# Most humane way to kill roaches **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2002, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457 "2002-08-25T05:01:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![W.Panic\_Snopes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@W.Panic\_Snopes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/W.Panic_Snopes)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/1 "2002-08-25T05:01:50Z")
I’ve heard that RAID, Black Flag, Bengal, and other roach sprays is essentially a nerve gas that kills roaches very painfully. If this is so (which I don’t know if it is), what’s the most humane method of killing them other than tracking them down and stepping on them? (Whenever I set off a fogger I want to first send out tiny leaflets informing them to evacuate, maybe setting up refugee stations on my back steps, as the insectoid holocaust the next day always makes me feel guilty [but I dislike living with roaches more].) ---
**Author:** ![Rhapsody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rhapsody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhapsody)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/2 "2002-08-25T05:26:05Z")
really you worry too much. Insects are not even really conscious. Their brains are little more than switching stations for impulses. An insect will move aay when you pull off a leg then go right back to nibbling a blade of grass as if nothing happened. They simply are not euipped to suffer or to react to pain on anything but the most instinctual level. There is even some debate as to whether the sense they feel can even be considered pain. ---
**Author:** ![PhiloVance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e19adc/32.png) [@PhiloVance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhiloVance)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/3 "2002-08-25T05:33:22Z")
**STOMP on the suckers!** It’s quick, and pretty much painless. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/4 "2002-08-25T05:34:46Z")
The most humane way? Capture them, feed them, and wait for them to die of old age. Or did you want a method that was humane _and_ efficient? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/5 "2002-08-25T05:49:45Z")
Burn down the house. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/6 "2002-08-25T06:19:53Z")
Do you have any idea how many E coli bacteria you are killing when you fry a hamburger or the number of salmonella you have killed when you bake a piece of chicken? You can almost hear their screams of agony as they are cooked to death. The roaches have survived, but look at what has almost happened to the small pox bacteria. That is nothing short of germocide. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/7 "2002-08-25T07:04:42Z")
A Humane way to kill roaches? Listen, **W** , that is the second stupidest, most asinine thing I’ve ever heard! The first being the time an arborist told me one of my trees was diseased and dying. He insisted that I have it cut it down immediately. Not to save other trees from the disease, but because **“this tree is ill. It’s suffering. If you don’t cut it down you’re being cruel by prolonging it’s misery”** :eek::mad: Not only did I not let him cut it down, I had my dog Bigot chase him off my property. (yes, that really was his name. And a bigot he was. He hated everyone! Except me:D) You and that kook should get together and go bowling! A humane was to kill roaches! Indeed! Like those basterd deserve any mercy! ---
**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/8 "2002-08-25T11:07:52Z")
[hijack] Do insects feel pain? If so then I don’t think it’s far-fetched to suggest that we have an obligation to be somewhat humane when killing them. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/9 "2002-08-25T11:23:46Z")
I agree that stomping them under your heel is the most humane. Messy but quick. Perhaps we could adopt the idea to human executions as well. I envision something like an ultrafast trash compactor. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/10 "2002-08-25T11:35:26Z")
Tell them some good jokes. The laughter will kill them. Roaches are well known for their great sense of humor. Or you could just talk to them and get them to pay rent. ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/11 "2002-08-25T11:54:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jenner \* > \*\*[hijack] > Do insects feel pain? > > If so then I don’t think it’s far-fetched to suggest that we have an obligation to be somewhat humane when killing them. > [/hijack] \*\* Obligation to kill cockroaches in a humane manner? We, often do not even kill other humans in a humane manner. Hangings, electrocutions, firing squads, and my favorite, Blunt force trauma, from the sticks and stones that do break bones to a handy Automobile running 60 mph down the highway. Hell, here in the states it is illegal to kill in a humane manner, no matter how much the person is suffering. I can understand and agree with the moral obligation to be humane to people and extension animals. But an insect? Gassing them or what not is more than fair. We after all are the top of the foodchain. When we humans are thru messing this world up **THEN** the cockroaches can have their chance. ---
