WWYD: How few roaches are too many roaches?

[Kenneth12]

Howdy,

Large South American city,    posh neighborhood.   Apartment has been mostly fine,  a little dirty on the edges but no big deal.

Came back latish last night to see a few little and larger roaches scurry away in the kitchen-- photo and videoed a few before killing.

Same tonight.

I figure given climate a few is going to happen,  but as a host I know you also have to be proactive and this host hasn't been.

How much makes it reasonable to not just mention "you have to fix this to the host,"  but to complain to ABB?

(Two nights left on reservation--  am I making too much of it or would you be outta here tonight or in the morning?)

[Sarah977]

@Kenneth12  Living myself where roaches are common, having nothing to do with the cleanliness of the place, I'd say to notify the host. If you let him know that you decided to notify him instead or reporting it, but that future guests could give him really bad reviews because of it, he may be apt to do something pro-active. There are products he can use which will eliminate them. I just broke down and got some heavy-duty gel poison myself- you just use a dab of it in places where it won't get touched, or come into contact with anything else- I put a dab in the upper corners under the kitchen sink and in the broom closet, as well as pulling out the kitchen drawers and putting some in the well below the bottom drawer. Within 24 hours I found a few dead roaches.

This summer, for the first time in the 17 years I've lived here, we had an invasion of saw palmetto bugs, basically flying cockroaches. They were everywhere! I'd go up to my bedroom at night, where there is never any food, and I'd find 3 or 4 of them scurrying around. Went on for a couple of weeks, then they just all disappeared.

Where my daughter lives in southern Baja, you see cockroaches just scuttling around in the desert.

I know they're disgusting, but I think you have to cut hosts in countries where they're endemic some slack.

[Kenneth12]

Thanks.  I've been thinking of you when ... oh my,  I have been in some darn dirty listings with 4.8+ for cleanliness recently.

This place needs a deep cleaning,  and it needs some roach control attention,  but yes...  I'm inclined to think it's best handled by telling the host.

(In Barcelona a few weeks ago,  a host had a much worse problem,  many of them on the sink in the am,  when I checked the last guest mentioned the same... a few other issues ... guy said "it's hard,  we have the place treated *every six months* ...)

[Sarah977]

@Kenneth12  I've never done any fumigation- I don't like living in a house that's been sprayed with poison and to tell the truth, people I know who fumigate don't have less bugs than I find- it just kills the ones that are alive at the time. And I think constant fumigating just breeds stronger bugs that get immune to the sprays. This gel I just got says it's good for a year, but if I see any more roaches, I'll apply it as needed.

I've never travelled as a guest, but if I saw that a host had reviews that mentioned an issue, and arrived to find they still hadn't addressed it, I'd probably mention it in a review as well. 

I had a guest who left me a nice 5* review, but told me in private feedback that there was a lot of cat hair on the outside chair cushions- I was so appreciative that she had sent it as private feedback. The cat was a new addition- a stray that had decided she lived here that I kept chasing away, and to tell the truth, I hadn't even noticed it. I thanked her for letting me know and now I make sure to vacuum those cushions on a regular basis.

[Kenneth12]

We use a commercial insecticide spray,  and a basic powder chemical-- the latter particularly against roaches.   I'm very sparing on applying both.   The powder,  here,   would probably do wonders.

Chicago has a major rodent problem,   and they find ways in when the temperature goes cold.    I doubled the use of a controlled "need a permit" neurotoxin this year,   but it's less than it probably takes to control mice and far,  far less than a commercial pest control company would use.  

The effect of that neurotoxin on the local environment,   much less children,  are pretty extreme.  I'd like to keep as much of it out of the environment as possible.

It's frustrating to have a few unwanted creatures that may carry disease around,  but my sense here is the host isn't being irresponsible and is likely to try to fix.  Thanks for the help.

[Yulianna0]

@Kenneth12, in Spain we have this problem sometimes. I have noticed that they appear in August. Huge and ugly flying roaches! I have nets on every window, but still one or two could enter. Once I even partially refunded my guests for the roach in the bathroom (they did not ask for it). As I hate such insects deeply, I try to fumigate the space frequently specially in summer. I’m sure that you need to talk to the host about the issue. Finally it is better for him to keep the place clean!

[Sarah977]

@Kenneth12  I resigned myself to that cat who decided she lives here, even though I'm not a cat person. She's killed 2 rats and a few mice in the past couple of months! (They weren't in my house, she killed them outside, but still I'm happy she's eliminated the need for traps or poisons.)

[Beth80]

@Kenneth12  Here we have roaches and ants all year long.  I try to control them and keep pesticide spray available for the guests in case of a sighting. How many is too many? Even here my limit is about three at any given time. Three or more and I'm sprinkling boric acid around like snow. 😕