eChipmunks

Electronic Pest Control...?

My sister-in-law is having a problem with roaches. She has called the landlord and he just sprays her apartment. Then when other tenants call... he just sprays their apartments, so the bugs just jump from apartment to apartment. I'm sure he knows that you have to treat all of the apartments at the same time, but he refuses to do so, he said that he didn't have time for that. So, I've been seeing those infomercials for the Riddex Plus, and other devices like Pest OFFence and a couple of others, and I was wondering if they really work. Is one better than the other?

Public Comments

1. All of these electronic pest controls do an excellent job of separating you from your money. But no, the roaches don't know it's supposed to repel them away, and neither does any other pest. Save your money. Squirt products containing Boric Acid in the cracks and crevices they're coming in at. Then, seal them up with latex caulk. This will provide you better control than any of the things they're doing for you.
2. I some of those expensive things that you plug into the outlets all over your house to get rid of bugs in my apt. I gave up after a few months ant started unplugging them. Well, I found where all the roaches had been living. BEHIND THE PLUG IN THINGS!!!! I was PISSED! I moved out of those apts into a single family home and it had bugs and mice when we moved in and we tried all kinds of poisons for them and nothing got rid of them completely!! Then my chihuahua got fleas and I had to get rid of them so I bought a product in the pet section called Natures Guardian. It is a powder (they have a spray too, but that works better ON the pet) and I powdered my whole house to get rid of fleas. Well, it also got rid of the roaches and mice too!!! I was ECSTATIC!! It is completely safe for kids and pets (hell, you can probably sprinkle it on your food, just don't get it in your eyes!!) because it is all natural and stuff you use to spice food with!! The only small draw back for some people is it has a very strong clove smell for about a week. If you do it now (during the holiday season) people will just think you are baking a lot of pumpkin pies!!
3. I bought my mother in law one of those roach repellent electronic boxes . When I came back a week later, it had been running the whole week , and roaches were actually crawling on the device. They liked it because it was warm,and it had no other effect on them. I would say no to electronic pest control. It's a waste of money. At least that one was. THe only options are spraying, using roach motels, and powders. We haven't had roaches in years. After spraying, we put boric acid roach powder out behind kitchen appliances and out of the way places where it wouldn't be seen. Also we used roach motels to mop up the ones who escaped the powder. Also keep pet food and other food cleaned up so not to attractr them.
4. the problem your in law is having is the landlord is "spraying" for the roaches (assuming German). For German roach problems you need to bait. Her money would be more well spent using a gel type bait such as Combat. It will come in a large syringe and easy to use. With the baits even if roaches show up from other units, they will feed on the bait and die.
5. Just so that you know, the Riddex Plus and the Pest Offense are both the exact same unit internally but one just doesn't have the EL nightlight on the front of it. I have taken apart a Pest Offense and found it is a simple bobbin coil of wire that is pulsed on and off once a second (think digital clock radio blinking 12:00) by a simple 8 pin programmable micro-controller IC. It does nothing for the bugs so it is in reality just a really expensive EL nightlight and marginal surge suppressor (it has a single MOV in it and no ground prong where as an actual decent surge strip has at least 6 MOVs)
6. You would need professional services, and preferably do the entire complex, and on a contract basis. The plug-in things do not work. I've tried several and noticed no differences. I tried boric acid before too, and that hasn't helped me. Others swear by that. If you try it yourself, you would need to see if you can get the professional stuff which they mix, and use professional bait products as well. The hard part is finding a supplier to sell you the real stuff without a pest control license.