[Alphaman]

I think you should be safe in a highrise as long as it is well maintained.

[Alone77Alone]

well its been a while since anyone has posted on this thread so il pick up where everyone left off. Growing up in south east virginia i grew up in a place call foundation park and holy hell were there alot of water bugs aka palmetto bugs aka cockraoaches. so far ive seen flodira has its problems but its not like it was when i was a child. there were 4 of us kids we use to get up in the middle of the night to play swat the airplane. we would get a sock and put another pair of sock inside of it and use it as a weapon. Then go from room to room cutting on lights and swing at them as they flew at us! im tellin ya those were the good ole days, yup they dont make games like they use to since then they have torn down those old buildings and have put up brand new low rent housing projects. lol the thing is the roaches are never gonna leave no matter what you do to the place. ive heard stories of people getting pissed at roaches and burning there house down, then rebuilding it.... then they come right back. ding dongs hey one more thing..... have you ever seen the movie joe's apartment ? youi havent seen roaches to youve watched this movie, and i tell ya, it is effin hallarious !

[Ericmrtt]

My question is, do you guys see palmetto bugs year-round? In the ATL area we only see them in the summer.

[tallrick]

I see them year round. While they are considered disgusting, I find them preferable to many northeasterners and migrants from the south we seem to get. At least you can spray or swat the roaches. The bad peoole are harder to control.

[FL Beaches]

I came across a couple in an apartment we rented there for a while. Two things became my friend...a can of Lysol spray, and hairspray. I could spray 1/2 can of lysol and the thing would still be moving. But the hairspray did it! It couldn't move.

[firsttimeowner]

I am trying to decide which state to move to and my mother hates those bugs and does not want to move to Florida because of them. We were joking that they don't cross the boarder into other states. But seriously do you find them in N. Carolina or Georgia too?

[OrlandoRE_Miracle]

I haven't seen them at all since I moved here. Lots of big grasshoppers, though, but they stay outside.

[beetlemier]

I met my husband in Ohio, but he's from Cocoa Beach and I've always wanted to live there. So for our honeymoon, we traveled to Cocoa Beach and my mother-in-law let us use her time-share condo while we were there. Note that the condo was on the 7th floor with a balcony overlooking the ocean.

I hate cockroaches. Couldn't even look at the pictures above. Unfortunately I'm also one of those people that if there's a bug running loose and you need to catch it, you will find it somewhere near me. I don't know why but even my husband admits it now. When bugs get in the house he can always get them when they're creeping near me.

Anyway we're in the condo in CB and I hear a "bzzt" "smack" "plop" going on on the patio. I went to check it out and my husband's all "no, don't worry about it, it's nothing". Yeah, right.

I open the patio and got dive-bombed in the head and chest. Flipping out, "what are those? omg what's happening?". My husband "forgot" to tell me about the huge FLYING roaches. It won't stop me from moving to Florida but I don't think a high building is any safer than ground floor!

On a side note, Florida's roaches don't bother me as much anymore because now I'm in Texas. There are huge flying roaches, little brown flying roaches, many spiders including THREE we had to kill that were palm sized and when smushed, dozens of tiny spiders went crawling from the body (***shudder***), at least 4 scorpions in the house, and a snake. It's like the song "Partridge in a Pear Tree" but with disgusting bugs. And a lot of them are mutant bugs, I swear! We have spants (ants that have like eleventy billion legs)! And all bugs evidently have to follow the stupid "Everything's Bigger in Texas" motto.

[FertilityDoc]

Palmetto bugs definitely have the ick factor no matter who you are. I lived in Guadalajara Mexico for 2 years as a postgraduate student. I had many a close encounter with Palmetto bugs, tarantulas, black widow spiders and other large spiders larger than your hand. However, two encounters with Palmetto bugs really stand out.

1. One time I was in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet bowl. I was peacefully taking care of business and minding my own business. There was a shower curtain along side the toilet bowl. I heard a strange scratching sound. Next thing I know a large Palmetto bug fell perfectly between my legs and into the toilet bowl!!! Yikes....I must have jumped 10 feet. It scared the living p out of me.....

2. Another time I was in the kitchen when I spied a large Palmetto bug sauntering across the kitchen counter. I looked for something to squash it when I came across a meat cleaver. In one fell swoop the offending bug was bisected in half. I watched in admiration as the 2 halves ran around and lived for an hour afterward. They are quite hardy and will indeed inherit the earth after our time has passed.

Hope these stories did not offend anyone too much.....

[ferretlady4719]

Originally Posted by FertilityDoc

Next thing I know a large Palmetto bug fell perfectly between my legs and into the toilet bowl!!! Yikes....I must have jumped 10 feet. It scared the living p out of me.....

I think I would have had a new skylight in my bathroom, had that happened to me!! I would have gone straight on through the ceiling! Palmetto bugs are yech!!!!! At least it fell *between* your legs, rather than right onto you! Spiders are even worse though.... ugh....beetlemeir, your tale of the baby spiders coming out of the squished mama spider - UGH, that literally gave me goose-bumps! Nothing nastier than a big spider!