Warning: This post is not for peaceful animal loving folks. So stop here.
My kids are lucky. They have the luxury of water heaters and airconditioned rooms for their comfort. Not I. Not when I was a kid anyway. I didn’t have aircond until I started to work in my 20s. And I certainly did not have water heaters to bathe.
When I was young, we were living in a single storey terrace house. The bathroom had cement flooring, a big hexagon shaped water container at one end (the container was made of cement on the inside but at least it had little square white tiles on the outside). There was a little hole on the floor at another end of the bathroom for the water to run down the pipes. It didn’t even have a cover. It was cold and damp. We bathed by using a small water scoop to scoop up the water from the big hexagon container and pouring it over ourselves.
If any of us were sick or it was a really cold, rainy day, sometimes we would boil some water in a kettle, pour that into plastic pails and mix that with cold water to get some warm bathing water. That was our luxury.
Now onto my cochroach story. Sometimes halfway through a bath, a coachroach or more may crawl out of the little hole on the floor. *Screams* What to do next? There’s no insect spray. The cochroaches were usually big and could fly. *Screams*
We discovered that the best way to kill a cochroach is to quickly mix soap water into our little water scoop and pour it over the cochroach. I remember frantically mixing my bath soap with water to form soap water and pouring it over the cochroach. It worked most of the time (if you manage to pour it over the cochroach that is) and the cochroach would die immediately, body overturned and legs spread wide. Then I would quickly pour fresh water to get it down the little hole on the floor. I must say it works better than an insect spray. Sometimes when you spray the insecticide it won’t kill the cochcroach immediately. Instead it would start running around or flying around like mad. Eeeeeyeeea!
What brought on this post? Why, I saw a cochroach in the bathroom thats why. A tiny one and it suddenly reminded me of the past. Have I spoilt anyone’s breakfast yet? Hehe.
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Good tip! Definitely more environmentally-friendly than spraying bug spray. I shall try that out the next time I see a cockroach.
It works on all other insects as well, spider, mosquitoes etc. In fact if you have trouble hitting a mosquito with your bare hands, just rub a little soap and water on your hands and it’ll be much easier to catch. You won’t miss.
You still cockcroach! Come disrupt my beautiful bath! You die ugly ugly! Soap powder. Not enough. Bleach you!!! Die now!!!
Hahaha. I’m afraid I didn’t say all that. I was too busy screaming and climbing onto the top of the tub to avoid them but sometimes they fly! EEEK!
Hahaha…in my excitement I mis-spelled stupid. See how cockrcroaches irritate me?
Lol! I can see how much you hate cochroaches!
I normally tip them over, grab them, put them in a bag and throw them away. they can’t do much upside down. 😉
You grab them???!! You are so brave! Haha. I won’t go near the pesky things even if they’re dead. I’m extremely squemish.
hahaha… funny post. This reminds me of the bathroom back in my hometown too. i would pour lathered up shampoo too sometimes.
I still have a bathroom like that too back in the hometown. Wah, Itelu, after the luxury of hot water from the shower, pouring cold water over oneself is really cooooold! *teeth chattering*
Haha, really good tip for me too.. Normally i wont scream when saw them. I will use newpapers to hit them and kill them..haha..
Hitting with newspaper puts me at too close proximity to the cochroach. I dare not. I prefer to pour from a distance. Haha. If its somewhere where I can’t pour, then have to resort to insect spray. Spray then run away screaming. Lol!
My dad’s house bathroom is actually the same type you described.
I would crush the cockroach with my slipper. I know, it’s quite cruel. But these days I hardly see any in my in-laws house. On the hand, occasionally I get centipede. And they get crushed too.
Will try the tips the next time I see a cockroach.
Ooh. I dare not step with slipper. Haha. And yes, we had centipedes too, big huge ones.
You mean any bath soap will do? but by the time u prepare the bath soap, the coackcroach fly somewhere else edi.. at least bathroom doesnt smell of the insect spray and not gd for kids. will try ur tip next time but prefer not to, dont want any in my hse..
Oh yes, any bath soap or soapy water will do. Best thing is to keep the bathroom clean and dry so they won’t come. 😉
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Not cruel lah. I am all for killing pests! 🙂
Wah, I haven’t seen a cockroach for a long time liow!
I frame one up and send to you, you want anot? Hahaha!
*enlightenment* I didn’t know soap water can be used! Most of the time I’ll get Jon to grab all the bugs, be it spider, roaches, etc.
At least you can grab Jon. Mr MG is as squeamish as me so we will both scream, grab onto each other or rather try to hide behind each other and run and the kids will look at us in puzzlement wondering why we are behaving so strangely. Haha!
i think this could help as i always meet with cockroaches in my bathroom….scary yer…
Remember to prepare soap water in advance then, otherwise you won’t have time to splash them before they creep up your leg. Lol!
i’ll normally leave them alone…hehe….unless i see a lizard!
I would leave a lizard alone, hehe, but they’re so annoyingly noisy. My dad used to pour hot boiling water over the lizard. Ewwee.
For an effective spray, try Shieldtox Cockroach Kill — much more powerful than the regular bug sprays, and with residual effect as well. Takes only one spray (usually) to bring down the cockroach!
Ooh such a strong spray. Will it kill people as well? Hehe.