cockroches

[RuggerHug]

Are there any bigger bastards in the world? just had to go one on one with a twat who kicked on his back like Michael Flatley on coke after being sprayed for 3 solid minutes (as I was in only knickers, on wine and being laughed at ). He's the 4th one who came too close and didn't respect the 'stay outdoors and we won't bother each other'rule within 2 days. Can someone please comfort me and say my bravery has scared them all into submission? (bravery /flapping boobs and screaming )

[giggly]

Wait for the Oz MN to wake up they'll have more great tales. I lived there for a few years and hate the fuckers, bloody fast runners it was not uncommon to have a trail of bug spray all the way across a wall as I chased them.

One of my friends had the pleasure of sleeping with one until she woke up with it crawling up her leg.

[apintofbest]

Sydney is built on roaches. when we lived there, every time I opened the cutlery drawer they poured out like a plague. you do kinda get used to them if you live with them and I've never had cleaner cutlery - every time I saw one everything would be pulled out of the drawer and washed within an inch of it's life.

[43cupsoftea]

Saw one on holiday on Gozo. Was feckin huge. Emptied a can of raid onto it, DH stamped on it and the bloody thing was still wriggling in the morning.

[Iggly]

I remember going on holiday to Morocco and when we were out of an evening, theyd be scuttling along the pavement. I didn't wear sandals After the first time....

[humanstain]

I've only seen two cockroaches in my life...in two different hospitals, in London

[AdoraBell]

I saw a fecking huge one in Malta but have only seen smaller ones in Chile, and then only once. A friend's house. Spotless, cleaned daily by a maid and when she opened the freezer door one ran along the top edge

Hope you get rid of them OP

[OrangePeels]

I hate them with a passion! We live in the UAE and I first encountered one 6 months ago. It was a baby and I spayed it and managed to removed it via the toilet.
A week later a huge bastard fell out of my jeans as I was putting them on! It ran behind the fitted wardrobe and I waited 20 mins for it to show itself before emptying a can of raid on it!
I told DH in no uncertain terms to call the exterminator. He did. We are fortunate enough to have a maid. She comes from a farm in the Philippines and told me she has no problems with cockroaches. The exterminator came and she was left the job of locking up after him (no entry for 3 hours post spraying). I came home to find her pale and shaking on the doorstep as she had witnessed the exterminator spraying the drains with roaches crawling all over him and a sea of them exploding from the drains as he sprayed! She was terrified!
No more roaches for 2 months then a big bastard gave me the hairy eyeball from the kitchen. I grabbed what I thought was raid and sprayed him. It was outdoor spray so I promptly choked and vomitted on the floor. The bastard ran under the cooker.
I told my maid the next day and she heard "cockroach" and jumped a mile in the air and landed in my arms
I called out the exterminator again. Poor maid was so traumatised I didn't ask her to lock up after them I told her to seek refuge at a friend's instead.
Thankfully, there was only the one that time...
Where there is one there are thousands... Shudder...

[spatchcock]

Loads where I live - in darkest south America. will never get used to them!

The nuclear holocaust "fact" is innacurate - the reason cockroaches survive in cooler climes is down to piggybacking on our warm homes to ride out the winter. Once we're gone, they'll exist only along the equator.

[MissBelleTragic]

My sister used to be a holiday rep. They lived in a basement apartment so always had issues with them falling off the sidewalk to their front door. Put a rolled up towel at the back of the door ( like a draft excluder) and but a glass over your sink holes. That will help keep them out. And hairspray works wonders for all flying insects!

[DrFoxtrot]

Me and my XH once tried to fight two cockchafers out of the kitchen armed with sticks/brooms, they started flying, I swiftly exited the kitchen and listened to XH swearing and the sound of furniture clanging for the next 10 mins. We thought they were cockroaches. I try not to leave doors/ windows open in summer as I have a moth phobia so I've no idea how they got in. Cat flap?

[pieceofpurplesky]

And the word cockchafer makes me giggle like a 13 year old!

[pieceofpurplesky]

Cockroaches are not just in the canaries. And they fly. Ugh.

First thing I always do it buy a can of spray and do windows door bathrooms etc. or buy the repellent things that look like igloos

[lunalelle]

In the UK, at the moment, the cockchafers are out in force. They are often mistaken for cockroaches, but they are not the same and are not a health risk www.countryservicespestcontrol.co.uk/?p=427

[nocabbageinmyeye]

My old office in work was infested with them, ew! I couldn't leave my bag on the floor for fear of bringing any home with me, I'm in Ireland, that he'll hole office was the only place I ever saw them, we had bats and nice too

[hiddenhome]

When I was a student nurse, the charge nurse told us tales of cockroaches crawling all over the beds of the doped up mental patients in the Victorian asylum in the town.

We also used to get them in the nurses' home. You had to crunch them underfoot on the way to early shift each morning.

[AdoraBell]

My DH was in an apartment in central America. He needed a glass of water in the wee small hours. Turned on the kitchen light. It was like a carpet of cockroaches the floor was so thick with them

He put a cup in the cupboard the right way up and the cleaner told him off. You must put them upside down to stop the 'roaches crawling in

OP I'd be looking for a drastic solution if I were you. The heavy duty hair spray sounds good if the bug spray won't kill the bastards.

[Wideopenspace]

I was the appointed cockroach wrangler when I was a kid.

We lived in furrin climes.

I think they are ACE!

[hiddenhome]

I keep giant ones as pets. I have a bloke and three females, but he hasn't got any of them pregnant yet and I am not happy he needs to up his game or I'll buy a rival.

[bloodyteenagers]

I was 17 and homeless and was given a list of approved landlords that had agreed to give me a tenancy.
The first place was a room in a b&b running across the window sill was a couple of roaches..
Second one was a lovely little flat. landlord told me that previous occupants had just moved out and he hadn't got around to decorating, and that I could do it however I wanted for a price reduction. It was then I noticed something under the wall paper move. Wasn't isolated to one place.

Didn't take either of those.

And yes in the event of a nuclear bomb, everything else will die but those little fuckers would survive.

[DrankSangriaInThePark]

When I lived in Spain our flat was riddled with them, both our grotty student flat and the posh penthouse where I later au-paired.
My then boyfriend set fire to one with his lighter. It sizzled for a while, then just shrugged and walked off.
They were bigger in Thailand though. One ran me round the bathroom and then leaped onto my bed and into my bag.

[Toadinthehole]

(posting from NZ). Ants are worse. In summer, I normally find a couple in my house each day. They climb in through the windows. They worried me at first, but I know now that they are harmless.

Ants by contrast are little buggers. I believe I have a nest inside one of the exterior walls of my house. They keep raiding the cupboards and get into anything that isn't hermetically sealed.

[RuggerHug]

yellowcurtains, there's enough that I have made the decision to be out all day in order to gather my strength to deal with the evening group. not a massive amount, but enough to be on scuttly noise alert while indoors, spray and swear words at the ready!

[yellowcurtains]

Yes carrie- the only creatures that will survive nuclear holocaust... cockroaches!

Do they have many in Spain then? I thought it was just canaries (they have flying ones apparently- shudder)

[RuggerHug]

Dowser....your post doesn't fill me with hope..

[RuggerHug]

MyFriends.....2 inches? ! killed another this morning. I'm thinking of going down the hairspray route (and then staying outdoors as much as possible). Yellow, we're in Spain, you should be safe!