 |
| Eeek! |
I went to bed, turned off the light around 10pm, and after awhile I heard Zura going after something. Jack jumped off the bed and headed into the living room. Uh oh. That's never good. I got up, went into the kitchen, turned on the light, and Zura had opened the trash/pantry closet door and ran off with something in her mouth. I looked inside the pantry and a whole bunch of HUGE cockroaches took off in various directions inside the closet. Slam! I went to help Zura (I didn't want the one she had to escape), but she had hers 1/2 eaten, so I went back to the pantry and cracked the door open. There were roaches everywhere. Roach poop or eggs everywhere. What, did one explode?!
None of that was in there yesterday (at least not on the shelves), and I had taken the trash and recycling out that morning. I started pulling things out, one at a time, and every time I did, the cats and I went after whatever came out or off of it. You name it, and there was a bug on it: a roll of plastic green fencing, Christmas paper, a piece of outdoor-umbrella pipe, a clear tarp, cloth shopping bags, plastic shopping bags, paper shopping bags (a possible source for roach eggs) - everything. Either live roaches or their little black offings were on it all. Ick. Seriously, ick.
The only good news was that there wasn't any food in there other than an unopened bag of pretzels and a closed container of Crystal Light. The three of us were doing pretty well until one critter scurried underneath the couch. I lifted the sofa and Jack disappeared. The couch was heavy, and I couldn't get Jack to come back out. I finally found my inner Hulk and hitched the sofa up on its side so I could pull Jack out (sans roach) and set the couch back down. Both cats stayed on that roach while I tackled the rest of the closet, and although Zura was licking her chops, I'm still not sure she got it.
I shook everything outside (sweating profusely by now), took all the shopping bags & tarp out to the trash/recycling bin (after having to get dressed first since the cans were at the curb for morning pickup), and went into the bathroom to get the little plastic sweeper-bin thing so I could sweep up all the turds. Only to find the sink covered in tiny sugar ants. Covered. (There must have been a bit of toothpaste somewhere.) Aaaaaaaaaagh! I grabbed the bleach bottle and sprayed the crap out of everything, took the bin, and went back to the empty kitchen pantry to deal with the turds and one more roach. It was smaller and faster, so I ended up spraying the crap out of it with bleach. Would that kill it? Who knows, it disappeared into a shelf crack.
When I swept up the kitchen floor (which I had just mopped on Saturday), there were a whole bunch of ants (two different kinds - some small/some large) under the cat-food feeder because apparently Zura had a 1/2 eaten roach under there as well. More bleach. Sweep, sweep.
As if that wasn't enough, when I opened the computer to type an email to Michael to tell him of my horror, a bunch of tiny ants came out of the laptop and ran across the screen. Aaack - THEM!!!!
Twitch, twitch. I ended up developing a freak-out rash on my neck (probably from all that bleach, but it was all I had), and then lay in bed with with my eyes wide open until well past midnight, convinced something would crawl across me (and dreading my ever-precise internal 5am wakeup call if sleep ever came). The cats sleep tucked up against my legs, and every time their fur touched me, I jumped. Not that I wasn't glad to have them there to protect me.
UPDATE Monday morning: I guess the roach under the couch survived. No longer. I'm too scared to open the pantry, and I'm pretty over these things. Please be over...
Among other things, I'm a blogger. My last one was 
Any of you sailors, wanna-be-sailors, or dreamers out there might be interested in
Hi there:Sorry to hear that your house have been invaded. Our last place we rented, there were cracks along the wall and floor which brought in every kind of bug you can think of, but having a dog we did not want anything toxic so decided on a powder by the name "Diatomaceous Earth" found in Health food stores. The powder is not harmful for dogs, cats, or people. We would sprinkle it in the areas the ants, bugs etc would enter, leave it for a day or so then vacuum. We were able to get the population down to nothing. Just an idea.
ReplyDeleteRegards...Paula
Thanks Paula! I just googled it and the local Home Depot is supposed to have it, so I'll moped over to the store tomorrow. The roaches were kind of a fluke (I still think they were in the paper bags), but the tiny ants have been a problem and nothing seems to get rid of them. I normally just suffer, not wanting to put toxics around, but I like this more natural option. You rock!
DeleteWe had a similar nasty surprise with a wall full of huge flying you know whats when renovating a room here in New Orleans. It was so bad we called an exterminator. I was concerned because we have birds as well as dogs so wanted no fumes. They use some kind of powder now that they inject in the walls and man, it works. Not dangerous to anything but cockroach like creatures. Not sure if it is simply Diatomaceous Earth or something else. Whatever it is I am pretty sure he told us you can buy it. You probably want to treat for the roaches - - - if you saw some there are probably more. We never even saw any out of the wall they were happily living in before we tore it down. ICK. Guess none of this was particularly helpful, except for moral support! You are not alone!!
ReplyDeleteWay to stick together, Celeste! Appreciate the morale boost. New Orleans probably has us beat on the bug brigade. We used to use Boric Acid powder in NYC. It worked, but it's pretty toxic. These here weren't the usual little roaches, so I think we avoided a major (and hidden) infestation, but I'm going to get that DE stuff anyway. It's so hot, nothing wants to stay outside!
DeleteAyyyeee Caramba!!! I don't know what it is but bugs just freak me out. Whatever that stuff is that people are recommending ... I'd do it. Those are tropical cockroaches from the look of the size. Apparently they hiss. Honestly, these things are the only reason I would own a firearm.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Dave
I can normally handle these things, but not en masse like that! Later, something was skittering across the ceiling and when I turned on the light, it was sort of a cross between a huge translucent ant and a scorpion. I got it on a broom and took it outside. I've still got the jeebies from the bug overload. Made me glad I had cats to alert & help me. Probably better than a firearm. :-) Certainly more fuzzy.
Delete