How To Get Rid Of Cockroaches In Your House

Funny. +1

It is not remarkable, but the elevation (and resultant cold) along with the local moisture deprived climate where I grew up, precluded the existence of cockroaches in any dwellings except one or two restaurants whose operations and food supplies included things and food items transported from warmer climates and consequent cockroach contamination. According to friends of that time.

I'd seen these ubiquitous critters in textbooks, in museums, and insect collections but not where I lived, and did not think about them as a part of most people's life. I was young and had not garnered much "experience" in those days. That changed, of course.

Early in my federal science career, during my travels I often lived in locations replete with both rodents and cockroaches. I will never forget one rented abode I used several years before I was married, which was infested with cockroaches. During the day, when I inspected the housing for suitability, it was very clean, completely furnished, including kitchen cookware and even bedding. It was ideal for a single male to eat in or out and relax after work.

I had moved into the rental earlier in the day, returned to my office for work; ate at a local restaurant; gone "home", exhausted, got ready for bed, slipped in, turned off the bed-lamp and dozed. Perhaps an hour or less later I needed to visit the bathroom, and began by sitting on the edge of the bed. As my feet touched the floor, there were crunches from each foot and I realized I had stepped on and "squished" some insects. Calmly I reached for and turned on the bed-lamp. Within sight were hundreds of cockroaches, dozens were on the floor, but my clothes in a chair next to the bed were covered with cockroaches. And they were all looking at me! Deciding I looked dangerous, I guess, my first movement in light cause all of them to flee to their hiding places. After I cleaned the dead-squished from my feet, I entered other rooms in the house, and as I turned on lights hundreds of roaches scurried to hiding. By the time I turned the kitchen light on, the light in the hall leading to the kitchen had helped thin visible numbers down. However the pantry and cooking storage cabinets had dozens of roaches camping on what was otherwise spotless silverware and dishes and cups.

I never got out of bed in that abode thereafter without first turning on the lights. I did not cook or bring home food to cook; I ate out. I finished that project, and was glad to have survived my first encounter with their kind.

Subsequent experiences had me using 22's, compressed air powered bb's, for starters. I had to become good at hand-to-hand and became very effective with foils, rapiers and swords. Clubs and bats also work well. Flash grenades where both sound and bright light are produced allows one to stun the roaches and they can be vacuumed or raked and bagged for short periods.

I stopped short of fragmentary weapons and serious insecticides, for environmental reasons.

Once I settled I was able to select a cold climate where we just don't have them. I like it that way.

I like your humor. Are they "good" to eat? My survival instructor said they could be eaten just fine, but only the wild ones not associated with human communities for human health reasons. He never said they were "good" to eat, meaning tasty. I do not think he ever ate one, but maybe. I never had to, even during training.

Nice one taprial.

Now I know how to get rid of those dreaded roaches. Thanks. I'll start shopping for all the items I need right now.

Inspired writing. A pragmatic approach to roach.

I especially like the part about spreading the word of the impending execution via the internet. Anybody who has spent considerable time online knows the WWW is just crawling with cockroaches. :)

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you were kind of fortunate to have avoided them most of your life. I kind of grew up with them and later in life when i moved closer to the shores i was introduced to bed bugs, termites and various other pests. I was not the only one, there were others too facing the same problem and we all decided that nothing could be done, that we have to live with it. Just about when i was getting used to the idea of peaceful coexistence with the pests, I got married and got a few lessons in regular maintenance, w.r.t cleanliness and hygiene, from my wife. Lo and behold all the pests were gone. Well almost, the cockroaches keep coming back every now and then, but are definitely under control.

I too, have never eaten cockroaches, though i have been served a few as garnish a couple of times. Should I say reverse Garnishing, since it only makes it look bad, but does not contribute to the taste. However the thought is revolting. You can find a reference to the idea of roaches in the food in my Spooky Xomba entry at http://www.xomba.com/possessed_spooky_experience

I did have the opportunity of seeing a person eating a mosquito straight after killing it, during a visit to one of the African countries. He did seem to enjoy it, unless of course he was just trying to teach a lesson to the other mosquitoes around him.

Bare Essentials

That's a nice one AndAnotherThing2.

On second thoughts do not kill all the cockroaches. The way the economy is headed we might need them later to satiate our hunger.

Thanks Champagnedreams, AndAnotherThing2 and kjhack for the comments.

