We get them in Georgia, too. I can’t bring myself to smear one all over the wall, though, so then you have to mess about getting it to the floor somehow.
In England, you don’t have nasty bugs much. If you ever had a cockroach, you a) wouldn’t admit it because of the shame, and b) get someone out to sort them out. In the south of the USA, I soon learned that you get the bug man out before you get the bugs, or you most definitely will get them. In our case, we got scorpions. Not the huge things from the western movies, but they can carry a sharp sting nonetheless.
I never saw a cockroach till the Navy transferred me to San Diego and my first wife and I moved into a roach infested apartment. The only nice thing about the apartments was we were on the 4th floor with a balcony and it was near Balboa park. One day out of boredom, I made a bunch of mini parachutes out of toilet paper and thread. I then caught a couple dozen of the bigger guys (and gals, I couldn’t tell them apart). I spent the next few hours parachuting cockroaches onto Market Street. About half were hit or run over by cars, the rest landed and attempted to escape. A cat chased a couple down and the rest got away. The last one I released almost caused an accident when it hit the windshield of a car and the driver slammed on his brakes. I could imagine what he would have told the cop if there was a crash. “But officer, a cockroach parachuted onto my car! I feared for my life!!”
I love my dog.
He not only kills roaches, he kills them DEAD. He has some fierce strength in his forelegs. One swipe and the roach is toast.
Once, he killed a roach and the antenae must have twitched, because my boy went to investigate. He then peed on the roach.
Let that serve as a warning to roaches out there:
Your kind is not welcome at Chez Baboon.