Friday, September 13, 2013

Cockroaches in the house...should you worry?

For the past couple of weeks when I would go into the bathroom at night and turn on the light I would see tiny cockroaches scurrying about.  It also happened one morning when the boy was with me and he was very upset when I rinsed the roach down the bathroom sink.

The boy- "MOMMY! We should have taken it outside and let it go!"
Me- "It's okay, cockroaches commonly live in sewers so it's going to be reunited with other cockroaches."
The boy- "Really? They live in sewers?"
Me- "Yes.  When I was in college working on cockroaches I used to trap all my roaches from the sewer.  I would get jars full of them overnight."
The boy- "Oh, okay."

So why am I not panicked that cockroaches are taking over my house?  Well for one, anyone who knows me knows that I have a fondness for cockroaches so I don't panic when I see them.  They rank from being cute to a mild annoyance to me.  Secondly, I've identified them as American cockroach nymphs and I know that they are coming in the house looking for water because it has been so dry outside.  If I really cared about them being in the house, I could go up in the attic and screen off any vent openings where they might be coming into the house, clean out our gutters (which probably would be a good ideas to do for other reasons as well) and stuff the weep holes with copper mesh.  Our screens are already in good shape- hubby fixed that last month and the weather stripping around doors and windows is also good.  I could also have the hubby go up and dust the attic or do a foundation spray around the house, but I'd rather not.

What do you do when you find a cockroach in the bathroom late at night?

6 comments:

Rachel G said...

My old place had the occasional cockroach (Davis is FULL of them!). That wouldn't bother me, other than I've heard that they trigger allergies and transmit disease. I released several of them, but sadly did kill a couple of nymphs.

LindaCTG said...

Thanks for this! I'm with you: what's the deal with our fear of cockroaches? Except I'm going though an invasion and I fear the eggs being laid and having them all over the place. I was about to call a pest control company to find the entrance. I'll try your suggestions but I suspect we have other major gaps. A few waywards looking for water is one thing; someone sharing my toothbrush every day and cutlery drawer is quite another. "Martha" would not approve.

Maggie said...

I generally do the same thing....don't mind them outside, but don't really tolerate them well inside!

Rock rose said...

I don't want to find a cockroach in the bathroom or any room in the house. I remember when we lived in Canada in an apartment they were everywhere. I think they were the German cockroaches and boy could they run. Spiders, scorpions are one thing, cockroaches another.

Sue said...

I hate roaches in my house! In the compost, they are welcome, but in my shower they are not. I have a question-- we have a LOT of those parasitoid Evania wasps in the house. Obviously that means we have roaches. Is it normal to have Evania wasps inside a house? Neat-o but also YUCK.

Wizzie Brown said...

I love the Evaniid wasps! If they are in the house it just means that there are cockroaches around since they parasitize the cockroach egg case, or ootheca. I would work on excluding the house to keep the roaches outside. Once the roaches are gone, the wasps will soon follow as they won't have a host anymore.