Anyone else completely and irrationally afraid of roaches?

[dorothy]

I live in an area where you could saddle a roach and ride it in to town. However, you would think that after so many years, I would just deal.

 

I keep an immaculate house - motivated by my roach fear.

I lay pest traps down regularly - motivated by my roach fear.

I jump out of my skin if I see anything brown (like a leaf) - out of roach fear.

I open doors/cupboards ready to do battle - out of raoch fear.

I keep stashes of roach spray in every part of the house - out of roach fear.

 

Reality is, I only see one about 3- 4 times a year, BUT, these things are awful. Huge. Gross. And the fly! AT. YOU. Not away from you. NO. They run or fly AT YOU.

 

 

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Kathleen in VA]

I am. We lived in Hawaii when I was in 7th-9th grade and had to shake the roaches out of my clothes and shoes before wearing them. We lived in a house built in the 1920's that had many places for critters to come in. I still scream and run when I see them - mostly in our garage. In the twenty years I have lived in my present home I think I've only seen a roach twice inside.

 

Gives me shivers just thinkin' about it.

[Mekanamom]

Yes. :ack2:

 

I know what you mean about the flying ones, too. (shudder). Thankfully, we don't have them here. But there is no escaping them when you live in an area where they are just everywhere.

 

:grouphug:

[genie]

Oh, the childhood memories of watching late-night television with all the lights off in the living room but the tv, and then hearing that sound. That horrible sound of nasty brown fluttering wings. And knowing that if I moved, I would be even more likely to be attacked. Ugh!

 

Or the memories of lying in bed and hearing the tickety tickety of tiny little feet across my posters on my wall. Then turning on the light and realizing just how many there were. Then facing the wrath of my dad for waking him in the middle of the night to kill them, because I just can't do that, and because I couldn't sleep knowing they were crawling around. Then the shock in the morning with the realization that flushing them down the toilet is NOT a final solution. It only tires them out, leaving them to take refuge in the little area underneath the toilet seat. ::screams::

 

So yeah, I'm right there with you. And I'm really really really glad I don't live in Florida any more!

[abbeyej]

I'm not as phobic as you are, but I do HATE the wretched things. I saw my first one this year on Saturday. It was IN my flatware drawer. I screamed, killed it, and put the entire contents of the drawer (including the flatware organizer thing) directly into the dishwasher, threw away the shelf-paper lining the drawer... (shudder)

 

Around here, people like to use the euphemism "palmetto bug". Yeah. Right. They're big, hideous, flying roaches!!!"

[genie]

Oh, yeah. One other cockroach memory.

 

You would think that shaking hands with the presidential candidate (at the time) Jimmy Carter would have a strong impact on a girl. So why is that only a faint memory, but I vividly remember the roaches crawling up my pantyhose while standing in the mulch along the edge of the sidewalk he would be walking down?!?! There was nowhere I could go. No chance for escape. I don't think the secret service men would have been very sympathetic had I freaked out and crawled under the rope holding us back.

 

I HATE ROACHES!

[Peek a Boo]

YES.

 

I hate Roaches!!!

 

i had to make a run to San Antonio to get some stuff for dh from fil's house.

i was trying to get out the door but a HUGE roach was on the doorframe, daring me to walk through. :eek:

 

 

 

I stood waaaaaay back and tried throwing stuff at it to make it go away. Then I tripped and fell down as I was fleeing when it started to fly at me. It was horrible. :ack2:

 

My rhino skin just doesn't extend to roaches. I can handle snakes, spiders, bugs, worms, rats, etc..... but those nasty waterbug roaches are the only things that make me scream like a girl.

:scared:

 

i can't squash them cuz the crunch turns my stomach. The best i can do is stand waaaay back w/ a can of Raid, point, close my eyes, and spray....

 

::shiver::

[Ashleen]

Then the shock in the morning with the realization that flushing them down the toilet is NOT a final solution. It only tires them out, leaving them to take refuge in the little area underneath the toilet seat. ::screams::

 

Now I'm traumatized for life. That's it; I'm moving to Antarctica.

 

Strangely, I just blogged about my fear of spiders this morning.

 

Creepy.

[genie]

 

 

i can't squash them cuz the crunch turns my stomach. The best i can do is stand waaaay back w/ a can of Raid, point, close my eyes, and spray....

 

::shiver::

 

I totally shivered up and down and back again when I read the word "crunch". Ugh! Yes. I just can't do it. And the sight of their white guts squished out on wood paneling is a memory I just can't seem to shake, especially when eating cereal... as I was that fateful morning.

 

And for me, forever, the smell of Aqua Net will be equated with the sight of dying roaches, and the slight elation of victory.

[Kris]

I don't see anything irrational here. ;-)

[Remudamom]

I live in an area where you could saddle a roach and ride it in to town.

 

Double Snort! I'll send a saddle right away...........will pony size do?

[Whisperlily]

Oh, this is me. I'm living in constant roach-fear.

 

We moved to TX from a wonderful place where roaches don't exist. I spent my life to this point living blissfully unaware of what living in an area where roaches thrive would do to me.

 

The first year I spent in TX, I sprayed my kitchen floor and countertops nightly with a bleach solution, in fear that if ONE roach ever came into my house, I was going to be overrun. I never did see a roach in that house, but I lived in constant fear. I'd see them around, other places... they were huge.

 

We moved back to wonderful no-roach land for a few years, and now we're back in TX.

 

I imagined every house we looked at had the walls crawling with roaches... even though I never saw one. We moved into this house in December, and I love the house, but I hardly slept the first few nights, thinking there might have been roaches crawling around. I saw dead ones outside after the pest control service came and sprayed the day we moved in.

 

I can't let go of roach fear... anytime there's a bug, I hold my breath and ask... is it a roach?

 

I've heard that you usually don't see them... I've heard if you *do* see one, there are hundreds more hiding in your walls/furniture. I don't even know how to tell for sure that we *don't* have roaches, even though we pay for pest control, and I've never seen one.

 

I did see a big bug crawl under my washing machine (in the garage) a few days ago. The only bug other than an occasional spider that I've seen in my garage. It was slow... but I was far enough away that I couldn't get to it in time to examine it. I live in fear that despite my best efforts at keeping a clean house, they'll somehow get in and take over...

 

*sigh*

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

Oh yeah, the big ones we get here go by the innocuous name of water bugs. They hide out in the mulch and literally try to get in the house when we open the door at night. After a heavy rain we always find a couple in the house.

 

This old house has so many gaps and cracks it's impossible to keep them out. Dh puts down boric acid in our furnace room which we suspect is one entryway. But what has really kept them down: Mockingbirds!

A family of mockingbirds moved into our yard this year and the number of waterbug sitings has decreased dramatically.

[Part-Time Homeschooler]

Around here, people like to use the euphemism "palmetto bug". Yeah. Right. They're big, hideous, flying roaches!!!"

 

LOL! Where I live, people call the giant cockroaches "waterbugs".

[Rich with Kids]

I call them Buicks. They are huge in these parts. Huge. I scream when I throw a big shoe at them. *shudder*

[Pensguys]

[quote name=abbeyej;303612

Around here' date=' people like to use the euphemism "palmetto bug". Yeah. Right. They're big, hideous, flying roaches!!!"

 

Yes, "palmetto bug". Our ex-neighbor works for his dad's pest control service...he says that NOTHING will kill those things! I just get very thankful for winter time when they don't seem to come into my house like during the summer.

 

I'm not quite as bad off as the OP, but I do think every brown thing is one and every funny tickly feeling on my leg is one. Luckily, my cats are really good at pest control.

[H.S. Burrow]

 

 

My rhino skin just doesn't extend to roaches. I can handle snakes, spiders, bugs, worms, rats, etc..... but those nasty waterbug roaches are the only things that make me scream like a girl.

:scared:

 

i can't squash them cuz the crunch turns my stomach. The best i can do is stand waaaay back w/ a can of Raid, point, close my eyes, and spray....

 

::shiver::

 

...except for rats/mice - I don't handle those well either!!

 

I once killed a roach -- by dropping an ottoman on it -- and it left a gooey white mess on the carpet that I couldn't bring myself to touch!!! I did eventually, but I didn't let my dc - who were 1 and 4 at the time - back into that room until I steam cleaned the carpet!!!

