The windows are rolled up tight, and I might only be imagining the clouds of fumes filling the inside.....but they are in there.
I know.
My car is being fumigated. For bugs.
Roaches.
In my car.
This is the second time, the second car, the second month in a row that I have opened a car door and been greeted by antennae that were not attached to the radio. Twitching.
For the record? It's fucking disgusting.
I have no idea why or how they get in there. The theory (according to our Terminix guy, who I love FOR REAL) is that they are stowaways in dry goods. Grocery stores, shipping containers, factories.....they sometimes have, uh......bugs. And then when you put that random box of Frosted Miniwheats or bag of rice in your car, you may be bringing home some extra protein.
((((shudder)))))
They should put THAT on the label. Nutritional facts of the food, and the food when you take the bugs into consideration.
It's the tropics. I keep telling myself that. It's not me. In all the years of driving cars that were literally filled with all of my belongings plus random snacks, years where I never so much as emptied the ashtray..........This is my first experience with having critters in my car.
And I don't like it One Little Bit.
Sami discovered them this time, which is good because I am already in full-blown paranoia over the uku season. I honestly think if I had opened the car door and watched bugs scatter in the glow of the dome light, that they would have had to admit me to the psych ward. I have a feeling I would have just stood there and screamed. And screamed. And continued screaming while the bugs poured out of the car and ran across the driveway and over my feet and up my legs and.....OK, clearly I am over-reacting and blowing this way out of proportion. But there were bugs IN MY CAR.
I went down and opened the doors a few minutes ago - there are still bugs in there, but at least they are dead. I swept most of them out (gagging) and then emptied the trunk and shook out the beach bag and the car seat and emptied all of the cupholders of napkins and crayons and then buckled everything back in and now I am sitting here, staring out the kitchen window at my truck, trying to work up the courage to get in it and drive somewhere.
So if you see a tearful woman talking to herself in Walmart who stinks of teatree oil and Raid, well....that's me.
Posts
4 days ago
18 comments:
Did you get rid of your bugs? I just saw a roach in my car last night …I almost died …I am downtown LA and my kids leave food in the car I am afraid to get in the car now, let me know what you did and if it worked.
Thanks
Martha
It totally worked. I also took EVERYTHING OUT OF THE CAR AFTERWARDS and vacuumed the crap out of it at the car wash (left all carseats in for the bombing, then scrubbed them down with sponges, because I was afraid there might be bugs in the cupholders or carseat base.)
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this. It felt so good reading that someone else felt that a visit to the psyche ward might be in order after finding the damn things in the car.I just had my home fumigated two weeks ago, (I've NEVER had bugs, ever before - five and a half decades of roach free living) then today on the way to a job interview!!!!!! I don't think I got the job, although I did try to pull myself together.
Can this really be done? How long do u vent the car? How do i do it? Help please my family and i are sick if it. Please guide me lol.
I used the Raid fumigators TWICE and still found roaches in between the back seat. Three hours to bomb - 1 hour to fumigate. I admit to almost losing my mind and pulling the whole damn car apart - taking the back seat out - clearing out every single thing in the entire car - a big job because I have a really old big Cadi that I collected things in for years! I literally got in the trunk and washed the darn thing. In speaking with people I've learned that this is quite common in Florida. i will put a few roach traps in the car for sanity preservation.
I ready to bomb my car..My car is 1 year old and new..got a 6 year who left food in the car and now...well I have the little kind of roaches..I'm dying because i am scared shitless of those things..I have used borax by itself..I do not see them everyday but think they are not so much in the car as they are inside the doors? Is this possible?? I am going to try the bomb that its just a fogger and not the aersol and hope it does not ruin my leather!
