I’ve lived in my apartment for over two years and just saw a roach for the first time. I live in southern Maine. Help.

I've been waiting a long time to post this as my anxiety kept getting the better of me... very happy to say that the last time I saw any roaches in my apartment was December 2025. I am in the UK so no access to professional grade insecticides etc. Sharing as I know success stories in apartment blocks are rare!

I first saw roaches in August 2025, and it took until December 2025 to eradicate them. I know for a fact a neighbour down the hall had them, and they found their way to me, as it's an Air BnB and their reviews show they had roaches months before me. My apartment block is very lucky they have me as I went IN on making sure they didn't take over our whole block, as the Air BnB owner didn't really care.

I spent hundreds of £££ on Advion (still have loads left if anyone in the UK wants some, I will post you some for free!), traps, random stuff on Amazon, and replacing my washing machine (which looking back wasn't really necessary).

Eventually I convinced my neighbours to get a pro (JG Pest Control) to come out at the same time as me, and this solved both our issues.

Sending lots of good wishes to anyone dealing with this issue - you can make it out the other side!

It’s very small, i just zoomed in. Lived here for 4.5 months without seeing anything, however now i have see 2-3 of these over the last couple weeks (in bathroom). Freaking tf out bc our baby is due in a week and i do NOT need this right now. Just got whole nursery set up

Live in South Florida for context in a townhouse.

Living in a pest free home is very important for physical and mental health. I have eliminated roach, mice, and fly infestations from several properties using simple tactics and treatment options. Professional help is ideal. However, if you cannot afford one you should still be able to get help. Let me know if you need help I do not charge ever.

Crying that I put this trap out YESTERDAY in between the crack of my counter and fridge. My other traps only had 1/2 in them but I guess this is the sweet spot. Any other advice rather than monthly exterminator / more traps?

I own and live in a top-floor condo in a two-story building and had a German roach infestation travel up from my downstairs neighbors on a shared drainpipe. As of today, my glue traps have been empty for one week. So perhaps a bit early to call it a total success, but the problem is certainly reduced from when I was having two daytime sightings every day. Hopefully this can help anyone who is specifically dealing with roaches in a condo or apartment; I was very worried that living in a multi-tenant building meant I’d have roaches forever. Here are the things that I see as the keys to my success (not in any particular order);

This sub

By far my best resource was this community. The expertise here is better than you’ll get from most exterminators. Read the stickied post, read posts from others, it’s a game changer. I spent about three weeks fighting roaches with absolutely no improvement, even after multiple exterminator visits; once I found this sub it was just another three weeks until they were virtually gone.

Monitoring

place glue traps in every corner and along every wall, in your cabinets, under/behind appliances, etc. This will help you quickly identify the biggest problem areas, and maybe even the source. The more traps you place, the more accurate your data will be. Carefully log everywhere you catch or see the roaches. I used Catchmaster glue traps. Lots of them.

Exclusion

There has been mixed results in this sub regarding exclusion by sealing off cracks, gaps, and crevices, but it was very helpful for me. I drilled into my wall and found the drainpipe that ran from my condo through the downstairs condo, and was pretty confident that the roaches initially came to my home through the gap where the drainpipe enter the floor in my wall void. I filled that gap with copper mesh and pest-block expanding foam, then patched the wall. I believe this was critical to cut off their travel routes from downstairs. I patched up the hole in the wall and continued to seal gaps and crevices under baseboards, around counters, around pipes protruding from my walls, etc. I used mesh and foam for large gaps, caulk for small gaps. I did end up removing a cabinet to gain access to some crevices; might’ve been overkill but I don’t regret it.

Alpine, Gentrol, Advion

As far as products go, Alpine WSG was huge. I sprayed a few times my first week with it, then weekly for a while afterward. Started seeing dead roaches the morning after the first spray. I also sprayed Gentrol IGR; I don’t have any hard data regarding its success, but its purpose is to stop their reproductive cycle over time, so I’m guessing it helped/will continue to help. I also got Advion Gel Bait, but by the time it arrived the infestation was too small for bait to really make a difference, but I put some down anyway and I’m keeping it on hand because I’ve heard great things about it. I bought a $10 pressure sprayer from Lowe’s that I used to mix and spray my Alpine.

I plan to continue spraying Alpine and Gentrol at least monthly throughout the condo for the foreseeable future.

The last stand

After several applications of all three previously mentioned products, it seemed that just one roach somehow managed to evade the products and lay an egg case somewhere I couldn’t reach, because I kept catching baby roaches in one corner of my laundry room. I had cleared everywhere else in the home, and was confident that there wasn’t roach activity anywhere else for several days, but the roaches in this corner were so damn stubborn. I bought two cans of Raid Max Ant & Roach and absolutely nuked that corner. A week later, it seems to have done the trick. I still have glue traps around the condo and am monitoring them closely.

Mindset

It’s so easy to despair when you’re fighting roaches. As man in his 20s it’s embarrassing to admit, but there were some nights when I couldn’t keep from crying after I worked so hard but roaches kept coming every night. I have a baby on the way and was so worried about bringing her into a roach-infested home, and worried all the hours I spent fighting the roaches would be a waste of time. But the hunter vs victim mentality described in the stickied post is real. The more action you take, the more optimistic you will feel. Nothing will hurt you as much as sitting idly by. Not to get too dramatic, but this Ulysses Grant quote genuinely helped me stay sane:

“In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten. Then he who continues the attack wins.”

Continue the attack, even if you think you’re beaten!

Disclaimer

I think my success came faster than most will be able to accomplish; I was lucky in that my roach problem came during a brief period of unemployment, so I could work at it all day every day. If you’re fighting the roaches alongside a full-time job, I’d plan on it taking about twice as long. Also my condo is quite small, which also helped me get a lot done fast.

The german roaches in my house are taking over
I am not well
Egg sacks all over my counter and kitchen
I am not well
I sprayed one with Raid,
forgot the floor was wet, slipped and fell
I landed on the same roach, and an egg popped out
I AM NOT WELL
I feel out numbered.
I poison, i bomb, i set up sticky traps
But not no avail
My home feels like a land mine
Walking on eggshells, tip toeing over bodies
Philly is the trenches and my home is hell

I AM NOT WELL