Cucas.
 

We've had two cucas this year, which is about normal considering our defences. Tonight, I've just killed four, four females, in a way I feel quite sad about it.

It's hot and humid, perfect cuca weather. I hate them, they put me off my food. I once, years ago , found one in my kettle, having boiled it a coujple of times to make coffee.

I've just had a good spray-up.

Re: Cucas.
 

OK, I'll bite - what's a 'cuca'?

Re: Cucas.
 

I'm guessing it's short for cucaracha, which is a cockroach, I've had none at all here but used to get them when we used to live in an apartment in Alicante until we bought those plug in electrical thingies:thumbsup:
...unless he means "Cucas" the Brasilian footballer in which case, mmm very strange!;)

Re: Cucas.
 

Let me google that for you

So there you have it.

A vagina, a Brazilian footballer or the Cambridge University Conservative Association.

Take you pick.

Re: Cucas.
 

I refuse to believe that members of a Spanish expat forum don't know what a 'cuca' is. Of course we know them, they're more common than flamenco dancers or paella, more common than the Moro and Christiano parades celebrated each year to mark the end of 700 years of Moorish occupation, more common than El Papa even.

I remember sitting in a posh restaurant in Denia, just down from the castle, when one of the brown monsters sped along the polished floor heading in our direction. The waiter saw it too and tried to nonchalantly stamp on it and missed.

We had a good laugh at the time, but it spoilt our enjoyment of the excellent food delivered afterwards.

I've just checked the entire house and it seems all clear, but I thought I saw movement behind the washing machine in the kitchen. It's Spain, ain't it?

Re: Cucas.
 

Be thankful they hadn't picked up the washing machine and were running off with it.. :rofl:

Re: Cucas.
 

Many moons nay years ago when I was on a minesweeper in the Med our ship was infested with them. We used to dip them in our rum and race them along the mess table !!

In Malta once the ship had to be fumigated to get rid of them. Many years after I left the Navy I still had my Navy issued sheet and there were rust like marks on it where the pesky things had been killed.

Needless to say even after fumigation there were still plenty left behind to breed again.

Re: Cucas.
 

Aren't they supposed to be the only creatures that would survive a nuclear war?:eek:

We have seen the (very) occasional one in the house, no more than half a dozen times in as many years. My OH doesn't stamp on them as he read somewhere that killing them that way actually spreads the eggs around, increasing the risk of an infestation, so he catches them on a piece of cardboard with a glass on top and takes them outside. I can't say it doesn't work as they don't seem to come back!

Re: Cucas.
 

I don't remember reading anthing earlier, but they may well fall in the category of Birds and Crocodiles and Sharks and Whales - Prehistoric.

It is a fairly commonly known fact that as Scarab Beetles they were revered by the Phaeroes more than 4,000 years ago

all efforts to fumigate ships never seemed to work, I have seen a frigate closed down for 2 days, filled with gas and a couple of days later - cockroaches.

perhaps it is an indication it is a healthy environment

:confused:

Re: Cucas.
 

We have seen only one that my wife duly despatched.
Didn't I read somewhere they live under cooker hobs? Haven't checked just in case it's true!

Also less flies etc. than I expected although I am in a town so this may be a reason.

Re: Cucas.
 

I haven't got a cooker hob but a slot-in gas cooker, which gets pulled out and cleaned behind and underneath regularly, so nowhere to hide!

It's interesting you say that about less insects generally and that you are in a town, we find exactly the same as regards flies, wasps and the dreaded mossies and we are also in a town so there may well be something in that. I have been to people's houses and they have problems with flies under covered terraces (we took the chapa off our roof terrace as I didn't like it) as apparently they are more of a nuisance in still air. We are on a hill above the town and do get the benefit of breezes most of the time so that may help also.

Re: Cucas.
 

I have only ever once seen something that looked a bit like a cucaracha in our village. (It was very fast and scuttled off behind the kitchen unit). I poisoned just in case with Cucal. Never saw another and we now live in our own place with non-fitted kitchen units. This gives me hope that we might not have the problems that seem endemic in most of Southern Spain. Maybe the winters up here are to cold for them? :fingerscrossed: Strangely this year we also haven't had more than a handful of mozzies either. Is it too early? We use mozzie nets on the windows and our bed but still, I'm sure usually there are more by now. Oh. Forgot to say we do have a big problem with moths though (polillas) and the pheromone traps just seem to attract more.

