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Ok so after making the leap to Ensenada over 4 months ago I found a great place in Punta Banda and besides the small ups and downs its a good house. About two weeks ago I walked into my room and saw a huge spider staring at me. That one was easy to kill but made my skin crawl a bit. Since then in the same area ( in my bedroom near my bathroom) I have seen a scorpion and about 6 gigantic roaches. The Home Depot spray didn't do anything and when I researched online people say to get boric acid and spread it everywhere. First thing- where can I find boric acid ( for a reasonable price) and second thing- any other ideas or an exterminator that won't charge me a fortune when he realizes I'm American???? PLEASE GIVE ADVICE ASAP! I used to go to bed around 10 every night but now keep checking the bed, clothes, floors, etc. I'm so freaked out and am tired of staying up late. Thanks

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Originally Posted by Razz Martinez

Ok so after making the leap to Ensenada over 4 months ago I found a great place in Punta Banda and besides the small ups and downs its a good house. About two weeks ago I walked into my room and saw a huge spider staring at me. That one was easy to kill but made my skin crawl a bit. Since then in the same area ( in my bedroom near my bathroom) I have seen a scorpion and about 6 gigantic roaches. The Home Depot spray didn't do anything and when I researched online people say to get boric acid and spread it everywhere. First thing- where can I find boric acid ( for a reasonable price) and second thing- any other ideas or an exterminator that won't charge me a fortune when he realizes I'm American???? PLEASE GIVE ADVICE ASAP! I used to go to bed around 10 every night but now keep checking the bed, clothes, floors, etc. I'm so freaked out and am tired of staying up late. Thanks

A total house extermination with a local guy here that knows what he is doing costs $200.00 pesos and is good for 6 months. It won´t last long for cockroaches but they will leave if there is no food available. I use tightly closed garbage pales and wipe off the counter and stove after use and rinse the dishes right away and try not to drop food from your mouth or hands works very well.

Open sewer covers are a problem for cockroaches so check your yard as they are commonly not tight fitting cement holes with covers and sometime 2 or 3 in one yard. If not sealed get some mortar cement and seal them.

Farmacias have boric acid, just ask, if the Home Depot doesn´t have it or have it cheap and is cheaper in small quantities at farmacias anyway or las tianguis. If you have a cat only put it behind the fridge and stove. Spreading it everywhere is not necessary anyway.

I haven´t had bug problems for years but do follow through on what I consider a way to eliminate the problem. Works very well for me.

Combat Roach Gel works great for roaches. I worked as a caregiver for a almost a year, and the woman that I worked for had brought roaches from her last apartment, and the stuff works wonders. The roach population was down within a week, and gone within a month.

The monster roaches are coming from the sewer system so don't eat them.
Get some screen and cover your drains even if you have to roll it up and push it inside.

There's a business in Maneadero called QUIMICAL.[center of town on the main drag....east side of the street. Big sign.....easy to see]. They sell everything that has to do with death in concentrated lots. You can buy a small sprayer at Home depot.


Shouldn't kill spiders unless you ID them as dangerous. They kill bugs too.
Those scorpions are probably the small gray/ beige type with a sting no worse than a bee. More heat than pain actually, so don't freak out too much over them.

Welcome to Messico.

Borax the cleaner is made up of 100% (or so) boric acid, FWIW.

I don't like bugs. One of the main reasons why I moved from Miami to San Diego 25 years ago. Roaches were a big problem in Miami, not at all here in San Diego. But, I do notice them as I go south of the border into Baja. I wonder why... Oh, and scorpions too!

I lived in Tucson for 1 1/2 years, and also had the pleasure of knowing that sewer roaches were around. I never saw any, but was told to pour bleach down the drains every night, and keep them covered. I guess it worked, because I never saw any.

Originally Posted by tjsue

I lived in Tucson for 1 1/2 years, and also had the pleasure of knowing that sewer roaches were around. I never saw any, but was told to pour bleach down the drains every night, and keep them covered. I guess it worked, because I never saw any.