These threads make me want to vomit, but I have to continue reading them. Five years of driving around using the passenger floorboard as a trashcan and I never had a single issue. One night in Florida with the windows cracked, and now there's 3 different kinds of the disgusting little f**kers. I have used the chemical bombs twice, and I just put two of the dry-foggers in about an hour ago because 5 of them ran out at the same time to try and attack my kids today, WHILE DRIVING. I almost killed EVERYbody. I have cleaned the crap out of it, taken all the food out, and they still keep coming back. Pretty sure they're eating the dead ones to stay alive, that and their own poop. If you have a carseat base, DISMANTLE IT. Kids can't help leave crumbs behind, and I literally found like 20 of them in the base when I gutted the ride today. I'm halfway between calling Terminex to tent my car (let em take pictures, maybe they'll cut me a deal) and just selling the damn thing. I have found some stuff on other threads that may be helpful if you don't have a full-blown infestation, but near as I can tell it takes a couple months (eggs keep hatching) at least, and nothing works 100%.
Bay Leaves
Peppermint Oil
Catnip
Pandan Leaves
These things all naturally repel roaches, but they may not give a crap if you've already got resident roaches.
DE (diatamaceous earth), nontoxic white powder that sucks all the moisture out of them
and Boric Acid
The borax seems to be getting the best results for others, I haven't tried it yet though. Bombs and traps are only working to some extent for me because they keep hiding in the door panels, escaping through air vents, and ducking beneath the weather stripping to avoid the fog. Good luck folks. If I had full insurance coverage, I'd just "let" it get stolen or lit on fire.
I have one question, don't know if anyone else has this going on... do roaches munch on leather?
I am so glad I found this board. I have lived in FL for 5 years and recently discovered roaches in my car. I had left food in it and ate in it often, but never did I imagine this would happen! I feel so gross and dirty. I am going to follow the advice on here I have read so far and clean the entire thing out, and do a Raid bomb in the car and trunk. My husband refuses to drive it and he is a mechanic and I want him to look at it because something is wobbling lol..Wish me luck!!
Well well well well I so thought I was alone...I'm in Texas...I sprayed raid and was proud of my results...for a while...I saw a prego mama and little hatchlings...I smushed her fat ass...but there is still an infestation and as it has been said...they are ducking behind my stereo when I get in..or hitting the cracks...damn roaches...ugggghhhhhh I have boric acid laced with sugar in my car now...don't see any results yet...its been weeks...I soaked my car in raid and came back to a colony ..I guess I have to be fervent in my attack!!!
I am so happy to read this as well. When I first moved to Hawaii, it was a shock to learn that you can have roaches in the car. Every local I talk to about this just shrug their shoulders and tell me it's normal, or common, or welcome to Hawaii. I can't even get in my car since I'm so afraid I'll crash if I see one while driving. I used the roach baits and so far they're working. Hoy hoy is ingenious. Available at all the grocery stores on the islands. Anyhow, good luck to everyone dealing with this. I'm told that unless I bomb my car, they're there for good. I'm not willing to do that with the little kids to worry about inhaling that toxic stuff. I mean these roaches survived every destructive environment on earth. Don'tcha think it will take something super toxic to kill them and affect you or your little ones, pets, etc? Ugh. The price of paradise...
I remember once, seeing "one" on the inside rear window of my car - far from home on Interstate 95 ( I-95 ). Needless to say, I pulled my car over as far off the road as possible then did something considered "dangerous" : I hitchhiked home and asked my Dad for help. Now some would say that it was foolish of me to hitchhike so far away from home, by myself. But I have lived in Florida, and I know that "thing" inside my car was far more dangerous to my mental health than any evil person could have been.
Now I am a much older adult. I keep the inside of my car clean and forbid anyone bringing food inside. SO far, many years later - no "things" in my car. However f I ever do see one, I will not hesitate to pull over and abandon the car in place; now I have a cell phone and can call a cab or someone to come get me.
I built a house some years ago and before the drywall went up, I poured BORIC ACID in every horizontal surface inside every wall. 10 years later I can tell you for a fact: I have NEVER had one of those "things" in my home.
