I just got the scare of my life when my wife asked me to take the umbrella out of the bath and I found 3 cockroaches in there!
I have no idea how they got there but I can’t deal with cockroaches so I just closed the bath door and talked with my wife.
Luckily my wife got nerves of steel and read somewhere that they can be killed with water with dish detergent and so she killed them and threw them in a plastic bag.
But now I am in a panic and trying to figure out how to prevent more cockroaches so I can take showers and baths in peace without having to worry about these creepy crawlers showing up when I am most vulnerable.
How do you guys usually deal with cockroaches inside your home?
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Sorry, but we just take them outside to a nearby parking lot and set them loose. Sometimes a kids’ insect net will help in catching them. Dogs and, I presume, cats are happy to eat them, too.
I get the little traps and put them in various corners and under and behind things. Although if it’s just a few they might have randomly come inside, maybe with the umbrella if it was left out a bit for some reason? Whenever I find one or two I put the traps out but then don’t find any more so I figure it was just random ones. Good to be careful though.
You can just squish them with some paper towel.
In terms of preventing them, there are plenty of threads on the subject. Do a google search for “site:reddit.com/r/japanlife cockroaches”.
If they’re in the bath they’re coming up from the drain, probably. Boil a few pots of water and or full kettles and pour them down. A few rounds of baking soda and vinegar wouldn’t hurt either.
In my previous apartment, I saw a cockroach the first night I was there. Gassed the place the next day then used the little black trap things. Never saw another cockroach there (saw plenty outside the apartment block though)
Bought a house a year ago, had the kitchen gutted and I’m pretty sure the builders found cockroaches under the floor board. House is too big to gas, so just used the black traps. Haven’t seen one yet, though we have lots of lizards in the garden so maybe they keep them at bay.
TLDR: use these https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Earth-Chemical-Cockroach-Pesticide-Cracks/dp/B01C42B1F4
Did your wife let you sleep with your favourite blanket that night?
They often lay eggs and breed in drains, pour bleach down your drains every now and then and you should be fine
I’m not sure the point of using an umbrella in the bath….you’re supposed to get wet in the bath. Were the cockroaches big enough to carry it in with them?
I kill them with my bare hands
> How do you guys usually deal with cockroaches inside your home?
I don’t. If I see one, the house belongs to it and I haul ass to Hokkaido.
Honestly though, I’m a serious pacifist. I refuse to kill *most* things. Cockroaches are on my very short “kill on site” list. Mukade too.
You can buy poison at home centers. I forgot what it’s called, but it’s got range and works fast. Failing that, I once used some brake cleaner to good effect. 🤣