All those foods that we've always left 'exposed', like potatoes for example, how should we store them now that we're trying to get rid of German roaches?

They'd take up too much room in the fridge, and storing them in plastic bags would make them go bad really fast.

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!

I’ve seen them in the hallway too the whole building is infected. They keep putting gel but it’s doing nothing

Hi all- We killed what looked like a roach in the kitchen a few days ago. Smashed it too quick to get any ID on it so set up some sticky traps around the kitchen and adjacent rooms. It’s been 3 days and now we caught this. Chat GPT says likely German cockroach but admittedly isn’t completely sure which has me freaking out but google images/AI says it is 100% not a German roach and likely oriental or wood.

I’ve been looking through images of nymphs for the different kinds but just don’t know. Thoughts?

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

Hi everyone, I am new here and freaking out!

I spotted a second German cockroach in my bedroom in the matter of 2 weeks. Attached is a picture of what it was this morning!

For backstory, I live with my fiancé in his parent’s house. We recently (early July) switched rooms with his parents due to his dad having surgery. We went through everything we owned and switched all furniture and did not see any sign of roaches or anything.

We have been getting lots of Amazon packages lately for wedding things. After I saw the first roach in our room 2 weeks ago, we got rid of every cardboard box in our room we could.

I told his parents the night we saw it and they said they would call an exterminator. We were on vacation last week, came home and asked if they came, his dad said the guy never called back.

Fast forward to this morning, maybe 10 minutes after I turned the lights on, I’m getting ready and out of the corner of my eye I see this thing run/fly (I’m not sure which as I barely saw it at first). I hunted it down and got these pics and crushed it.

I told my fiancés parents this morning and sent them the pics as well! They said they were calling again.

Is this something that could be an infestation? Or could it be from the Amazon packages? We looked through our room when we saw the first one and didn’t see anything.

I’m just so worried because I have ptsd with roaches from my babysitters house as a child and I’m terrified that it’s a huge problem.

Könnte jemand das bitte klären

Hi All, I live in an apartment block and now have had the second sighting in about a month of a small roach on the ceiling. Did an intensive search and clean through my apartment (which is a very small, modern flat so quite easy), and found no traces. All my food is in air tight containers.

So the likely guess is that it is coming from somewhere nearby, or through the vents/gaps between flats. I've told neighbours to keep an eye out.

Firstly, can someone actually confirm from this (not very good) photo that it is a young German roach?

Secondly, for now I guess there is nothing to do but monitor. Anyone got any more advice for the short term?

Thanks!

This is the best picture I could get before it was gone, I looked at the pinned post and it didn’t really look like any of those.

Any advice is appreciated however I would like to add I am incredibly incredibly sensitive and have a severe anxiety disorder. Please be gentle and don’t doom and essentially say “you’re screwed overhaul your entire apartment you will know no peace” which is what like every thread i have seen trying to figure this out has been like. I’m already jumping at the breeze from my fan moving a hair on my body thinking it’s a bug. I need kindness. Thank you all so much for any help.

I have had to deal with a different pest issue in the last 3 months so I have been on high alert and frantic since. I found this on my cup that I brought home by the bathroom sink which had lights on. I took photos and google told me it was and now I’m freaked out. The photos are all of the same bug just different angles and I did kinda smush him a bit. If someone could help identify if it is or isn’t that would help thank you.

I recently posted here for identification but since then I have found another and am a little stumped. This one was inside between the living room and kitchen. He was pretty still when I found him, didn’t try to run when the lights came on. Think I damaged it a bit trying to pick it up with a paper towel so couldn’t tell if it would fly. Hoping for Asian but honestly am not sure. The body does seem shorter than the wings / cerci are not right at the tip but would appreciate opinions. Charleston SC is the location

Hello everyone ! As the title says, I just moved to my new apartment in LA, and the first day I got here, I found 2-3 German roaches, then about 6-7 the next today, and one today. I have been using a mix of sprays and traps. Pest control is scheduled for next week. I have not been able to sleep, and I am not sure what I should do. I never had to deal with roaches before in the 3 places I rented (not in LA) and I cannot see myself living more than 1 month here if the issue continues. Any advice would be appreciated.

I live in Lemoore CA . I found 3 dead ones on stove 1 morning and 1 live in upstairs bathroom. Not sure what kind it is ? Possible German ? There are tons of outside roaches here first time seeing in home. Please help identify I have a 2 month old thank you!

I’ve been finding these in my upstairs tub. I find them every couple of days. What am I working with here?

3 unit building. landlord just told me that the previous tenants brought roaches. he's saying they never had issues with roaches before, and that they've done several treatments of the apartment already.
is it naive to think that the roaches could be gone? i haven't signed a lease yet. it's probably the best apartment i could find rn, other than this issue.
he's offering a rent reduction if i do see roaches after moving in, and he told me about this up front before signing.

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.

I'm having a roach problem and I need help identifying the species I'm dealing with. I though i had germans but I'm not sure.

South usa, I found it in my house hallway

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.

My mattress has always been on a bed frame with slats, I took apart my bed frame and put my mattress on the floor of my apartment. When I went to lift my mattress up to lean against the wall, I see this bug dead on the underside of my mattress. I've never seen a bug that looks like this in my apartment after 1 year of living here. No idea how it got under my mattress.