Just moved in and I have ROACHES. NEED HELP. **UPDATE**

[crumpet19]

So, I'm pissed. I moved from Tulsa to Stillwater to attend OSU. Anyway, I signed the lease on Dec. 23rd. I moved in on Dec. 26th. Well, within the last week I've noticed that this apartment has roaches. This is disgusting and I'm having a hard time dealing with it. I know that I didnt bring them with me from my previous residence because we never saw any and I thoroughly cleaned everything before I brought it into this apartment.
I do my dishes after every meal and wipe the counter with disinfectant. I sweep the kitchen floor daily, and vacuum and clean the bathroom every couple days. I've placed some combat roach traps in the kitchen and bathroom and I've used a sort of sealant / toxin to fill in cracks round the plumbing and power outlets.

What else can I do?
Can I complain to the landlord?
Would using a fogger do any good because I know that If they were here when I moved in, the entire building must have them (and its an old building).

Roaches are DISGUSTING. I don't want them crawling on my food, my dishes, or my things. Not to mention its embarassing if company sees them, especially if you can't do anything to make them go away.

UPDATE:

Thanks everyone for their support.
This morning I went in to talk with the apartment manager. After explaining my problem (nicely) she seemed uninterested and unwilling to help. So, I basically told her that after that conversation, every time that I saw a roach I would immediatly call her, her pager, her office line, emergency maintenance, and my lawyer regardless of what time it was. I would also (if possible) kill the roach, place it in a zip lock bag, and leave it in her mailbox as proof of my situation.
I also notified her that my neighbors are having the same problem and that their units should be treated too.

So, within the next two days at least this half of the building will be sprayed.
I'm unemployed at the moment... so, I'll be sticking around to make sure it gets done.

PS: If anyone in the Stillwater, OKC, Tulsa area knows of anyone hiring Business Management/MIS majors.. please let me know.

 

[ShotgunSteven]

:music:Welcome to Joe's Apartment
It's our apartment too.
We've been around for a hundred million years
And we'll be here long after you.
Let's go to our place
It's a great big space
It's where I wanna be
Where friends all meet
And life is sweet
Cause everything's for free
It's a joint
It's a gas
It's a big fat kick in the ass
Let's toast!
Raise your glass
Here's to Joe!
A man with class

So!
Hello from Joe's apartment
You're gonna love the view
It's a nest that beats the rest
We're so glad that you're our guest
Come on in, we're all undressed
Joe's apartment, we welcome you!:music:

 

[jinduy]

use a fogger... always clean ur dishes... clean ur dinner tables or wherever u eat... that's all u can do for now... if u find a buncha roaches, kill em...

when the numbers die down... kill every single roach u see


(i've dealt with my share)

 

[Sluggo]

Call the landlord and tell them you are going to call the health department if they dont get rid of the roaches mucho pronto.



PS... think about me every time you wander down to Joes and drink beer. I spent most of my time at college there. Of course at that time it was really a bar and not a restaurant.

 

[Dari]

What else can I do?

Ever tried Roach Soufflé? Hmmmm.

 

[fredtam]

You will have to bomb the neighbors too and clean up their sh!t.

 

[TekDemon]

Tons of combat and buy a few cats? That's really all I can figure lol. It definitely helps to move to a nicer apartment, but nonetheless I think a few cats would do the trick.

 

[crumpet19]

Originally posted by: fredtam
You will have to bomb the neighbors too and clean up their sh!t.

I'd like to just fire bomb this entire fugging building.

 

[KarenMarie]

Roaches not only like food, but also water.

You will have to get a good fogger and then lay all those little bait trap thingys. Once they are there, they are sooo hard to get rid of and if the entire complex does not join in the effort, they are almost impossible to keep away.

sorry man, that is horrible for you!

 

[fredtam]

Boric acid is one of the best things to use after a good fogging. And its cheap.