Bleach isn't a good idea with a real septic system. Kills everything.....good and bad.
Most places down here that aren't connected to city sewer, have cesspools. Nothing to hurt there, so pour the bleach to it.

If I see any when I move to TJ, I will, but hopefully, I won't see any.

I live in Poway CA, in a rural area with septic and a well. I've not seen any roaches but we do get a lot of spiders and scorpions. My wife hates the scorpions in particular, they seem to want to get in the house in late summer through about Nov. They don't have a very potent sting though, none of them. We have a couple of kinds, a small yellowish kind, and one with larger pincers in particular, but none are any worse than a bee sting. i think you have to be in AZ or very near AZ to get the really potent variety.

-Roger

Cleaned out my garage and despite pest control measures to keep the insects down around the house, I found 3 live scorpions in the corners. One of the really big claw variety, and another that is the more common yellow colored striped scorpion, I think.

We live in the Chapala, Jalisco area (Lake Chapala) and people here use Repelente from Costco. It is a bluish liquid that comes in a huge container. The maids use it in the mop water. I have no idea what the measurement is. I think they just dump some into the mop bucket. Seems to work fine. We also spray with a powder stuff every six or eight weeks ..... I''ll have to ask my husband the name of it. Anyway, I can't say that we never see scorpions, because we do. However, they are always very sick and inactive, so easy to stomp ... and not a big danger for stinging.

We are on our way to the Baja!

Where I currently live in San Diego (City Heights), I only see an occasional Daddy Long Legs and earwigs.

Originally Posted by tjsue

Where I currently live in San Diego (City Heights), I only see an occasional Daddy Long Legs and earwigs.

It's the two-legged roaches in City Heights that need to be exterminated.


Jeeezo.....get outta there.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

It's the two-legged roaches in City Heights that need to be exterminated.


Jeeezo.....get outta there.

Originally Posted by DENNIS

It's the two-legged roaches in City Heights that need to be exterminated.


Jeeezo.....get outta there.

I totally agree, and I'm getting out, I hate living in City Heights, and I'm looking forward to moving to TJ! I'm going sometime next month to look for a place, so that I can move in September.

I'm leaning toward Colonia Independencia or possibly Zona Rio.

Are neighborhoods in TJ preferable to city heights? Seems so crowded over there, don't the bad areas butt up against the good ones? One thing about San Diego, if you are in a good area you are generally not close to any bad neighborhoods. The good and bad areas by and large don't border one another to the extent they do in other cities.

Originally Posted by Uzun

Are neighborhoods in TJ preferable to city heights? Seems so crowded over there, don't the bad areas butt up against the good ones? One thing about San Diego, if you are in a good area you are generally not close to any bad neighborhoods. The good and bad areas by and large don't border one another to the extent they do in other cities.

It's like anywhere else - good areas and bad areas. I live 1/2 block off of El Cajon Blvd, behind an ethnic (North Park Produce) grocery store, and in hookerville.

I rent from a slumlord, the manager is a pervert, and the only reason my rent on my cottage hasn't been raised to $825 from $780, is because the owner knows that I'm looking to move.

I watched rents for a year, and even in other crummy and worse areas of SD, the rents are the same, and I just can't afford it. Considering that I'm semi-retired, on SS and work very part-time, and I've been wanting to move, the time has come.

Rents pretty high in San Diego all over, but the good areas are not a ton more than the bad ones. A lousy one bedroom in city heights goes for about $800 or so, and a small 1 bed near the beach in la jolla is about $1200 or so. That's not a huge difference high to low. Problem is suburban areas like Mira Mesa, Poway etc are about the same as La Jolla.

If $800 is a pain, then your are out of luck in San Diego I think, that's basically min rent in a terrible neighborhood.

You could probably get something a lot cheaper out in the desert, near Borrego Springs or Brawley etc.

-Roger