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