Just saw 5 big boys on the ground floor of my apartment building. I’m on the 3rd floor.
Should I notify my landlord about this? Could be an invasion or something.
Or am I obliged to roach proof this building?
You can, but he’ll probably either laugh or be confused about why you’re telling him this.
11 Likes
Normal. Just get some roach traps for your place and put them in dark corners. They tend to like to trail around the edges of a room.
I would save my landlord calls for something important. Roaches are everywhere on earth. Landlords tend to dispise people that pick up the phine for small things very much unrelated to building maintenance. If there is an infestation, could call. But in theae concrete cubes its hard to have that unless there is somethung insanely unsanitary going on…which warrants a call. 5, just take care of it. You will see more. Or just buy a couple arboreal tarantulas. Natural and beautiful 
For cockroach bait that is safe be aware cockroaches are harder than say ant because some species can sense and pule up bad food. Cockraoches are actually fairly clean licing animals, the issue is we are disgusting species and they may pick up some of the filth we breed. Mix some food laced with boric acid. The “sacer” traps are essentially just this wrapped in a ton of plastic packaging which creates the real cleanliness issue you should worry about in taiwan:water, soil and air pollution. Boric acid is about 50 bucks (30 to 80) per bag and will make more bait than your entite high rise would need. It looks more or less like salt. I mix it with fruit that doesnt start to stink too much. Or grind some grains with boric acid and a sugar like apple core then put clumps in bottle caps in dark areas cockroaches might hang out in.
2 Likes
It would be a bit much to take it upon yourself to roachproof your entire building. Just keep your own space clean and have fresh traps laid out and they’ll be more likely to go bother some other resident. The little fuckers are a fact of life here and you’ll have to get used to them.
1 Like
Landlord’s thinking: Wow, so few. Better increase the rent.
Sweet newbie thinking: More than one, and so big! Give me an exterminator or a discount.
Reality: Cha-bu-duo. Could be much worse.
8 Likes
As a point of reference. My first year in Taiwan. Second floor was the kitchen. Turn on the lights … At LEAST 50 roaches in plain view. Odds are, five times that many were there, but hiding.
Later on, I used sticky traps to catch them. (First floor). Even so, for every one I caught, 20 roamed free.
Now I live six+ floors up. Weekly garbage disposal and they disappear.
It’s an advisory before a big earthquake. Usually bugs come out before big quakes, like ants, roaches, worms, locusts, etc.
Or they were doing some big spraying in the area. Check the schedule/ads on the community board.
2 Likes
Yea I won’t bother the landlord with it. I do use traps and haven’t seen any in my own apartment but damn that was awful lol
1 Like
Here in this site?
On your building door or neighborhood community board.
Probably the spraying. Plus, this is tropical, 5 is more than okay.
I mean if you only see this once in a while. If you see roaches everyday it’s not okay.
1 Like
Five is like having pets! You wanna go into 5+ rats per day? If so, I’m here for you!
Rats are unacceptable even for Taiwanese… unless you live on a farm. My grandma had a farm and she got snakes and rats and everything. But it’s not okay if you live in the city. NOT OK. 
If it makes one feel better out here in the countryside it is mostly the chinese translation of field mouse (almost like a degu, not like a western field mouse at all). The big nasty meat eating rats are in the city. Pluse many if the reasons such lests are dirty are due to human lack of sanitation and thus pathogen and/or parasite transfers. Not tha the countryside is free of such. But we always get mice/rates, sometimes moles on rainy weeks, in the house. Out here i would be just fine putting them on the grill. And i am vegetarian. In the city, i can barely take off my shoes as it is so dirty. Perspective.
But as mentioned by others above. Clean up the house, get rid of magnets for a given pest (avoiding dark, humid and confined lkcations with food is a great start). As far as tropical/subtropical countries go, taiwan has VERY few risks with wildlife. In fact, the biggest health risks are the poisons laid out in wholesale that get into our everyday…including our food and water supply.
Yea my apartment is pretty much spotless. I always keep it clean, that’s another reason it’s so annoying to see those guys hanging around in my building. Hopefully it’s just a temporary thing due to spraying
Stuff the deposit, I’d have been out of there that same evening!
The more important question: are they conducting appropriate social distancing amongst themselves?
3 Likes
Cobras in bike paths.
The only good bug is a dead bug.
2 Likes