The first time I saw a cockroach in our house, I freaked out a little bit a lot. They are the one bug that really gets to me, my nemesis, my kryptonite. It was in our bathroom, the one attached to our bedroom! I called Willy and had him dispose of it, then glared at him and emphatically stated that “THIS WAS NOT PART OF THE DEAL”, even though I had had an inkling. Based on what I read and knew of this climate, I knew that I would likely have a couple in our house. The problem that I was having was that I had forgotten how big they could be in a tropical climate.

So big that that night, I lay in bed worrying that one would attack the littles while they slept. Irrational, yes, but it was THAT big, and it flew! I got through the night, and the next few weeks without seeing anything, and I started to relax. Until I got out of bed in the middle of the night and saw a black blob in the bathroom. Not having my glasses on, I moved in a little closer to see what it was, figuring that one of the lils had thrown a sock in the tub. I got just close enough to see what it was and it scurried. Away from me, thankfully. Given that it was the middle of the night, and I could see that it could not climb out of the tub, I put on my big girl panties and went to the kitchen to get a container to trap it in.

But they fly.

When I returned to the bathroom, it had escaped the tub and was on the ledge, scurrying to the dark of the bedroom. That tupperware flew out of my hands and somehow managed to trap it. Knowing that it was safe for the night, I eventually got back to sleep, and happily let Willy dispose of it in the morning. We’d been in the house for two months at this point, and had had two of these nasty buggers. I hoped it wasn’t the start of a trend.

A few weeks went by, and I started to relax. Then one night I walked in to the bathroom, unsuspecting, and it was. This one was fast, and moved to the door and into the darkness of OUR BEDROOM. Willy was summoned, and tried to catch it, but it hid under the too large to move wardrobe. We went to bed, but I couldn’t stop worrying about it, so Willy offered to get up and flush it out. He was successful and I was able to sleep.

Our last visitor came about six weeks ago, and made a rather startling entrance. We were sitting in the living room and something thudded on the floor near us. It seems this one decided to commit suicide off the second floor and ruin our weekly wine night. At least it was easy to catch, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

Lately the fact that it has been so long since one of these big buggers showed up has been starting to bother me. I think that we are due so I have been doing my best prepare myself. I walk into the bedroom, turn on the light, then go to the bathroom, turn on the light. I lean my head in and peek, venturing in only when the coast is clear. This was working perfectly till the freaking light in the bathroom burnt out this week. The light that is located on the ceiling, at the highest point in the house, in the house with no ladders. It’s likely only twenty feet up, but it seems like eighty.

The back-up light is switched inside the bathroom, BEHIND the door. There is no way to turn it on without going in the room. This has messed me up to the point where I am paralyzed, and stand in the doorway trying to decide how to get in the bathroom without going in the bathroom to turn on the light. There is much hesitation and several aborted attempts before I actually make it in, only to forget why I am actually there in the first place, or to realize that I forgot to turn on the bedroom light first, so anything could be scurrying into the bedroom, now that I have left it as a safe haven. I try not to think about them, but at night, my mind goes into overdrive.

So I am happy to keep all the geckos in the house, as I am told they should help. I just won’t let my rational side see that the geckos are all pretty much smaller than the roaches.