Bare Essentials

One of my biggest memories of living in El Paso in my childhood was the cockroaches. They were everywhere and large enough to require more than just a squirt of Raid to kill them. I daresay an assault rifle or handgun will cause the roach to fall over and die from laughter.

My nearly two years in Orlando, Florida while in the Navy taught me that Florida has some big'uns, too.

JOIN US IN TOASTING YOUR FUTURE SUCCESS!

Reminds me of my younger days when we had gone for a trek. After we reached the camp site and pitched our tents, the instructor told us to dig a snake pit around the tents. In the morning when we got up, we saw a dead snake just outside our snake pit. We were still wondering about it when the instructor said, "Must have died from laughter."

After a full day of trekking we were so tired that our snake pit measured about one inch in width and a half inch depth.

Bare Essentials

Very nice "how to", easily followed step by step instructions.

I dare ya...c'mon you know you want to...Smile!
MJ

'Dr. Taprial Moreau--with his vast fortune--occasionally sends one special cockroach to his tropical island, and the seasonal hunt ensues.'

Or would that be too much fun?

---Uncle MythMan of the Professional Friends who GET MONEY for Echoing the Universe (the Wonderful World Above & the Beauty Amidst)

Arizona has its fill of cockroaches. I remember when I maced the giant cockroach. He lived. Yes, I hear they survived the dinosaur age. Lo, and behold the drapes which I hit lit up at night. I called the local police station to find out how to get the neon drapes clean. I found out mace has a dye that lights up so the Police can find the bad guys at night! The drapes glowed in the dark.Who knew? The Police gave me the name of their dry cleaners who said ammonia gets the dye out. My drapes in my rented apartment came clean! It worked. Never mace a cockroach!

Geranimum will keep cockroaches away because pesticides, like Raid are made out of Geraniums, and I hear cats will keep cockroaches away too, because they eat them. Chalk also helps. So does a boric acid powder, Borax. Better than mace, and AK-47's.

Never mace a cockroach!

as all other options don't appeal to me much. Or the pesticide spray that I can aim from at least one feet away from the cockroach! UGHHH...I just hate the sight of them.

Now if I had an AK-47, I wonder how many rounds I would have to fire to get one?

My usual response on seeing or spotting one anywhere in the house is RUN...! Then I call or rather shout for reinforcement in the form of any other member of my family that is brave enough to tackle the enemy head on.

I provide the outer support, ensuring that it cannot escape the room. Then a tough battle ensues in the room between the cockroach and my husband (usually) as they run round and round the room chasing each other and finally my husband comes out with a smile! Ahhh. What a relief!

Now, if only LOOKS could kill, then I would have no problem in killing any cockroach!

Thanks MJ Dakota, myth, L Wagen and rawnak for the comments.

Bare Essentials

I first met Roaches in Spain. I was with some friends, one of whom would jump on any roaches that infringed his personal space. He was gross.

Later, as a struggling single mother, I used to spend a winter month or two in Lanzarote with my baby, then toddler, then young daughter. Single parents have to do everything and so it was during this time I learnt to deal with roaches in a pacifist, humane, humorous manner that would help to make my daughter strong around all insects - I hate wusses (as we call scardey cats in these parts).

Firstly I discovered that roaches didn't stay anywhere with no food so I was impecable when catering and kept a pristine floor. This meant if there were any they were just there for a mooch. Thus, the best way to deal with them was with a broom and strong words. Better still, was to intercept the little blighters before they gained access over my threshold. METHOD:

Holding the broom to the front, approach the mooching roach and tell it - in no uncertain terms - "get thee away". If this doesn't do the trick, if the roach continues towards your threshold, demand again that s/he stops but this time bring the weight of the broom to clunk across the roach's path. That'll see the critter turn tail and scamper.

This worked for me. The method can be adapted to get rid of men too. Thanks for your article and Happy New Year

Nice article , taprial. Still laughing.

Killing ain't easy after all :-)
+1

DO the Write Thing & Get Paid Here

I too can tell you some stories about resturaunts. When you are in the service and repair industry, you generally will not eat at places you perform service!!

I dare ya...c'mon you know you want to...Smile!
MJ

I was once told by someone familiar with health code enforcement that the quickest way to not want to eat at your favorite restaurant anymore is to take a tour of the kitchen. After seen the Ryan Reynolds movie, Waiting, I've had second thoughts about eating at many places.

JOIN US IN TOASTING YOUR FUTURE SUCCESS!

I'm off to kill the pesky critters with my hunting partner husband.

This was loads of fun.