So I just sprayed Raid all over my kitchen....

[even sven]

What do I do?! I came home from a weekend trip and grabbed my water cup off the counter. As I did that, I budged the cutting board and suddenly an unending stream of dozens of cockroaches scurried out from under it! They scattered to all corners of my kitchen! I live in a tropical area, so roaches are part of the deal. But this was too much!!! There must have been at least thirty of them!

On instinct I grabbed a can of Raid and sprayed the hell out of the place.

Now what? All of my dishes are coated in Raid. I really don't have the resources to buy new ones.

But I don't want to poison myself, obviously.

If I wait a few days, and then give everything a good scrubbing, will it be okay?

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Originally Posted by even sven

What do I do?! I came home from a weekend trip and grabbed my water cup off the counter. As I did that, I budged the cutting board and suddenly an unending stream of dozens of cockroaches scurried out from under it! They scattered to all corners of my kitchen! I live in a tropical area, so roaches are part of the deal. But this was too much!!! There must have been at least thirty of them!

On instinct I grabbed a can of Raid and sprayed the hell out of the place.

Now what? All of my dishes are coated in Raid. I really don't have the resources to buy new ones.

But I don't want to poison myself, obviously.

If I wait a few days, and then give everything a good scrubbing, will it be okay?

I don't want to sound patronizing, but couldn't you just wash them in hot soapy water now instead of waiting?

[even sven]

It seems like a good idea to let the volatile elements wear off. Not to mention the kitchen currently smells like a gas chamber and I bet plenty of those roaches are still alive and waiting to get me!

[Rigamarole]

Originally Posted by even sven

It seems like a good idea to let the volatile elements wear off. Not to mention the kitchen currently smells like a gas chamber and I bet plenty of those roaches are still alive and waiting to get me!

Hell, they are probably all still alive. Roaches are resilient fuckers.

[even sven]

I've spotted a few dead ones on my floor. It's a losing battle- the whole building is full-on infested. But maybe I can convince them to move on to someone else's apartment for a while.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

I suppose it should be noted that the proper way to use cockroach spray is to spray it on the edges of the floor in bathrooms, kitchens and near doorways before you see any buggers and on a regular basis. Do this once ever two weeks or so and right before you're going to leave for a good long while should help prevent the bastards from making it too far into your dwelling.

[Markxxx]

Wash the dishes with soapy water then you, can always use a few tablespoons of bleach in the rinse water. Then after that, rinse them again.

As for the roaches, boric acid does work, and well. The thing is it doesn't kill immediately. You have to let the roaches live and as they run through the boric acid and take it back to their nest, that will kill them. It can take a week to notice a decline, but it will work.

Of course if you have pets or small children you need to keep them away from those.

[Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor]

Wash em.

Then, buy a bug bomb, & set it off.

Fizes the whole apartment at once.

[FoieGrasIsEvil]

Originally Posted by even sven

It seems like a good idea to let the volatile elements wear off. Not to mention the kitchen currently smells like a gas chamber and I bet plenty of those roaches are still alive and waiting to get me!

That stuff washes off, and like others have said, you shouldn't be using it as a direct kill method, you should be spraying it where they travel for the most part.

Boric acid does work, too.

Roaches are filthy insects and deserve their eradication.

[Colibri]

I think you are worrying too much. While the active ingredients in Raid do have some toxicity to humans, the effects aren't great. If you wash your dishes thoroughly, you shouldn't have problems. And you might as well wash them now rather than waiting for a few days.

The active ingredients in Raid (for roaches) include permethrin and tetramethrin.

[Permethrin] is not known to rapidly harm most mammals or birds, but is highly toxic to fish and cats[1][2]. It generally has a low mammalian toxicity and is poorly absorbed by skin.

Tetramethrin seems to be less toxic than permethrin.

I get roach infestations here in Panama too from time to time. (Fortunately my apartment is high enough up so that its fairly dry so I don't have them all the time.) If I see roaches around, I remove all my dishes and utensils from the kitchen and then spray. Sometimes, though, I have overlooked something, and then I just wash it.

[Really Not All That Bright]

FWIW, I've accidentally sprayed Raid directly into my mouth (though it was the ant and spider formulation) with no noticeable ill effejagjalfaslggjgkldsamga sajsaflaksjrw aa ,

[TheMadHun]

Originally Posted by even sven

If I wait a few days, and then give everything a good scrubbing, will it be okay?

Yes, that's the ticket. And be sure the windows are open. Farmers live with worse every year.

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by TheMadHun

Yes, that's the ticket. And be sure the windows are open. Farmers live with worse every year.

No need to wait a few days. They can be washed right away.

[Zsofia]

When I got a nasty infestation of those gross little dudes a few months ago, boric acid and baits killed the revolting little fuckers FAST. People said weeks, but I stopped seeing them in days.