Cockroaches! Thank God they've gone!

One thing I can't get used to is cockroaches they just make my hairs stand up on end. In England, cockroaches rarely crossed my mind, to be honest I can't say I ever saw one. I didn't know much about these resilient creatures apart from the typical advice that everyone gives; don't squash them their eggs will go everywhere! I knew they were tough but did you know that a cockroach can live for a week without its head, can run at 3 miles an hour, can hold its breath for 45 minutes under water, live without food for a month and just survive off limited resources like glue? Did you know cockroaches have 18 knees, and that their mouths work sideways? All I can say is that I am so glad the temperatures are dropping and these little buggers are out of sight atleast until next summer! 

Do you ever get used to them? What is the most effective way of treating them?

I don't like cockroaches but some the  things Happyjo mentions are myths

Example:-

If you tread on a roach, except that you might get some eggs on your foot which you could deposit elswhere, that is that,  a dead roach.

 With reference to the eggs, I said "typical advice that everyone gives" not that I say it is true. May well be a myth or an urban legend that "advice" which people generally give but the rest is certainly not a myth. 

Roach traps under the kitchen cupboards works for me...

As I write this I have a baby one which is belly up in my conservatory.  I have three plugins which emit electrical pulses throughout the house and as far as I am concerned... they work. Also use ORO the insecticide in a red can (more expensive than any of the others) but lasts for a year. Spray around door entrances and windows. and under furniture that may not get moved that often  If a Roach walks across where you have sprayed.... BYE BYE .No one can hate the little beasties more than me and even having lived in Spain for 11 years I will never get used to them.

Fact or myth I do not know but  " do not tread on a cockroach apparantly the eggs can survive for up to 20 years. If there were to be a Hollocaust only two things would survive a Roach and a Scorpion."

Really???? Flying cockroaches? Yeeeeeck! That is information that is,..... well its disturbing to say the least.

Here in the US we have the small brown ones that are hard to get rid of if you live in an apt, they come thrugh common building pipes,

all in all an informative thread .Thanks to all

We've got the plug-in electrical things and I don't think I've ever seen a cockroach in the house, or even in friends' houses.  Twice in the last 8 years we've had a mouse in the house and we get a lot of spiders and ants appear when we've occupied for the house for a day or two, each time we go over.  I don't know if the absence of cockroaches is due to the electrical thingies or whether we just don't have so many cockroaches in our area.  I also wonder whether they're more prevalent in flats as I once stayed in a flat in Barcelona where there was a large cockroach in residence, by the name of George.

 Those flying ones are the big sort of yellowy ones yes??   How big are the resident Spanish cockroaches??

This thread is making me itch!!!

Oner of their favourite sources of entry is through the air conditioning.. I always spray the outside units with ORO  also.

We have a detached villa its nothing to do with being in an apartment they can flatten themselves to the thickness of a euro and get under doors thats why its best to spray around any entry into the house. I now only find dead ones if I find any at all. Above all keep surfaces clear of any food crumbs etc.  . And I never use a pedal bin. I definitely believe the electrical THINGIES work myself .

 The typical brown cockroach,  can get to about 5 cm's ! I've seen pretty big ones!

 The GREAT thing about COCKROACHES is they are hopefully enjoying the HOSPITALITY of the late JIMMY SAVILLE

The ceilings in our Spanish house are quite high. One night my wife woke up and noticed a huge cockroach on the ceiling above our bed. She woke me up to dispose of it. However the only way that I could reach it was to stand on the bed and use a long handled broom to knock it down onto the floor. I told my wife to grab a shoe and when I knocked it on to the floor she was to whack it one. I climbed onto the bed with the broom, my wife stood poised with a shoe (one of mine of course) and I knocked it off the ceiling. My wife was only wearing a nightie and it went straight down her cleavage! Even the neighbours at the end of the street could hear the scream!!

 I can visualise the moments ..........................

Briliant Jerry.  I always like to find the positive in things and so I'd say at least it didn't go in her mouth.

Oro is effective but stinks, so cover your mouth when spraying! I also use 'Trampa' the plastic square things you can leave on the kitchen worktop or floors. Now only usually see dead ones when returning to Spain.

Haven't tried the plugs as house empty and electricity off when not there. Might try them when visiting, but do you need one for each room?

Where do they go in the winter, somewhere warmer?

At the moment they haven´t gone anywhere.. much to my disgust and amazement.  Two in two days....yuk time they went and found a hole to crawl into disgusting creatures.

Trouble is with those plastic square things they are bait.. so you encourage them in the  first place which is a bit daft.

But the pluggy in things are best imo

At the moment they haven´t gone anywhere.. much to my disgust and amazement.  Two in two days....yuk time they went and found a hole to crawl into disgusting creatures.

Trouble is with those plastic square things they are bait.. so you encourage them in the  first place which is a bit daft.

But the pluggy in things are best imo

Hope not to encourage them.........think they don't like it and go away from whence they came. Otherwise, wouldn't be paying the 5 euros. Believe me, they work!

 Many years ago I went into a restaurant in the upper east side of New York with several friends for lunch. When my plate of pasta and salad came I noticed a small cockroach on the salad. I was completely relaxed, not even particularly bothered and called the waitress over and politely asked her to get rid of the roach. She sort of shuddered , took the plate, and came back 2 mins later with a fresh meal. End of story as far as I was concerned. Then the manager came over, really aggressive, and asked WTF was going on. I told him nothing was going on, that we'd had a small problem but it had been sorted out. He wouldn't leave it alone, and the meal ended in acrimony and me being really annoyed. He seemed to have a rethink and sent a round of drinks. Then another rethink and sent the waitress over to say there was no charge for the meal. He then ran away and hid.

It would seem that a common trick in New York in those days was to drop a roach onto your food and then call the health department and then sue. So litle hick Guy from Africa was somehow cast as the villain when all he wanted was a plate of fettucine. I have to admit it's rarely I am falsely accused. lol.