(no subject)

[flemmings]

In the Onmyouji manga, I believe, Hiromasa thinks to himself, after being introduced to Mitsumushi (mysterious insect), 'Sounds itchy.' This is because her name sounds like mizumushi (water insect), the Japanese version of athlete's foot. Japanese versions of Stuff Here come in two varieties- infinitely more delicate, as with daffodils, maples, and daphne, and indescribably more gross, as with cockroaches and cicadas. (Japanese cockroaches- gokiburi- are two inches long, have wings with which to fly, and are attracted to light. OTOH they're actually kind of pretty in their shellacked-back fashion. Cicadas- semi- are louder there- much much louder: like miniature buzzsaws- and I miss the sound of them. But oh my God yuck are they BIG and UGLY in the flesh.) (Am reminded of the woman who said she'd never seen anything to resemble Japanese insects, even after living in Tanzania for three years.)

And so with mizumushi. I'm convinced I picked up a systemic case of it there because it flares up here periodically when I forget to dry between my toes with a hair-dryer. It laughs at western fungicides and it drives me nuts. I am currently being driven nuts. Just FYI.

(OTOH the labels on the fungicides make me blink. 'Use twice daily. Effective within 4 **weeks**.' Huh? It was three days in my youth. Global warming and fungicide-resistant athlete's foot. The world is entering its latter days.)

Comments

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

(secretly, I've grown kind of fond of the local roaches, which are also two-inch aerobats. I don't want them in the home - those are doomed, doomed! - but I like watching them when I'm outside. They're kind of funny. Hm. What happened to my roach icon?)

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Watched the two-inch roaches for a while in the insectarium the other day. They lick themselves clean just like cats!

kerblonxed

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Cockroaches have tongues?

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Doomed how? Am reminded of the Brit at the only gaijin house I ever lived in saying 'You can hit them with a shoe and all they do is scuttle under the tatami and sneer, 'I'll be back! And next time I'm bringing my friends.'

I used cockroach motels (gokiburi hoi-hoi) and used to peer in at the scene from Dante's Hell of brown gokis wriggling and dying in the sulfurous light.

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

I am a very effective - even tidy! - roach killer. Anything that gets in the house will be disposed of using sekrit roach exorcism rituals. No squished mess or lost limbs! Hire me for your crawly assassination needs today!

Eeep. I can't imagine staying in a place called a cockroach motel...

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Yes but *how*? Short of poison or cockroach motels it's all squish and lost limbs.

(You're joking? Cockroach motels are open-ended cardboard boxes with sticky stuff smeared on the inside. The cockroaches come in for an overnight visit and never leave.)

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

Sekrit formula... ok. ^^ Well, it depends on your squeamishness, I suppose. Use a plastic or paperbag, or a wad of newspaper to grab the thing. Be prepared to feel the disgusting prickly legs even through the layers, and it will struggle, so hang on. Drop in the toilet bowl and splash a little oil in. I'm told soap will work too, but I haven't tried. The roach will kick for a few seconds, then just stop. Roach dies young and leaves a beautiful corpse you can flush.

(eeew? though that does sound like an effective roach trap. Powers that be hereabouts should try that instead of the truly ineffective scorched-with-poison earth policy they try to enforce.)

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

Ah, I'd thought you were referring to what is described in the second last paragraph of this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roach_motel
I'd seen that used before, but not the roach traps.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Be prepared to feel the disgusting prickly legs even through the layers, and it will struggle, so hang on.

In a word: no.

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

I suppose you could try using a net, like the sort they use to catch fish in aquariums. It would give you more range too... *thinks about getting one*

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Just occurred to me- and they're *fast*. I couldn't grab them. It was as much as I could do to get a vacuum cleaner nozzle in their general vicinity.

[xsmoonshine.livejournal.com]

Ooh, vacuum cleaner is cool. I want one too. ^^ If it works, I think that's a great solution to the roach problem.