Big cockroaches...getting the better of me!

The other day, my spouse was literally leaping rugby style across the room after a cockroach that I have never seen the likes of before. He later told me that he hates catching them - I saw him trying to get it and actually saw the roach run, and seem to make some kind of ski jump into the air off the side of the dustpan and brush my spouse was armed with

We caught it, got it out.

Then I was cooking a couple of days later and I looked around and another one, a different one, skidded across the floor, atenae flailing, and ran up the wall (What I am thinking now was....what makes a roach run that fast, toward the only apparent living thing other than it, in the room....something bigger than it....?)

The scariest thing about that one, was my spouse was asleep and couldn't tackle this one to the ground for me, and I was mid way through cooking something on the stove, so I had to turn my back on it (I swear, it was drilling a hole in my back with its little cockroach eyes) and carry on with dinner to not let it burn, then turn to try to take it out myself...

BUT....it was no longer there...... :eek:*Cue twilight zone music*

I named it Skittle after the sound it made running on the lino, thinking that if I name it, it wouldn't be as frightening. I told my spouse and he told me I should have woken him, later that night, I went to get a drink and THERE was Skittle, sitting on the wall, mocking my frightened English ways. I told my spouse this time but AGAIN....by the time we were in the kitchen, Skittle was nowhere to be found.

For days I would check every inch of the floor before I went into the kitchen, I couldn't sleep for fear Skittle was just laying in wait to run at me.

Gradually, my fear subsided, and I figured that age old 'They're more frightened of you than you of them' thing had come into play and Skittle had ran away into someone elses unit

We ordered a pizza and were just taking it into the kitchen to cut and divide between us when I screeched

"COCKROACH! THERE! BY YOUR FOOT!"

I ran to the doorway, to get out the way, leaving the pizza vulnerable...my spouse had to close the box and put it out of harms way, and whilst he did, the roach bolted onto our DARK BROWN CARPET which is covered in rugs, CDs, DVD's and all manner of hiding places...

We stood in silence....waiting, listening.......

.........

THERE IT IS!

WHERE?

BEHIND YOU!

WHERE BEHIND ME?

UNDER THE TV!!

Eventually, cupped in his hands a massive roach my spouse ran to the door and threw it onto the driveway, where it skuttled into the night.

But all roaches look the same, so I still don't know if it was the SAME one!

We have a clean kitchen, but yet, they were there. What the heck! These things were like the size of one of those mini french rolls!

We are also vegetarian and we don't like to kill anything, so we catch them and release them when we see them around but it is so un-nerving!

Sometimes when I am walking home, we just suddenly stop dead in our tracks, to let a roach pass. It is like they are sharing the pavement with us, like 'right of way' - there should be traffic lights or something.

Does anybody else have those huge roaches finding their way into their home?? Can you keep them out without killing them??

PMSL oh dear would have loved to have been a fly on your wall, although you may have swatted me.:elvis:

The Mortein works well if you use it on the outside of the house. Thankfully we don't get many in Melbourne.

I am not suffering from roaches here in Tasmania but in WA, I have the house sprayed once a year and this has definately done the trick. As Skani has mentioned I too am not partial to to these poisons, but roaches yuck!... regarding moths I do use Lavendar/Bayleaves & cloves (also excellent for silver fish ) and this does the trick, some use zest peel. Best wishes Susie

Hi there!

Where do you those things, in the cupboards? Just by themselves or do you have to do anything with them?

Back in england I had a garden full of lavendar, I have no idea where to get lavendar in Oz

I am not suffering from roaches here in Tasmania but in WA, I have the house sprayed once a year and this has definately done the trick. As Skani has mentioned I too am not partial to to these poisons, but roaches yuck!... regarding moths I do use Lavendar/Bayleaves & cloves (also excellent for silver fish ) and this does the trick, some use zest peel. Best wishes Susie

Where we are in Sydney there does seem to be loads of these horrors.

Our garden at night seems to come alive with them.We have sprayed Mortein all around doors,windows and air vents.

