The right way to tackle cockroaches

JAKARTA (JP): Who said cockroaches are pests? For an unemployed Japanese couple in Osaka it was a meal a day with cockroaches. No, they didn't eat them. They used them as bait to get meals at expensive restaurants. They planted cockroaches in their a la carte dishes and then refused to pay, saying there was a cockroach in their food. This ploy went on for a few months before the police could arrest them. Even their son was a party to it. He complained of a fake stomachache after eating the food.

Unlike mice and mosquitoes, cockroaches don't carry any fatal diseases, but they can spread salmonella bacteria.

There are two types of cockroaches, the large American and the smaller German type. Both multiply very fast. The German version often enters the refrigerator and breed rapidly, the rubber gasket providing the required habitat. I haven't come across these miniature ones in Indonesia.

What live here are the gigantic ones which have perfected their own defense mechanism of flying to escape from rats and other enemies. They can fly two or three meters above the ground. At this rate, they may soon be raised to the status of creatures of flight from their present crawling status. A day will soon some when zoologists will have to think of a new classification for the animal kingdom to include these giant sized cockroaches, putting them on par with pigeons, parrots and parakeets.

How to get rid of these pest? A number of sprays and traps are available on the market. They are expensive and the aerosol sprays are hard on the environment. A safe, inexpensive, environment friendly solution is available. It supposedly works on the pests reproductive systems and controls breeding.

Mix together 1/2 cup boric acid powder, 3/4 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 3 tablespoons margarine. Make marble sized balls and keep in the dark corners of your kitchen cabinets, two on each shelf. One application lasts 6-8 months.

Now, my problem is the friendly cicak geckos. I know, they are quite harmless. I am used to seeing them on the ceilings in the evenings, eating up the insects. But in my house there are a few of them at ground level. The moment they hear the door open they run in all directions. A couple of them regularly occupy the space beneath the sofa. To be very frank, I am dead scared of them. Has anyone come with any remedy?

-- Syamala Monie