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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Opened one of our boxes after a move abroad aanndd..

122 replies

BadLuck2023 · 10/08/2023 04:59

Found a bloody roach! It's shat all over the paper wrapping our belongings and honestly made me feel ill! (I've got a phobia of them).

I ran to grab the bug spray but now I can't find the bloody thing. Aibu to ask of ways I can convince DH to help me empty the boxes 😇

OP posts:
LovelaceBiggWither · 10/08/2023 05:11

LOL I came back from Australia once and was unpacking my suitcase in front of my MIL and a German cockroach ran out. I'm sure she thought it was because I was a manky cow.

Original poster
BadLuck2023 · 10/08/2023 05:14

@LovelaceBiggWither Lol! Oh no how horrible! Did you wash everything? I'm going to be scrubbing all my belongings now

OP posts:
LovelaceBiggWither · 10/08/2023 05:36

I live in Australia now so I am totally desensitised to cockies.

HoppingPavlova · 10/08/2023 05:46

Same, in Aus and if we had that reaction to cockies we wouldn’t get through a day.

tankcrossing · 10/08/2023 06:03

Ha ha, I’m in Australia too. I was emptying my compost maker the other day and I’m not kidding you, there was hundreds and hundreds of cockroaches living in there.

Now, I know that my chickens absolutely love them, so as a kindness to the chickens I began collecting them in a bucket. Ten at a time was the max I could collect without them all running out of the bucket and up my arm (some of them did)

Eventually even the chickens had had enough, so the remaining ones I exposed and allowed the magpie to finish them off.

Honestly, they won’t hurt you. If you do spot your errant cockie, just grab the vacuum cleaner and suck it up using the hose nozzle.

We are more concerned with poisonous snakes and spiders, now some of these bad boys can do you some serious damage.

Flipflopflopflip · 10/08/2023 06:06

They're not that bad 😂 as for your AIBU...your DH should be unpacking boxes anyway?

BlastedIce · 10/08/2023 06:08

Hey DH, can you help unpack the boxes.

Job done.

femfemlicious · 10/08/2023 06:11

tankcrossing · 10/08/2023 06:03

Ha ha, I’m in Australia too. I was emptying my compost maker the other day and I’m not kidding you, there was hundreds and hundreds of cockroaches living in there.

Now, I know that my chickens absolutely love them, so as a kindness to the chickens I began collecting them in a bucket. Ten at a time was the max I could collect without them all running out of the bucket and up my arm (some of them did)

Eventually even the chickens had had enough, so the remaining ones I exposed and allowed the magpie to finish them off.

Honestly, they won’t hurt you. If you do spot your errant cockie, just grab the vacuum cleaner and suck it up using the hose nozzle.

We are more concerned with poisonous snakes and spiders, now some of these bad boys can do you some serious damage.

WHAT!😭😭😭. Shivers down my spine😭

Twinsmummy1812 · 10/08/2023 06:28

If you’ve moved to somewhere hot you’d better get used to them!

sugarplum33 · 10/08/2023 06:44

@tankcrossing You Aussie lot are made of stern stuff Shock

BBno4 · 10/08/2023 06:52

They're different in Oz same as Morocco, where I go yearly . They are massive but don't get into cupboard just dark dank places. You could have them in the toilet but they would never be in the bedroom, for example.

The ones we get in England are insidious. You will have them multiplying over and over and they will get into the fridge, food cupboards, bedrooms They could even crawl over you in your sleep.

Its totally different.

unlikelychump · 10/08/2023 06:58

BBno4 · 10/08/2023 06:52

They're different in Oz same as Morocco, where I go yearly . They are massive but don't get into cupboard just dark dank places. You could have them in the toilet but they would never be in the bedroom, for example.

The ones we get in England are insidious. You will have them multiplying over and over and they will get into the fridge, food cupboards, bedrooms They could even crawl over you in your sleep.

Its totally different.

That was what Sydney was like.
I didn't mind them too much.

Are people just scared of them or are they dangerous?

unlikelychump · 10/08/2023 06:58

I've also never seen them in England. What causes them to come or go.

Perhaps I should Google.

tankcrossing · 10/08/2023 07:01

BBno4 · 10/08/2023 06:52

They're different in Oz same as Morocco, where I go yearly . They are massive but don't get into cupboard just dark dank places. You could have them in the toilet but they would never be in the bedroom, for example.

The ones we get in England are insidious. You will have them multiplying over and over and they will get into the fridge, food cupboards, bedrooms They could even crawl over you in your sleep.

Its totally different.

They absolutely do get into your house here in oz. I’ve had them in my linen cupboard and they have shat all over my sheets, what a pain that was. Also, DP collects LEGO and we have lots of boxes stored in a wardrobe, the little buggers get into the sealed boxes.

