies or if you are in an Asian food store, you may find it sold as roach killer or some similar name. In that form it's sold in little boxes that contain sticks that look a lot like chalk. You can actually draw a broad line with the "chalk' wherever you want.

[Agur's Wish]

I've had one infestation in 12 years and I do bring cardboard aboard and probably a whole lot of other probable housing for these pests. I guess I've been lucky. When I had my infestation I tried all the aforementioned actions roach cookies and all with no luck. Finally, we had to set off a couple of bombs and they did the trick. You can read my full account in the article "Confessions of a Mass Murderer: The Serial Roach Killer Chronicles" on my blog. Happy Hunting!