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AIBU?

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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:
Greenfishy · 10/08/2023 09:09

I lived on Oz and the cockies were the only thing I didn’t love. Fucking horrible things.

I had a cat which ate them though and that helped!!

Humidititties · 10/08/2023 09:11

One fell out of the A/C unit and landed on my DP's chest, I'm just very, very glad I wasn't there at the time. Also Australia

DancingToMyTune · 10/08/2023 09:11

Haha OP, wait till you spot flying cockroaches

BusinessClass · 10/08/2023 09:15

@DancingToMyTune i found out to my horror last month that stag beetles FLY

quite liked them until one got caught in my hair

BusinessClass · 10/08/2023 09:16

And not only fly but fly vertically!!!!!!

KleineDracheKokosnuss · 10/08/2023 09:22

I used to flamethrower them in China (lighter plus deodorant or similar spray). TBF I was more bothered by the mozzies and rats though.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 10/08/2023 09:30

adriftabroad · 10/08/2023 09:04

I agree, it seems so much better this year.
I have the ginormous black ones in Valencia. Huge.

I have recently got a rescue cat, I have a feeling (despite his food being out) they know he is there.

Show quote history

We have a cat too. He is quite good about spotting them before we do and we can spray them. Or sometimes we come down in the morning to one he has killed and dismembered haha.

They're everywhere in Spain, you just see them more in hot places. They're in the UK too, just mostly in sewers etc so you basically never see them.

isthismylifenow · 10/08/2023 09:30

I'm in SA and we get both types too. On the coast we get the big brown/black ones. When I lived at home we lived in a complex and there were 5 houses in a row with a shared roof. We were on one end. The woman right on the other end had a huge problem, so got the fumigators in. Didn't kill the fkrs (they don't die awfully easily) but they all ran the other side, to our house. Any dark place you had to approach quite cautiously. We had one of those plastic cupboards that had a corner at the back so you had to reach it. Pulled out the bowl, along with one cockroach up my sleeve and one just there in my arm. And you could not leave a bag of potatoes around. They loved getting in there.

Would go to a room, turn on the light and the curtains would be moving. And they fly so you're have to cover your head. It was really awful. We got the fumigators in again, off they scattered back to the far end house.

Not only are they fkn ugly, but their legs tickle when they run up your arm.

Not even the geckos challenged them. They were, Nah, will wait for a fly or a mozzie to come along.

I live inland now, and the smaller ones are a bit less dreadful.

Weefreetiffany · 10/08/2023 09:39

I did not know you could get roaches in domestic buildings in the U.K. Mice, sure. Rats? I’ve seen them. Ants, spiders and woodlouse? Absolutely. But not roaches. New fear unlocked.

enchantedsquirrelwood · 10/08/2023 09:42

Weefreetiffany · 10/08/2023 09:39

I did not know you could get roaches in domestic buildings in the U.K. Mice, sure. Rats? I’ve seen them. Ants, spiders and woodlouse? Absolutely. But not roaches. New fear unlocked.

Yes I am a bit regretful that I read this thread.

Although I did know that you get them here - they are often found in restaurants (the less hygienic ones) and my mum said that when she was young she used to tidy everything away because they'd come out at night. Yuck.

Kitkatcatflap · 10/08/2023 09:47

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 in the deep bowels of hell have I just read?

The above is surely a treatment for the worst horror film ever imagined

Epanabanana · 10/08/2023 09:51

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 10/08/2023 08:43

I live in southern Spain and we get the brown ones, about the size of your thumb. We fumigate every year but still see them. Not every day and mostly at night. We went away for a week in July and came back to 4 bodies. This year hasn´t been too bad actually.
I fucking hate them. I know they can´t hurt me and I´m quite good about killing them (always spray then stamp) but ugh, so gross. It´s the noise they make as they scuttle. After a year or so here I was horrified to discover they can fly hahaha!

They sound the same as the ones we have here in Greece, except they now look like the size of small mice. I have yet to see one this summer but that is only due to my obssesion dilligence when it comes to spraying and keeping net screens closed.

I will never get used to the beastly things. The fact that they move so quickly and fly too makes them all the more repulsive.

thenightsky · 10/08/2023 09:51

I don't know whether its just an urban myth, but I read somewhere that they can survive a nuclear attack at ground zero.

When I worked nights in an old psychiatric hospital I was told never to stamp on them as they carry their eggs on their backs, so I'd be carrying the eggs on my shoes and transferring them to my home.

Kissingbabies · 10/08/2023 09:52

I also have a massive fear of them but luckily have only ever come across them abroad. I find reading this thread quite interesting though about the different types.

It's made me realise I am actually OK with the German ones where you can see the legs etc, when I imagine cockraoches I usually imagine the flat ones where you can't see the legs and they look red/orange I think? These are the truly repulsive ones.

