My Cockroach

I know...I've got to let him go...

I responded to a comment on a post this morning with my friend Heather, and I went down the cockroach rabbit hole…and wrote:

This might sound crazy, but I’ve had a big fat, well-fed cockroach showing up late at night for about a month now.

I get up several times at night to relocate for a minute when the “heat” is on in the bedroom. I usually get up, have a cig, head for the sink, swish and brush my mouth to get some tobacco stains off, run the disposal one last time, make sure there isn’t a stray morsel of wet catfood hanging around....I’m OCD about counters and cleaning up every bit of cat food, but I’ve been seeing this big boy on the kitchen counter on my nightly re-geo-location strolls, and I catch him in the sink and by the toaster, and sometimes crawling out of the disposal. So, insanely, I now make sure I see him out and about before I do one last disposal run, so he doesn’t get shredded.

I’ve not wanted to put out the usual baking soda sugar bait, since he is the only one I’ve seen...I just don’t want to kill him. I’ve always taken them outside if I can catch them, but he is the only one I’ve seen this year and he is fast.

So, late last night I saw him on the counter and talked to him and said, “Hi Bud.” I told him that he’s ok to hang out here, that he could stay awhile and that I was not going to kill him. He didn’t scurry away as usual, and actually stopped and I could swear he was catching the friendly vibe. I told him as long as he doesn’t bring his friends for toaster buffet parties, and stays out of sight in the day, he’s welcome to hang out. And I warned him to steer clear of the cats or he will suffer a fate worse than death.

I told my guy this morning that I bonded with the big cockroach we had been seeing, and even instructed Greg NOT to kill him...he just looked at me like I was nutz. 🤪 The eye-roll and the look on his face was priceless.

I almost mentioned my roach in the bee rescue stack yesterday, Nadia was inspiring, but I didn’t want anyone to tell me about any diseases or bacteria - e coli and salmonella, whatever, although I think that is the last thing we have to worry about these days...

I wonder if I could get a pic of him?

So, I guess I need a name for him? Is this where I use the name Big Ballz?

I have truly lost my mind...but, as you might know, it is not. my. fault...

LYM

💞🪳

My friend Heather weighed in and wrote:

You know I love you, but sorry, I am a big fat NO on cockroaches. That sucker would be flat if I saw him, after I screamed like a banshee. The reason I don’t live in South Texas is exactly that, flying cockroaches, huge mosquitos, and snakes. We don’t have many bugs up here, only snakes, and boots keep me from fearing them. But God bless your sweet animal loving heart. Truly.

Diva responded…

We do have a lot of critters here, that is for sure. Deadly snakes too. It is the wild west, and our subdivision is literally a forest. They left every single tree that they could when building these houses...and we have a lot of untouched forest areas around us...

I’m only a big fat no on mosquitos...I even try to net the gnats, spiders, even flies, and any other insects and take them outside...ok, so I have lost it? But, remember, it is not my fault...

So can I get a witness? Anyone?

Yeah, I thought not…ok, I know, I get it…I have to relocate him…and let him go…

humane catch-and-release for cockroaches…the jar trap…

To catch cockroaches without killing them, use glass jars baited with food scraps and lined with petroleum jelly. Place the jars near cockroach pathways overnight.

https://bugbattler.com/how-to-catch-cockroaches-without-killing-them/

consider this before you try to smash them…

Diva…over and, admittedly, “out” there…