# When did you see a cockroach for the last time? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [December 5, 2023, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128 "2023-12-05T09:48:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/41 "2023-12-05T21:36:13Z")
> [@gkster](#): > > The last time I saw one was in Canada. I stayed at an Airbnb apartment in Montreal in August 2018 and spotted 2 of them crawling around on the counter. The place looked quite clean, but the building was from the early 1900s and a lot of renovation work was going on, which maybe stirred them up. There was also renovation work going on near my friend’s restaurant (which was in a food court-type area, so it was unclear where the roaches were coming from). ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/42 "2023-12-05T21:39:06Z")
I don’t know how some of you guys go so long without seeing them. Here in Arkansas, I can go for my evening walk in the warmer months and spot the occasional roach on their evening stroll in the street or on the sidewalk. And we get them in the house on occasion, I suspect they actually come up through the pipes and I wouldn’t doubt I’ve got other etrances I’m unaware of. Because my dog is ancient and has the constitution of an 18 year old dog, my wife won’t let me spray in the house and we really need it. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/43 "2023-12-05T21:40:37Z")
One of our adjoining neighbors is reportedly infested so we continually see their castoffs. > [@Odesio](#): > > my wife won’t let me spray in the house A spray bottle filled with water + a bit of dish detergent does wonders. Whenever you see one, spray it and it’s soon dead. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/44 "2023-12-05T21:41:36Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > A spray bottle filled with water + a bit of dish detergent does wonders. Whenever you see one, spray it and it’s soon dead. When I say spray, I mean a preventative spray like the exterminator will lay down. Come to think of it, maybe a good compromise would be roach traps? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/45 "2023-12-05T21:44:57Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > When I say spray, I mean a preventative spray like the exterminator will lay down. Yeah, I figured that. We use the water + detergent spray between exterminators; their spray never bothered our elderly cat nor any of the other pets. > [@Odesio](#): > > maybe a good compromise would be roach traps? Those are good, too. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/46 "2023-12-05T21:57:21Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > Haven’s seen one since I left San Diego Me too. I spent most of the 80s there. There were a lot of them in the dorm at UCSD. The guys a couple of doors down from me had a pet duckling in their room for a while. We were sitting around smoking weed one night when a roach confidently walked through the room and was eaten by the duck. It was probably the weed but the surrealism of it cracked me up. If the roach was sentient and planned for a safe journey out of the room, it never would have occurred to him to watch out for a duck. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/47 "2023-12-05T22:07:50Z")
I was actually quite surprised by the denouement. The last thing I expected them to be touting was Combat. IME living in DC area apartments in the 80’s and 90’s, Combat by itself was useless. But then so were professional exterminators. It required a dedicated mix of several different products to defeat the roaches ability to adapt. The product I was expecting them to proclaim was Gentrol, an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR). The worst roaches I ever experienced were when I rented a house which shared a property line with a 7/11. The vermin that came over from that store every Autumn were beyond the pale. Nothing touched them until I found Gentrol. Gentrol doesn’t kill individual bugs. It just prevents the eggs from maturing into reproductive adults. So you have to deal with a generation of bizarre creatures wandering around, but once their lifespan is up that is it, no more roaches. And any more that make their way in cannot establish a colony. When a friend lived in a building full of infested apartments, I helped her drip little drops of Gentrol on all the staircases, elevator floors, and lobbies. Within a few weeks all the roaches she saw were the mutant variety. And a few months later I saw her and she raved about the miracle that had occurred. This was a building that had quarterly visits from the exterminators, when she had to completely remove everything from her kitchen, it was such a nightmare. So, yeah. I was shocked. All of this buildup for _Combat_?? Gentrol is the real miracle. When they find its analogue for bedbugs, then Paris will be safe again. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2023, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/48 "2023-12-05T23:39:25Z")
