Cockroaches and spiders

[Debbie]

Ok, I have spent the last 8 mths in NZ saying to everyone how great it was that there are so few 'critters' here only to see


1 whitetail spider a couple of weeks ago
and this week I saw my first cockroach and yes horror of horrors it was alive and in my house,(well untill it had half a can of raid sprayed on it).

Well, because of the bank hols I havent been able to sort out a sprayer for the house but I'm running out of bleach and I can't sleep because of nightmares that I'll see another one.

I know that a lot of you have had the bug man spray your houses and wanted an Auckland bases recommendation. I know Park city gave me a number in the summer for flies but I've lost it so if you are reading this please PM me. This is urgent as I have to arrange someone tomorrow as I need some sleep.

Ta loads, a very tired and nurotic Debbie

[Tia Maria]

I've PM'd you.

Cheers

Tia

[Sam B]

Ha! 2 days ago I was fumbling around getting dressed with my eyes half shut in the morning on a work day. I reached for my dress hanging over the back of the chair, and as I pulled it over my head, I heard the sound of something largish and scuttly dropping to the floor. My eyes sprung open just in time to see an ENORMOUS cockroach scuttling off under the mirror. Screamed the place down. My 10 year old removed it (with her bare hands - she's a freak). Have been haunted ever since by what would have happened if it HADN"T FALLEN OUT ....

[Lupin]

My kids catch ours and flush them down the loo. They don't bite or do anything other than look offensive, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Yet to see a white tail but my 9 yr old says her and her freinds found one at school and the local kids promptly showed her how to deal with them!

[Debbie]

Thanks Tia,
I called the lady and she asked me if it was an indoor or out door roach
"I didn't stop to look closley at it" I replied.
I am still in shock that I found this thing in my en-suit of all places

I have a concreat floor and non opening windows in there but a very large extractor fan outlet. The bug lady tells me they like it wet and warm!!

Does anyone know if you can get Detox, (smell & taint free disinfectant type thing) in NZ, my house smells like Jenola and pinefresh and Im driving OH mad with my neurosis.

Sam, I admire your and your daughters bravary but ......
Have to say, as an upside, I don't get out of bed in the night to use the bathroom any more.
Debbie (with a new cure for weak bladders )

[Tia Maria]

I think if you have cockroaches in the kitchen then you have to treat them, here is one of many descriptions I found on the internet of how cockroaches can affect you:

Since cockroaches spend a lot of time indoors they can remain active throughout the year. Cockroaches adversely affect human health in several ways: they sometimes bite feebly, especially gnawing the fingernails of sleeping children; they contaminate food, imparting an unpleasant odor and taste; and they may transmit disease organisms on their body parts.

In addition, cockroach excrement and discarded skins (dander) contain a number of allergens to which sensitive people may develop allergies. In fact, exposure to cockroach allergen early in life may actually contribute to the development of asthma in susceptible children. This means that a child with the predisposition for asthma could go for years without onset of asthma (under the right conditions). However, under other conditions such as living in, or going to school in, cockroach-infested buildings, the child may develop asthma. Asthma-related health problems can occur anywhere, but are most severe among children in inner-city areas. Cockroach-infested housing is at least partly to blame. In one study of 476 asthmatic inner-city children, one-half of the children's bedrooms had high levels of cockroach allergen in dust. That study also found that children who were both allergic to cockroach allergen and exposed to high levels of this allergen had 0.37 hospitalizations a year, as compared with 0.11 for other children.

Many human disease-causing organisms have been found on the legs, other body parts, or fecal pellets of cockroaches. Accordingly, most health officials consider cockroaches to be mechanical transmitters of disease agents and like to see them kept out of schools and school cafeterias. Several researchers have obtained data indicating that the insects may be most commonly implicated in the transmission of Salmonella.

(Found on: www.schoolpestfacts.com/goodard_cockroaches.htm )

I haven't had them here but I did when I was living in Florida, the worst thing was coming back late at night, turning on the light and watching them all scurrying for cover. They can have lots of babies so if you see one, chances are there are lots more. We use to have everything in tupperware and cereal bags 'clipped' as they still got in closed boxes.

The worst experience I had was when I was trying to sleep, no PJs, on top of the covers because it was so hot and I looked up to see a giant cockroach on the ceiling before I knew what had happened it got caught on the ceiling fan and landed right on me!

I also saw a dead one outside the scan room of my local hospital, when I went back 3 weeks later it was still there.

Cheers

Tia

[Milliemoo]

Thanks, I didn't really have much of a problem with roaches until I read all that

I find stamping on them more enviromentallly friendly than spraying

Milliemoo

[Lupin]

Feeling much less chilled about roaches since reading that!!!!!!!!!

Our rental was treated a short while before we moved in so we don't see many but I shall now treat them witha little more urgency

[Tia Maria]

Sorry about that!

Cheers

Tia

[Glo & Gil]

Ha! 2 days ago I was fumbling around getting dressed with my eyes half shut in the morning on a work day. I reached for my dress hanging over the back of the chair, and as I pulled it over my head, I heard the sound of something largish and scuttly dropping to the floor. My eyes sprung open just in time to see an ENORMOUS cockroach scuttling off under the mirror. Screamed the place down. My 10 year old removed it (with her bare hands - she's a freak). Have been haunted ever since by what would have happened if it HADN"T FALLEN OUT ....

HI

I am scared to death of c....., even scared to write it through. Here in Mauritius we do have them. I have a Target spray in one and every room so that I am armed in no time. if one is in the bedroom at night I awake on the spot , no kidding.

I think I am having second thought


glo