We get the house sprayed inside and out for ants, cockroaches and spiders once a year, that keeps the numbers down, but you still get the odd one, especially just before the next spraying is due.

just part of everyday life.

legalseagull · 10/08/2023 07:02

tankcrossing · 10/08/2023 06:03

Ha ha, I’m in Australia too. I was emptying my compost maker the other day and I’m not kidding you, there was hundreds and hundreds of cockroaches living in there.

Now, I know that my chickens absolutely love them, so as a kindness to the chickens I began collecting them in a bucket. Ten at a time was the max I could collect without them all running out of the bucket and up my arm (some of them did)

Eventually even the chickens had had enough, so the remaining ones I exposed and allowed the magpie to finish them off.

Honestly, they won’t hurt you. If you do spot your errant cockie, just grab the vacuum cleaner and suck it up using the hose nozzle.

We are more concerned with poisonous snakes and spiders, now some of these bad boys can do you some serious damage.

It ran up your arm?!?!?! the horror

DarkPsy · 10/08/2023 07:03

unlikelychump · 10/08/2023 06:58

I've also never seen them in England. What causes them to come or go.

Perhaps I should Google.

The English ones are quite small, but they are fast little buggers! I've only ever seen them in a restaurant in London (old listed building), and once in a clients house after the council dug up the roads outside and disturbed a nest of them.

Ivegotsunshineinabag · 10/08/2023 07:04

No, no, hard, red light, no.
In all the ways no.

Newusernameaug · 10/08/2023 07:11

I find this thread depressing - not because of the 'cockies' but this:

Aibu to ask of ways I can convince DH to help me empty the boxes 😇

FFS why isn't he jointly doing it with you and you have to 'convince' him to help..... Grrrr - what is he doing exactly?

pollykitty · 10/08/2023 07:16

I totally get this. I grew up in the Southern US and huge ones are everywhere. I absolutely loathe them. I have a very vivid memory of doing my homework once at the kitchen table and feeling something on my knee. I looked down and there was a massive one just sitting there. We had them in the kitchen often and my parents refused to spray. If you came in late and flicked on the lights they would run behind the microwave. Ug I hate them so
much.

Fallenangelofthenorth · 10/08/2023 07:20

I've had a massive phobia about cockroaches since I was a child. We stayed in a cockroach infested hotel in London and my mother's reaction instilled a deep rooted fear which was further cemented when I watched a documentary (not about cockroaches) which included a scene where a child had to get a cockroach surgically removed from his ear after it had crawled there whilst he was asleep.

They are my greatest fear by far. I am horrified, but also impressed by @tankcrossing bravery. I can't even imagine how I'd cope with them tip tapping their armoured legs up my arm 🤢

Fallenangelofthenorth · 10/08/2023 07:23

Newusernameaug · 10/08/2023 07:11

I find this thread depressing - not because of the 'cockies' but this:

Aibu to ask of ways I can convince DH to help me empty the boxes 😇

FFS why isn't he jointly doing it with you and you have to 'convince' him to help..... Grrrr - what is he doing exactly?

I don't blame him to be honest! I wouldn't be unpacking them either, I'd be setting fire to the lot of it. Not worth the risk.

Charrington · 10/08/2023 07:27

Sympathy op. I’m crossing Australia off my bucket list.

In my house dh would be the one trying to convince me that it was safe to come back and help.

I believe in a strict division of labour. Creepy crawlers are definitely DH’s job.

DaisyChayne · 10/08/2023 07:27

Newusernameaug · 10/08/2023 07:11

I find this thread depressing - not because of the 'cockies' but this:

Aibu to ask of ways I can convince DH to help me empty the boxes 😇

FFS why isn't he jointly doing it with you and you have to 'convince' him to help..... Grrrr - what is he doing exactly?

I noticed this too.

itsgettingweird · 10/08/2023 07:35

I lived in Tenerife for a long time.

I'd have just been grateful the bugger didn't fly Grin

tankcrossing · 10/08/2023 07:35

Fallenangelofthenorth · 10/08/2023 07:20

I've had a massive phobia about cockroaches since I was a child. We stayed in a cockroach infested hotel in London and my mother's reaction instilled a deep rooted fear which was further cemented when I watched a documentary (not about cockroaches) which included a scene where a child had to get a cockroach surgically removed from his ear after it had crawled there whilst he was asleep.

They are my greatest fear by far. I am horrified, but also impressed by @tankcrossing bravery. I can't even imagine how I'd cope with them tip tapping their armoured legs up my arm 🤢

I have to admit, when we first moved to Oz (I’m English) I was horrified by the amount of creepy crawlies. Over the years I’ve learned to only be scared of the things that can kill me otherwise I wasn’t going to survive here.

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