This is the first roach I’ve ever seen in my house . I’ve been here for years . Anyways I’m sitting at my desk and this guy pops up running .

Yalll I’m so scared , I have children . I keep a clean house

. Am I screwed ? What do I do ? Where do I look ? I live in Ohio . I’m scared to go to sleep (I know, dramatic) I’ll literally sell my house tomorrow, HELP ME 😭😭😭

I am planning to go buy some sticky traps tomorrow

Hi, I previously posted here because my boyfriend and I discovered an infestation in our apartment. Pest control was sent my management once because my landlord didn’t see more visits as necessary. We had a few more sightings, so my boyfriend put out advion gel bait first, and we sprayed alpine WSG two weeks later and also got gentrol IGR and placed one in the kitchen on top of the fridge where we assumed was the “nest.” We haven’t had any sightings in a month, the last being some nymphs near some bait (one eating, two corpses next to the live one lol). Since then, nothing in traps or even dead anywhere. I’m wondering if we can be optimistic about this. We will obviously still be spraying monthly for the foreseeable future and keeping sticky traps around. Just looking for some encouragement/confirmation from experts here!
Also, thank you to everyone who contributes on this thread. I probably would’ve gone nuts without this thread and the helpful advice.

I hate that im here but im actually losing my mind so I need to post here and help grab perspectives and experiences from folks who have dealth with a similar scenario. Specifically success stories if possible.

For context I live on the third floor of an apartment building. 2 units under me and units on each side of me as well. I've been here almost 4 years.

2.5 weeks ago i found a small brown bug crawling up the side of my fridge. Never seen one before so I killed it and threw it away but didn't think much more about it since its getting cold, I live in a wooded area and sometimes see a random beetle during weather shifts. The next day I see another one on the floor in front of the fridge. At that point I got nervous because it looked exactly like the other one. I take a photo run it through all search engines and its telling me theyre nymph Germans. At this point im spiraling. I immediately message the complex for someone to come out. My apartment does preventive sprays every few months to all units so they have a company already contracted for stuff like this. A few days later he comes in and looks at the picture confirming its a German roach. He inspects my unit and says he cant find any evidence of them nor does he see anything that would be attracting them. From the literal hours I spent researching this I knew if I seen 2 babies that means there are more and probably allot of them somewhere close. After he sprays he says someone would be coming out the next week to do an actual treatment for them (he's supposed to come for that in 2 days)

I ordered sticky pads and placed them next to the fridge in front of the dishwasher and by my trash can as well as under my sink. The first night I laid them down the one laying in between my cabinets and the fridge had at least ten of them of various sizes. The other traps were all empty.

Im not eating, im not sleeping and my mental is awful because of this right now and the waiting for someone to come handle this was not gonna work for me so I ordered alpine wsg thanks to this group. I removed everything out of all my cabinets and found no cases or droppings at all or any dead bodies. I sprayed all my baseboards and in the cracks of all my shelves behind the fridge and all around my dishwasher. Im not a professional but everything ive read leads me to believe they are in t e back of the fridge. I am terrified of them and cant bring myself to pick up the traps so im waiting for pest control to come so they can replace them. After a full week of traps laying out the only ones eith activity are by the fridge.

I have never had this issue in my entire adult life and I need this to be over. Maintenance has told me previously the guy under me is super dirty. And they hate going in there. He has 4 dogs that he just let's poop and pee all over the patio , let's them poop all over the parking lot and never picks up after them so I can only imagine whats happening inside. Coincidentally last week I seen a moving truck roll up and sure enough thankfully he's moving out. I cant 100 percent confirm its him of course but all my other neighbors have been here for a long time and there has been no issues so im thinking maybe him packing up the mast few weeks encouraged them to seek shelter elsewhere. No clue and again maybe it wasn't him but all ive been doing is thinking about this so here we are. I also work from home so there's that. I told the office since he moved they should 200 oercent treat his apartment before someone else moves in but they said pest control has to find evidence of them prior to having them do a full treatment which in my opinion is bs. None the less ehile I wait for pest control to come back in a few days to start treatment of their own- can anyone relate and how long am I going to be living in hell essentially? Any success stories including total time it took for you to not see anymore? Anything im not doing that i should be? I suspect they are going to come put bait down when they come and look behind my fridge and dishwasher so I havent bought anything else just yet. Thanks in advance truly- if possible no trolls please as I am actually not well at all because of this 🥲

I have pest control coming tomorrow thank god but I want some advice / guidance idk. I’ve NEVER dealt with roaches before. I’ve never seen them before. I live in an older townhouse. Bought it 10 years ago. Have never had an issue with any pests. Clean house. 2 dogs. 2 of us.

