I used to pick them up with a paper towel/rag/whatever and then flush them, but occasionally you’ll grab one of the big ones and you can FEEL IT MOVING in your hand. EEEEE! Also, if it’s a smallish one, you can think you’ve got it contained but actually it is able to escape your iron fist and crawl onto your arm.
It is not pretty to see Jackelope’s reaction to such an experience.
[Woody Allen]
There’s a spider in there the size of a Buick!
[/Woody Allen]
Phfft!
Professionals.
Hehee
With all the humidity and hot temperatures here in the DC metro area, we’ve been invaded. First there were some 2" cockroaches – right up near the patio door, but thankfully never making their way inside.
Being that I hate killing things and if I do, I want it to be fairly humane (quick) and effect with no ill effects to the chosen residents (i.e. me, hubby and the cat parade), I hit the web (the ‘World Wide’ kind–to clarify since this is a thread about “pests”) in search of all-natural pesticides and found Victor’s Poison-Free Pest Control. The site, in addition to selling products (rather affordably IMHO), shares how they work.
Seems for cockroaches, those with the reputation of surviving a nuclear attack, there is a fatal design flaw that doesn’t require “squishing with a heavy object” (especially since you then have to clean squished guts up). The perfectly safe for humans and pets, all-natural item – mint oil. Apparently, a spritz of Victor’s aerosoled mint oil concoction coats them and suffocates them quickly. Victor also sells a cedar oil brand that is supposed to work equally well for the same reason
Amazingly and thankfully, a few days later Victor’s delivery arrived the patio roaches had already found better digs (or at least they are not being nearly so visible as I haven’t seen them around anymore), so I didn’t have to test that product…However, I had also ordered their pest control general formula–just in case–which came in handy because the second recent invasion was ants.
Now, we’ve been living here more than 2 years now with cat food dishes on the floor nearest the kitchen with never an incident or issue, then <wham> invasion. Well, the cats are now eating at (or should I say on) the table like the grown ups (temporarily anyway). Victor’s general pest spray worked fine at killing them nearly instantly on contact and left behind the smell of orange zest/oil. Since that product, while non-staining, does require direct contact and/or completely soaking surfaces (hey, we rent!), we also chose to buy the not-so-safe and natural, traditional poison ant bait-traps to strategically place around the invasion to ensure no new visitors following old trails.
Did I mention that from what I read ants and roaches both leave pheromone trails to help others of their colony find the food, even after they’ve been killed by brick, poison or non-poison pesticides? They do. So, chula, a trap of some kind also isn’t a bad idea if you don’t want its 3" cousins dropping by for a game of run up your pant leg.
My other point is that you might look into an all-natural product as I’m sure you caught a face full of chemicals or off-gas from using a cleaning product to kill it. And it was probably not the fasted way to dead it the dead card–they are, after all, meant to clean…killing is just sideline, and I doubt that 409 wants it getting around.
How did they take out Gregor Samson?