Does anyone know which I mean? They were everywhere in Texas and just thinking about them makes me want to cry.

Smudge77 · 10/08/2023 09:53

My Grandfather used to treat some of the top restaurants in London for roaches and rats, he used to tell us they were in the dishes and saucepans and behind ovens being used, He would go in the late evening. I visited a friend in hospital and as we passed the kitchens after, the cockroaches we saw near the large bin were scuttling around outside! Yuk.

Epanabanana · 10/08/2023 09:53

isthismylifenow · 10/08/2023 09:30

I'm in SA and we get both types too. On the coast we get the big brown/black ones. When I lived at home we lived in a complex and there were 5 houses in a row with a shared roof. We were on one end. The woman right on the other end had a huge problem, so got the fumigators in. Didn't kill the fkrs (they don't die awfully easily) but they all ran the other side, to our house. Any dark place you had to approach quite cautiously. We had one of those plastic cupboards that had a corner at the back so you had to reach it. Pulled out the bowl, along with one cockroach up my sleeve and one just there in my arm. And you could not leave a bag of potatoes around. They loved getting in there.

Would go to a room, turn on the light and the curtains would be moving. And they fly so you're have to cover your head. It was really awful. We got the fumigators in again, off they scattered back to the far end house.

Not only are they fkn ugly, but their legs tickle when they run up your arm.

Not even the geckos challenged them. They were, Nah, will wait for a fly or a mozzie to come along.

I live inland now, and the smaller ones are a bit less dreadful.

I wish I could unread this! 😂

And yes, the f*ers do like a basket of potatoes 😫

PollyThePixie · 10/08/2023 09:57

I live in the Middle East and nothing bothers me except snakes. Not that I’ve seen more than a couple in more than 4 decades. At one stage when I lived in the desert I’d sit at night and see an army of camel spiders come over my garden wall and head to my ornamental pond. The buggers were huge but I’m not scared of any spider. Or cockroaches. Nothing really. But snakes. 🙈

Izzy54321 · 10/08/2023 10:21

@3peassuit I too used to live in Hong Kong it was the smell and the noise they made. One of the worst experiences I had was my ExH waking me up one night while slapping my head as there was one in my long hair. The neighbours must of thought he was assaulting me as I was screaming trying to remove it. I never ever slept with the windows open again.

Laiste · 10/08/2023 10:21

See - often these days i fantasise about moving to somewhere hot. (rural rainy England here)

This thread has changed my long term life plan!

As for @PollyThePixie 's camel spiders .......

I read about camel spiders when we went to Egypt and googled them. I recoiled from the screen! Hoped to god i wouldn't see one. Did not thank god.

An army of them in the garden ... ?

i just .... no .... i don't even have words.

KimberleyClark · 10/08/2023 10:26

Visited Australia earlier in the year but thankfully did not see any really alarming creepy crawlies!

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 10/08/2023 10:29

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.

Oh good god lord Jesus Christ Confused

Next time I see a thread asking for a good horror film recommendation I'll send them in this direction instead ... waaaaay more horrible than a movie

tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz · 10/08/2023 10:32

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 🤢

Christ fuck that's one of the most awful things I've read

Yet I keep scrolling on ... wtf is wrong with me,

But aside, I wonder what it is about the horrible things that makes some of us have such a strong reaction I wonder?

isthismylifenow · 10/08/2023 10:35

thenightsky · 10/08/2023 09:51

I don't know whether its just an urban myth, but I read somewhere that they can survive a nuclear attack at ground zero.

When I worked nights in an old psychiatric hospital I was told never to stamp on them as they carry their eggs on their backs, so I'd be carrying the eggs on my shoes and transferring them to my home.

I don't doubt this is true because you can spray the bejeezus out of them with insect spray, and yet they still just keep going.

And we have a wide variety of sprays, for flying, crawling insects etc. We do get a chalk though. I do not know what is in the chalk, but it's apparently illegal, but you can still get it as certain places. You draw inside the cupboard with it and they seem to move along. But then it could also be as if you have gone to this extreme, maybe on of your other pest control measures actually did the trick.

No point standing on them, if you are quick enough to do that. They just keep in going all squashed, literally the walking dead. They are I fear, immortal.

Laiste · 10/08/2023 10:35

Izzy54321 · 10/08/2023 10:21

@3peassuit I too used to live in Hong Kong it was the smell and the noise they made. One of the worst experiences I had was my ExH waking me up one night while slapping my head as there was one in my long hair. The neighbours must of thought he was assaulting me as I was screaming trying to remove it. I never ever slept with the windows open again.

That's it.

Not reading any more.

Scrobbler · 10/08/2023 10:36

I wasn’t too bothered by them until we moved to Texas where they are (a) bloody enormous and (b) can fly. Severely traumatised by opening the loft hatch in the house we moved into and having a load of them shower down on top of me. Shudder.