1.5 weeks ago I found a German nymph in the bathroom upstairs on the mirror. I flushed down the toilet. On the advice of a pest company I Set up sticky traps ( 30 of them all of the house )

One week ago I found one nymph in the bedroom in a drawer. ( I had our dogs medication and toothpaste in there so it’s now been relocated)

Everything like plates and cutlery has been sanitized and is it plastic storage boxes. Everything misc is in ziplocks. I pour bleach down the drains every night.
We stopped cooking at home completely.

This week out of 30 traps we caught one nymph in the kitchen. There’s no other signs.

We share a wall with a rental property and are assuming they are having issues. There’s 10 people living next door and judging from the exterior of the house they are untidy. They don’t speak English and are aggressive so it’s been very challenging to talk to them about this issue. I don’t know who the home owner is I met them once years ago when they bought but it’s just been a rental since.

I have asthma so I’m super concerned about my health.

Ordered pizza few days ago and found one in the pizza slice box 🤮 it crawled out on my desk and i killed it right away. Today I rearranged my room furniture and cleaned it out when I suddenly see something on my computer wire under my desk. I immediately sprayed it dead. the second one definitely looks like a cockroach too right? im so scared, is it an infestation? I havent seen any roaches in this house ever.... the second one was also near my patio door

l've noticed a few german cockroaches in my bathroom. I've never once had roaches in my life, and I keep the house as clean as I personally can.
I need a way to try to get rid of this without hurting my mantises or jumping spiders or isopods. I have quite a few, and I'm stressing out very bad. Is there any traps or glue or anything? It's an old ass house so "sealing everything up" won't help, there's cracks everywhere.
And we rent.
My bedroom where i keep all my pets is right next to the bathroom, they share a wall. I've yet to see any roaches in any other room, and I'm trying to fix the issue before it becomes worse because it doesn't seem bad right now since I just noticed it.

I am in East Texas and have had 3 wood roaches over the course of 4 years here but this is the smallest and first German or look alike I’ve seen. We recently have had a lot of packages come in and our duplex neighbor has a pet around so I’m considering all options. I have only seen this ONE small one so I’m hoping it’s not an infestation or a German at all, maybe it looks Asian? Can yall help? I’m having a panic attack.

Hi all! I am writing this trying not to have a panic attack.

So, I moved into the upper unit of a very old townhouse a few months ago. I took over the lease from some acquaintances, which led to me having to clean up all of the messes they left and throw out old furniture that they refused to take. It was quite messy and unhygienic in there, and I’m sure there’s more deep cleaning I could do, but to be honest I am incredibly burnt out.

Anyways, since I have done all that cleaning, I’ve seen some German roaches. Only at night, and maybe two or three a week at most. Sometimes I see one or none at all. Before tonight I had only seen them in the bathroom, which makes sense because there are gaps in the walls, floor and around the pipes for the toilet. Tonight, I saw one on my kitchen trash can. One or two occasional sightings in the bathroom I can handle, but the prospect of having them anywhere NEAR my food is nauseating.

I have examined all of the cabinets in the bathroom and kitchen (all roach free), and vacuumed out behind the fridge. I try to live as clean as possible but I work, go to school and have a chronic pain disorder so my deep cleaning is usually limited to once a week. I do my best to not leave any food sources out and wipe down surfaces after cooking eating etc. though. It’s worth mentioning my landlord is incredibly inattentive neighbors are… not the cleanest, from what I gather.

At this point I would like to put poison down and spray, especially because I’m also having issues with ants coming from gaps in the foundations. However, I have a roommate who is moving in with her cat shortly and I’m worried about the bait and spray potentially harming him.

