When we found out about this, we were shocked too. Ubat gegat or mothball isn’t for cockroaches! What? Really?
Yes. Surprisingly, mothballs aren’t for cockroaches. We had this notion because our grandparents or parents used ubat gegat to chase the pest away.
According to Naim AJ Pest on Twitter, putting mothballs in the wardrobe doesn’t affect the flying insect in any way. In fact, he once saw a cockroach eat a mothball! Therefore, it’s a myth that many believe.
Then, if it’s not for cockroaches, who?
Ubat gegat is for an insect named ‘gegat’
Mothballs are designed to chase the gegat away. Gegat, or silverfish, gets its name due to its silvery, metallic appearance and fish-like shape and movements. Silverfish are also known as bristletails because of their three long, bristle-like appendages on the rear end of their body. Some thought it was in line with a centipede, but no.
Silverfish typically live in moist and humid areas like bathrooms, basements and attics.
These little and invisible insects don’t often show themselves, but they’re as abundant as the cockroaches in the house. Although they’re categorised as crawling insect pests (harmless), silverfish can damage many things.
Typically, they’re seen in old books. Why? They like to munch on the glue on the pages or the book!
How to get rid of the insect?
Silverfish move really fast. Normal aerosol won’t get rid of them entirely.
Therefore, there’s a specific mothball that can chase away the silverfish. It’s called Dklorobenzina or Naphtalene. These two types of mothballs are flammable. The scent of this poison can reach the insect.
Aside from that, mothballs can also be used to get rid of moths and kamitetep. But it’s not 100% effective on cockroaches because those pests are immune to poison. They absorb the mothball’s properties. Thus, that’s why cockroaches eat the poison sometimes.
Hm… so how to chase the roaches away? Do you know?
Sources: Twitter Naim AJ Pest, Pest World.org