Overkill (It With Fire)

[Frezzato]

After doing a quick search it seems that what is referred to as an "American Cockroach" is very similar to what they have in Australia. I'll spare you an image link (no I won't [http://www.pestcontrolmanagement.org/gfx/american-cockroach.jpg]) and I find it hilarious that they're also referred to as 'Bombay Canaries'. Oh right, these things fly, usually right at you if you surprise them at night, and they're suspiciously good at landing in your hair or down the neck area of your shirt. It's uncanny. So the reason I'm writing this is I just found one sitting atop some nice, clean plates within a sealed cupboard with a glass face. I saw it, at eye level, right before opening the door.

I had a dilemma. I could have either whipped open the cabinet door with a can of Raid, screaming "FOR FREEDOM!" at the top of my lungs or just waited it out, leaving it to die. Seriously, I would have left that thing to wither away for weeks, using paper plates all the while. But since I didn't feel like driving to buy plates, I went and got my shop vacuum instead. It's a pretty good piece of hardware, my wet/dry shop vac. It's about ten years old now but its electric motor is rated at 5 horsepower (I don't know how that's possible) and it's got a listed capacity of 12 gallons. I got the washable HEPA filter for it as well. It's so powerful it will suck up all sorts of nonsense like nuts and bolts, glass shards, coins, cat toys; anything that will fit inside the 3-inch nozzle is going on a very fast trip, including roaches. Oddly enough, I use it almost exclusively to suck up insects.

So yeah, I got the roach (using the 5-foot nozzle extensions of course), and I still have to wash a lot of dishes, but I guess at least the cupboard isn't full of insecticide.
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TL;dr Tell me, Escapists, do you use excessively overpowered machines or chemicals for simple tasks?

 

[Thaluikhain]

I have a general theory that if a 3 inch screw (hurr) will do the job, a 6 inch screw will do it better.

Eh, claiming the 3 inches is really 6 inches is popular as well.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

I use a shoe for roaches.

...Projectile shoe.

That's a pretty overpowered machine, right?

Honestly, I can't think of anything I have or use that really applies in this situation.

 

[That1Guy]

I went around killing flies on the ceiling of my living room with a baseball bat once. And I killed a small beetle with one of my sister's stilettos. Just using overly-deadly objects for bugs in general.

 

[Frezzato]

I use a shoe for roaches.

...Projectile shoe.

That's a pretty overpowered machine, right?

Honestly, I can't think of anything I have or use that really applies in this situation.

I like to think that one day someone is going to visit you and see a shoeprint at the highest point of a wall and ask what it's about, and your only reply would be "roaches".

 

[Hazy992]

You know, sometimes I wish I could just move to another country. This is not one of those times, however.

 

[Frezzato]

I went around killing flies on the ceiling of my living room with a baseball bat once. And I killed a small beetle with one of my sister's stilettos. Just using overly-deadly objects for bugs in general.

Ooooh, I get it now. It took me a minute there. Shoes, you're talking about her shoes lol. I just, everything is knives and guns with me. I get it now.

 

[Frezzato]

Do they even sell 12 inch screws? Saying that, I saw a drill bit the other day that just made me say 'wow'. There's no exclamation on purpose. I suppose I mean I thought 'blimey, that's big', but at the same time realised how terribly mundane it was.

Oooh yeah, hammer drill [https://2ecffd01e1ab3e9383f0-07db7b9624bbdf022e3b5395236d5cf8.ssl.cf4.rackcdn.com/Product-800x800/bfe965c8-660a-43ae-ba31-b870da3a96af.jpg] baby. Chews through concrete and loud as hell. But yes, mundane...until you use one.

 

[Mezahmay]

Back in my Boy Scouts days, I used to know a guy at summer camp who would kill moths with a makeshift flamethrower using a lighter and an Axe spray can when they would get in the way of us playing cards. Looking back I'm kind of amazed he never accidentally lit the table, cards, or canopy on fire or made a propane lantern explode or something.

At home I also have a "gardening tool" I use to remove weeks from my driveway called the Weed Dragon. It's also essentially a flamethrower fueled by a grill propane tank. It works pretty well as long as you don't focus the flames too long at one point and start melting the asphalt. I know the question did not request is to specifically use fire to solve our problems, these are just the examples that came to mind.

 

[Timeless Lavender]

Oh my gosh......roach is my arch enemy. But lucky for me (a coward) I have two parents who can save the day. I called them the "Roachbusters" so whenever they finish killed the roach, I killed it again with my shoes or bug spray.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I liked to use my Dyson Vacuum on cockraches. Until the pest control guys came in with this bait that a single nibble on would make a roach drop twitching. Really nasty stuff.

I always like to use foaming hornet poison on hornet's nests, because it prevents the pissed dying hornets from flying when they get caught in it. It also works wonders on black widow spiders.

Although for a silver fish and centipedes I always put on one of my biggest, clunkiest pairs of platform heels and stomp on them hard as possible.

For asphalt ants I generally hose them down with enough bugstop to drown rather than poison them to death.

 

[FalloutJack]

Sometimes, but not only is it the American way, it's also FUN!

 

[ecoho]

at one point I made homemade napalm and demoed a bee hive with it......... well for all those who think that's a good idea please take note that bees can still fly while on fire apparently and they tend to be very upset when on fire so having a bike or car or better yet a nice safe bunker available when you do this should be recommended.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Half a bottle of deodorant spray usually does the trick. Spray it for 10 seconds, come back after 30 mins, spray it again, repeat 4-5 times and ants will be eating that dirty roach in no time.