Cockroaches have been around since time began.

They can survive atomic explosions.

They can live without a head and only die of starvation.

Good luck getting rid of them.

Lez

Ps I only seen one in Goa but it was a bigggg bugger.

1 ...................................................1 that big

Thanks lez but that was,nt really the answer I was looking for ,
although the starvation theory is interesting because our apartment had been empty a while before it was let to us but they were still surviving I wonder how long it takes to starve them out ?
If we dont bring food into the apartment next season who would last longer us or them ? anita
p.s. the one in our bed was that big

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and im not a fisher / woman

my bet is on them

and still growing this big.

1...........................................................................1

Sorry to disappoint you but cockroaches live on ANYTHING including paint so an empty flat is not a problem to them.
You can buy sprays and sticks in Luma or any other supermarket to get rid of them and there is an insecticide you put in the bucket when you mop the floor but can't remember its name.
Do you know that they fly? Keep nets over all the windows and doors especially when they are open and we roll up a newspaper and stuff it between the door and floor when we are at home.
I hate the things but they live everywhere - not only in dirty places.

Just saw your thread, they are my worst fear, i cannot describe how frightened of them i am, i'm afraid i wouldn't stay anywhere that was old or looked dirty as i would be going around looking for them and giving myself a heart attack. When we booked to go to Goa, that was my first thought, how much bigger they would be in a tropical country, but when we arrived at our apartment it was great becouse........... it had a plain cream floor, which ment that if anything was to run around, i would see it straight away......... then move straight back out. I only saw 1 and that was near the hotel Goan Heritage, i screamed and a man run after it with no shoes on........... and trod on it, did you really see one that big?. I have read that the trains in Goa are running alive with them,read some real horror stories! so you couldn't pay me to go on one of them.

Apart from the disease they carry about roaches are quit harmless, ugly things but harmless

les

hi crystalscan dont worry about going on the trains cockroaches only come out in the dark so do what i do and book your journey during daytime hours anita

nariel you sound as if you have to tolerate them like me , we are coming back at the end of october , our apartment will probably have been empty a while its looking likely we will have to spray on our arrival and possibly continue for a few weeks to kill them is this the best solution anita

Where we stayed first (a house all on it's own we didn't have a problem with Roaches at all.. I have to say I think I prefer them compared to Ants that just seem toget EVERYWHERE! Perhaps if we were unlikely we'd get 1 or 2 in six months. You can get the house sprayed (which we've done at the Mango house) to keep them at bay althouth I don'tthink it repels them, just gets them when they come. For door ways you can get this 'glue stick' type of thing that works well with Ants but's designed for Roaches.. JKust mark accross all the floors under the doors etc. Also try and keep mosi nets up at the windows - this helps keeps most insects at bay!

Cockroaches are part of the scenery here. They love damp. Like to hang out near sinks, washing machines, laundry baskets. Yes they can live on anything, very fond of newspapers and cardboard. The only way to eradicate them is to make little balls of bread or pastry dough and lace it with Boric acid. This makes them sterile. Good Luck.

when we went to goa this year i took my RAID spray, you spray it round the floor/door/walls area and it lasts for up to 6 weeks, it works on all crawling insects so i have a spray round every 6 weeks and it keeps them away, the only downside is that you will find the odd dead creatures lying about after the raid has worked!!

How big is the beastie now Lez

Ive never seen any cockroaches in Goa I dont think, well nothing springs to mind.
I do know that they fly. One flew into our kitchen apartment on holiday in Turkey and they travel at some speed as well!!!
We were on holiday once in Gran Canaria and this girl was telling a story about waking up and her head/hair feeling strange as if something was moving about. There was a cockraoch entangled in some hairspray she had on her hair and it was trying to escape!!! I would myself if that happened to me.
Cockroaches are vile I hate them so much.

I share your dislike of the blighters and haven't seen that many in Goa but the ones I have seen are the Arnie Schwartzenegers of the roach world! You could have put a saddle on 'em and ridden 'em to the door!

I always buy a spray and spray nooks and crannies every day. There's something called Bombay Chalk that you put around the perimeter of the room and if they cross it they die!

You just have to accept that they're virtually everywhere. You're never more that a yard or two away from them, although you may not know it.. Indian people live alongside them and come to no harm. Just tell yourself it's us mardy Westerners that seem to have a problem with them and half the world's population have them and just ignore them.

Still don't like 'em though!

Don't kid yourself they only come out in the dark - an extermination company I got in touch with told me that temperature is the only thing that keeps them underground.
I was going to Mapusa on the bus - full as usual - and put my hand up to hold onto the luggage rack just missing the coachroach that was lurking up there.
Not in Goa but in India I saw the biggest cockroach I have ever seen - I swear is could have pulled Cinderallas' coach and had to get the room boy to move it. As we were on a tour I was very glad to get out of the place (4* hotel) and when I opened my case at the next hotel guess what came out of it - I must not have left him a big enough tip
What about the rats!!!!!!!!

Don't go there!

Only had one cockroach in bathroom in Goa.....one in our room in Thailand (Phi Phi)....and one lived in the sofa of an apartment in Turunc Turkey! I DID have a tiny frog in my room in Palolem last year - I don't like them either!

PLEASE don't let Sanji see this thread!! She has a real horror story of cockroaches!!!!! She sometimes wanders into here from the Costa Forum

Only seen 1 this year in Goa and my what a beauty it was, My Mrs put her hand in the smalls drawer in the wardrobe only to unleash a huge cocroach from amongst the socks , was pretty funny at the time although it was left up to me to catch it and release it into the wild.

I lived in Tenerife for a while and they have the biggest roaches I have ever seen and they fly at certain times of year too I was told by the ex pats never to stand on them as they carry their eggs underneath their canopy and when squashed the eggs are carried into houses and apartments on the soles of shoes etc. thus infesting the place
For the real sadists amongst you, catch a big plump one and place it on its back and it will die under its body weight very slowly

i was in titos night club and i was near the bar waiting for laura to come from the toilets when this indian guy came up and was giveing me loads of verbal, and looked as if he was chatting me up, so i politley declined and he still kept waveing his arms at me by this time he was getting on my nerves and about to tell him where to go when he put his hand on my collar at the back and took the biggest roach on the planet off me it was about to go into my hair i near wet my self with fear as im so scared of them i would have a heart attack if one went near me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now!!!!