 

Good thing to know: Cheap sticky hairspray works if you're out of Raid! It glues their wings together so they can't fly at you!!:lol: Of course, then you must remove the hairspray from whatever you sprayed it at!

 

In TX, how clean you keep your house doesn't really matter to roaches! We keep a clean house, spray inside and outside and STILL see them!!! I have noticed -- having lived in TX all my life -- that WEATHER seems to make the little buggers come inside:eek: if it's TOO WET - they come in; if it's TOO DRY - they come in;

 

They also like certain plants -- palms & bamboo mostly; and they really love MULCH!!

 

I HATE ROACHES!!!!!!!!!

[Mekanamom]

I totally shivered up and down and back again when I read the word "crunch".

 

Yeah. Almost as bad is the sound of a live one scuttling around in a stainless steel sink. Aaaaghh. And following that the sound of one caught in the sink grinder after a desperate battle to stuff it down there.

 

That is one impression that will never, ever leave me. I bleached that sink out like you would not believe after that- and it could not erase the memory. Still vivid even though it's been 15 years since that awful incident.

 

Very unfortunately for me, my children know about this aversion and think it's great fun to gross mom out! Somehow they always manage to bring up something about cockroaches a couple times a week while we're eating. :ack2: Even the word makes me feel... very bad.

[summer]

I am afraid of them..but I do not think this is irrational. Those things can fly!!!!

[genie]

And following that the sound of one caught in the sink grinder after a desperate battle to stuff it down there.

 

Okay, that just made me throw up a little in my mouth.

 

 

Still vivid even though it's been 15 years since that awful incident.

 

 

Oh yeah. I can still recall like it was just yesterday the horrible smell of baking cockroach when I discovered (a little too late) that one had crawled inside the diffuser on my hair dryer.

[Tammyla]

:grouphug: I used to stomp into a room in Japan. Those horrible, horrible creatures.! Oh, and your list sounds peferctly reasonable to me.

 

Here, mice in the garages gag me or my big freak out...frogs. Go figure.:grouphug:

I live in an area where you could saddle a roach and ride it in to town. However, you would think that after so many years, I would just deal.

 

I keep an immaculate house - motivated by my roach fear.

I lay pest traps down regularly - motivated by my roach fear.

I jump out of my skin if I see anything brown (like a leaf) - out of roach fear.

I open doors/cupboards ready to do battle - out of raoch fear.

I keep stashes of roach spray in every part of the house - out of roach fear.

 

Reality is, I only see one about 3- 4 times a year, BUT, these things are awful. Huge. Gross. And the fly! AT. YOU. Not away from you. NO. They run or fly AT YOU.

 

 

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[Mekanamom]

Oh yeah. I can still recall like it was just yesterday the horrible smell of baking cockroach when I discovered (a little too late) that one had crawled inside the diffuser on my hair dryer.

 

Ah... feelin' a bit woozy. Bleh, bleh bleh!!!

 

And hearing the ticky ticky of horrible roach feet at night!! On your posters!! Does anyone else have a sudden urge to go take a shower and wash your hands a trillion times after reading this thread??

[genie]

Ah... feelin' a bit woozy. Bleh, bleh bleh!!!

 

And hearing the ticky ticky of horrible roach feet at night!! On your posters!! Does anyone else have a sudden urge to go take a shower and wash your hands a trillion times after reading this thread??

 

Ack. The memories are all flooding back. I just. could. not. wash my hands enough after I awoke one night realizing I was rubbing something in my sleep. It was a roach that was stuck between my fitted sheet and the mattress pad. I somehow squished it in my sleep. Probably the only roach I ever killed myself without the use of Aqua Net. I am more-than-slightly nauseated now.

 

And yes, no amount of shampooing will erase the smell of burnt cockroach in your hair. Once you have smelled that, you can never un-smell it.

[Remudamom]

Girls, girls, break it up. I'm about to be sick here.

[Jeannie in NJ]

I went to college in Texas and once while taking a shower, there was a huge waterbug in the shower with me. Luckily, I had the semi presence of mind to grab a towel before I ran screaming down the hall.

 

I know live in Nj and have never seem a roach here, just millipedes, silver fish and MICE (I do now have 7 cats so they seem to take care of the pests).

[genie]

Girls, girls, break it up. I'm about to be sick here.

 

I had to step away from my computer for a few minutes. Between the rush of memories, sights, smells, and sounds and then the new images from other people, I was seriously getting weak. I had to turn on the air and lie on the couch for a respite. But here I am again. Glutton for punishment I am.

[Mekanamom]

I had to step away from my computer for a few minutes. Between the rush of memories, sights, smells, and sounds and then the new images from other people, I was seriously getting weak. I had to turn on the air and lie on the couch for a respite. But here I am again. Glutton for punishment I am.

 

LOL... I had to go outside for air. Watered my garden. Breathe in breathe out. Eyed the mulch suspiciously, even though I've never seen one here. I'm on my way out to do some round penning with the horses before it gets too hot. But first I stopped in and checked on this thread.

 

Serious gluttens for punishment we are. This thread is the stuff of nightmares!

[AndyJoy]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOO with you. I can handle spiders, beetles, bees, etc., but roaches freak me out! I usually make my husband kill them--I think I have only killed 3--because I can't even stand to get near enough to them to do that! For the first few months after we moved here, I refused to call them roaches and called them "crickets" instead, to try to alleviate my freaked out feelings--it doesn't work. Unfortunately, a few months ago I picked up a live one thinking it was a piece of trash! I'm still not over it. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one like this!

[mom42terrificgirls]

Yes, I am completely petrified of tree roaches. When I was about 8 yrs old. I was sitting in a fig tree cutting designs in leaves. My scissors fell below into a compost pile. I just down into the compost pile to get my scissors. Hundreds and hundreds of tree roaches came out of the pile all over my body. All I could think of was the fire safety mantra "Stop, drop and roll." When I rolled on the ground, some of them crunched. I have been petrified ever since.

[GraceinMD]

Honestly, I think it's my only phobia. I could barely read this thread, and ds is under strict orders to never say ... the "r word." Ugh ugh ugh.

 

I read most of the thread with one hand over my mouth and eyes. Ugh.

 

Now, I could tell you the grossest ..._r_... story you've ever heard (although several of the ones I just read were RIGHT UP THERE), but ... it's just too gross. My poor mother. You could beg, but you'd probably regret it.

 

~shudder~

[Brenda in FL]

ick -I can;t read this thread anymore - let's just say that I scream at the top of my lungs when I see one - and then when I get control of myself I do what I can to get dh to kill it - who hates then and that "crunch" sound as much as I do! And I thought I was marrying prince charming who would protect me from all these evils - what a shock of reality the first time I encountered a roach in married life!!

 

And I thought I was leaving roaches behind when we move from Florida - I guess not now!! From now until I move and for weeks after I am going to be wondering from where in our new home the roaches are going to come out and get me!!!

[KAR120C]

They're the most revolting things ever, and I don't care that they probably serve some important role in the food chain or something, I just want them all dead! (And gone -- I don't even like them dead...)

 

Caulk, on the other hand... I'm a huge fan of caulk. Also expanding foam insulation. And weatherstripping. And it's a darn good thing they work well because if we did have an issue with such insects actually getting in the house more than the once or twice a year that they currently do, I swear I'd have a nervous breakdown and move to Saskatchewan where I have on good authority that no such things exist and the streets are paved with gold. And I don't want to hear otherwise. Got it? My remaining shreds of sanity depend entirely on having this backup plan.

 

:D

[Peek a Boo]

the best thing that keeps them at bay is those combat large roach gold bait traps. DH is leery of poisons in the house, so he won't let me spray anything. usually. but he's my roch killer- he can smack those things w/ his bare hand and toss them [and he'll clean it up too. He kills roaches, i do diapers. Sounds great to me!

 

 

Roaches are the only things that I did NOT miss when i was exiled to the frozen tundra of Upstate NY. I never ONCE saw a roach-- even in my friend's nasty dirty house.

 

Another friend of mine was visiting TX and was horrified by the roaches. hey-- EVrything's bigger in TX!! She watched one crawl into the microwave, and she SHUT it real quick and hit the minute-high power button. The nasty thing crawled. back. out. after that.

 

ugh. ugh ugh ugh...!!!!!

[sassenach]

For a moment, I'm not missing Florida. Thank you, I needed that.

