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Cockroach Control: Gecko or Iguana?

In a certain large city in America once upon a time, we had no problem with cockroaches. This is because we had powerful insecticides, such as DDT!

Then, in the 1960s, some do-gooders decided to ban DDT. In two years the cucarachas were all over the place. We literally had to put our saltines and animal crackers into Baggies to keep the bugs out.

Bugs were everywhere. And there was this powerful moral suasion against killing them. Seriously. You were supposed to live with cockroaches in peaceful coexistence, because they were here first (uh huh) and killing them is bad.

Geckos do not have eyelids, and this is an issue for many people.

One way of getting rid of cockroaches was by poisoning them. You could spray your whole house with insecticide. That was good for a while, but just for a while. Or you could get some boric acid, and mix it with flour and make little cookies. You’d stick these in every corner, and they’d kill off a lot of your cockroaches.

Or you could get a lizard. The most reliable lizard, 40 years ago, was a gecko. Personally I’ve always had issues with geckoes, because some don’t have eyelids. But they’re good cockroach-hunters.

Then you have iguanas. The iguana is bigger and hardier than your gecko, and it can shut its eyes when it goes to sleep. It will clean up all your cockroaches. But soon it will be four feet long and shit all over the place.

You make the call.

 

 

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