Here's the villian:Swine. It was about 12mm long. You may think that's not so bad, but would you want one crawling up your nose, carrying it's egg sack of about 40 babies? Or crawling up your ar-well, I guess you wouldn't.

I came home from the gym and entered my room slowly and quickly turned on the light. Then I saw this baby, moving slowly above my sink, running under the shelf where I keep my plates and also onions and carrots (not any more).
Swiped him with a pan brush and he fell into the washbowl. Then scooped him out in a small glass and took him outside. Dead. Took this pic with my camera. Then went on my computer and searched for an ID for this nasty little critter.
Quickly discovered it was a German cockraoch. Apprently they are the worst and hardest to get rid of.
Bugger.

They reproduce really, really fast and are hard to kill, as they sometimes develop immunities to poisons.

Bugger. Bugger.

Last night, I didn't sleep. Kept a small light on in the kitchen (these babies love moist, humid places like kitchens and bathrooms).
They apparently spend aournd 75% of their time hidden, in cracks or behind cupboards, in electric motors (oh yes, more on that later - creepy mystery that's got me freaked to use my toaster), almost anywhere.
The babies (nymphs) can crawl into a space as thin as a playing card (a single card).
Shit.

Went to the supermarket and checked out my defense options.
Not much. Bought some roach motels (baited traps) and some poisoned bait. Set them up around teh kitchen (where all sightings have been - 3 in 7 years. 2 in the kitchen, near to the sink and one in my entrance way which is part of the kitchen, under the shoes.
AS far as I can recall, all roaches where yellowish - German cockraoch.
So I cand educe they've been herer for at least a few years, so the population may well be an infestation by now.

Bloody buggery hell shit shit bugger bugger.

Here's a photo each of my defenses:

Got me some poisoned bait.
Hope this stuff works.
Actually, the design is not so good.
I think it's a bit too big. I cant get it in the the places I want it.
It's circular, so it doenst fit snugly into corners or against flat edges.
Also, I accidentally dropped one down behind my drawers, under the sink. Maybe that's a good thing...


Got me some roach hotels. Cockroach traps.
The inside is covered with very sticky patches, so the roach can't get out. The bait is something which they can't resist, apparently, some mix of beef and shrimp odors. All i can sy is, these babies do stink. The small black round baits also smell pretty strong. Hope it doesn't bring more into my home. I'll be installing these traps strategically around my home and inspect them regularly, to try to get an idea of how thye ahve spread and what the dsitribution is like.

My final line of defence is perhaps the most sophisticated and definitely the most effective at stopping that one cockroach, dead in it's tracks.
The old fashioned big blunt instrument.
In this case, I grabbed a shoe as an example.
The more adventurous of you may even use your own hands or perhaps your nose to crush the offending insect, though you won't catch me doing that (not even for a hundred dollars).

Now, I'm getting tired. When I come to again, I'll try to tell you the story about what I found under my toaster - and why said toaster is now sealed inside a large transparent plastic bag.