Most recently I have been introduced to FOOD GRAD diatomaceous earth, A MUCH SAFER ALTERNATIVE TO BORIC ACID AROUND HUMANS AND PETS; EVEN BABIES!
Good Luck to all and God Bless you all.
Like your "scents-of-humor" You have a gift for writing. YOU SHOULD BE WRITING BOOKS AND HAVING PAID SERVANTS TO CLEAN YOUR CORVETTE (yeah, you've read it right) ;) But until then, good luck and good riddance ;)
My boyfriend and I have been spending time apart for a while. I was at my moms and he was at our place.
I was spending time with my sister who I haven't seen in two years and so I was away with my son for a few months coming by every now and then for babe lol.
But about a month an a half ago, I came home to a roach infested house. I have no idea how it happend, only he knows that... But we moved.
because I wasn't allowed in the house due to toxic fumes and I was 8 months pregnant (now almost due)
He did the shittest job grabbing this we needed and leaving.
We got our thing we desperately needed, but somehow he manged to get bug in the fucking car.
I have a one and a half year old and a new born that are going to depend on this piece of shit and I don't have months to wait for them to start going away... What's the fastest most effective way of getting rid of them?
I'm scared shitless and they are in the air vents crawling around the dash late at night. I don't know how bad the infestation is, but they don't present themselves during the day... Our car is a Nissan sentra 1999
Pretty small, so even cleaning g it Completely
Isn't hard... But how do you kill these nasty bastards :(
I have seen about 5 in the last three weeks. They are small and nasty and I can't take it. I live in florida and as per the above post seems to be common. I am currently embarking on a trip to ATL for my sons tournament. I bombed the car last night and air out the car for about two hours. The air blasting windows down and trunk open. I hope I do not see any tonight on my drive. If I do I will be abandoning the car ASAP and taking a UBER. Wish be luck! Florida Resident.
Hilarious!!
In May our small town experienced 1 of the worst floods in history. I live way up on the hill side, my place wasn't too bad. Needles to say that my basement did flood. The day of the flood I was cleaning up the watery mess & saw 1 dead roach. Not a huge deal. Right?? WRONG!! Within weeks after the flood I saw several of the creepy things & of course I had to have my house exterminated. Now just today I opened my car door at the gas station & a roach fell to the ground! I tried to remain calm & I chased it down in the parking lot like a maniac! I had to leave again this afternoon.. another roach fell out at another gas station!! Freakin out! I've never seen such a thing in my life! Actually I've never even heard of it until I searched the internet. Thank goodness that someone else has been through this & can offer some solid solutions!! My daughter just recently bought a newer car. I'm afraid to tell her. Also I'm more afraid that if I don't she may literally wreck trying to get away from any bug let alone a roach!! She has a meltdown when a moth is even near her personal space! I think I'm going to bomb both cars! Then lay boric acid around my house again!! Please keep your fingers crossed for me!!
I paid $300 to have car detailed because it was such an overwhelming task. But at night we see huge ones crawling around! Thankfully I have another car to drive. My brother is stationed in Japan so I am using his. We are going to resort to bombing it. I have 3 kids and i am nervouse about the toxic stuff but this is insane! I will NEVER let anyone eat in my car again. - mom in Florida
About a month ago, my friend in the passenger seat said "Hey, there's a beetle on your floor". A month later, I'm doubting it was a beetle since I found these pale, blonde-colored micro-monsters scurrying away when I lifted the floor mat. They seem to be living inside the center console, behind the plastic panels. I wanted to lite the car on fire, run away and take repeated showers...just the idea of these disgusting creatures crawling around my car, which to most of us is a "safe" place, makes me insane.
It's been two days since I bought Raid gel bait which I globbed on everywhere under the can interior, but avoiding upholsry. I'm already finding dead bugs which is fantastic. I still want to lite my car on fire and drive it into the closest canal in Fort Lauderdale.
Tim, FL
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