I’ve never seen a cockroach in the wild, although they do apparently exist in the UK.
But I think that if I found a cockroach in my house, the most terrifying thought would be that there are hundreds more hidden away. At least spiders are solitary.
Plus, no matter how terrified I am of spiders, they can be vaccuumed up easily. Not so much with cockroaches, I imagine. Too big and…meaty… ::shudder::
This is my opinion also.
Just so. If you see one, then every time you open a cabinet, or (shudder) look under the sink, you brace yourself for a posse of gross. It wears on your mind.
I don’t know why I keep reading this thread. I hate even thinking about roaches. They’re so far above and beyond other life forms on the Disgust-o-Meter. Kill kill kill and incinerate the corpses.
When I was growing up in SoCal, we didn’t have much of a variety of bugs - or at least none that found their way into anywhere I lived. If I saw a spider, no matter how small, I would be a shreiking bundle of terror. It could be dime sized and up in the furthest corner of the ceiling and I would see it immediately and could not, WOULD NOT rest until someone, usually my dad, killed it.
Today, living in Florida where roaches are the size of airbuses, when I see a spider in the house, I gently take it outside as thanks and reward for not being a roach. Good god, people; how can there be any contest.
I notice people keep asscociating roaches with filth. My hatred and disgust burns with atomic heat but I never particularly associated them with dirt. Are you mostly referring to the German variety that gather in packs of a thousand and live in city apartments? The beasts I’m talkin’ 'bout are about three inches long and usually travel solo. And fly. And are nearly indestructable.
How is this even a question? Spiders are proof that there is no god, because even he wouldn’t create such a damned thing. They should all be nuked from orbit; it’s the only way to be sure.
Almost 40 years ago I went into my baby’s room in the morning and heard an odd buzzing in the corner. It was a yellow jacket securely caught in a spider web. Yay spider!
Insects can and will harm you. They spread disease. They eat your food. They befoul your food. Some of them see you as food. And there are far, far more of them than you can reasonably kill. So the gods, in their compassion and wisdom, provide you with a free, (mostly) harmless, all-natural, no-maintenance-required system to combat their infestation, and you call it wrong and unnatural and claim it’s worse than the bugs. Spiders are proof of a benevolent higher power, albeit one that doesn’t want you to get TOO comfortable.
Asking which is more disgusting is like asking which is darker, a 20-watt bulb or a black hole.
I generally like spiders but I will kill them upon request. Otherwise I let them be, no matter where they are. I’m not one of those nancies who is like, “ohhh nooo don’t kill the spider! Here let me capture him and put him outside!!!” If people want to kill 'em, I won’t stop it. I do generally think they are fascinating and pretty and fun to watch.
Cockroaches always get squashed no matter what, but I don’t find them disgusting. I think they are pretty fascinating with how fast they move, and the weird sounds they make. But I never allow them to live if I can help it.
I generally don’t mind spiders, but last year I was walking through a park in Shenzhen and at the last second I noticed a huge yellow spider (e.g. leg span at least the size of my palm) in a web right at face height. That certainly turned me off of spiders for a while.
Thankfully, I live in Canada where cockroaches are virtually unheard of.
Another vote for “Screw Roaches”-crowd here, but mostly because spiders are cute. Seriously. Look at this little guy:
http://i.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/article/4/7/8/2478.jpg?v=1 (picture of spider; only NFSW if spiders will make you yelp loudly)
He’s puppy-dogging you with all FOUR of his front eyes, he’s making cutesy-wutesy gestures at you with his wubbly widdle mandibles, and you want to kill him and his entire family. What the hell is wrong with you?
That’s relatively cute. I thought this thing was less cute when it was a few inches away from colliding with my face:
A’ight, I’ll concede that there are quite a few spiders out there that look like they come straight out of H.P. Lovecraft-territory. Like orb-weavers. Orb-weavers are icky bastards. Those need to die. Quickly, and preferably in a big heap together with horseshoe crabs and all breeds of mite.
But jumping spiders, tarantulas and other such somewhat ovally shaped spiders? squee
(Oh, and remember, kids: Racism is okay, so long as it’s confined to the really icky arthropods 
)
Cockroaches are disgusting insects. Spiders eat disgusting insects. 'Nuff said.
I like spiders a lot. I find them interesting and attractive. One in the house? I usually just let it be unless my wife sees it. Then I just scoop it up and toss it outside. Barehanded even. I don’t think I’ve ever killed a spider on purpose. Except for a black widow. Those got flushed.
But cockroaches. Ugh. Just thinking about them and typing this out gives me the creeps. Nasty, nasty creatures. I can’t imagine any circumstance where I would touch a roach. It is a strong visceral reaction that I can’t explain. Nothing else even comes close. (I like snakes even more than spiders.)
Most spiders are harmless. Cockroaches are disgusting.
Neither compares to these things.
Thanks for spiders-without them, we would be inundated with insect pests.
Do spiders commonly feed on roaches? It is pretty hard to trap roaches in webs, as they don’t fly.
In any event, I once lived in downtown L.A.-the building had been sprayed several times, but it was full of roaches-gross!
WTF? It looks like a centipede but I see 4 legs / segment (milipede). What gives? Or did I just mislearn that trait? But yeah, if that’s one of the big ones that slips into your house that might give me the creepies.
I hope you never come across one of those big Palmetto bug roaches down south. Not only is the disgusting thing two inches long, but the bastard can fly, too.
You gotta hate the cock-a-roach (watched “Scarface” last night). If I sit down in a resturant and see a spider on the floor I would be “huh, little guy looking for food” but if a cock-a-roach (“Scarface”) crawls on the same floor in front of me I would be all, “check please!”
Cockroaches are disgusting.
