How gross are cockroaches? And how do I get rid of them?

So how bad (unhygenic, dangerous) are ****roaches? I remember seeing a TV report that seemed to suggest that the native aussie ****roaches (the big black ones) are actually quite clean, but the european ones (small brown) are not so good.

We seem to have a suddenly huge population of very large black ****roaches in our house. I'm not really scared of them, so they don't bother me that way- I just feel like my house is going to be condemned by the health authorities soon, and I'm concerned about them being unhygenic. Are they?

What do I do about them? I really don't want to use any toxic spray bombs or anything like that- is there any more natural way to deal with them? I try not to leave open food around or crumbs, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Yeah, the bush ****roaches are apparently not dirty - but I know what you mean, we get infested ocassionally and it makes me feel like white trash :redface:

I get DH to spray outdoor bug spray around all door and window frames - it seems to keep them out. It works for 3 or 4 months. I don't know how they get in, but for a couple of weeks after DH sprays, I'll get up and find 2 or 3 dead on the dining room floor, and then I don't see any more.

GL!

I prefer to use ****roach baits (you know, they come in little plastic houses). I would rather use a small quantity of poison in a contained fashion rather than sprays. Minimises the total load of exposure on the family (IMO). Apparently if you sprinkle diatomaceous earth around, it cuts them when they crawl over it but I've always had reservations about having quantities of substances sprinkled around. I bet you could make your own bait using some sort of borax mix (works on ants) - google some recipes.