The Cockroach. You hate it. I love it.

Everybody hates cockroaches. 

I love them. When I was doing research in an institute, I wished one day I could conduct some studies on the cockroach. That's because cockroaches are skillful survivors. If you remove the head, the body can still survive for weeks without food and water (obviously, with no mouth!). If its a female, it can still even lay an egg/ootheca. The cockroach has a cute nickname in chinese, 小強, which means 'little mighty'.

Do you know that cockroaches will be the last living creatures on earth? Do you know that cockroaches have a low risk of falling sick or getting cancer? That's because their cells don't multiply like ours do. In Cantonese, we use the cockroach as a symbol of a strong desire to live: 打唔死個蟑螂).

I'm sensitive to the smell, especially the odor that's emitted by them wherever they go. I have to get them out of my house. We all spend a lot of money on cockroach traps, home-use-pesticides and professionals who use even stronger chemicals. Do they work? They used to, but they're becoming less and less effective, as you may have found. Not only do they have a very smart protective epicuticle coat of wax and oils, but they are able to evolve quickly to adapt to whatever chemicals we use on them.

Wait a second... Wax and oils?  

Here, I would like to share with you my highly effective home-made cockroach killer! 

1. What you need are a sprayer and soap detergent. A friend uses Clorox but I chose Ligent dishwashing detergent because it is safer to spray around kitchen.

2. Mix the dishwashing detergent with filtered water in the sprayer in the proportion of 1:10. You can mix it stronger if you like. 

3. Last but very important step, labeling. I named it Sexy Cockroach Killer because of the bottle shape. ;)

There are a few types of cockroach. The common type that I can see in my house is the American cockroach. The adults are strongest. They need more sprays to dissolve their wax and oils.. Some react by cleaning the detergent off their antennae. The younger group will turn over and struggle for few minutes. Sometimes, if we get a female, it will expel the egg/ootheca. Remember to destroy the egg before you vacuum them. 

This is a picture of a cockroach that I have killed with Sexy Cockroach Killer. I don't think it's an American cockroach. Can anyone identify it for me? It was found by my guest from Sweden who stayed in my house, screaming when she saw it in her room. You can see how effective the spray was. Its body just froze and it stopped in its tracks.

I think it is a beautiful type of cockroach which I have never seen in my house before. Maybe it is just a nymph?

Well, I have to apologise if any pictures shared here make you feel uncomfortable. Have fun testing new environmentally friendly Sexy Cockroach Killer! 

P.S.: How does it work? The detergent dissolves the protective waxy layer on the outer skin so the tracheae based breathing system is blocked.

Stay naturally beautiful by staying naturally healthy!

Love,

Lai