Cockroaches in my dishwasher. Ewww!

July 23, 2006 7:11 PM

I have cockroaches in my dishwasher. Help me kill the little bastards with extreme prejudice.

Due to some little beasties hitching a ride in boxes that were mailed to us, we have a cockroach problem. It seems to be mostly under control now (after two sprayings, a bombing, baits, glue traps, and roach gel), but I cannot for the life of me figure out what to do about the ones in the dishwasher. They seem to be living in the door. There are droppings along the top of the door, and I have seen them crawl into the body of the dishwasher from the air vents. I have considered spraying through the vents with Raid, but it seems unwise, since I actually USE the thing. What suggestions do you have?

Relevant: I live in an apartment building, I don't want to move, I am unsure if replacing the dishwasher is feasible, and in any case I want to see if I can do anything about it first. Thanks.

posted by calistasm to home & garden (6 comments total)

If you can remove the trim or otherwise get to the space under the dishwasher, try putting some baits there.
posted by TedW at 7:31 PM on July 23, 2006

Do you clean your dishwasher? There are some products near the dishwasher detergents in most supermarkets that are specifically for cleaning your dishwasher. I recommend doing that, and making sure that after the dishwasher is clean, making sure there are no food particles on your dishes when you put them in the dishwasher. Leaving dirty dishes in a dishwasher for a few days while waiting for a full load is extremely tempting to roachies...it's like an all-you-can-eat buffet.

If you can't find dishwasher cleaner, improvise with Borax and baking soda.

Additionally, you might want to make sure your kitchen sink & garbage disposal (if you have one) are thoroughly cleaned. You can clean your garbage disposal with Borax as well. Borax is also good to have on hand because as a dry powder it kills roaches.

On that note, this is just an idea, but maybe you should sprinkle a little Borax in your dishwasher at night. If it is sitting with rinsed but dirty dishes. Once roaches walk thru the powder, it dries them out and kills them.
posted by tastybrains at 8:10 PM on July 23, 2006

Short of taking the whole thing apart to get at the spaces between the cover and the lining, I think your best bet is to seal all the dishwasher's external vent holes so the little bastards can't escape, put a roach motel inside it, close it up, and wash your dishes by hand for the next month.
posted by flabdablet at 8:29 PM on July 23, 2006

I have seen them crawl into the body of the dishwasher from the air vents

Consider that you may also have a leaking dishwasher ... and that this means the landlord is responsible to both fix it and maintain a nuisance-free rental unit.
posted by frogan at 8:34 PM on July 23, 2006

Maybe try boric acid bug ball bait bags in the dishwasher between uses. The balls stay relatively moist in open sandwich bags while the roaches eat the poison. Just remove the bags before using the dishwasher.
posted by mediareport at 10:27 PM on July 23, 2006

Whichever solution you eventually use, I second the suggestion to also not use the washer for about a month. The roaches are there for the water, and since it's pretty much impossible to towel-dry a dishwasher after use you should let it dry out and stay dry while you're doing your roach-and-egg killing.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:10 AM on July 24, 2006