Ekk! Help with pest control!

[Maggie Cummings]

I have a small colony of box turtles. In the winter and at night because of predators they need to sleep in the house. In fact I have 8 tort tables in my house, all with orchid bark. But the orchid bark in the box turtles table is 10 years old. I have added to it periodically but mainly just spot cleaned it. I've never had anything like what you are describing, and if you don't have roaches in your house, how would they get in the substrate? Have you figured that out? I hope somebody here can help you, that's an icky problem....you think they might have come in the substrate? Did you just add some fresh?

 

[Dkozi7]

Wow 10 years with the same substrate! We are cautiously using pest control grade pesticides to treat the house but yes icky. The tortoises stay in my bedroom during the winter. I just wanted something safe to use around my Leo's. We have a colony of dubious for my bear dies but don't want bugs in the house.ill have to look into orchid bark.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Get 'fine' grade or small......

 

[FlyinJohnnyL]

The only bugs I've ever had end up in our porch enclosure that bothered me were ants. I've seen the occasional roach, silverfish, etc. A little gross-perhaps, but I always figured it's part of a tort's habitat to be "sharing" it's space with other critters anyway.

 

[Dkozi7]

Ok I got a pic in my bathroom of the culprit. He kind of got squished

 

[Levi the Leopard]

Good! You got a photo!

I don't know what it is. I'm not that familiar with the bugs
@Tom Hey Roachman, is this a roach?

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Ok I got a pic in my bathroom of the culprit. He kind of got squished

I'm good at figuring out the 6 legged critters, unfortunately the picture didn't come through for me.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

@Dkozi7
Here in Oregon we're concerned more about "super lice" than roaches. Roaches would help keep clean the kitchen…

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/super-lice-hits-25-states-including-wash/54585550

 

[Tom]

Good! You got a photo!

I don't know what it is. I'm not that familiar with the bugs
@Tom Hey Roachman, is this a roach?

Yes. This has been correctly identified as a "German Cockroach", Blatella germanica. There is much debate about its origin, but all agree that it did not originate from Germany. In Germany they call it the "Russian roach".

The picture looks pretty fuzzy, but if I'm not mistaken, the squished one was a female carrying an ootheca. This is one of the few "pest" species of roach, so our OP is wise to deal with it early and try to stay ahead of it.

For the purposes of the tortoise forum, roaches, no matter how unpleasant people find them to be, will not harm our tortoises. The pesticides used to control them, however, can be deadly to our tortoises.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Tell your treatment experts that you own a tortoise and request them to apply the treatment which would not harm the tortoise .

Me personally, I'd likely go with, "I own a very delicate, exotic bird that has been known to be sensitive to most mammal safe treatments." Then I'd follow up their recommendations with even more research of tortoise safe applications. Just a thought, but why gamble , right ?

 

[turtlemanfla88]

Hey all I have my own pest control business and yes Tom is right it is a German Roach. The good thing is I know pest control and I keep turtles and tortoises. Tom is right again never treat inside your animal enclosures. I use three application first I use a liquid IGR this is a growth inhibitor, second I dust all cracks and creivices in the room. Then I put a bait out . I first recommend removing all substrate. German roach are more resistance then all the other species of roaches, reproduce more ithicas/ egg sacks faster. I never treat inside any enclosure organic or nonorganic products. They are very small and mostly like kitchens and bathrooms is where they will be found. To all do not bring cardboard boxes into your home roaches love to lay their ithicas / egg sacs in them and you will be sorry if you do.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

Hey also last year I had some Australian roaches get into my garage and into my incubator full of eggs. I then noticed I started loosing eggs . Well I did what anyone with some common sense who do I started watching and they would bury in the substrate and damage the eggs. Once I found eggs with holes in them and found roaches inside them. I reacted fast a got small pieces of paper towel roll and put roach bait on it and stuck it in my incubator and roaches were dead and rest of the eggs hatched. I use hovabator incubators and put bait under wire in case egg hatched a head of time so, it would not be able to get to the bait. I imagine you could put bait it a empty pill bottle and then put holes in it. I can tell you guys stories that will make your skin crawl.

 

[Yvonne G]

I have a bad roach problem outside and in my tortoise sheds. Thankfully these are the kind of roaches that don't come into the house looking for food, so I haven't seen them in the house - YET. I place sticky traps all over inside the tortoise sheds and houses. I tack them to the walls. I also elevate the pig blankets slightly by putting a piece of wood under them, and place the sticky traps under the pig blankets. I have to change out the traps frequently. I have tried roach bait, placing it in cracks and crevices where the tortoises can't get to it, but it really doesn't seem to make a dent in the roach population.

 

[Levi the Leopard]

. I can tell you guys stories that will make your skin crawl.

whoa.... I find myself curious and scared at the same time!

 

[turtlemanfla88]

Yvonne G,
Let me know what you used not just the brand name? Active ingredient really matters when it come to baits

 

[Yvonne G]

Yvonne G,
Let me know what you used not just the brand name? Active ingredient really matters when it come to baits

Oh shoot. I neglected to read the 'ingredient' part of the label. I'm too lazy to go back out there. Maybe you're familiar with this product? I just know that after I sprayed a liquid bug killer (not near the tortoises) there were dozens of dead roaches around the next day, but with these granules, I never see any dead insects. But I hesitate to use the liquid spray because of the residual.

 

[turtlemanfla88]

You are right. Liquid kills on contact or builds s barrier that kills insects once they come in contact with it. Here is something else about roaches it is called coephalig it means roaches wI'll eat the dying ones and poison themselves. If you guys have a do it yourself pest control place they carry some gel baits. The active ingredient is indoxacarb in the bait I use.

 

[Dkozi7]

We have a pest control professional grade product called Demon WP we are thinking about using around the baseboards of the house. It says not harmful to animals after it dries but is it ok to use in the room their in ( they're in a raised table)? Obviously not in their enclosure.

 

[enchilada]

put some hungry box turtles = roach terminators

 

[turtlemanfla88]

It is a wettable powder it is a good product. In FLA we have a place called do-it-yourself pest control I never used Demon. I have some friend's in the business and they use Demon. Are all your animals in one room? Or in different rooms? . If you are seeing them in with your animals I can almost guarantee there are in the bathroom and kitchen. Especially dishwashers because warm and wet. Coffee pots are another favorite place.