Cockroaches: when and why I lost the war.

Damn creatures.

In Italy they are not so common and they are really small, so the first time I saw how big they can be here I was disgusted enough to freak out. I was new in the place, I didn't know how to handle them.

I've never kill an insect in my entire life because -except for humans- I respect all the living things. Usually if an insect is in my home, I carefully take it and free it outside.
But with the cockroaches it was different. It was too much.
Just to be clear: I'm not talking about small little insects here. I'm talking about cockroaches bigger than my face... I'm talking about huge brown aliens, so big that when you see them you'll scream "What a fuck was that?"... So big that they actually need the key of the apartment to get inside...
So for those things I decided there was no space for them in my life.

In the beginning I was using heavy biochemical weapons (Raid).

But after a couple of tries I realized that it was the worst idea ever. Raid melt the motherfucker from the inside, so while the horrible creature is running away trying to save its life it also releases the content of its body, leaving a yellowish/brownish trace behind*.
Disgusting.
...and cruel.

Disgusting and cruel at the same time.

I was disgusted by the releasing-through-the-asshole thing and I was feeling sorry for the damn alien because of the Raid reaction. Too much overkill...

And that was the moment when and why I lost the war. I felt sorry for them. Too much tragedy in their death.

I'm not killing cockroaches anymore.

I usually capture the thing and free it outside. The process sometimes takes hours or days.

In the beginning I was really disgusted during the capturing  process: knowing from where they're coming from (the sewer) and knowing what they're eating (they eat shit, sorry for being too scientific here) it was a kind if challenge for me try to capture them.
Now I don't really care anymore, and I'm getting better in my capturing process (I'm using a beaker). 

Now I'm just curious and fascinated by those little (yeah, right, "little") creatures.

I'm studying their behavior.

They are smart.

They understand things, and in some way I think I can understand their primitive thoughts (it's a matter of affinity probably).

For example: one day I got in my apartment and when the light was on I saw the beast walking in a very casual way on the floor. It stopped when he realized that I was looking at it, and then it turned its head, stared at me for few seconds and started to run... I read its train of thoughts: it was casual, then it saw me and "Oh shit, is here!! Ruuuuunnnnnn..."... 
Other times they are cute.
...in a very particular way, but they are cute.
Like sometimes, when spotted, they try to fly away. Luckily those ones can't really fly (but others can) so they have this funny try in which they spread their wings and jump, but it doesn't wok... So they try harder, and still nothing... And all these trying and failing is a kind of cute...
Anyway, there are humans more disgusting than cockroaches, so I cheer for roaches...

*Note: as a biochemistry I'm wondering what kind of badass molecules are in Raid' formula...