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From: bane@parcvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.consumers,net.misc
Subject: Re: Spiders Haters Unite (and roach haters!)
Message-ID: <314@parcvax.Xerox.COM>
Date: Mon, 12-May-86 20:26:29 EDT
Article-I.D.: parcvax.314
Posted: Mon May 12 20:26:29 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 15-May-86 07:35:55 EDT
References: <310@gvax.cs.cornell.edu> <7216@tekecs.UUCP> <2755@sdcrdcf.UUCP> <142@fai.UUCP>
Organization: Xerox PARC
Lines: 52
Xref: linus net.consumers:4745 net.misc:8228
Summary: Killing roaches

In article <142@fai.UUCP>, ronc@fai.UUCP (Ronald O. Christian) writes:
> >	I catch all that I can (a glass tumbler over them first, then slide
> >paper under the glass, and escort them out of doors or to the plant room.
> 
> 
> ***
> 
> Will spiders eat those little brown roaches?  If so, bring them
> (the spiders) over to my apartment.  Lord knows, Raid isn't helping
> anymore.  I think the little suckers are immune.
> 
> 
> 				Ron

I had the same problem, both at my parents' house and in my apartment.
I used Roach Prufe (Boric acid, sugar, anti-caking stuff), and it
worked wonders!  My parents haven't seen a roach since, and at the
apartment, we would see one, maybe every two or three weeks (they come
from the next apartment), and it would be dead already.

Boric acid is a physical poisen, which means they can't develop an
immunity to it (I believe it works by clogging up their spiracles and
smothering them.  Or the crystals scrape the carapace and they
dehydrate. Something like that).

I even trapped roaches in glasses to see how long it took (before they
all died, of course).  Big ones died real fast; baby roaches took
hours and hours (usually overnight).  No, I didn't do enough for a
real statistically significant study, but I was impressed.

Roach Prufe is relatively expensive ($10/can, good for a whole house
or so, though), and you can make your own (I don't know the
proportions, but the major ingredient is boric acid).  The can says to
sprinkle it around with a spoon, but I think if you use a little
blower (like from a camara kit), you don't need nearly as much and it
works just as well.

The best thing: roaches take some time to die, so they tend to track
the  stuff around, especially over their eggs. 

Repeat, this is NOT a poison.  As far as I know, it is safe for babies
and pets.  Of course, I wouldn't recommend letting them eat it out of
the can, but it IS mainly eye-wash.

Has Consumer Reports done anything on this?

As you can see, I've been really happy (and surprised) by the stuff.

				- rene
-- 
Rene P S (nee Steiner) Bane
bane@parcvax