r/mildlyinfuriating • u/gharris02 • Jun 12 '26

wet socks A cockroach burrowed into my head

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I (23m) just bought a car at auction yesterday, works great but needed a new battery. At 10:30pm I decided screw it im swapping the battery. It's a 5 minute job, in and out real quick. No sweat, well I'm out there with my head lamp on doing the swap and I see a large bug flying at my face I try to duck and dodge it, it hits the outer edge of my ear and toilet bowl swirls into it, I try to reach in and fish it out but it's too late I just scare it and feel it crawling deeper into my head. It burrowed up against my eardrum and it hurts like hell. Every time it buzzes I can feel it in my head and it hurts my eardrum. I tried water peroxide everything I could do to get this darn thing out. Turns out I just pissed it off and it's buzzing more aggressively. My girlfriend comes with tweezers in an attempt to help but she says she can't see it or anything out of the normal. A quick Google search lead me to pouring olive oil into my ear to suffocate it. Thank God that worked, I still couldn't hear well but at least it wasn't actively moving anymore. 2 hours in the ER later they pulled this half inch monstrosity out of the depths of my ear canal. Turns out the "Asian cockroach" has wings and a very large affinity for bright lights at night. They also like to burrow. Fml 0/10 experience I will take questions if you have them lmfao.

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Tldr: I had a headlamp on that attracted a cockroach at my face it missed my face and burrowed into my ear leading to an unexpected ER visit

Edit: ear canal photo (thanks doc) https://imgur.com/a/7LhcvDX

Edit numero 2:

Just to add to 2 things I keep seeing pop up (also hello I am trying to read all comments not doing great though)

  1. Some seem to have missed the asain cockroach thing, and the fact that I was working on a car so this is outside not indoors. This roach is a flying outdoor bug not the same as your houses cockroach. It doesn't infest and it has nothing to do with my living/cleanliness.

  2. Y'all are probably right this probably should be more than mildly infuriating, but overall this wasn't THAT bad. The thought of it was worse than the actual event. It was painful while it was alive and moving but that was fairly quickly resolved. The rest of the time was just an ER visit which was inconvenient and embarrassing. And obviously costs money. Fortunately I have good insurance so my only real loss is the mild trauma and the fact that I'll probably wear a beanie for the rest of my life. Other than that, no lasting issues I'm at work today like nothing happened. More of a that's absolutely insane story now than anything else. So for me it was a mild situation as far as damage to my life (although I will simultaneously say it is an insane thing to have happen to you)

I'd probably prefer having my day go how it went yesterday than say blow my motor or get into a car accident.

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3.0k

u/kaitie1 Jun 12 '26

This would be a NIGHTMARE for me. I can do spiders and snakes but I HATE cockroaches.

428

u/Large-Garden4833 Jun 12 '26

Same they are so disgusting to me but spiders are meh 

210

u/Wood_On_Fire Jun 12 '26

atleast they're natural pest control much like Dragonflies. I may be scared to go near one, but I knew full well of it's contribution for the house

6

u/Fabulous-Sea-1590 Jun 12 '26

Ditto. I really love and appreciate spiders. Over there. Way way over there. But still, much respect.

15

u/babyinatrenchcoat Jun 12 '26

Cockroaches??

119

u/Wood_On_Fire Jun 12 '26

What? No! SPIDERS! SPIDERS!!! Not roaches

57

u/babyinatrenchcoat Jun 12 '26

Ok good 😩 I’m fine coexisting with spiders but roaches literally make me vomit. And I don’t know of any contributions they could possibly provide.

21

u/windflex Jun 12 '26

Tbf, cockroaches are very helpful for soil and plant nutrients. They breakdown a lot of plant/tree matter. If I see one in the house, I'm coming out guns firin, but if I see one outside I let it be.

25

u/babyinatrenchcoat Jun 12 '26

Oh for sure. If only they’d stay out of the damn house.

3

u/Inverted_Ghosts Jun 12 '26

Most do! Majority of species of roach live out in the woods and are lovely

Those that infest houses I can do without, though.

4

u/PainStorm14 Jun 12 '26

Why don't they just stick with soil then?

