One day, just like any other, my husband and I bought a box of cereal from a place with poor hygiene—we didn't know at the time that they had a cockroach problem. We happily opened the box in the kitchen, and out came two creatures I dubbed Adam and Eve—two cockroaches that managed to escape us. They emerged right from inside the cereal box, and I knew then and there that it was the end of everything. Incidentally, this happened over nine years ago; all this time, we’ve been living alongside Adam and Eve’s offspring, and although there were periods when they would disappear, they would come back time and again out of nowhere...
We tried all sorts of poisons and remedies—we got by with them for years, but we were just kidding ourselves; the poisons worked at first, but eventually, the cockroaches would somehow just walk right over them as if nothing was there. We were stuck in this endless cycle for a long time until, a few months ago—seeing that the situation had gotten WORSE, since they’d made their way into the bedroom and even invaded the fridge and kitchen—we decided to go for professional fumigation, though I’m not sure how effective it’ll be, because it feels like these cockroaches are fucking invincible.
The fumigation cost $80 and took a little over an hour; we requested the full service, so they sprayed liquid poison and other products I honestly can't recall right now. They also scattered a significant amount of powdered poison in various parts of the house—including inside the kitchen oven. The smell was quite strong, so my son and I had to go for a long walk; my husband stayed behind to watch the whole process and told me the cockroaches were scurrying out like crazy.
The man told us it would take 21 days for them all to die off; we also bought a separate powder as a backup, just in case. The service comes with a one-year guarantee in the event it doesn't work. So far, I’ve seen a huge number of dead cockroaches—I sweep them up with the dustpan, but a little later there are more in the same spot. They’re coming out from everywhere, and the cockroach odor is quite strong; I’m not sure if it’s the poison itself that smells like that or if it’s because they’re emerging from their hiding places.
I just hope this disaster ends soon, because it was already a truly disgusting situation that absolutely nothing could fix. It’s also worth noting that I tried to keep the house as clean as possible, but even that didn't get rid of them; a lot of people think infestations only happen because a household is dirty, but in my case, it started as an accident caused by a highly irresponsible local business, followed by my own mistake of letting too much time pass without addressing the problem.