How to get rid of roaches in an Xbox 360/Wii?

[Cmosfm]

So I got a pretty decent score from Craigslist on a Wii and an Xbox 360. Get them home and realize they smell like shit, are full of dead bugs and even some living ones. It's disgusting. What's the best way to get rid of these and clean them out?

[megasdkirby]

Open the console and give it a thorough clean. Might be disgusting, but it seems to be the best way.

[Cmosfm]

Open the console and give it a thorough clean. Might be disgusting, but it seems to be the best way.

Well, I don't want to break the seal and void the warranty. I'm hoping there is another way.

[Cmosfm]

Double Post.

[Bojay1997]

Well, I don't want to break the seal and void the warranty. I'm hoping there is another way.

If there is a bug infestation inside the console, chances are you've already voided the warranty. The warranty doesn't cover the introduction of outside substances or vermin. Just crack it open and clean them out if this is a real problem and not just a troll post.

[Emperor Megas]

There's really nothing you can do that I can think of if you want it thoroughly cleaned. I suppose you can open the 360's system tray and unplug it (to keep the tray open) and use a powerful vacuum with a narrow slotted attachment and hope for the best, but I don't see how you'll be able to clean it out any better without opening the case. The Wii however, I don't know what to tell you.

Honestly, I'd feel like the benefits of cleaning the system outweigh voiding the warranty -- they probably did cost you all that much since you get them off of Craigslist after all. Are you sure they're even under warranty? Do you have the original receipt for them?

Man, this thread brings me back to the late 80's. I remember how full of roaches my stored consoles got. Urgh...so freaking nasty.

[Mnemonic]

Cracking it open and physically cleaning the unit is likely your only option.

I'm not sure what the warranty covers precisely, but there's a good chance that having bugs inside is already a warranty-breaker.

Be careful about where you keep the units in the meantime. Maybe seal them off until you can clean them properly, outside of your home. The last thing anyone wants is to "inherit" someone else's bug problem. Roaches likely won't stick around in a clean house (no abundant food supply), but something like bed bugs could haunt you for years.

[Drath]

This doesn't seem to make any sense considering insects usually stay away from electronics? I once I heard it was because of the smell/frequencies? Maybe that's BS, but seriously? Did the seller shove a corpse into the consoles, then leave it in the outside for a week? A warranty is also voided when negligence can be proven, like leaving it sit in the sun for a day, or spilling grape soda in it, or leaving your consoles in a pile manure for a month and let it collect insects?

[Emperor Megas]

This doesn't seem to make any sense considering insects usually stay away from electronics? I once I heard it was because of the smell/frequencies? Maybe that's BS, but seriously? Did the seller shove a corpse into the consoles, then leave it in the outside for a week? A warranty is also voided when negligence can be proven, like leaving it sit in the sun for a day, or spilling grape soda in it, or leaving your consoles in a pile manure for a month and let it collect insects?Ahahahahaha! Are you kidding me?! Roaches fucking LOVE electronics!

I used to live in one of the most roach infested parts of the New Orleans (the French Quarters) in the 70's, and I'll NEVER forget or get over the way that receivers always had dead roaches in the little windows in the front with the analog oscilloscope needle thingies (that always had a white background, which only made matters worse). It was so disgusting because you literally couldn't remove them without taking the whole thing apart, and people weren't that tech savvy back in the day, so there they stayed. Atari 2600's we HAVENS for cockroaches and earwigs and shit. Even when we moved to a less bug infested area, they'd somehow still find their way into electronics. They'd forsake the cabinets and walls to roost in game consoles.

I still have nightmares today!

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

That's vile.

Saw a few consoles like that back in my Funcoland days. Always equal parts shocking, disgusting and insulting that somebody would even attempt to sell something in that condition. Needless to say I wouldn't even consider buying one. (Though, no fault to you for not noticing it until it was too late.)

I have no interest in touching something that insects have lived, bred and shat in, and I hope you've considered the likleyhood that there could still be eggs in there that could hatch and infest your own home.

[Emperor Megas]

That's vile.

Saw a few consoles like that back in my Funcoland days. Always equal parts shocking, disgusting and insulting that somebody would even attempt to sell something in that condition. Needless to say I wouldn't even consider buying one. (Though, no fault to you for not noticing it until it was too late.)