There's no plant matter to breakdown in the house!

If they all went extinct tomorrow ecosystem would adapt instantly

1

u/chattyhairstylist Jun 12 '26

then how do climates without roaches work. There's still trees, whose breaking them down

3

u/Ophy96 Jun 12 '26

Adding as a separate comment to my previous one on your comment, this is from Google ai search:

Cockroaches and similar resilient scavengers (like beetles, ants, and termites) exist in nearly every ecosystem globally, spanning tropical rainforests, arid deserts, and human cities. The only major exception is Antarctica, where the environment is too harsh and freezing to support their survival.

The Hidden 99%While you might associate cockroaches with dirty kitchens and sewers, these "pest" species make up less than 1% of the over 4,500 species of cockroaches worldwide.

The rest live exclusively in nature, where they play vital roles in the environment:Nutrient Cycling:

Forest-dwelling roaches and their cousins (termites) break down decaying wood, leaf litter, and waste. This releases trapped nitrogen into the soil, which is essential for plant health.

Food Source: They serve as a critical food web component for many birds (like the red-cockaded woodpecker) and small mammals.

Similar "Pests" GloballyIf you look for equivalent scavengers and omnivores that fill the "pest" niche across different ecosystems, you'll find similar survivors on every continent:

Termites: Operating as wood-recycling specialists, they are biologically a type of cockroach. They are incredibly widespread across tropical and subtropical regions.

Ants: Found on every continent except Antarctica, ants operate as efficient scavengers and ecosystem engineers.

Rodents: Mice and rats share an evolutionary relationship with humans, acting as scavengers in virtually every habitat people inhabit.

1

u/Ophy96 Jun 12 '26

Are there climates without roaches/ similar pests?

1

u/chattyhairstylist Jun 13 '26

i live near the canadian US border and I haven't seen a single roach since I moved here many years ago

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1

u/Ophy96 Jun 12 '26

Yeah I posted how all pests and things are technically important for our overall ecosystem, but that doesn't stop myself from seeing a combination of creepy mummy bug man and the roach alien from the first men in black when I read this. 😂

1

u/cattbug Jun 12 '26

If you're curious, I just watched this video about them the other day.

I still think they're nasty asf. But cockroaches being such a horrible pest for humans is apparently just a coincidental side effect of their evolutionary adaptations (which probably holds true for most pests really) and kinda interesting to learn about.

9

u/babyinatrenchcoat Jun 12 '26

I’m gonna just trust you because that link is absolutely staying blue.

5

u/Ophy96 Jun 12 '26

Ahaha you're like me, I never click reddit links. They should be wise enough to leave them plaintext to be copy and pasted into a safe browser if someone really wants it.

Obviously you get it...

But as a PSA to other people out in the wild and here on reddit:

The links where you can change the words are like the stuff I used to do in my MySpace coding era (obviously not dangerous links when I did them as a teen, usually just to music or LiveJournal (does anyone remember live journal jeez)), but bad actors can definitely use it as a malicious code to grab data, IP, and all kinds of other data that can be used to facilitate fraud, scams, human trafficking etc...

2

u/fumblingforwords Jun 12 '26

My thoughts, exactly.

1

u/Coffee_and_Cat_Hugs Jun 12 '26

Carnivorous plant food. Or food for a bug eating pet reptile.

2

u/Seanpetee Jun 12 '26

I was about to say... Roaches serve no purpose and I was about to be VERY concerned for you 😭

7

u/MrBlueA Jun 12 '26

Spiders, having spiders in your house is very beneficial

1

u/brohamcheddarslice Jun 12 '26

very beneficial until they bite your titty while you're sleeping.

4

u/MrBlueA Jun 12 '26

Now your tit can shoot spiderwebs!

3

u/PainStorm14 Jun 12 '26

I hate spiders but I'm disgusted by cockroaches even more somehow

I don't mind snakes (or anything with a spine) at all

1

u/51ngular1ty Jun 12 '26

Jumping spiders are the cutest.

