Michael Ryan wrote:
> Roaches are hard to kill; I suspect that you brought them in from the
> pinecones. Besides, it is getting close to winter, and they are looking for
> a warm place to live, and breed.
> Best way to stop them, is to use croak a roach, but if they are in the
> gerbil cage, then
> 1) Move gerbils into an empty cage (no bedding),
> 2) Take all old bedding from their cage and dispose of it outside right
> ways - or if you have a wood stove, burn it, but the pellets from the
> gerbils might make the fire smell funny, if not gross.
> 3) Fill up a bathtub with hot water, and add simple green cleaner.
> 4) Take apart the tunnels and everything inside the cage that can be taken
> apart.
> 5) Put everything inside the tub, and let it soak for a few hours.
> 6) While waiting - take the bedding in the bags, and put them into an
> airtight container. Put a box of salt in the container (use cheesecloth, or
> tea balls. You want to suck the moister out of the roaches, and eggs.
> 7) In the mean time - get a small bag of bedding from the pet store. You
> want the older bags to dry up, and eggs to die out.
> 8) Put all food into a air tight container. But, when you do this, take a
> couple of spoonful of baking soda, and put into a paper towel, roll it up,
> and then place into the container. The backing soda will make the smell
> unappealing to the roaches., and take the air out of the roaches, salt would
> do the same, but the gerbils would not eat the food, if they can't get
> moister out of it.
> 9) When the cage is soaked for a spell, take each part out, and rinse it in
> cool water - and dry it with paper towels, Reassemble the entire cage. Put
> new bedding into the cages, and add each gerbil back in to the cage one at a
> time after checking for roach bites.
> 10) BTW - the gerbils will eat the roaches, as a good source of protein.
> However the young, and eggs are hard for the gerbils to eat.
>
> I hope this help, may sound extreme, but - it keeps then in check.
>
> If you buy a huge bag of litter for the gerbils, then get a large rubber
> maid container that will hold it, and keep it airtight.
> ALSO - stay clear of cedar - As noticed many a times here - CEDAR is a known
> killer to gerbils.
>
I'll try to do that, but I know that I can't put the bag of litter in an
airtight container, because it is the biggest size available, and we don't have
any containers that big.
What do roach bites look like? I have not noticed any large roaches, but have
seen a few baby roaches. I have had baby roaches in there prior to cleaning the
cage last time.
I have an empty 20 gallon aquarium I can put them in, and I hope they can stand
it for a few hours.
Also, the food bag I use is a ziplock (supposedly airtight) bag, so should I
follow the same procedure or still use a container for it?
Thanks for your help!!
