I pulled back the shower curtain this morning and there on the floor of the tub was a cockroach, one of those big greasy fuckers, lying on it’s back. “Phew, at least it’s dead” I reassured myself. Still, I’m not just going to grab it with my bare hands. Toilet paper? Nah. Still too big. So I got a chinese takeout soup container and put it over the roach (Hey, did it’s antennae move?)
with the idea that I’ll just slide something underneath, pick it up, and plop it in the toilet and flush it away.
When I returned the roach had apparently woken from it’s nap and climbed up the side of the container. Now my mission had changed from one of simple disposal to making damn sure the bugger didn’t escape.
The heavy cover from a catalog (sorry, B&H) was procured and slid under the container and the roach was deposited in the toilet for some old-school power-flushing (our apartment hasn’t been renovated and still has one of those industrial strength flushers on the toilet). Whoa, that roach did not want to go down and was hauling ass to the side of the bowl. I started flushing like a madman trying to maintain enough current before that fucker’s feet found purchase and it scampered out of the bowl to terrorize the rest of the family, who was now in the bathroom watching daddy in just his t-shirt yell into a flushing toilet.
Finally it went down, shaking it’s greasy roachy fist at me me, no doubt. Several more flushes followed. I’m sure it will find companionship in the sewers. Next time I won’t fall for the playing dead trick, that’s for sure.
How long do you think they play dead? There’s one in my bathtub on his back, I’ve been using the shower in the other bathroom for the past couple days because I didn’t want to risk the experience you had. I don’t really need to use the tub so I think I can wait it out, if he’s napping or playing he’ll have to move eventually.
The toilet paper is always the best move. As soon as you have that little f*cker you can squish it until you hear it pop. It’s the only way to be sure.
You know that roaches can live under water for like 20 years, right? He’s probably working his way back up into your toilet this very minute with all his little roach friends to mount an attack on his would-be killer…
OP: May I suggest that in the future you just dump the roach back into the tub and turn on the hot water? Since roaches can’t crawl out of bathtubs (that I’ve ever seen), the scalding water makes it way to them eventually and they die almost instantly upon contact with the very hot water.
Not quite as viscerally satisfying as flushing the damn things, but see how quickly hot water kills them is always fun on its own.
We occasionally get those big bugs in our tub too. I think they have a hard time crawling back up the side of the tub once they go down so they try until they’re exhausted, rest, then try some more until they give up and die of starvation.
I take them back outside. I’m not some big earth mother type but I don’t like killing anything I can easily just move out of my house.
I’ve only seen a huge sewer roach inside my house once and I have no trouble imagining it climbing out of a tub. The damned thing climbed out of the toilet easily enough.
No doubt. The royal flush wasn’t the most elegant solution since it’s probably still alive somewhere. I was thinking of giving it the gas chamber since it was already contained, but I had to get on with my day and didn’t want to shower in residual roach spray. It was too late for swatting, so that’s how the situation went down, har har.
I do like that idea, and I have watched bugs try and fail to get out of the tub, but I don’t think the hot water is hot enough in my shower to kill monster roaches. It’s certainly not scalding. I crank the hot water all the way and add just the slightest touch of cold water and it’s perfect for bathing but it doesn’t seem the hot water alone would do the trick. I could be overestimating how hot the water needs to be to kill roaches, of course.
If you can’t bring yourself to smush the critter before flushing, try this: after you put the uninvited guest in the toilet, throw some toilet paper or a tissue over it, unfolded and unwadded. The extra square footage helps the water carry the beastie down the drain.
Sewer roaches can be a bit of a problem in Phoenix. They freak me right the fuck out. I read somewhere that you should dump some bleach down your drains periodically to prevent them from calling up your drain and invading your house.
I had one that emerged and made so much noise walking on the tile that I woke up! It was a 2am battle to the finish, and after 15 minutes I won. Humans 1, Roaches 0. :rolleyes: