Hi everyone - this is kind of a random question, but hopefully someone knows the answer.... I have noticed that our fairly new car has been getting some cockroaches. This is obviously because the kids (and us parents) eat in the car. I'm wondering if its safe to put one of those Combat roach traps under the front seats of the car? Not the roach motels, but the black plastic square things that are full of poison for the roaches. We have them throughout our house and the directions say not to put them near food sources or allow pets or children to touch them. If they were in a car, they wouldn't be touched, but my concern is that the poison being heated up in the car all day may be poisonous to inhale?
Anyway, if anyone has any insight on this that would be great. Or possibly a more natural way to get rid of the roaches (besides not eating in the car :) )
I didn't even know that one could get roaches in the car! My car is a disaster, since my kids, their friends, and I are ALWAYS in it. I am scared! I HATE ROACHES. If they get in my car I will lose it.
you can get cockroaches in your car??!! am now wishing i could leave work to vacuum my car =X good luck!
Eating in the car is not a problem if the food lands in your mouth. If the food lands every where else (and then gets left there) it's a food source for vermin. Clean out the car. Vacuum it out every few days. If it becomes a chore for the kids, they'll learn to eat more neatly so they don't have to clean it so often. No food source = no bugs.
The D.E. is dangerous to breathe the dust. You would need to treat your car and probably let it set for a couple of days and then vacuum it out before driving around and stirring up the earth. The other thing would be to sprinkle Borax and let it set and vacuum it up as well. Roaches in the car would suck big time, I'm sure you are livid! I wonder what likes to eat roaches? You could put some roach eaters in your car, haha.
Put a couple of gecko's in your car.
I have used the sticky traps under seats. Once, in an older car, I put a bug bomb in there (arial spray), then let it clear out for several hours with the doors and windows open afterwards. Both seem to work. Those plastic black things never work that well for me (in Hawaii, we have a lot of experience with critters). db
oh dear-- we live in hawaii, too, and had this problem a few months ago. I feel your pain ;) we tried everything (traps, borax, lots of thorough cleaning, etc) It was terrible! In the end, we got one of those bug bombs, set it off in the car and then parked the car in a friend's garage -- she was out of town for the week and said it was ok-- to let it air out, then we took it and had it professionally cleaned and detailed. There were dead roaches everywhere we couldn't see them (under the spare tire, etc) and we had really cleaned it a lot (so we thought) beforehand.
So far, fingers crossed, it has done the trick. i go out there at night once in awhile and check-- no roaches now (and before when i went into the car at night the roaches were really bold and would practically wave at me from their perching spots-- never even tried to run from me!! we do try to keep the car cleaner now-- but w two little ones, it's not easy.
good luck--
J.
I do not have a solution for you but for others reading in horror, this is more a HAWAII thing, than a DIRTY thing. I rented a car on Kauai while on our honeymoon and was mortified when driving at dusk and the roaches started coming out of the air vents on the dash. The next day we went back to the car rental place to get a different car and no one batted an eye at our tale. They just gave us another car...which at dusk produced more roaches for us. So yucky, but I guess that's just one of the drawbacks of living in paradise.
Actually, L., if you can place a treatment in your car only at night, then remove it before driving in the morning, that may be your most healthy solution. Do you even see them in the daytime?
I'd be afraid to try the geckos, because they'll hide and then possibly die in there...then you'd have MORE problems. Best of luck to you!
Find a pool supply store to get D.E. suggested below!
you could try diotomaceous earth - google it to find it near you, dries them out naturally with no smell or chemicals
