You know what it’s like – you’re doing something in your kitchen and suddenly out of the corner of your eye you catch a movement.
Suddenly, you are startled by a big black, horrible cockroach scuttling across your floor. You are suddenly repulsed by images of cockroach-infested rubbish bins and are appalled at the audacity of this filthy creature to venture into your clean and pristine kitchen.
You feel soiled and violated by this vile intruder and your thoughts turn to how to snuff out its very existence.
We’ll look at that later, but for now, let’s describe the type of cockroaches you may come up against.
First and foremost, let’s explode the myth that cockroaches are clean. I don’t know where this idea came from, but how could anything be clean who spends most of its time foraging in rotting rubbish?
I think this idea came from the observation that cockroaches have shiny black exoskeletons. That is, they are a bit like your car after you have cleaned and polished it.
Well, they may not be dusty like your car, but they are germ and bacteria ridden, and snuffing them from existence is a worthwhile pursuit in terms of the health of you and yours.
There are three types of cockroaches in Australia.
Let’s start with the Australian ones first. These are called “smoky browns” and are large and brown with a light coloured stripe around their neck.
Next are the Americans. they are also large like the smoky browns, but are jet black all over. And these are the ones that can fly!
Last but by no means least are the Germans. These are the little brown ones.
The worst ones to have in your house are the Germans, simply because of their breeding habits. Whereas the other two breed outside the house and come in, the Germans breed inside, and at a prodigious rate.
And they breed in places you would never ever think of. I once had an infestation in my unit and I just couldn’t work out where they were coming from. I had to call an exterminator, who found them – in the phone – the cordless phone base! Unbelievable!
Tomorrow we’ll look at their habits and hang-outs, and their likes and dislikes.
And after that, we’ll look at how to get them out of your home.
I’ll do this on air tomorrow
I recently used a surface spray designed for cockroaches when i came back from New York. I was convinced I had bed bugs, however after I called a Pest technician he said I did not. It is now one month since I sprayed around my bed frame , under my mattress and on skirting boards with the surface spray. I was advised by the pest technician and by toxicologists at the Health department that the residues from this spray and the manner in which I had sprayed would cause me no harm in the long term. They even suggested that if I was unable to be reassured , then I should seek professional counselling, which made me feel like I was overreacting. I have slept in the room a couple of nights, but I still find I get a dry stinging sensation in the nasal passages. I hate to admit it but I still feel a little concerned about these chemicals and my reaction to them. At the risk of coming across as a crazy person, In your opinion do you think they are doing my health any damage? Also how long before these synthetic pyrethroids will have broken down to the point that they have “left” my room, given that they have a 6 month residual effect on bugs?