I need advice on dealing with roaches-- most guides about them have pictures I'm unwilling to look at or methods that we can't afford/do because we have a cat. Our apartment has recently proved to have some sort of roach infestation, one of the large, terrifying variety. We've had a few stray roaches in the past year that we've lived here, but we've noticed nothing else.

Last night I went to wash my hands and nearly had a heart attack because there were three inch long antennae sticking out of the overflow drain. After running to get my dad because lmao, he still has to deal with all the bugs, we taped up the overflow holes and plugged the sink drain to make sure he couldn't get out because we didn't have anything to deal with it. In the morning we both cleaned the entire bathroom to make sure there was nothing else in there, and then poured bleach down all of the drain holes (in retrospect not the best idea, but it was what we could find). We thought the problem would be gone because we don't typically see roaches and usually figure that it's a stray one that found its way in.

But then tonight I went into the kitchen and there was another two inch roach on the ground. After having another heart attack, my dad came out to kill it and for some dumb reason decided to try and drown it with a squirt bottle of bleach-- not the worst idea because he managed to practically drown it in the bleach, but also not the best because of possible damage, our CAT, and the fact that the roach rAN AWAY UNDER THE STOVE (my dad makes poor decisions). We pulled it out but couldn't find him so now we have to hope that he crawled somewhere and died.

My major problem now though is that I have clinical anxiety and a fear of dirty areas and now am deathly paranoid-- one roach scares me, two roaches guarantee a panic attack. Which means now I'm afraid of opening any cupboards, afraid of where I step, afraid of any drains/holes they might crawl out of. I currently have a thick blanket shoved under my door jam-- though my dad cruelly pointed out that they might be in my room anyway lol.

My point is, can anyone suggest any good/effective tips for getting rid of roaches/keeping them out of certain areas? They have to be cat-safe for our sixteen year old. I'm going to point out that our apartment is extremely clean, all areas are cleaned at least twice a week, if not once a week. We don't leave food out minus the cat food (which we're probably going to start limiting/cleaning up when she's not eating). If you have any advice for dealing with the anxiety of an infestation, or anything that will give me some visual affirmation that they can't get at me (I'm considering mesh over the drains to prevent them from coming in that way/cut off their access to moisture, for example) I would appreciate it!

Ok, I'm scouring the Google for you, let's see...

There's an electronic roach repellent called Riddex, although the reviews seem to be mixed.

A folk/natural remedy seems to be putting bay leaves in cupboards/closets/other places they could hide. Didn't find any reviews on that though.

It seems like they're attracted more in the summertime because of the higher temperatures making odors more pungent. So maybe keeping the air conditioner on and cooler than normal would help somewhat? It looks like odors attract the little bastards more than the actual food/etc. that's left out.

What a few sites say is a very effective, pet-friendly solution though is diatomaceous earth. It's completely safe as long as you buy the food grade kind. Don't use the kind that's made for swimming pools. It looks like pets can actually eat the food safe kind and it keeps away internal parasites and you can also rub it in their fur and it keeps away fleas and ticks, plus you can extend the life of your cat litter with it - bonus! This is the site that sells it that the ASPCA recommends and here are some links from our friend Google. It works by desiccating them, so for the first few days you may actually see more because they're like 'Oh shit, we need water and we dyin'

Catnip looks to also be a natural roach repellent if you can manage to keep sachets of it in your cupboards/other places they hide without your cats taking it away lol. Coffee grounds might work as well, although I couldn't find much information on that.

Make sure you put the diatomaceous earth or catnip, or whatever else you find to use, in places like the tops of cabinets/refridgerator as well. Boric acid in places cats can't reach is good, because they'll take it back to their nests and kill their babies insert evil laugh here, but make sure you only use that in places kitties can't get to.

I assume you've made sure the edges around your doors/windows/gas lines/etc. are all tightly shut. Construction caulking in clear works wonders for cracks around these places.

So, bottom line, it looks like if you have pets, diatomaceous earth is . I hope you can get some and that whatever you end up using works for you.

Wow, thank you so much for that in depth answer! I've never heard of diatomaceous earth so that sounds like an awesome solution. We'll have to pick some up! We heard back from our managers and they actually sprayed the apartment for us (which will hopefully work), but we're going to be moving soon and I imagine we might have roach issues in the new house so that will be a great thing to have since spraying can be really expensive unless you're renting.

Our cat is too old to jump onto most surfaces anymore so the boric acid we can definitely use-- I imagine it would be good in sinks. The pest guy said it looked like we had American roaches, which usually do come up through the drains. Safer than bleach I'd think, probably more effective than hot water.

I'll also make sure we add new caulking around all of the entrances in our new house-- we're gonna be self-owning so it's best to attack quick and attack first! Lock those little buggers out haha.

Thank you so much for your help! I really appreciate it!

Have you thought about using a succion-net(or grid) over the hole of your sink? (image here) I'd also store all my food (crackers, rice, cookies, oatmeal, quinoa etc) in plastic container box. Doing the dishes everyday should also help with the "food odour" that may attract them.

Oh, we actually have not! We'll have to get one of those. Or two. The one on the non garbage disposal side of the sink has pretty big gaps in it.

We keep them closed up in the cardboard boxes, but they can probably get through that, can't they? I'll look for a sale on plastic containers. We generally do the dishes every day but sometimes late at night we'll leave one or two in there. Not anymore haha.

Thank you for your suggestions!

It's keeps those lil fellas away but it also keeps your drain to be clogged and whatnot. I can confirm; they get into cardboard boxes. The dollar store is a great way to get containers for a few dollar. If you rinse your dishes with hot water to get rid of the food, it should be okay.

I hope it helps a tiny bit ;_;

That's actually-- a really good point haha. Our drain is pretty nasty right now, it's probably better to scrape the food out by hand than hope the disposal gets it. Plus we drop forks down there all the time lol.

UGH that's nasty. I thought it was only rats and mice that got through boxes.

We always do rinse our dishes though! Keeps them from getting sticky and hard to clean later.

It really does, thank you!