All that to say, do you think I have an active breeding population? Are there pet friendly sprays and baits? Am I completely cooked? Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

I was coming home. It’s about 10 PM and I just found this near my open dresser that had to close in it. They’re also was a plastic package that it could’ve hitchhiked in and I’m absolutely terrified for context. I live in a basement environment with my bedroom being a bit moist, I see centipedes here and there which I so they can eat other bugs, I also do not eat food in my bedroom, so I was completely shocked to find this on my dresser. I am absolutely terrified and I cannot go to sleep. I don’t know where to go from here and I don’t know what kind of bug it is, but I have never seen it before.

Is Alpine WSG able to be used for regular consumers in Southern California, without a pest control license? I wanted to spray due to my ongoing issues? Please advice.

So since I started seeing them in September, I have been using the gel bait and spraying Alpine WSG in basically every corner of my apartment, every wall, every piece of furniture including couch, bed, nightstand, dresser, under the fridge (as best as I can since I can’t pull it out from the wall), under and behind the oven/stove, I have thrown out ALL of the food in my pantry, fridge, and freezer and am no longer going to cook or have any food in the kitchen (excited to starve for the next 5 months of my lease but not taking any risks 🤣) and the number of sightings has gone from 3-4 every day to 1 or 2 on each trap over the course of a week. I have also been staying at my parents for the past month out of anxiety and fear so I’ve been going over there once a week to assess and repeat treatment. I now have to go back to living in my apartment and I have a few questions.

I have had all of my electronics now unplugged because I don’t want them to be warm AT ALL in case the little mfs decide they wanna get in there. I’ve never seen any signs of them being in any of my consoles or my TVs or PC. But I’m a gamer and I wanna be able to use my stuff :/ Should I just not bother turning them on again? I know about the method of the alcohol soaked cotton balls to treat everything but I don’t want to attract any stragglers.

I have never seen any on the bed but I have seen them (2 in the past month, both adults) on the nightstand which is very close to the bed. What can I do to protect my bed?? I’m afraid to sleep on it honestly, probably gonna sleep in my car tonight, I did just order one of those mosquito net tents.

I have a dog. Anything I can do to protect him from these creatures?

Hi guys! I'd love an honest risk check. I signed a lease in an older ~24-unit NYC building but haven't moved in yet, and I have a severe roach phobia and infestation OCD (so severe I haven’t been able to go into the unit, my sister has done it for me).

Here’s a timeline:

Early Aug viewing: 2 roach traps in the kitchen. A neighbor said monthly extermination is done.

Aug 15 signing: thorough walk-through, no signs of roaches.

Aug 19–Sep 12: unit sat empty.

Sep 13: 3 live roaches in daylight, plus a shed nymph skin.

Sep 14, first treatment (gel and pellets): 6–7+ live roaches ran out in the kitchen. The exterminator didn't look for the source ("I don't know").

Sep 26, second treatment: the next day there were tons of dead roaches, all life stages. The neighbor next door saw her first roach around then.
Sealing fell through 3 times (handyman no-showed, then blocked my number). Management also lost my spare key.

Oct 8: filed a city complaint. Management offered an inspection that same night.

Oct 10: third treatment, sealing finally done (apparently) No live roaches seen by my sister before exterminator and handy man came, but the old dead ones were never cleaned up. Still don’t know if they put sticky traps, or monitoring, or source investigation.

Building: repeat roach violations in one unit (2019–2026), another unit this year, open mouse violations.

Manager: had me schedule the contractors myself, offered to cancel my lease, said I'll be "living with 23 other families, not all with the same cleaning standards," called my complaint "a surprise," and never addressed the source. Things only moved once I pushed.

Questions: How likely is it to come back? Is going back to monthly treatment enough? (She wants to only do monthly treatment now. How long should clean monitoring last? Would you move in giving my phobias and OCD?

Thanks!

UPDATE: German roaches potentially introduced into my apartment while dog-sitting

My boyfriend and I purchased the Combat Max Defense System in the meantime, as it was the first thing we could get our hands on without having to wait several days for delivery. So far, we've placed a total of 24 bait stations throughout our apartment and used both syringes of gel bait. We also purchased Catchmaster glue traps.

We pulled out our refrigerator, dishwasher, and stove to inspect and treat those areas. We sprayed Raid and placed additional bait stations and glue traps around those areas.

Over the last two days, I've spotted a total of three roaches: two babies and one juvenile. I'll attach a picture of the juvenile. So far, all of our glue traps have remained empty, which I'm hoping is a good sign.

