Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Cockroach Attack!



How would you react when you see a cockroach? Well, some people will scream out of fear and some can't wait to kill it and make sure it's dead. It actually doesn't really bother me as much as a cat or dog does.

Generally speaking, I am not afraid of cockroach. The closest contact that I have ever had with cockcroach was holding its antenna to see it spin or catching it alive with my bare hand when I was a kid. Didn't really do it often though and of course I washed my hand real clean after that as the cockroach smell really stinks. As I grow older, realising that it's not hygienic, I have stopped having direct contact with cockroach with my hands. Nowadays, I will spray insecticide at it, hit it with an object or layer my hand with material such as paper/cloth/plastic bag/etc if I wanna catch it to get rid of it.

Of late, we have been noticing cockroaches (from small to big size) appearing in both the toilets of our apartment during midnight hours. As our toilets are always kept clean, we have always been wondering where they come from and why only at the toilets.

Last Sunday, BigTV was trying to trace the source of the cockroaches. The ceiling cover of her master bedroom toilet was opened to examine if there were any cockroaches there. To her horror, there were at least 100 to 200 of cockroaches there at the piping area on top of the toilet ceiling! She felt terribly shocked and horrified but still tried to spray insecticide to kill them and clear some of them. She couldn't clear the remaining as some areas were out of her reach. This happened while I was having an afternoon nap.

In the evening, BigTV came back with a strange and troubled look on her face and asked if I have any contact of cleaner and explained her 'discovery' which seriously bothered her. I called a friend who is working with a pest control company but found out unfortunately that they don't provide such service of clearing the dead cockroaches as they only provide treatment services.

BigTV sat there with a long face and her mind trying to figure out a solution to get rid of the remaining of dead cockroaches at the piping area asap, on the night itself! She mumbled and contemplating the idea of buying the cheapest vacum cleaner to clear them off. I suggested to her that I could try to borrow one from my office the following day but she just didn't seem to have the patience to wait till the next day. Her whole mind was occupied by cockroaches, feeling disgusted!

I went for my shower and when I was done, BigTV was nowhere to be seen. After a while, she returned with a vacum cleaner, borrowed from her ex-roommate.

I went in to her room to offer to help her. Sitting on the bed, she was devastasted in tears, feeling pathetic and questioning why she had to live with so many cockroaches in the same room! Initially she said she could do it herself and asked me not to watch her while vacuming as she would cry simultaneously. Knew she would not be able to handle it alone. I tried to pacify her and told her that I could help her to vacum as I am taller and not afraid of cockroach. She asked to be left alone to cry for a while and cool down before starting. Having no choice, I left her alone for some time off to continue sobbing.

I then went back to my room to look for a shower cap to protect my hair (which was just washed) from the dust falling when opening the ceiling cover later. Without leaving her much time to waste on crying, I went into her room again, getting her ass to move to start the vacuming. With a table stacked with a stool on top (as we don't have a ladder), I climbed up the stool, opened the ceiling cover, suffered some dust falling onto my face, snapped some shots of the cockroaches as proof for complaint purpose before doing the dirty job, from the the size of XS to XXL, dead or alive, while BigTV helped to hold and control the power of the vacum cleaner. Done with the vacuming, we sprayed another round of insecticide at the piping area before putting the ceiling cover back.


After we were done with BigTV's toilet, the Cockroach Buster crew headed by me then proceeded to the second toilet which was also under cockroach attack. Damn it! This time around, more dust falling onto my face while opening the ceiling cover! I got to close my eyes in order to avoid any dust from falling into my eyes. There were less cockroaches at the piping area of this second toilet comparatively, estimated at around 50 of them. Majority of them were big big & fat fat and were still crawling actively. Having goose bumps, huh? Haha... We did the same dirty job, vacuming them dead or alive, and sending them to hell! It was darn suffocating when I sprayed the insectiside before putting the ceiling cover back. I was joking with BigTV, 'It seems like I will die faster as a result of suffocation instead of the cockroaches!' Haha :D

Weather was hot, I was sweating like nobody's business after completing this one of its kind Sunday night special enough impromptu plan. Went for another round of shower and washing my hair.

BigTV took care of cleaning the vacum cleaner. Thus, I couldn't answer JK's question on if the cockroaches were ground into pieces in the vacum clearner. I seriously don't know and don't wish to see to know. It would surely be disgusting and nauseating!