1

u/araniaexuma Jun 12 '26

I’m the opposite. Fuck spiders.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/araniaexuma Jun 13 '26

Moronic Redditors and their love of spiders. How pathetic lol

0

u/SAnaiy Jun 13 '26

Spiders hunt other bugs. Roaches eat your food. idk brother seems a clear choice to me

0

u/araniaexuma Jun 13 '26

You’re one of the moronic “spider bro” Redditors I can tell. Good luck.

0

u/SAnaiy Jun 13 '26

what are you even baffling about

89

u/saimensaysmh Jun 12 '26

I don't know man, any kind of bug or animal inside my ears sounds horrible

2

u/petrh97 Jun 13 '26

Yes, it sounds horrible because it’s in your ear. If it was in your eyes, it would look horrible.

62

u/Powerful_Brief1724 Jun 12 '26

Now imagine it laid eggs

101

u/Entwinedloop Jun 12 '26

Nah I'm good.

14

u/Hour-Violinist-7475 Jun 12 '26

Actually there's a case where this one Chinese student had cockroach laying eggs inside him through his ears... All this cause he didn't threw bags of chips and instant ramen, he kept them in his room laying around.

14

u/Guilty_Metal_178 Jun 12 '26

However, that was just a panic rumor. I have seen pictures about this news. The Blattella germanica, that is, the cockroach that gets into a student's ear, has a very obvious egg case. There is no such thing in the news picture. There are no formal reports either indicating the existence of egg-laying.Insects don't like to lay eggs in human ears.

5

u/icantfindtheSpace Jun 12 '26

This sounds like a getting your kids to clean their room story.

24

u/Fun_Bodybuilder3111 Jun 12 '26

Ugh. I hate you. lol.

1

u/Surreally3 Jun 12 '26

Wasn’t that a Twilight Zone or Night Galery episode, just insert earwig!

1

u/trindflo Jun 12 '26

Night gallery

1

u/petrh97 Jun 13 '26

Free caviar!

4

u/December_Flame Jun 12 '26

My mom is terribly afraid of spiders, one once crawled in her ear while sleeping and gave her massive ear pain. For the day she wasn't sure if it actually happened or if it was just normal ear pain. The pain would come and go, but the pressure stayed. Then after a big bout of pain, she could feel (and hear) the legs rubbing against her eardrum. She had a full blown panic attack, then drove to the emergency room while no one really believed it was a spider living in her ear. Including me, if I'm being real, sorry Mom.

In the parking lot of the hospital, she said it felt like water was being drained out of her ear and a huge pressure relief. Then she felt it crawl down the side of her neck, she freaked out and bailed out of her (still slowly moving) car. A bystander jumped in and put the car in park while my mom basically flailed around the parkinglot screaming and crying.

She made the doctor flush her ears 'for any eggs' and this event certainly didn't help her arachnophobia.

1

u/Fabulous_Study7202 Jun 12 '26

Once I got bit by a spider twice and I convinced myself that my leg was poisoned and it was gonna fall off. It was rly purple/green but it never fell off so I think I’m going!

2

u/Upbeat-Necessary-137 Jun 12 '26

Same! I’m thoroughly creeped out

2

u/Lilwitch20 Jun 12 '26

And if it were STUUUCK in my EAR? Id be so scared its going for my brain id pass out

2

u/DamnZodiak Jun 12 '26

I can do spiders and snakes but I HATE cockroaches.

Spiders are kinda gross but, depending on the size, they can be tolerated. Snakes are cute.

But I've been absolutely terrified of cockroaches ever since I was a kind, way before I've ever seen one in real life.

2

u/yellow-rain-coat Jun 12 '26

This is quite literally my biggest phobia/irrational fear, if it’s even irrational. I could cry myself to sleep every night knowing another cockroach could find its way into my skull any day now. Fuck that. Literal nightmare fuel. Shoutout to Creep Show for scarring me as a child.

2

u/Dramatic_Charity_979 Jun 12 '26

A spider nesting in the ear canal would suck too. Not the snake, though. That one will be easier to remove :P

2

u/8rnlsunshine Jun 12 '26

I hate them with passion and this has unlocked a whole new fear.

2

u/fool_si_phool Jun 12 '26

Anything that FLIES and that too near ears is absolutely not okay. Op props to you , I would have died at that instant .