I have no interest in touching something that insects have lived, bred and shat in, and I hope you've considered the likleyhood that there could still be eggs in there that could hatch and infest your own home.Seriously. I wouldn't even give shit like that away. You have to understand how much I hate roaches. My disgust of roaches is only barely edged out by my love for video games. That being so, I've actually cleaned the boards of Atari's and Intellivisions with SOAP AND WATER (and they still worked!) because I couldn't bring myself to toss a console (that was mine) and I wouldn't pass something bug infested on to someone else.

Just foul. :^(

[Cmosfm]

Yeah, I think that may be my only option, I hate it because I only bought them to resell but I did unfortunately pay a decent amount for the lot so tossing them out is not something I want to do. I need to bag them up in the mean-time. I just don't understand how someone can live like that.

[Leo_A]

Yeah, I think that may be my only option, I hate it because I only bought them to resell but I did unfortunately pay a decent amount for the lot so tossing them out is not something I want to do. I need to bag them up in the mean-time. I just don't understand how someone can live like that.

You can't resell stuff like that to some poor unsuspecting individual, so I hope you meant you couldn't pass it along to someone else.

Even cleaned inside and out, most people aren't going to want it in their homes. It's bad enough that you might've unknowingly introduced something you don't want into your own home (hopefully you got away with it), but you can't ask someone else to pay for the opportunity to have something like roaches infesting their own home.

You need to return the mess and demand a refund.

[BeaglePuss]

I don't care what it cost, that shit would find it's way to the trash. That's just gross man. I wouldn't feel comfortable selling the systems to someone else after the fact, and I most certainly wouldn't want the consoles in my house (bagged up or otherwise).

The last thing you need is a house full of roaches because you wanted to make a few bucks off of craigslist.

[wingzrow]

Put it in a giant sealed ziplock bag, more than one if possible. Then throw that thing in a freezer. I THINK that should kill them.

[alec006]

Oh god, that's horrible. as others have said you'll have to take them apart. Best thing to do is take all the electronics out of the case and throw that thing in the dishwasher. I did that for a friend of mine. Her parents had a horrible roach problem and she kept it in storage. She gave me her SNES to fix,I open it and omg,it was so disgusting, shit,bugs and cat hair everywhere. So I ordered a new board because hers was toast and washed the case in the dishwasher. Came out looking brand new and smelt nice and clean.

[kupomogli]

How about this. Put it in a few air tight sealed bags with some heavy duty liquid. Maybe have one back with the liquid placed in it. Then the second back placed in that bag with a big hole cut at the top. Use one of those sealers that reseal a plastic bag so it's air tight. Then leave it sitting in your back yard for about a month.

After a month. Buy one of these.

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTNLH2NvUkTy8dh8oKqxE_gOmnbNjvDk 3THua3qYLnHVOkkCptPIw&t=1

Clean the hell out of those consoles. Make sure to clean them three or four times. Then you should be done.

Other than that. I agree with Leo Ames. You should ask for a refund.

[MrNelson]

That is quite possibly the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. Go to that guy and demand a refund, now.

[LaughingMAN.S9]

eat them

[MarioMania]

Get your money back

[NYLatenite]

Take off and nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to make sure.

Seriously, you can clean it, but who knows what surprises (eggs?) might still be in there - I'd say at the very least, once you clean it as best you can (and with the droppings that are no doubt in there, that's not going to be 100% clean), be sure to quarantine it in something for a good while - just to make sure.

In answer to one of the other questions on the topic, yeah - I remember reading somewhere that roaches are actually attracted to electromagnetic fields.

[Famidrive-16]

a teacher of mine who was a former exterminator was once sent to an abandoned tv station building that still had some wires hooked in around and he flipped up the floorboards to find AN ENTIRE LAYER OF ROACHES AAAAUUUUGGGGHHH

[cynicalhat]

This is why everytime I buy an old console somewhere I bring it out to my garage and. Spray the board down with electronic cleaner and have at it with a toothbrush before I bring it inside my house. They like the heat from standby mode electronics especially.

[TmEE]

nasty stuff...

I'd put it in a locker or some other small room and bugspray that room (don't bugspray the machine itself). The poisoned air should kill the bugs. Then you open the machine up, clean it nicely, wash the chassis and thigns should be good.
Do you know if the machine even works ?

[Enigmus]

Take a shotgun, shoot the systems, burn them, and then get used ones from GameStAAUGH.