We have to remember to shake the washing before we bring it in because we have had quite a few come in this way.

The whole house gets sprayed with lavender and so far it seems to be holding them at bay.

Hi there!

 

Where do you those things, in the cupboards? Just by themselves or do you have to do anything with them?

 

Back in england I had a garden full of lavendar, I have no idea where to get lavendar in Oz

Coles and Woolworths sell Lavendar oil near the medications and herbal section Lynz, get some cotton balls, immerse in the Lavendar and place on a saucer, and they:jiggy:fly away..... you are in Perth Lynz, many shops sell Lavendar sachets as well..

:hug:Susie

http://www.capelavender.com.au/ This might be a lovely trip out for you and your relations when they arrive in WA, and they have an on line shopping as well Lynz

If you finish your washing with Lavendar conditioner this alleviates a lot of the problem as well

OMG I totally forgot about the washing!

The sly little things!

Where we are in Sydney there does seem to be loads of these horrors.

Our garden at night seems to come alive with them.We have sprayed Mortein all around doors,windows and air vents.

We have to remember to shake the washing before we bring it in because we have had quite a few come in this way.

The whole house gets sprayed with lavender and so far it seems to be holding them at bay.

The best treatment is to buy the smoke bombs at Coles or woolies. I have tropical fish so couldn't let em off in the rooms and I didn't like the idea of fumes near food anyway, so I chucked 'em up into the loft and that did the trick. re-do it every 3 months

kev

Lyn, lavender grows really well here in WA, you should be able to get the plants from any nursery.

I hate roaches too. The good news is, usually you see less of them in winter, as they don't like the cold! But the warmer weather does bring them out.

I remember as a kid on holidays in Exmouth, we were having a BBQ one night, when dozens of the little buggers started flying out of the brick BBQ - they had a nest in there, and didn't like the heat! They were big tropical ones too, about three inches long, and yes, they do fly. Put me right off my steak!

Lyn, lavender grows really well here in WA, you should be able to get the plants from any nursery.

 

I hate roaches too. The good news is, usually you see less of them in winter, as they don't like the cold! But the warmer weather does bring them out.

 

I remember as a kid on holidays in Exmouth, we were having a BBQ one night, when dozens of the little buggers started flying out of the brick BBQ - they had a nest in there, and didn't like the heat! They were big tropical ones too, about three inches long, and yes, they do fly. Put me right off my steak!

Ust the mortein nature guard round the bottom of walls and cracks or get a guy to come and spray costs about 80 bucks but once a year kills all the nasties except from the ninja cat near us:mad:

Omg If there is anything that is going to put me off moving to OZ WA it really is going to be that sort of thing, sorry Lyn i dont have a problem killing bugs spiders etc in england because they are small but to kill a bug spider roach in OZ its like killing a kitten they are so big i would feel like a murderer, Im happy to have read your thread as it has made me more aware of these pesty problems but i do feel sorry for you, eww its making my skin crawl thinking about it, Good luck removing them keep us updated on what you use and what works xx

Charlene

Omg If there is anything that is going to put me off moving to OZ WA it really is going to be that sort of thing, sorry Lyn i dont have a problem killing bugs spiders etc in england because they are small but to kill a bug spider roach in OZ its like killing a kitten they are so big i would feel like a murderer, Im happy to have read your thread as it has made me more aware of these pesty problems but i do feel sorry for you, eww its making my skin crawl thinking about it, Good luck removing them keep us updated on what you use and what works xx

Charlene

The spiders redbacks ,whitetails ,the nasties are small, the friendlies daddy long leg spiders leave alone they eat the nasties , you get the golden orb and garden orb big but harmless , you see garden orbs at nite in their webs , next mornin the webs gone (they eat it ) lol and start again nowt to worry about

I hate cockroaches. I hate them more than deadly spiders and snakes. I can't understand why they run towards you and not away from you. Are they that fearless?

