Cockroaches in Mouseville!

Within the past week I have seen two cockroaches in Mouseville. I was just Googling and learned that cockroaches will eat "just about anything organic" as well as their own feces and dead cockroaches. This means to me that cockroaches would be attracted by mouse food and dirty litter. Geeze!

Has anyone else had experience with cockroaches in their mouse rooms?

I remember growing up with them in VA.
Boric Acid around the baseboards helped. It is
toxic to other critters so put it in hidden places if you
use it. Under sinks was a favorite place. I have no
idea how far it has to be kept away from mice to keep
them safe as I left VA at a young age. Tractor
Supply might be helpful. Good luck.

I am sorry Ann! How frustrating!!! I am dealing with flour moths currently...no idea where they came from!

JOHN SAYS THAT IF WE HAVE COCKROACHES BECAUSE OF THE MICE, THE MICE GO! ZERO MICE IN OUR HOUSE!

EMERGENCY!!!!!!!!!

My husband, the ex-pest control man, says that every home has cockroaches. They come in from outside and are found in nearly every basement. Your roaches could be incidental. There are "good" species, and "bad" species. Please describe the cockroaches and I will try to get my husband to ID them tonight. The good species are basically just beetles and do not harm anything.

As always, I understand that men may react immediately and then calm down later, taking it back or being able to communicate about a more rational option. Hopefully John will see that you love your mice very much and want to help take care of any issues in another way.

I used to work in food service and had a pretty close relationship with Benny, the cockroach. Looked like German cockroaches to me. I'll have to catch one. We put down roach bait traps tonight in Mouseville and in the kitchen, and John sent me an apology by email. He's just really creeped out by them. Had them in the house he lived in as a kid. Turned on the stove and they ran out. Had them in his bedroom. Yeah, and I lived with them in Baltimore, too, but John is a city boy and is afraid of...bugs! Cleaned the biggest tank, long overdue. Will clean the seven other 10-gallon tanks now due for cleaning. Tiny, I will try to get one and post a pic so your husband can tell me about it. Good to hear there are harmless species. We have never seen cockroaches in this house in the 21 years I have lived here and John had never seen one in the 13 years he lived here before I moved in. I know they probably come from adjoining houses, but, as John says, how do they get in? Yes, I can figure how a cockroach can get in.

Tiny, I am thinking over the roaches I saw and they are different from German cockroaches. The first one about about 7/8-inch long and was red brown--redder than a German cockroach. Also the ends of its wings/tail weren't as pointy. They were kind of pointy. The second roach was about 3/4 inch long and look about the same. Does this give your husband any clue?

Here. This is the fella:
https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTMCRgRiYxcQWFBCHBg3oxlveRYaC65jA7-rQ6Deafp9kJXRqAHXA

Caught one on the wall in the stairwell to the basement this morning. They seem to be moving upstairs, now. Got him in a jar. Almost certainly a German cockroach, with an egg case. I'll try to get a pic but need to go to the bank and get a prescription right now.

My husband has verified that is indeed a German Cockroach and you need to take eradication measures including glue traps and bait.

Also, my experience tells me that they often are nesting somewhere. I found a whole colony living in the warmth of my Glade plug in.

Hmmm. Have an oil heater. Perhaps I should turn it off. Have set glue traps and bait traps. Also put some boric acid tablets on high shelves. One online source says that if your glue trap catches 16+ cockroachs in 24 hours you should call an exterminator. In our first 24 hours we have caught one young 'un, in the basement. None in the kitchen! I also sprayed angles, cracks, molding, etc., from the basement up the stairs and to the front door.

Our neighbors moved out of the town house next door and possibly the new occupant had an exterminator come in. Or maybe the roaches just got disturbed. I am hoping that is the reason they are here.

I did finish cleaning all cages and swept the floor so there should be nothing but mouse poop and the food in the cages available to them...and the big bin of oatmeal the mealworms are in. But the holes in the top of that are too small to admit cockroaches (except for the very baby ones). Could the aroma be attracting them? They are near the hot oil heater for the warmth so the worms will grow faster. That could be spreading the aroma. I will need to turn off my oil heater! Aw, and with babies mice on the way, and we're going on vacation. I will alert my A #1 mouse-sitter, Sydney, to turn the heater back on if it gets too cold in the basement.

If there is any disturbance or moving from the neighbors, that could be it. Husband just told me that oftentimes infestations come from secondhand items too.
The cockroaches are aware that there is food, they can sense the oatmeal somehow. All food materials should be sealed, totally.

Husband also said to really overload on the glue traps, and vary the types of bait. Also to spray door hinges, put traps behind fridge and microwaves. Roaches are attracted to warm motors. Overkill is the key word.

We are amazed that your oil heater is running, lol, it's still in the 100's here!

For serious! I've finally gotten my house back down to the mid-seventies! Does the heater ever go off?

The air handler (chiller for the AC) is in Mouseville. It is very cold. The normal temp of Mouseville is 70F even with the door open (thermometer hangs by Mouseville shelves which are in furthest corner from air handler) when the thermostat upstairs is set at 72F. When the thermostat upstairs is set at 71F it gets down to 68-69F in Mouseville. It's chilly for babies. It's chilly for me! And my mealworms grow reallllly slowly at that temp. But I do understand that roaches like warmth and humidity, so the oil heater is off.

Found some cheap glue traps that are smaller and I got twelve in a package. Yes, put them all over. Some bait traps down. Put boric acid tablets where visiting dogs couldn't get to them. Good thing roaches can walk on walls!

Tell me: the bait traps and the boric acid tablets all say they are hazardous to household pets. How close can I put them to the mouse cages? The glue trap at the back of the shelf with bin cages caught the most roaches. That's a total of 2 roaches in 48 hours. There are no roaches in the other traps. I taped a boric acid tablet to the back of the shelves opposite that shelf. Is it safe to put a bait trap actually on the shelf?

I would say that if it is close enough to where they could get at it, it would be very dangerous indeed.

The mice are in the cage. The boric acid tablet or bait trap is outside the cage, on the shelf. Unless the poison radiates through the air, I would think they would be safe. Does the poison radiate somehow through the air?

No I don't think it would, unless it's in any way "dusty". As long as the mice can't ingest it, you would be fine.

Oh, wonderful! (Pardon my ignorance, but who is that a picture of in your avatar?)

Poisons ingested by roaches could be ingested by mice if they eat the roaches?
How likely is that scenario given how the mice are housed?

(that is David Duchovny, the actor who played Mulder in the X-Files)

And Rena has a point about the insectivorous nature of mice. I know mine LOVE a cricket when I happen to have them on hand, and everybody knows they love mealies. I can imagine a cockroach would suffer the same fate, and a poisoned cockroach could do a lot of damage. If they're in bar cages, that could be a serious issue. For tanks or tubs, not so much.

They're all in tanks with quarter-inch mesh lids, except Brindle Heaven, which has no lid. I could make one, though.

I asked about the danger of mice eating poisoned crickets at another forum and was told that any cricket that had eaten poison would already be dead. It didn't make sense to me, though. I am concerned about my mice eating poisoned cockroaches.

It is not possible or even likely that a cricket (or anything) would die instantly upon its mouthparts touching the poison. If the mesh is fine enough that the cockroaches can't get through, all is well.

Quarter-inch mesh is not fine enough, but I could probably purchase a bunch of cheap window screening and put it over all the lids. Yes! I shall do this when I return from the beach!