 

[FoBoT]

^^^

boric acid / roach pruf

linked

 

[SilentZero]

Just call an exterminator and have them spray your place down. I had to have that done when I moved in to this place and haven't had a bug problem since. Just be lucky you don't have centipedes!!! There are a ton of bugs in hawaii, but they are the worst, and one of the most vicious!

 

[Imdmn04]

Wake up in the middle of the night, and goto the kitchen sink, kill as many as you can. Do that everyday for about a week.

They usually come out and hang around there at night because of the food scraps left in there.

 

[DAGTA]

Unfortunately, if you have a dirty neighbor, you'll never be rid of the roaches.

Have an exterminator, if you can, spray at least monthly. Never leave any food open in your cabinets or out on the counters. If you open cereal, place it in your fridge. Use airtight containers for sugar, chips, cookies, etc.

Line your cabinets with white paper towel. Place all dishes face down so the roaches cannot touch the eating surface of the dishes. Vacuum frequently.

Tell your landlord and try to get him/her to help.

I had roaches when I moved into my new place. After my nasty neighbors were evicted, the above steps completely eliminated my roach problem. Haven't seen one in about six months and I hear the place next door was horribly disgusting after the people were evicted.

I also agree with centipedes being worse than roaches. My last place had centipedes. Nothing I did eliminated them.

-DAGTA

 

[Siddhartha]

Get a couple different kinds of roach motels. Follow the directions on the boxes and also put them where you have seen roaches. This should take care of your problem.

 

[phantom309]

Don't bother with sprays or foggers - all you'll do is breed roaches that are immune to it, if they're not already. As a veteran of many sh1tty Atlanta apartments, I can vouch for Roach Prufe. Put it down behind the kitchen appliances and under the sink. It doesn't work right away - it'll take a week or two to kick in. It sticks to roaches and they track it into their dens where it'll eventually kill the whole colony, and they won't come back.

 

[Murphyrulez]

Damn I'm gonna get sick just thinking about what the underneath of your kitchen cupboards, and the insides of your walls look like... ROACHES everywhere. The come out when you turn the lights off, running all over your table, your sink, your cat.... Call the landlord, and if he won't do anything, call an exterminator and take the bill off of your rent.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Move.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: Murphyrulez
Damn I'm gonna get sick just thinking about what the underneath of your kitchen cupboards, and the insides of your walls look like... ROACHES everywhere. The come out when you turn the lights off, running all over your table, your sink, your cat.... Call the landlord, and if he won't do anything, call an exterminator and take the bill off of your rent.

I don't believe that the landlord is wholly responsible for pest control. He may have to do it himself.

 

[Yossarian]

I'm pretty sure the landlord IS responsible for pest control. He has to provide a habitable living space, which does not include insect infestation.

 

[Vic]

Call the landlord first. Discuss the situation with them nicely. They may be unaware of it.
Do not try to call your own exterminator or take care of the pests on your own first. Many landlords (except slumlords IMO) do not like it when tenants take such matters into their own hands, usually because they could otherwise write-off the costs of such things and because the warranty for the work then goes to the tenant and not the landlord.

If you have any trouble with the landlord, check Oklahoma state law.

edit:

Originally posted by: PipBoy
I'm pretty sure the landlord IS responsible for pest control. He has to provide a habitable living space, which does not include insect infestation.

Yep. It appears that tenants do have that right in Oklahoma.
2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the tenant's dwelling unit and premises in a fit and habitable condition;

 

[CT2TXtech]

Welcome to the ghetto:beer:

Dont complain too much, when i lived in Boston, I had to deal with mice,
yuck:disgust:

 

[murphy55d]

I've never rented or anything so I don't know how the lease and that works, but if there were fscking roaches in my apartment that weren't from me, I'd be moving the hell out ASAP.

 

[Mill]

Sick just sick. Call and let the landlord know.

 

[Nitemare]

Only thing you can do is move out or synchronize a building wide roach bombing

link

You can bomb your place every week and the roaches will just run over to your slob neighbor and hideout for 48 hours and then be back.