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I have a cockroach problem in my apartment?

I live in one of those buildings with an outdoor fire escape in NYC, so it's pretty old... I kept finding roaches in my room and all over the apartment even though I left no food in sight. Someone told me to leave some kinda poison around, but I don't want to find dead roaches randomly all over the apartment. There are some roaches in my closet for some reason and it isn't that crowded in there... still I'd hate to find dead roaches near my clothes. Is there some kinda way that I can trap these roaches or drive them away from my apartment? Thanks for everyone's input :D I talked to some people by the area, and apparently pretty much everyone who lives in this city has either a rat or cockroach problem... so it's nothing the landlord can do. I'm pretty much OCD clean and I never eat at home so I'm not sure what's attracting the roaches, there's nothing edible in my closet anyways... I'll try the trap, acid, powder, and whatever other method I can find all at once. Something's gotta kill them.

Public Comments

1. No, because if you rid your apt of roaches, the roaches from neighboring apts will enter...i.e., an endless battle. Try anyway. Keep superclean counters, tabletops, floor, and cabinets. Keep your silverware in plastic bags inside the drawers, your dishes & pots and pans in plastic bags, etc. so those roaches will not be walking on your stuff. Empty your garbage every day (annoying, yes, but necessary). Do not keep a garbage container underneath the sink --- keep it outside the cabinet. Plus, those odd "broken pencil points" you see on the counters in the morning -- those are baby roaches.
2. Put boric acid (the ingredient in Roachpruf; if you can't find it at Lowe's or Home Depot, buy boric acid at the pharmacy-- smaller amount and more expensive that way, though) along every spot where the wall meets the floor or countertop. The roaches take it back to the nest, so you won't see a bunch of dead roaches all over the place. The boric acid clogs the air pores in the roaches' thorax (how insects breathe) and has the added bonus of being poisonous, too. I've always used this method, and it hasn't failed yet.
3. that is gross i would call who ever owns that building or get a your neighbors to go in on a bombing for thoses nasty things! I think i would flip out if i seen one dead or a live in my home! just doing one aparment will not do jack! but as the first person says cleaner is better but overall it's not going to matter moreover when you have someone nasty living next to you! i personally would move and buy all new stuff! they can hind and you can bring them with you!
4. The building sounds infested...not much you can do to totally get rid of them..grew up in the south and we used different methonds to control them..my mom would leave beer out over night in a bowl (or wine). They love it, crawl in it and drown. Put Borax powder around your baseboards so they will carry it back to their nest and die. GET RID OF ALL NEWSPAPERS OR PAPER BAGS...they draw roaches. Good luck.
5. I haven;t heard of any. I live in the deep south and Roaches are a problem. They make several good sprays that will kill the roaches, but unfortunatly you do find dead bugs. Riad makes some glue traps that trap the roaches, so you can just throw the whole trap out. You may want to try those.
6. I am partial to Combat Roach Gel. They will feed and bring it back to the nest and wipe out the colony.
7. Managing cockroaches is not easy. You must first determine where the roaches are located. The more hiding places you locate and manage, the more successful your control program will be. Remember that cockroaches are tropical and most like warm hiding places with access to water. Some locations may be difficult to get to. Reduction of food and water sources and hiding places is essential. If cockroaches have access to food, baits (which are a primary control tool) have limited effect. Sprays alone will not eliminate cockroaches. An IPM approach that integrates several strategies is usually required. Use the IPM Approach Change the situation that promotes cockroaches! **Reduce food and water sources. **Eliminate hiding places. **Consider using baits. **Avoid sprays. Use traps to monitor the population. If you know the species of cockroach, you will be better able to determine where the source of infestation is and where to place traps, baits, or insecticides. Note locations of suspected infestations and concentrate control and preventive measures in these areas. The keys to controlling cockroaches are sanitation and exclusion: cockroaches are likely to reinvade as long as a habitat is suitable to them (i.e., food, water, and shelter are available), so the conditions that promoted the infestation must be changed. In addition to sanitation and exclusion, baits can be effective against most species of cockroaches. Pesticide spray products are registered for use on cockroaches and may temporarily suppress populations, but they usually do not provide long-term solutions and are not generally recommended. Commercially available devices that emit ultrasound to repel cockroaches are not effective. Monitoring Cockroaches Traps. Traps offer the best way to monitor cockroach populations. By placing traps in several locations and inspecting them regularly, you can identify the areas of most severe infestation and know where to concentrate control efforts. Traps also can be very helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of control strategies. Available retail cockroach sticky traps work well. These traps are open-ended and are lined inside with a sticky material. To learn more, please follow this link: http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7467.html#MANAGEMENT Hope this helped you!