CRANKY’s THEORY ON
COCKROACH EXTERMINATION
Cockroaches
are creepy, dirty, disgusting insects.
Hardly an apartment in the NYC area does not have some infestation of
these hardy creatures. They eat anything,
food, soap and even glue in cardboard. Spraying
and traps can keep their population down, but they are almost impossible to
eradicate.
Cockroaches
are primarily an urban problem. I have
almost never seen them in suburbia. I
think I know why.
Many years
ago, my ex#2 moved into my New Jersey house from Brooklyn, N.Y. Her Brooklyn apartment had a mild roach
problem. Mild in New York meant you
might see eight or ten a day. For every roach you see there are probably two hundred you don't see. Within
days of this move we started seeing roaches in my house. They clearly had been transported from
Brooklyn inside the boxes of stuff we moved from her apartment.
“SHIT!” I
thought. Now I am going to have a major
problem of infestation. We saw roaches
for maybe three days, and then there were none.
How was it that you could never eradicate these things in the city, and
yet in three or four days of their arrival to the New Jersey suburbs they had
disappeared?
What we do
have in the suburbs are crickets. My
basement was somewhat damp and in the summer the chirp, chirp of crickets from
downstairs was common. Crickets eat
other insects. They stun them with their
chirp and feast on them.
I believe
the disappearance of the Brooklyn roaches was thanks to the crickets which
lived in my basement.
If you want
to eradicate roaches from urban areas, I recommend crickets. Drop a few of these buggers in your apartment
and if they don’t eat the roaches, their presence and their chirping will scare
the roaches off.
Of course
now you are left with the crickets.
Crickets die off in the cold, and they stay out of your food. They are comparatively clean and except for
the chirping you hardly even know they exist.
Once you are rid of the roaches, the crickets are easy to catch and or
kill as their chirping gives away their location and they are not as evasive as
roaches.
That is it,
my completely unscientific suggestion for ridding your home of roaches.
Crickets.
Sure they
are still bugs, but have you ever seen a cartoon character called Jiminy
Cockroach?
Good plan Cranky.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that cockroaches were the only living thing that could withstand a nuclear bomb and come out unscathed....perhaps it should be crickets!
Lou :-)
Absolutely. Given the choice I'll take crickets every time. I didn't know the two were mortal enemies. :)
ReplyDeleteS
And don't forget that crickets are ancient Chinese symbols for good luck. Can't have too much good luck.
ReplyDeleteI suppose you could use horseshoes instead of crickets for good luck in your home--as long as the horse isn't wearing them at the time!
ReplyDeleteNice, I'd rather have a cricket in the house than a cockroach any day.
ReplyDeleteYou are right there are no cute cartoon cockroaches.
Boric acid sprinkled at the back of the cupboard under the sink and in the bathroom cabinet takes care of any and all cockies. I've lived in my house for ten years now and in that time have seen three cockies and they were dead. All my neighbors who don't use boric acid powder have cockroaches to the max!
ReplyDeleteExcellent plan! We've had ant infestations before but never any other insect (touch wood). I think I'd take crickets over cockroaches though.
ReplyDeleteI got the goose bumps with you just describing cockroaches we don't have this problem in California we have earthquakes, coyotes and the Kardashians instead.....
ReplyDeleteOh that this were true! I think it is just a matter of population size. When you have millions just outside your NYC apartment, you are fighting a losing battle. When you have hundreds or thousands at home in the suburbs, it is an easier battle.
ReplyDeleteThat explains a LOT. Or maybe roaches just can't stand living in the 'burbs. Too much fresh air.
ReplyDeleteNow I can tolerate a bunch of crickets but when you have just one it can drive you crazy! I swear the darn things are ventriloquists!
ReplyDeleteMaybe cockroaches just prefer living in the city? Maybe they got out of the boxes,looked around and said "Damn it, Marge, we're in the 'burbs! Lets get back to town!"
ReplyDeleteI think your theory is 100% true. I personally like crickets and don't mind if one or two are in the house. They are "clean" bugs in my book, and I like the sound they make. Roaches are just NASTY and there's no cuteness to them at all. Nothing. Just nasty bugs, those roaches. Blahh!
ReplyDeleteI have NO idea who brought the roaches from New York to Autralia.But whoever did, should be arrested on the spot.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, I do not have these critters in my apartment, my cat would never allow it!!!!
I didn't know that about crickets. I will have to remember to invite one in should I see anymore of those nasty roaches scampering about!
ReplyDelete