**Author:** ![Kreekurmudgeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@Kreekurmudgeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kreekurmudgeon)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/12 "2002-08-25T14:01:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > \*\*Burn down the house. 😃 \*\* Tried that once. Only survivor was a roach. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/13 "2002-08-25T14:41:23Z")
Is it just me, or did anyone else immediately think of that SNL roach trap that tears the legs off the roach, beats it senseless with them, then stuffs a soaked rag in its mouth and a hot poker up its butt, and dangles food in front of its face, just out of the roaches reach? Sorry…anyway, RAID really does look like a bad death, if you watch the bugs die in it…I have sometimes just stomped on them after spraying with RAID…the spray paralyzes them, and then I can crush them with ease…somewhat more humane, if you’re into that thing. Jman ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/14 "2002-08-25T14:43:41Z")
Arghh…I hate it when I don’t preview and miss something as stupid as “roaches” … should, of course, be “roach’s” ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/15 "2002-08-25T15:12:36Z")
Being new to a place where roaches inhabit, I was given this bit of advice: Don’t stomp on them. If they are female, their egg casings will go everywhere, and you’ve just made the problem worse. I caught a roach in an almost-empty bottle of Mr. Clean the other day. It had a sweet-smelling last few moments. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/16 "2002-08-25T16:27:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by W. Panic Snopes \* > \*\*I’ve heard that RAID, Black Flag, Bengal, and other roach sprays is essentially a nerve gas that kills roaches very painfully. If this is so (which I don’t know if it is), what’s the most humane method of killing them other than tracking them down and stepping on them? (Whenever I set off a fogger I want to first send out tiny leaflets informing them to evacuate, maybe setting up refugee stations on my back steps, as the insectoid holocaust the next day always makes me feel guilty [but I dislike living with roaches more].) \*\* Why do we think we have a right to kill them? After all they are God’s creatures too. If their activities bother us it must because it is part of the Intelligent Design of the universe that they _ought to_ bother us. Leave them to God, after all He knows best. I’ve heard many times that God doesn’t inflict upon us anything that we can’t stand. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/17 "2002-08-25T16:33:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by David Simmons \* > \*\* > > Why do we think we have a right to kill them? After all they are God’s creatures too. If their activities bother us it must because it is part of the Intelligent Design of the universe that they _ought to_ bother us. Leave them to God, after all He knows best. I’ve heard many times that God doesn’t inflict upon us anything that we can’t stand. \*\* :eek: Please tell me this is a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Jenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@Jenner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenner)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/18 "2002-08-25T16:35:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Osip \* > \*\* > I can understand and agree with the moral obligation to be humane to people and extension animals. But an insect? \*\* Only if they’re capable of suffering. If they can’t then there’s obviously no reason to be humane to them. Back to the OP: Although squashing is messy it’s probably the quickest way to kill a roach. If you really want to go through the trouble not to hurt the creature, why not just catch it in a jar and release it somewhere far away from your house? ---
**Author:** ![W.Panic\_Snopes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@W.Panic\_Snopes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/W.Panic_Snopes)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/19 "2002-08-25T17:22:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pkbites \* > \*\*A Humane way to kill roaches? > > Listen, **W** , that is the second stupidest, most asinine thing I’ve ever heard! > \*\* And this is the second most offensive post I’ve ever received, the first being from an obviously unbalanced Fundamentalist. Many entomologists believe that bugs are capable of suffering; one of the most important tenets of my faith is to minimalize suffering of all creatures as much as I can. I am a total pragmatist, I’m not even a vegetarian, and I’ve even had to kill humans in my line of work (in legally self defense), but I do not find it stupid or asinine to substitute a less painful mode of death for a more painful mode of death if both are relatively convenient and readily available. Please go attack somebody else’s religion now. ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2002, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457/20 "2002-08-25T17:36:55Z")
The only living creatures that are allowed in my house are human beings and cats. Everything else is trespassing and will be treated as such. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-humane-way-to-kill-roaches/125457.md?page=2)