Re: Cucas.
 

Cats like to torture them to death. A lot.

Re: Cucas.
 

probably they have memories when the ancient egyptians revered them
:rofl:

Re: Cucas.
 

Well I'm afraid you may have to! I've lived here for 12 years and never heard the word Cuca.
As this is an 'British' Ex pat site, why not just have said 'cockroach'?

Re: Cucas.
 

Well I'm afraid you may have to! I've lived here for 12 years and never heard the word Cuca.
As this is an 'British' Ex pat site, why not just have said 'cockroach'?

Re: Cucas.
 

Me too. I beat you by one year and I've never heard it. Never seen one either.:fingerscrossed:

Re: Cucas.
 

"Cockies" is how they were affectionately known amongst expats in Tenerife.:lol:

They were rife out there. I used to help out in a bar and during the night when I cleared the rubbish into the bins it was like walking on a gravel driveway, crunch, crunch, crunch. :lol:

They seemed particular partial to the beer slops.
Almost everywhere was fumigated on a regular basis, but still they kept on coming.
Bloody monsters they were and they would occasionally fly and settle on someone scaring the living crap out of them.

Solution is very simple actually.
Go and live high up in the mountains, you'll never see a one up there.

Re: Cucas.
 

Ahh. You've answered part of my question! We are 600 metres up. So something does kill them. Cold! maybe you could use Spray on dry ice! Little bleeders would hate that! :D

Re: Cucas.
 

I had heard that to kill 'roaches you put down yeast and sugar. They eat it, and this ferments in the moisture inside them, producing carbon dioxide under pressure, which because of their hard exoskeleton makes them explode.

Anyone know if it's true ?

Haven't got any so I can't try it.

Re: Cucas.
 

Spain is a large country and I only know a tiny part of it. Where I live the Spanish, English and assorted foreigners call them Cucas. Mercadona sells a spray that kills them called Cucal which fly off the shelves when it's summer, especially a hot and sticky one.

The council spray the drains every summer to kill them, too many of them would kill their Spanish tourist industry because they hate them as much as we do.

Every major Spanish fiesta procession I've seen will have a group dressed as Cucarachas, there's even a famous song about them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOFRu5Jx3Fc

Re: Cucas.
 

Not sure about your line of thinking there, but I imagine it will get them so well p!ssed and comatosed that catching them will be a piece of cake.

Probably goes along with my previous post regarding their softspot for beer slops leaving them laid out helpless on the paths by the thousand and getting crushed underfoot.

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It was that that stirred the memory.

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On the urbanisation I lived on, a few years before we went there, they had had a huge number living in the drains, some bbright spark decided that a liberal dosing with strong bleach was the best cure, so they lifted a lid and poured it down, withing a few minutes the urbanisation was overun by cockroaches, coming from every drain and everywhere. It didn't kill them, but at least the residents were all aware of the problem, and called the council

Re: Cucas.
 

Ah,the old Aguafuerte trick.
Cure for a million and one evils.
Bet it gave the drains a good clean out as well.

Re: Cucas.
 

When we moved here we were overrun with roaches (what's Cucas??) and when we used to go away for a month or so we would come back to a bath full of roach Sh**, Various roach body parts and a couple of dozen scurriers.
We were convinced that the previous owners sold because of them. This went on for 2 years with various Spanish products being tried and tested with little or no success. Finally talking to an Italian, we were told of a miraculous product which we managed to get hold of. It cost about 18 Euros for a small tube. It was necessary to place a small drop in the corners of the rooms and anywhere the roaches might go. It worked a dream within a week we had no more, even outside. It has been 3 yrs now and we are still Cucharacha free. I still place a couple of drops at the side of the door every 6months or so but have only seen dead woodlice.
We have had a large centipede 6 inches long in the bathroom which I caught and let go in the garden. I read up on them and it seems they are particularly nasty so I should have bumped it off.............