It’s Easy to Wage Own War on Pests : Boric Acid, Caulking Gun Are Deadly Weapons to Bugs

Monthly preventive sprayings and dustings for cockroaches and ants are among the pest control industry’s biggest businesses.

Experts agree that ridding homes and restaurants of cockroaches would cut down the incidence of food poisoning. “If (cockroaches) were to walk over a sewer or over a dead animal, and they were to walk into your house, they would carry certain organisms� on their feet, said Frank Hall, a vermin expert with the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

Yet homeowners and apartment dwellers seldom if ever need a professional to kill such household bugs, argued Diane Baxter, a staff scientist and toxicologist for the Washington-based National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides. “Most of it is unnecessary. I can’t imagine inviting an exterminator to my house for an ant or roach problem.�

Americans are better off sprinkling cracks and crevices on their own with powdered boric acid, which gives cockroaches a lethal case of constipation, she said. “It essentially solidifies in their guts. So they can’t eat . . . they starve to death.�

Cockroaches take 10 days to two weeks to die of starvation and usually do so in some private place. Consumers who “want to see bodies� in a hurry should use a short-lasting, pyrethrin-based spray (such as Raid) or, better, use their shoes, Baxter said.

Carl J. Doucette, former president of Pest Control Operators of California and manager of Western Exterminator’s office in Los Angeles, agreed with Baxter’s coalition that consumers could handle boric acid themselves. “They’re right. If (consumers) would do it, they wouldn’t need exterminators.�

But even boric acid is not appropriate for all homes, he said. The chemical is poisonous to people as well as cockroaches and should not be deposited where small children or pets may come in contact with it.

Locate Roach Nooks

Boric acid is somewhat more dangerous than aspirin, said John T. Munro, director of education for Pest Control Operators of California, a trade group headquartered in West Sacramento. “You wouldn’t think about crushing up aspirin and sprinkling it around your kitchen.�

A caulking gun and a basic knowledge of roach behavior can be even more useful than boric acid, according to the Bio Integral Resource Center, a nonprofit pest control research organization in Berkeley.

The secret is removing a cockroach’s living quarters and food supply, Executive Director Sheila Daar said. Most cockroaches--especially the German cockroach, Southern California’s most common variety--need to rest and reproduce in crevices narrow enough that they can feel both opposing sides. Cracks and crevices just or 1/2-inch wide are too wide for roach comfort, she said--the best roach nooks may be no wider than the thickness of several pieces of paper.

The least toxic way to control roaches, Daar said, starts with setting out several roach “motels,� which lure cockroaches into a container from which they cannot escape, at the bases of walls and the sides of furniture. Roaches stick to the edges of surfaces and seldom run across open spaces except when caught by a sudden light. Keep count of each motel’s nightly guests to identify where most of the roaches are. Then caulk shut all nearby crevices. Where possible, bracket-mounted book shelves should be pulled out half an inch from the wall to keep cockroaches from squeezing in behind them to rest, Daar said.

Several pest control experts agreed that roach motels are ineffective by themselves. “Roach motels are very good for monitoring,� Baxter said. “It wouldn’t handle an infestation in a New York apartment.