[synbiosfan]

I wouldn't feel comfortable selling the systems to someone else after the fact, and I most certainly wouldn't want the consoles in my house (bagged up or otherwise).

My buddy has a second hand video game shop, the bug stories I could tell. He has no issues cleaning a console out and reselling it.

[exit]

I'm not too Craigslist savvy, but shouldn't you have noticed this when you picked the items up? The first thing I would have done was inspect every inch of the consoles before I even considered handing my money over and I'm sure I would've noticed the smell in the process. I'm not trying to criticize you or anything, since I don't know the entire story, but this really seems like something that should have been noticed from the get go.

[Belmont008]

How common is this exactly? Is it possible that there are roaches in (most) every game console?

[VACRMH]

How common is this exactly? Is it possible that there are roaches in (most) every game console?

God, please don't say that. I don't need to freak out and open every system I own, even if I bought them new lol

Usually when buying a console second hand, I wrap that sucker in a few bags just to make sure nothing gets out and about. But I've never had and infestation thankfully.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

How common is this exactly? Is it possible that there are roaches in (most) every game console?

There needs to be roaches present in the environment (the home) and they will seek out any warm tight spot (that's what she said) to nest.

Electronics, as it has been mentioned in this thread are a welcome home for them. In most cases the electronics tend to kill/cook the little buggers as well.

XBOX360: roaches log in, but they don't log out.

[Kitsune Sniper]

XBOX360: roaches log in, but they don't log out.

Best use for a RROD ever.

[Belmont008]

Well, at least it kills them I suppose. I'm just a little concerned because I have recently been acquiring used game consoles, not from craig's list mind you, but until I saw this thread roaches were never something I had even dreamed of considering.

[Damaramu]

A cable box I got from a Comcast installer had a roach colony living in it. I didn't notice it until I saw the front panel LED (for time and channel display) "flickering". I took a closer look and saw something crawling behind the plastic.

"No...it couldn't be!"

I peered down through the vents of box and saw more movement until finally a german cockroach crawled out of one of the vent slots and onto the top of the cable box.

Needless to say, I quickly unhooked the box and threw it into a trash bag. I called up the installer (who was a contractor for Comcast, btw) and demanded a new one.


So yeah. I had always heard that bugs and roaches like the heat being generated by the internal PSU of electronic devices. I've never seen roaches chillin' on a 360 power brick though.

[Oobgarm]

I've never seen roaches chillin' on a 360 power brick though.

No, that's because when they see it, they turn around 360° and walk away. ;)

[Damaramu]

turn around 360° and walk away. ;)

Ahem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SL135uL2XZA :wink 2:

[Emperor Megas]

No, that's because when they see it, they turn around 360° and walk away. ;)I'm pretty sure you mean 180°. 360° would send them right back in the same direction after circling. :|

[Enigmus]

I'm pretty sure you mean 180°. 360° would send them right back in the same direction after circling. :|

Does "I am Tomgirl" or "Clyde Cash" ring a bell to you?

[Oobgarm]

I'm pretty sure you mean 180°. 360° would send them right back in the same direction after circling. :|

Google that phrase...it's not meant to be serious. Hence the ;)

[geezuzkhrist119]

Put it in a giant sealed ziplock bag, more than one if possible. Then throw that thing in a freezer. I THINK that should kill them.

I like this idea.

Try that and open the cases.
Who ever sold you those console is a dirty fuck.

[CDiablo]

I've dealt with this before your best bet would be to put a more costly system next to these systems. If you put say; a Neo Geo, Turbo Duo, Pippen or a LE system(eg Panzer Dragoon XBOX) or the like next to the Wii or 360, the roaches will naturally move to the more expensive(some are also attracted to the vintage interior) system. Thats what worked for me at least.

[geezuzkhrist119]

I've dealt with this before your best bet would be to put a more costly system next to these systems. If you put say; a Neo Geo, Turbo Duo, Pippen or a LE system(eg Panzer Dragoon XBOX) or the like next to the Wii or 360, the roaches will naturally move to the more expensive(some are also attracted to the vintage interior) system. Thats what worked for me at least.

Build the roaches a city of game consoles.

[Cmosfm]

Someone asked how I couldn't notice this before i bought it. Well, the thing is, they look FANTASTIC. They are super clean and look like new, that's what's unusual. There isn't bugs crawling out of it or anything, and I don't typically smell the systems I purchase beforehand. Of course if I had I would have noticed the roach smell.

