Cockroach in hotel room- kill or leave alone?

[WickedGoodDoge]

Random question but genuinely interested in views.

If you find a cockroach in your hotel room, do you:

• kill it?
• try to shoo it out?
• leave it alone?

We’re just back from holiday and one night there was a cockroach in our room (little cottage in the Caribbean so to be expected) I tried to shoo it out, but it was too skittery so I did a jokey fb post with a photo of the semi-feral cat outside our cottage saying I should let her in to eat it. The next morning, we found it in the middle of the room, pretty much dead (I’m guessing due to the insecticide spray used by housekeeping) so DH put it out of its misery and squashed it.

I’ve been told off by a fb friend because they are the world’s oldest creatures and do no harm.

I though most people would want rid of it, but maybe not? So cockroach in your hotel room- kill or leave it alone?

I thought if you squashed them it just released loads of eggs.

But also I don't think they do any harm.
I might move one elsewhere rather than kill it but wouldn't want it as a spooning partner in my room.

They breed easily and quickly. They can travel home in your luggage. I doubt mind all manner of things bur I can't sleep in a room where I've seen a roach!

Always kill. They're dirty. When I'm abroad I generally go to a local shop for milk, bread ... and spray killer. The stuff they sell there even in continental Europe is much better than what we get in the UK because it has to cope with nasties like cockroaches and you can buy it in every corner tienda.

Don't let the cat in as they all have fleas so you'll just end up with cockroaches and fleas. There are plenty of cockroaches in the world. They aren't about to become endangered because you kill one in your room.

If you stamp on them there's a risk eggs will stick to the bottom of your shoes and be transferred elsewhere. Cockroaches are vile - we used a spray when we had them in our flat in Spain. It was sprayed in a line near their entry point and when they crossed it it got them.

SuperLoud I am now an internet expert on cockroaches. It seems to be up for debate whether you will send eggs flying when you squash one, but had I, at the time, been aware of that as even a remote possibility, I would have stopped DH!

It spent the night racing round our bed, but fortunately did not (as far as I’m aware!) spend any time racing over us while we slept!

Don’t worry, Harolds, the cat comment was just a joke. There was no way I was letting her in! I grew up with semi-feral and they don’t fool me! In fact, she gave up on me after a couple of days and the last time I saw her, she just stalked past me glaring because she thought I’d tricked her into thinking I was a mad cat lady who would let her in to pee all over our bed and shed her fleas.

Treading on them doesn't release eggs btw - that's a myth. By the time you've seen one, if it's female it will likely already have laid its egg sac elsewhere in the room. However running round the place trying to stamp on a cockroach is a hassle. Spray, spray and spray again.

Semi feral. She was gorgeous but very determined to try to get into the cottage.

Phew, Wicked. Friends of mine had a massive problem with dozy berk holidaymakers letting cats into her rental apartment in the canaries "because they're sweet".

Was it one of those big ones that tend to arrive on thier own (used to get them in Florida and they'd bloody hiss at you ) Wiht those ones my method was to try to catch them (they are very quick) whilst fighting off three cats who also wanted to catch them and I had no idea if they were posonous to cats - when I eventually managed to throw a lumchbox or something on them and scoop them up, I flung them outside.

With the little buggers I found that if you've got one you've got a million. I found one in the bathtub in a cheap motel I stayed in and thought OK - not nice, but hey it's Florida, occupational hazard and all that. Woke up in the night, turned on the light and the whole floor moved. literally as a bazillion cockroaches fled for cover. My method there was grab everything, stick it on the bed, stamp up and down to make them go into hiding. Sleep with the duvet over my head until morning then get the hell out of that dump

Roaches are bastards. Have lived with them in grotty flat in Earls Court as well - that time my bed was matress on the floor, that was bloody grim.(When I say lived with them, I was actually living with fellow humans, the roaches were gatecrashers.)

Kill and then spend the rest of the holiday shuddering. They can live for a week without a head!

We flicked ours off the hotel balcony.

Jesus how did you sleep with it scuttling round your room!

I used to live in the Canaries. I confess, I did despatch them.

Some of them can fly. Flying fucking cockroaches.

Fly? OMG. I've never seen one. Hopefully it will stay that way.

We had one in our apartment in Barcelona a few years ago. We thought it was dead at first so DP went to put it in a bag (one of the ones we had our liquids in at the airport), I heard a loud arrrrggggh from him as he realised it was very alive. It still went in the bag and a bin outside on our way to the supermarket where we bought some spray stuff.

Yep fly. Sat at a friend's house in Spain and one flew. We googled it and yep, some can fly

Leave......and demand a refund.

That cat is gorgeous totally misses the point

Kill! I found one in my bed in California and it was dead dead dead by the time I was finished!