# In which I learn that cockroaches like to nap **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 8, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436 "2010-06-08T15:56:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/21 "2010-06-08T21:32:06Z")
Now you’ve done it. I imagine it will be biding it roachy time, waiting a few days, maybe a week, until you’ve put this horrifying episode behind you. Then one day, an innocent trip to the toilet causes you to perk up. Something tickles your anus and a second later you feel the unmistakeable brush of 6 hairy legs on your backside. It will be the last calm bowel movement you’ll ever have for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/22 "2010-06-08T23:05:14Z")
You are an evil, evil person. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/23 "2010-06-08T23:10:58Z")
I spray them with whatever’s handy–that will at least stun them for a while as I hunt down the Raid. I used to spray palmetto bugs with hair spray, and it did the trick–I think it asphyxiated them. But I will NEVER pick one up with a tissue or paper towel, because I might actually feel the creature. Sometimes I scoop them up with a piece of thin cardboard, but usually I vacuum them up. ---
**Author:** ![RhapsodyInBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RhapsodyInBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RhapsodyInBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2010, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/24 "2010-06-08T23:53:46Z")
Where are these monster roaches that can’t climb out of a bathtub? It is to laugh. In the south, what we euphemistically refer to as “palmetto bugs” are roaches up to three inches long and those suckers _fly_. \*Climb \*out indeed! Hah! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/25 "2010-06-09T00:01:29Z")
This thread reminds me of a short story by Robert Sheckley, “Down the Digestive Tract and Into the Cosmos with Mantra, Tantra, and Specklebang.” Gregory and Blake are trying out some drugs. “But will I really have hallucinations?” Gregory asked. “I guarantee it,” Blake answered. “You should be into something by now.” [later…] “I was sitting on a _chair_, and you were on a _couch,_ and we both had soft exoskeletons like–like mammals!” “The shift into illusion is often imperceptible,” Blake said. “What’s happening now?” Gregory coiled his segmented tail and relaxed his antennae. He looked around. “Oh, I’m back to normal now. Do you think I’m going to have any more hallucinations?” “Like I told you, I guarantee it,” Blake said, neatly folding his glossy red wings and settling comfortably into a corner of the nest. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/26 "2010-06-09T02:26:40Z")
> [@campp](#): > > 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: Oh my lord. Now that shit I’d attack with the mildew remover spray all OVER that tile floor. So glad I’ve never seen anything like this or I might not be so helpful. Does anyone else feel something crawling up their legs right now? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/27 "2010-06-09T06:05:45Z")
> [@RhapsodyInBlue](#): > > Where are these monster roaches that can’t climb out of a bathtub? > > It is to laugh. > > In the south, what we euphemistically refer to as “palmetto bugs” are roaches up to three inches long and those suckers _fly_. > > \*Climb \*out indeed! Hah! Do they actually take off from the ground to fly? I’ve only ever seen roaches fly when they drop from the ceiling or high up on a wall as a method to guide where they land (like your face/hair). ---
**Author:** ![RhapsodyInBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RhapsodyInBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RhapsodyInBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/28 "2010-06-09T07:12:06Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > Do they actually take off from the ground to fly? > > I’ve only ever seen roaches fly when they drop from the ceiling or high up on a wall as a method to guide where they land (like your face/hair). Not all roaches can fly upward, but these can. :eek: You don’t know what disgusted is until you’ve seen one of these things go from the ground to a tabletop. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/29 "2010-06-09T07:15:07Z")
> [@RhapsodyInBlue](#): > > Not all roaches can fly upward, but these can. :eek: Dayum! Though this lends itself a new opportunity for some fun. Hairspray on a fly will stiffen up its wings and it will summarily drop straight to the ground. I’d love to see this done on something substantially larger. Watch those huge fuckers drop right out of the air and helplessly into my possession, where they will meet a fate that will become a legend among the survivors. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/30 "2010-06-09T08:13:40Z")
Oh it wasn’t dead. It was stunned. ---
**Author:** ![SunSandSuffering](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@SunSandSuffering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunSandSuffering)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/31 "2010-06-09T08:46:27Z")
When I put creepy-crawlies in the toilet, I pour a little liquid soap on top to break the surface tension. Guaranteed removal in only one flush! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/32 "2010-06-09T10:23:00Z")
> [@RhapsodyInBlue](#): > > Not all roaches can fly upward, but these can. :eek: > > You don’t know what disgusted is until you’ve seen one of these things go from the ground to a tabletop. Usually I’m not a girlygirl, the sort that scream and jump on a chair at the sight of a mouse. However, those huge roaches are NASTY, creepy, and just plain disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/33 "2010-06-09T18:11:45Z")
Roaches…I am at continuous and constant war with these bastard spawn of cthulhu and Satan. In fact it is one of the primary reasons I plan to find a new apartment in a month. You see it does not matter how much I spray or how clean I am because at many points in my apartment the difference between inside and outside is more theoretical than actual. They have many means of entrance, for example the holes in the outside of the siding combined with the fact my landlord installed sinks just by cutting big holes in the wall provides a tunnel system a Vietcong would be proud of, but their favorite tactic is to come down the exhaust vent in the bathroom and roam around the ceiling like some kind of demented circus performer. One time, after firing a blast of Raid up their highway in vengeance for their latest trespass, I returned to find four dead and one dying roach laying in the attached light fixture. I obviously countered a major assault on my abode. Also, as mentioned above, these are not puny little roaches. These are southern tree roaches. They are so big I can actually find these abominations by sound alone. Also they do fly, but what was not mentioned was that they don’t fly _away_. No, they fly _at_ you like some demonic kamikaze and, if they are above, always aim for the face. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/34 "2010-06-09T18:22:29Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > You are an evil, evil person. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2010, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436/35 "2010-06-10T00:54:53Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > **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. i believe you are confusing la cucaracha with lobsters. this is quite common as they are related. the lobsters are the ones with big pinchy claws that are killed in hot water and eaten by some people. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-which-i-learn-that-cockroaches-like-to-nap/542436.md?page=1)