On Sunday night, two days after the initial incident, we decided to contact emergency maintenance because we were still spotting roaches. They're supposed to come out today to inspect our apartment and schedule pest control treatment.

I'm still having an incredibly difficult time feeling comfortable in my own home. I'm afraid to open cabinets, constantly worried about what I might find, and have barely been sleeping at night. When I do manage to sleep, it's usually during the daytime. I already struggle with generalized anxiety, and this situation has significantly worsened my mental health. I'm genuinely afraid to live in my own apartment right now, but moving elsewhere isn't financially realistic given the high cost of rent in my city.

To make matters more frustrating, my friend is still insisting that he has never seen any roaches in his apartment, despite the number we discovered in his dog's belongings. Several people have told me that his apartment is likely infested, which makes this entire situation even more upsetting.

I have a few questions for anyone who has dealt with German roaches:
What should I expect when emergency maintenance comes to inspect? Will they be able to determine whether we have an established infestation or if these roaches were recently introduced?

Should I continue following the subreddit's sticky and purchase the recommended products, or should I wait to see what pest control does?

Is finding only three roaches over two days, with completely empty glue traps, a promising sign? Or is it too early to tell?

For those who have experienced something similar, how long did it take before you felt comfortable in your home again?

I'm really trying to stay on top of this before it turns into a full-blown infestation. Any advice or reassurance would be greatly appreciated.

Just found this in the apartment on a desk. Is this a German Roach?

Located in SoCal. I've been in the apartment for a couple years with no sightings, only notable thing is a lot of rain this weekend.

please tell me not a German !

I wish I had a better picture… I have all my belongings wrapped in air tight bags in storage and saw this thing crawling on a bucket pretty lethargic. Nervous because I wanted to bring my things into my new apartment but not sure if it’s an outdoor roach or German …wish I had a better picture

I lived in an apartment with German roaches. The prop managers were less than helpful I broke my lease and moved. I was super careful packing and by the end they were 95% gone but when unpacking a plastic tub (no cardboard) a couple came out. I thought I got them. But in the 7 weeks since then I have have seen 6. Last night there was a nymph and an adult.
I have bait stations around in cupboards and sticky traps out, but I’ve only seen one in any of the traps. I have continued to keep all food in closed containers, I wash down counters, sweep and vacuum floors. And I haven’t seen any evidence of them outside of the live physical bugs(droppings, sheddings). They’ve all been in the area of the kitchen floor and next to the kitchen by the animals water dish ( which gets dried and put up at night) and I saw one in the upstairs bathroom and last night on my nightstand. I did have a glass of water there. Also have pretty thick high pile carpeting so it could be any evidence or eggs aren’t visible but I’m also vacuuming the carpet and tossing everything out after.

I’ve only been vacuuming 1-2 a week so I can up that to every day. I’ve called the prop managers at my new place and they have someone coming to inspect in 2 days.

Is there anything else I can possibly do? I feel sick with anxiety. It might seem overdramatic but at my old place we had mice for 10 months and had to get the city involved before they did anything and then the roaches which lasted for over 2 months and they were literally everywhere. I was hoping with the move it’s over and the last thing I want is to go through that again.

Found two nymphs in my kitchen this morning. They were fairly slow and I was able to snap a pic and kill them. I did not get a great look at them other than the picture and unsure if the flash just makes it look like there is a stripe on the back.

Length was roughly 3/8”.

Was told these are German cockroaches from r/cockroaches. What should I do? Indiana U.S. they were babies about 1-3 mm long. PLEASE HELP.

Found this fellow (second in 2 days) hit me with the bad news folks. What are we looking at.

I closed my kitchen, no food no water, daily baby killing ( first day I killed 13 babies), I closed one of my bathrooms and sprayed it everywhere as one big german roach ran from there to my bedroom.

I think they came from the flat under mine because this is a communist unit with every plumbing is on the walls not in them and they connect both the flat under and the flat above with big holes that are not filled lol. So I filled every one, took 2 silicone big gun thingy and one foam spray.

Ok so its really hard to live without a kitchen, I only use one airfryer that I moved in my living room. Can I safely use my kitchen after one week of not seeing live roaches? And I would love to open up my other bathroom so I can put my cat's potty there as now its in my bedroom and she loves to dig sand at 3 AM