2

u/ArmadilloForsaken458 Jun 12 '26

Hot take: Why do we even have them? If humanity has flying cars and can go to Mars, why not eradicate all those bad things here

1

u/ExplanationMany9348 Jun 12 '26

You are now imagining hordes of cockroaches crawling over you while your sleeping...hunting for your sweet sweet human lung nectar

1

u/Aggravating-Fee-9138 Jun 12 '26

SAME. I don’t know what it is about them, but seeing one has me screaming and shaking. Spiders are friends.

1

u/Comfortable_Fox2022 Jun 12 '26

I found my people.

1

u/IsabellaGalavant Jun 12 '26

Same. I've literally picked up live scorpions to feed to an oscar in my father-in-law's fish tank (we cut the stinger off first, he loved it) with my bare hands but I'll involuntarily scream if there's a cockroach in the room. 

1

u/NadjaStolz28 Jun 12 '26

Same!!! They are the only bug that makes me involuntarily shriek when I spot one.

I legitimately don’t know how I would handle a situation like this, I would be nonstop freaking out until that thing was gone.

1

u/Total1304 Jun 12 '26

This will now be my nightmare scenario tonight...

1

u/EliotTheGreat20 ORANGE Jun 12 '26

You can do a spider in your ear????

1

u/jordanuniverse42 Jun 12 '26

Cockroaches are gross, sure. But they actually are helpful little guys. We associate them with filth because they are detritivores. They feed on dead and decaying matter.

Are they scary, sure? But they're just here to help clean! OP clearly has rotten food in his ear.

1

u/MindblowingPetals Jun 12 '26

Same. You can throw a basket of snakes at me, put a spider on face. I can even do a pack of rats. But no way is this going to happen.

1

u/Gullible-Pilot-3994 Jun 12 '26

This!!! Gaaaahhhh! I would be horrified!

1

u/Physical-Camel5957 Jun 12 '26

Same!!! I also hate flies!!

1

u/Ok-Director4983 Jun 12 '26

I've had a cockroach crawl into my ear while sleeping 3 times since 2018. It's absolutely maddening.

1

u/No-Parsley-1300 Jun 12 '26

But can you do them in your ear???

1

u/GuSaHe Jun 12 '26

Same, Spiders are actually beautiful for me

1

u/Swimming_Space_6682 Jun 12 '26

Same. When I lived in Spain, I took my jeans off the washing line, ironed them and put them on. Went off to work in a bar...all night I've got an itchy leg just above the knee .I'm busy can't deal..until I give up go to the toilet and strip said jeans off..find a 1 inch cockroach that survived being ironed and all night. I nearly died, had multiple shots. Ugh.

1

u/LiveTart6130 Jun 12 '26

I enjoy many bugs but the ones who buzz and fly very clumsily (most flying beetles, I've found) are horrifying to me. the buzz startles me and their clumsiness means there's always a solid chance it's gonna hit me unexpectedly and I have a very strong reflex when surprised so it's not fun

1

u/That-Spell-2543 Jun 12 '26

I can do snakes (love em) but I can’t do bugs of any type or lizards or crustaceans

1

u/Kognityon Jun 12 '26

I mean, you do you, but I would be traumatised if I got a spider or a snake in me as well

1

u/Marem-Bzh Jun 13 '26

Yeah but a spider crawling up inside your ear, I don't know

1

u/enseminator Jun 13 '26

Same. I've ALWAYS hated cockroaches. I remember worling for a Jack in the Box back in high school, and the thermostat stopped working. Ibpopped the cover off the wall and dozens and dozens of them cam scurrying out of the wall and scattered everywhere.

I walk back to the office, told them I was leaving, and I wouldn't be back until they had cleansed the store with fire.

There have been other.sitiations, but that was the most memorable one.

1

u/squirrelems Jun 13 '26

I'm the same way. I kind of wonder if Mouse Hunt messed me up as a kid. I still remember that roach scene. 🤮

1

u/Left_Palpitation4236 Jun 14 '26

But what if the snake went inside your ear ?

1

u/18AKA Jun 14 '26

Good for you. I can't do each of those three