The link a the start swears “Combat™” works wonders. I never heard of it before, but I am sure you can google it, and it seems very safe, even for old dogs. But others disagree: > [@TruCelt](#): > > The last thing I expected them to be touting was Combat. > […] > The product I was expecting them to proclaim was Gentrol, an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR). YMMV, obviously. I never heard about Gentrol either. But whatever it was, roaches, as the poll shows, anecdotically as it may be, are no longer the apocalyptic nightmare they were 40 years ago. Two thirds of the respondents have not seen a roach in over a year. I, for one, am happy with that. Now, let’s go and fight the real enemy: mosquitos! But that is for another thread. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2023, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/49 "2023-12-06T01:18:17Z")
[When did you see a cockroach for the last time? It was under my descending heel. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2023, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/50 "2023-12-06T03:06:26Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > whatever it was, roaches, as the poll shows, anecdotically as it may be, are no longer the apocalyptic nightmare they were 40 years ago. Two thirds of the respondents have not seen a roach in over a year. How many of them have spent the past year someplace where roaches are unusual? Because there are a lot of places where someone might not have seen a roach for a year 40 years ago, either. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2023, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/51 "2023-12-06T06:06:12Z")
Does diatomaceous earth work on them as well as it does on ants? ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2023, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/52 "2023-12-06T06:13:36Z")
Obviously I’m the only respondent from NYC so far because the idea that they have disappeared is so _ludicrous_. I see them all the time. The little ones mostly but occasionally the giant 2” ones. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2023, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/53 "2023-12-06T06:41:37Z")
Diatomaceous earth does work on them! Not as well as a shoe, but it doesn’t have to be monitored. It’s most useful in a line across an opening to the house. Black widow spiders are also very effective, but they do pose a few problems of their own. Cats aren’t a reliable control method; half-dead roaches end up in shoes all too often. I’m beginning to understand the reaction of a friend from Massachusetts when she saw a flying cockroach on the wall in her Atlanta motel room. She screamed and backed against the opposite wall, and when I came in to see if she was okay, I just took my shoe off and smacked it. I didn’t realize there were places that just don’t have them. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2023, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/54 "2023-12-06T09:06:21Z")
I used to live in quite a run-down house and never saw any cockroaches. Then I moved to another city, and cockroaches were everywhere, including out in the street. Eventually I moved back to the city where I used to live, and again I only rarely see cockroaches here. Last time was at least three years ago, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Dereknocue67](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Dereknocue67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dereknocue67)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2023, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/55 "2023-12-06T09:10:51Z")
I saw two dead cockroaches yesterday in my crawlspace. The poison worked! ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/56 "2023-12-07T05:54:23Z")
Not counting the pet store giant cockroaches, I have only ever seen ONE cockroach in “the wild”; got some new neighbors that moved into the apartment across the hall some two decades back; they were up from down south somewhere (memory fails me) and apparently brought some hitchhikers along! Saw one just outside their door, never saw another. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2023, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/57 "2023-12-07T10:26:59Z")
Have a lot of large ones that live outside that I can see at night if I go outside with a flashlight. Back years ago when I had a camera with an infrared mode I was walking outside with the camera and happened to cross paths with a large toad. I followed him around for a while watching him through the camera’s display and he would find and eat those large roaches with a quick lash of the tounge. I tried and hoped to get an action shot of that but was never quick enough on the shutter. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2023, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/58 "2023-12-08T04:40:55Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Today I learned there are people who have never seen one! Stevie Wonder ain’t never seen one. Ray Charles, neither! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2023, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/59 "2023-12-09T02:54:45Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Ray Charles, neither! Not even in a [Spiderweb](https://youtu.be/mPDdSRjWqek?si=aEeOqNNR3-_ZktjY)? ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2023, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128/60 "2023-12-09T04:43:26Z")
We live in the desert. It is too hot for roaches. I haven’t seen one since the last time I went to California, but haven’t ever seen one in the almost 40 years we have lived here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-see-a-cockroach-for-the-last-time/994128.md?page=4)