Upon further investigation, the Wii seems pretty clean, it has a very faint odor but after leaving it outside for a few days it's nearly gone. There aren't any living bugs inside of that one from what I can tell.

The 360 on the other hand, no matter how much I shake it, bug bits still fall out and I can still see a bug here or there living inside of it. I've since wrapped it and it's power brick up in bubble wrap, super-taped the hell out of it, and put it in a trash bag and super-taped the hell out of that. I wish I had a large ziplock bag but I don't. I live in an apartment so I can't go into my backyard and clean it or anything, so now I have the choice of cleaning it myself, finding someone to clean it for me (which is preferred), or trashing it. I'm NOT putting it in my freezer. I'm sorry, but to me, that just seems insanely disgusting.

So here's the bad news, which I hope is just a coincidence. I seen a bug in my apartment today similar to the one inside that system. My apartment complex offers free extermination visits so I'm going to schedule one tomorrow. I've been having dreams of finding roaches in my house lately, and any time my cat goes after something I jump up expecting to find one of those nasty fuckers. I have a bug phobia.

[pixelsnpolygons]

So here's the bad news, which I hope is just a coincidence. I seen a bug in my apartment today similar to the one inside that system.

It would be funny if a similar incident is what caused the infestation in the home/apartment of the guy who sold you those systems. He purchased a seemingly unsuspecting, but in fact infested GameCube for example which in turn spread throughout his home, eventually making its way into his newer systems - the Wii and 360 you purchased. Maybe some roach family has been hopping from apartment to apartment since the '70s, hitching a ride on the Console Express.

[briana26]

ah this is the same issue my brother is going to through. Infact our backyard is full of pests like roaches, ants, cockroaches.

[CRTGAMER]

So here's the bad news, which I hope is just a coincidence. I seen a bug in my apartment today similar to the one inside that system. My apartment complex offers free extermination visits so I'm going to schedule one tomorrow. I've been having dreams of finding roaches in my house lately, and any time my cat goes after something I jump up expecting to find one of those nasty fuckers. I have a bug phobia.

Two days later and console is still full of bugs! :roll:

Just break the seal and dump all the bugs in the trash outside! Its not like you have an option of a factory warranty.

[dendawg]

Could have been worse...could have been bed bugs. ^^;

Seriously though, just take the console to a place where you won't have to worry about any strays coming back with you, say a park with a picnic table. Take with you a can of Raid or whatever bug killer you have handy and some canned air. Once you have it disassembled, blow the bugs out and put the individual pieces (case pieces and pcb) into a big enough Ziploc bag. Then you can take it home and throw the case pieces into the dishwasher, or failing that, a tub of soapy water and soak. The PCB can be cleaned with copious amounts of alcohol.

[M.Buster2184]

Gross, I think I would cut my losses and dump the systems. Everyone's stories freak me out a bit. As far as bugs go, I don't envy anyone living in warmer environments. I know there are cockroaches up here in Washington, but they must be less common. I've never known anyone with a problem, unless they're in the city.

[bb_hood]

As far as bugs go, I don't envy anyone living in warmer environments.

Oh I totally agree. The one benefit of haveing to deal with New England winters is that the cold kills everything before it gets big.
Roaches/Palmetto bugs are friggin gross. So glad I dont have to deal with that.

Ive never known anyone with problems with roaches... except Olive Garden

[Niku-Sama]

my friend had roaches, and then we had to move in for a bit. cleaned the FUCK out of his place but they wouldn't go away.

couple weeks later after we moved out his neighbors got evicted, roaches went away.
they come through work from time to time bitching about how it was unjust that they got evicted but I'm pretty sure the landlord was tired of getting roach calls.
my friend is pretty messy but never really leaves food out. hes broke as fuck usually so no food to leave out situation it was so baffling for the longest time, that and the cat that would be inside the apartment at random. it wasn't his but it was a nice cat at least so that was kinda meh, pet the cat and what ever.

luckily nothing took up residence in any of our electronics, in fact the majority of the collection was in storage during these few months

[PreZZ]

Wow... I cant believe you would risk a roach infestation for what? A 80$ value 360? Just throw it away ffs and get your money back and/or punch the guy in the face. This is beyond stupid, and the fact that you dont want to void the warranty on old consoles probably already expired.to salvage them is stupider. Dont want to be rude, but man get your priorities straight...

[RP2A03]

Y'all postin' in a zombie thread.