Cockroaches

To the Editor:

A number of Grove Avenue residents are experiencing an army of cockroaches. It was worse a couple of months ago (they come out at 11 p.m. They find their way into the house and show up around the house and garage and are active through the night.

We used diatomaceous earth and Boric acid powder (white non toxic powders supposedly safe for pets and people).those don't kill immediately — but the roaches carry it on their bodies back to the nest — where it eventually causes their demise and the early life stages hatching out. Also the buggers are cannibalistic and eat the dead bodies of their fellows Thereby they get some of the powders that killed the dead ones they eat. We also used sticky traps and surrounded trap perimeters with the powders. That way the cannibal brothers march through the powder on their way to eat the dead ones stuck on the trap.

I also put the powder along the baseboards in my home where I saw the roaches coming in and traveling. I am only one adult in my home. Families must decide what to do if they have small children who could get into the powder lines.

We also got very serious about cleaning up the abundance of dead leaves that accumulate in the yard, as the roaches were hanging out in the leaves. Yes, that is an arduous task — but essential.

Haven't seen one in the house for two weeks and the number caught in sticky traps has greatly decreased, (1 or 2, sometimes zero). When I go “hunting” outdoors in the middle of the night…(really, pretty funny looking) where I used to see them scurrying everywhere none seen. Hopefully we have made our yard and home a lot less hospitable to the cockroaches. — Marcela Ries, Ukiah