Can you get rid of waterbugs?

We have waterbugs coming out of our drain. When we first moved in we had one ( i think brown ew) come out of the sink. We also saw one more brown one in our hallway about a month ago.

For awhile we constantly had small brown bugs and the occasional waterbug out of the drain.

landlord says he has industrial stuff and sprayed, and we stopped getting the small bugs, but still the occasional waterbug.

Last night I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, as I was getting up, I saw a HUGE waterbug running in the sink, at this point it was vaguely eye elevel and moving FAST. I SCREAMED and yelled for DH. Poor DH was woken up from a deep sleep and woke up in such a panic he had chest pains. For my part I think the screaming and shocl got to me because I started to pass out.

This is all probably neither here nor there and maybe the solution is to not freak over bugs but it TOTALLY freaks me out.,

Is it reasonable to expect/demand that the landlords get rid of this problem?

Is it just to be expected? Since they're coming out of the drain i don't think spraying around the house/basement really helps.

We're on the first floor or an attached 2 family in Queens. LLs say attached family is not the cleanest.

Not sure what to do, but I feel like I'm in a horror movie.

Maybe I should have brought some of the lizards from DH's old apartment to catch them. EAL!

Message edited 1/18/2012 1:42:23 PM.

Re: Can you get rid of waterbugs?

Ugh, my condolences for what you are going through. We get them in my apartment occassionally (3 family house in Queens) and they freak me out.

I did a ton of research on them and this is what I do:

1. Boric acid- you can get this at a dollar store. Lightly puff out some of the solution around the house especially where they would normally hang out (around the garbage, damp places, etc). Make sure to keep it thin because they will just walk around a pile. Once we started doing this we started to see lots of dead ones. What happens is that they walk over it and spread it to the others in the nest while they die slowly..hehehe

2. Bay leaves- these are supposed to repel them. I throw tons of them behind the fridge, under radiators, outside our apartment door. They are non toxic so you can be generous.

3. Pepper spray- I read that about this. You can mix 2 tablespoons of Tabasco Sauce into 2 quarts of water and pour into a pump spray bottle. Mist it onto any surfaces where you don't want roaches to go. I went crazy and misted it all over the apartment..it dries clear so it doesn't show. I was literally choking to death from the pepper though.

4. There are insecticide chalks you can try. I think boric acid works best but you can draw on the walls with the chalk..I read that Dead Fast Ant and Roach Killer is good.

5. I would try plugging the drains if they are coming from there, especially at night. I would even try pouring a good amount of bleach down all the drains and plugging them before you go to sleep. I'm not sure it will work but it's worth a try.

HTH!

ETA- Here is what you shouldn't do. Don't spray around the apartment with RAID. RAID should only be used if you see one. If you spray RAID around the apartment, the roaches will slowly develop a tolerance to it.

Message edited 1/18/2012 4:39:15 PM.