And OMG it takes so long to kill them (if you dare). You have to hit them really hard and even that is not a guarantee that they are dead. You need to wait until you hear the splat eeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

This is the only thing that makes me dread returning. :-(

We have several daddy long legs in our home, one next to the loo, been there ages, I leave him be as he eats all the redbacks and whitetails (hopefully). Huge orb spider on a big web every night in my front garden, decided to jump on my face as I took in the night air the other week..I FREAKED big time. Then yesterday, getting bedding out of my under bed drawer HUGE COCKROACH that ran like the wind..I shut the drawer, ran around screaming and generally freaking out till OH came and liberated it outside. I'm not too bad with most spiders now, I can trap and release them, it's when they take you by surprise.....not nice.

Im totaly freeked out now after reading your post the mere mention of cockroaches give me the willies..

your first few encounters with the big bad bugs here in oz are usially pretty hair raising but you do get desenstized with all things creapy and crawly after a while although apart form the good spiders I bug spray any unwanted geusts and flush them down the lav...

Have to say I dont like the cockies - I had one crawling across my desk at work - everyone was laughing at the scaredy Pom and she ran screaming for the bug spray - it got sprayed and put in the bin - about 15 minutes later a scream came from my bosses office - the cockie was now crawling across her desk - (she thought I`d put it there as a joke!!)I swore blind that it was dead when I put in the bin - but on checking -sure enough it had gone awol! Mind you hey do say if we had a nuke go off the only thing left moving would be a cockroach, so I guess inhaling bug spray won`t bother it too much!

I tend to take empty out my kitchen shelves every few months and spray with surface spray and leave lots of Bay leaves on the shelves (I`ve been told they don`t like em for some reason) seems to work (touch wood) pity it doesn`t sort out the mice that get into my kitchen in winter (hence everything is kept in plastic tubs in my kitchen!)

We have several daddy long legs in our home, one next to the loo, been there ages, I leave him be as he eats all the redbacks and whitetails (hopefully). Huge orb spider on a big web every night in my front garden, decided to jump on my face as I took in the night air the other week..I FREAKED big time. Then yesterday, getting bedding out of my under bed drawer HUGE COCKROACH that ran like the wind..I shut the drawer, ran around screaming and generally freaking out till OH came and liberated it outside. I'm not too bad with most spiders now, I can trap and release them, it's when they take you by surprise.....not nice.

Thats a garden orb ,bet the web has gone in the mornin , they spin the web at dusk then in the early mornin eat it ,talk about eatin yer out of house and home[ATTACH]1698[/ATTACH]

I assume you mean cockies, aka cockroaches, and not cockies aka cockatoos both of which seem to be pretty common here in Oz.

I have made this country sound like it is infested with cockroaches! I am so sorry everyone!!

Have to say I dont like the cockies - I had one crawling across my desk at work - everyone was laughing at the scaredy Pom and she ran screaming for the bug spray - it got sprayed and put in the bin - about 15 minutes later a scream came from my bosses office - the cockie was now crawling across her desk - (she thought I`d put it there as a joke!!)I swore blind that it was dead when I put in the bin - but on checking -sure enough it had gone awol! Mind you hey do say if we had a nuke go off the only thing left moving would be a cockroach, so I guess inhaling bug spray won`t bother it too much!

I tend to take empty out my kitchen shelves every few months and spray with surface spray and leave lots of Bay leaves on the shelves (I`ve been told they don`t like em for some reason) seems to work (touch wood) pity it doesn`t sort out the mice that get into my kitchen in winter (hence everything is kept in plastic tubs in my kitchen!)

Oh no! I am so sorry!

I had never even seen a cockroach before I come to Oz, so perhaps it was hard for me to be objective - I just try and keep out of their way and hopefully they'll keep out of mine!

Im totaly freeked out now after reading your post the mere mention of cockroaches give me the willies..

your first few encounters with the big bad bugs here in oz are usially pretty hair raising but you do get desenstized with all things creapy and crawly after a while although apart form the good spiders I bug spray any unwanted geusts and flush them down the lav...

No no noooo!