[genie]

but he's my roch killer- he can smack those things w/ his bare hand and toss them [and he'll clean it up too.

 

Another friend of mine was visiting TX and was horrified by the roaches. hey-- EVrything's bigger in TX!! She watched one crawl into the microwave, and she SHUT it real quick and hit the minute-high power button. The nasty thing crawled. back. out. after that.

 

ugh. ugh ugh ugh...!!!!!

 

Okay, this post is just wrong on so many levels! Killing a roach with his hand? And you let him touch you with that hand??? Eeeewwwww!

 

And the microwave... it went to the garbage pile after that, right? Please tell me I'm right. Please convince me that no one ever ate anything that was pelted by the radiation of that microwave that inevitably had roach nastiness all over it. I don't care if the roach lived to crawl another day, that microwave needed to die.

[Aubrey]

I live in an area where you could saddle a roach and ride it in to town. However, you would think that after so many years, I would just deal.

 

I keep an immaculate house - motivated by my roach fear.

I lay pest traps down regularly - motivated by my roach fear.

I jump out of my skin if I see anything brown (like a leaf) - out of roach fear.

I open doors/cupboards ready to do battle - out of raoch fear.

I keep stashes of roach spray in every part of the house - out of roach fear.

 

Reality is, I only see one about 3- 4 times a year, BUT, these things are awful. Huge. Gross. And the fly! AT. YOU. Not away from you. NO. They run or fly AT YOU.

 

 

AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!

 

Yes. I know exactly what you mean. I grew up very poor & close to the water. When my bro said he was afraid of the monsters at night, & my parents finally sat in his room w/ him, there were monsters. The kitchen was worse.

 

However, I refuse to admit my fear. Because if I did, some freak pseudo-psychiatrist might try to call it a phobia. And you know what they do to you if you have a phobia, don't you?

 

 

 

 

 

They make you FACE. YOUR. FEAR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And we're not going there. :blink: :eek:

[Aubrey]

She watched one crawl into the microwave, and she SHUT it real quick and hit the minute-high power button. The nasty thing crawled. back. out. after that.

 

So bil was laughing at me one day while I was standing on the highest piece of furniture I could find, screaming, as dh caught, killed, & disposed of said atrocity.

 

"What did y'all do?" bil asked, referring to the fact that I grew up in an all-female household.

 

I informed him that we did what civilized people do. We poisoned them & vac'd them up. Touching, crunching, etc. are. not. required.

 

But, like you, we experienced the crawling-back-out phenomenon. So if the vac is sitting out & it happens to be stuffed w/ papertowels, do. not. touch. it. Savvy?

[rockermom]

Does anyone else have a sudden urge to go take a shower and wash your hands a trillion times after reading this thread??

 

Yes!!!

[Rosie_0801]

But when you are going about your business and a roach jumps out of your washing basket, you get upset. When you pick up your book to continue reading and a roach jumps out, well that's enough to freak anyone out! Some things are sacred and that pushed far past my limits!

:)

Rosie

[Peek a Boo]

Okay, this post is just wrong on so many levels! Killing a roach with his hand? And you let him touch you with that hand??? Eeeewwwww!

 

And the microwave... it went to the garbage pile after that, right? Please tell me I'm right. Please convince me that no one ever ate anything that was pelted by the radiation of that microwave that inevitably had roach nastiness all over it. I don't care if the roach lived to crawl another day, that microwave needed to die.

 

 

well, i make him boil his hand in water and bleach it real good ;) But my propensity for uh, chaTTing overrides my fear of the possibility of minute particles of roach residue :snicker:

 

and i don't know about the microwave --thankfully it wasn't mine. I'd probably make dh disinfect it though, lol.

[Kris]

Around here, people like to use the euphemism "palmetto bug". Yeah. Right. They're big, hideous, flying roaches!!!"

 

Our summer is a constant wave of bugs -- as soon as one kind dies out, another takes it's place. Right now, we are enjoying the "Palmetto Bug" invasion and it is just disgusting. You can't open the door at night to let the dogs out without several of those nasty things dive-bombing into the house. UGH!! I thought roaches like the dark! What are they doing swarming my porch light?!

 

I don't know why they think their lives would be so much better in my house -- unless they just have some kind of death wish.