As I was attempting to empty my bladder, I just saw a roach. At least, I think it was a roach; I’ve never seen one before. It was over an inch long and pretty wide and black. It was skittering across the floor of my fiance’s bathroom.
It made me scream really, really loud, and I woke him up. My fiance, I mean. The roach ran away. Now my fiance probably thinks I’m crazy.
Goddamn tricky roaches! It was TRYING to make me look bad in order to lull my sweetie into a false sense of security. Then, when he least expects it, they are going to attack him. That’s gotta be their plan.
I fucking hate bugs. Hatehatehate them. I thought I liked them until I saw my first silverfish (too many damned legs!). Now they just scare the fuck out of me.
Stupid bugs. Now I’m never going to get to sleep here.
My first encounter with a cockie was in a Kings Cross Hotel in Sydney*. I’d never seen one in Melbourne before that, and just put it down to the climatic conditions that they seem to revel in…warmth and mild humidity.
A couple of years later, I was working in a cafe in Brighton (a Very Upper Class suburb of Melbourne) and the place was literally crawling with the little bastards. All over the food, the preparation areas and even the display cabinets. I nearly vomited when I saw the first one (and ran off to tell the manager who just told me to make sure I shooed them away before any customer saw them!!) Urghhhhhhhhhhhhh. I lasted two weeks in that job before I couldn’t abide seeing cockroaches on food that I was selling to unsuspecting customers anymore.
*I was in Sidders for the weekend to see a footy match, NOT selling my gorgeous body to all comers before anybody asks.
Few roaches have ever left my sight alive. I detest the evil little bastards and kill them without the least compunction.
AotL, get yourself some powdered boric acid and leave it where you saw the roach.
“Although boric acid has a low acute (immediate) toxicity for humans and pets, it should be handled carefully and kept out of the reach of children and pets. For roaches, boric acid is a slow-acting but effective stomach poison. When applying these dusts, use a hand duster and wear a dust mask, gloves, and safety goggles. Apply a very light coating because roaches will avoid piles of dust.”
Here in Alabama, when the huge, flying, brown ones swarm out of the woods along the coast and light by the thousands on walls, in hair, on cars, etc., we’uns just sit back and deny that they’re roaches at all.
ccwaterback, I’m not going to cut its head off. That would probably require me to either touch it or to create an itty bitty roach guillotine. One of those options is disgusting, and the other would require Wile E Coyote type overkill. I’d just stomp on it, or let it outside if I were feeling stupidly merciful.
And believe me, Zenster, I’d’ve stomped on it if I hadn’t been barefoot at the time. Hell, if there’d been anything in the bathroom I could’ve squashed it with easily, I would’ve, but the only thing easily accessible was the SO’s Game Boy, which I don’t think he would’ve appreciated being covered in roach innards.
Oh, and get this; when I finally got the nerve to head back to the bathroom a half-hour later to brush my teeth, the little fucker was standing right outside the bedroom door. It must have it in for me. . .
I think I’ll name it Spanky. With a name like that, it’ll lose all its will to fight me, and I can send it to its inevitable cockroach doom.
When I lived in Florida (where the deer and the cockroaches roam - actually, no deer), they told me explicitly NOT to stamp the little buggers, as then their eggs would stick to my shoe and spread out all over the place.
Don’t know if this is actually true. Anyhow, I’ve seen them survive almost anything (full can of bug spray, anyone?) and in the event of a Nuclear War I’ll be sucking up to the roaches no end because they’ll rule the earth.
I hate cockroaches, and will scream like bloody murder at the sight of one…Mr. Levins has been woken up from many a dreamless slumber in order to kill them. I simply won’t. I can’t. Even the crunching sound they make when you stomp on them is enough to give me the willies.
The flying ones, in particular, are enough to make me want to puke with fear and loathing. It isn’t fair that anything that disgusting should have wings; they’re hard enough to catch and kill without the added variable of functional wings. They can land anywhere; I’ve had them land in my hair before.
Whenever I see a roach (you can’t miss them here, they’re as big as a Buick), I just give them a little spray of Raid and let them go back and tell their buddies about the bad man they just met
I’ve seen 'em mating; I’ve watched 'em lay eggs.
The best things to use against them are Raid Crack and Crevice Spray in combination with Combat, the first as a quick kill against infestation, the second as a preventative to reinfestation. If you live in a heavily infested area, you’re still going to need to resort to the Raid once every few months, no matter what.
And I’m talking about here up North; down South where they fly, I have no idea how you’d keep them from coming back.
A cockroach in flight is an amazing thing; no sooner are they in the air than they’re late for the ground, or a wall, or something to land on. It don’t get more graceless.
I lived in South GA most of my life and have never heard that. We also have the big “palmetto” flying roach bastards. I hate them, loath them more than almost anything on the planet and completely freak out ANYTIME I see one.
However, I do happen to know that their eggs are in a nasty little sack they carry around on the end of their disgusting little bodies. It’s a light brown thing…about half the size of the nasty roach, and obviously not an actual body part…if you’d ever seen one, you’d know it. Unless you see that, smush away for the love of God. I’ll be climbing the wall until I am satisfied that it is dead AND flushed, or outside, or otherwise destroyed beyond all possibility of resuscitation.
“Bengal” is a spray similar to Raid with a MUCH faster reaction time. I highly suggest anyone living the South have some of this stuff.
Once, I woke up in the middle of the night with the vague feeling that something was on my leg. In my half-asleep state, I just automatically reached out to brush it off, and crushed a rather large roach with my bare hand!! I was that hand many times every day for at least a week and it still didn’t feel clean.
Once a flying roach ran straight into my face and sat on my cheek. There were a lot of my friends around, and my reaction to that still gets mercilessly teased by everyone. But tell me, who wouldn’t run around, arms flailing, screaming like a little girl, and then hide behind the sofa after the thing is off, if that happened to them?
I can’t stomp on a roach either. I kill em with newspapers. You have to hit em hard, numerous times, but they don’t make that sickening crunch, and they don’t splatter much, and it’s very satisfying to pound them to death. Or I use soap sprays. Dehydrates the fuckers.
Once, I woke up in the middle of the night with the vague feeling that something was on my leg. In my half-asleep state, I just automatically reached out to brush it off, and crushed a rather large roach with my bare hand!! I washed that hand many times every day for at least a week and it still didn’t feel clean.
Once a flying roach ran straight into my face and sat on my cheek. There were a lot of my friends around, and my reaction to that still gets mercilessly teased by everyone. But tell me, who wouldn’t run around, arms flailing, screaming like a little girl, and then hide behind the sofa after the thing is off, if that happened to them?
I can’t stomp on a roach either. I kill em with newspapers. You have to hit em hard, numerous times, but they don’t make that sickening crunch, and they don’t splatter much, and it’s very satisfying to pound them to death. Or I use soap sprays. Dehydrates the fuckers.
WHY do I open these threads?? I FUCKING HATE ROACHES and I STILL open these damn threads.
Ogre! Whaddya mean we got Palmetto bugs here?? (looks around terrified) All I’ve ever seen are these gigantic monstrosities that can fly, are about 2 inches long, and sound like helicopters landing! I thought those were cockroaches…and now you say they aren’t? (goes into whimper mode)
When I lived at home, my mother had some that always came in in the summer that were HUGE. I lived in mortal fear until I finally left home. You could hear those bastards eating, as God is my witness. The cats loved 'em…hours and hours of good batting practice. When they hit the wall it sounded like somebody had slung a damn flip-flop against the wall.
WHEN will I learn to stay out of these threads! I’ll be feeling those fuckers crawling on me all day now!
