Before anyone goes “it’s a tropical country”, I know and I have become more accustomed to seeing roaches than in the past after traveling in Taiwan and Malaysia during these last couple of years. They can do what they want as long as they’re outside. The roaches I’m referring to are not the German cockroaches, but the bigger American cockroaches (and probably another variety or two).
I used to stay up north in Saphan Khwai at The LINE and had a great time there. It was up on the 25th floor and the building was completed in 2019. I saw, on maybe three occasions, a dead roach by one of the elevator doors. I never got any in my place, and assumed it was probably another tenant or a few other tenants that weren’t as diligent with cleaning and taking out the trash. Even on a few occasions when I left trash in the bin overnight, nothing happened.
In May, because of my wife’s work (she is a teacher), we found a duplex unit that if memory serves me correctly, hadn’t been occupied for a while (no idea about exactly how long). It’s in the Sathorn area (Centric Sathorn- St. Louis) and the compound was completed in 2014, so by no means is it an old building. We’re paying 25k (down from 28k), and for the space, we both thought we got a pretty good deal. The first floor of the duplex is at ground level (yes, I know what you’re gonna tell me), which also happens to suit me because I’ve long wanted to start a saltwater tank and I’m not the kind to go for a nano.
My wife initially found single roaches in the morning, but we didn’t think too much of it and thought they were just strays. Bad luck, that’s all. One night, it was super late, and I saw a roach in the first floor bathroom, it got away but once again, I didn’t think too much of it and thought it was a stray.
What really raised alarm bells was two nights ago, when my wife was using the bathroom downstairs as part of her usual routine. This time, we saw not just one, but two big roaches that I immediately could tell were a pair. Seconds later, my instincts were confirmed as they were about to mate (I’ll spare you the details). My wife killed the male, and the female ran away. That was when I really started suspecting that we were dealing with a nest, and not just singles.
Yesterday morning, to test my suspicions, after doing a bit of research online, I made some bait using laundry powder, detergent, and water mixed with some bread crumbs and cookie crumbs. I placed it at the suspected location of the nest (the back of the toilet, and the ground sink), turned off the lights, and closed the bathroom door to see what would happen. About five minutes later, I re-opened the bathroom door and was treated to the absolutely hideous sight of a scout. I believed it to be the female that escaped, but had no idea. I thought once it took the bait and died, it would be the end of our problems. This time, I left the door open. Another two or three minutes, I see one more, then two, then three, then five or six. By then, I was getting really creeped out and felt my stomach tighten. My suspicions were confirmed: There’s a nest.
After informing my wife, I ran to the building management in a panic and asked them to call an exterminator. They told me the exterminators only come once a month, and instead gave me some boric acid. I returned to the downstairs bathroom, poured the bottle of boric acid into several paper bowls, braving my already intense fear (surprisingly none of them came out to greet me), and thought: This is it, we’re going to war. I close the bathroom door, turn off the lights, rinse and repeat, expect armed with something deadlier this time.
Over the course of yesterday morning and afternoon, I never felt more repulsed and utterly disgusted at what I saw. Dozens of roaches, from juveniles to the big bastards, came crawling out. As one wave suffocated to death, the next wave came out of their hiding spots and were crawling all over the floor and the walls, gasping for air. A few made a desperate run, collapsing just outside the bathroom door, leaving me to dispose of their fresh corpses. I was shuddering throughout.
Eventually, I called a pest control service and they sent a guy who arrived just before 2 in the afternoon. One of the women from the building management helped me translate, but there was still somewhat of a language barrier which made me want to tear my hair out especially during that time. He ended up placing a few anti-roach gels and sprayed the first floor with insecticide. When he was spraying the bathroom, big roaches were still crawling out in a desperate attempt to survive.
(Continued)