Don't be afraid of them, they're just big, but it isn't that common that I see them. They probably do the ecosystem good anyhow.

WA is a great state, I am really sorry if I have genuinely put you off!

Omg If there is anything that is going to put me off moving to OZ WA it really is going to be that sort of thing, sorry Lyn i dont have a problem killing bugs spiders etc in england because they are small but to kill a bug spider roach in OZ its like killing a kitten they are so big i would feel like a murderer, Im happy to have read your thread as it has made me more aware of these pesty problems but i do feel sorry for you, eww its making my skin crawl thinking about it, Good luck removing them keep us updated on what you use and what works xx

Charlene

I hate cockroaches. I hate them more than deadly spiders and snakes. I can't understand why they run towards you and not away from you. Are they that fearless?

 

And OMG it takes so long to kill them (if you dare). You have to hit them really hard and even that is not a guarantee that they are dead. You need to wait until you hear the splat eeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuugh.

 

This is the only thing that makes me dread returning. :-(

EWWW! Gross! :eek:

As I said in my post, I don't kill them for ethical reasons but honestly, the ethics involved aren't the only reason - Why would I want to go CLOSER to one when I can run away??

I think they are pretty fearless, though. I mean wouldn't you be, if you were like an armoured tank that can run at something thousands of times your size and usually make them run for the hills??? :biggrin:

Again, as I have said to a couple of people here, I am truly sorry for freaking you out with my post, Australia is a great country, full of some of the most interesting and beautiful animals on earth, we just have to get past the bugs.

I have a theory that the bugs in Oz are so big because they've been allowed to get that big, by the fact the country is so nice regarding wildlife etc - I know Oz has it's problems like the rest of the world, but it kind of reminds me of 'The Land That Time Forgot' all these animals running around happy as larry...

Please don't feel so scared..

YOU ARE KIDDING ME!

NO WAY!

I knew that SOME breeds fly but my lord.....! What ALL of them fly??

Ours in our kitchen were those red-blackish colour ones, about three/four inches long, you mean they could have FLOWN at me??! I feel lucky now!

And thanks for the info re: lavendar - will get to that as soon as I can. Lucky lavendar is so pretty so I can have it indoors and it looks nice

Lyn, lavender grows really well here in WA, you should be able to get the plants from any nursery.

 

I hate roaches too. The good news is, usually you see less of them in winter, as they don't like the cold! But the warmer weather does bring them out.

 

I remember as a kid on holidays in Exmouth, we were having a BBQ one night, when dozens of the little buggers started flying out of the brick BBQ - they had a nest in there, and didn't like the heat! They were big tropical ones too, about three inches long, and yes, they do fly. Put me right off my steak!

he he he don't worry Lynzlove, I am Australian and I lvoe the country - just have an intense fear/anxiety of these unstoppable insects.

I don't like killing them either. :-(

The rental that we lived in when we first got here had loads of cockroaches. The big ones. I once put my hand into my oven gloves and one ran out *shudder*! I also had one in my car once. I could hear something running about when I stopped in the car park at the shops, but couldn't see anything so forgot about it. When I got back to the car, I was lifting the pushchair in to the boot, and there it was just staring at me from the shelf thing in the back of the car. It was a very uneasy drive home, I can tell you!

I think you just have to accept that in Australia, you'll have to share your living space with some of the wildlife. I have centipedes in the house - everywhere. They don't do any harm. I have small cockroaches too and that presents kitchen hygiene issues but they don't actually do any damage. I think they get in somewhere - I have looked for a nest but I only see one every few days or so. Outside, I have galahs, magpies, cockatoos, rosellas, possums, kangaroos, kookaburras and a host of other native species. That makes up for a few bugs.

BTW - in Cambodia they eat cockroaches and say they are delicious. Not tried them myself but have had grasshoppers and they're nice. Once you've eaten insects you see them in a different light.

Also, ladybirds are beetles and so are cockroaches. Most people happily co-exist with ladybirds and don't mind them walking over their hands - so why should cockroaches be so different?