Eww!!! I just found a huge cockroach in my new apartment!! What do i do to kill them?!?!?!? (Hialeah: hotel, home)

[grandcentraluk]

You've gotten great advice. I just started finding roaches in my house after a blissfully roach-free winter. It's just that time of the year and you're going to have to get used to dealing with them as they are part of life in Miami. As indicated above, these are not your northeast roaches which are attracted to dirt. You should keep your place as clean as possible anyway but the palmetto bugs will come regardless.

As stated above, the ones here can fly, I've had them fly at my face, into my hair, etc. They are fearless. Most don't fly but we do have flying palmetto bugs, sadly.

I found the most common sources for palmetto bugs are cracks in baseboards (see if you can get your landlord to seal up any cracks - we went around our whole house and did that, it significantly reduced them), cracks in windows, doors left open, cardboard boxes that you bring in from stores or have delivered, sink drains and toilets. They can slip through the smallest of cracks so take a look around your place and see if you can seal anything up. Keep your drains sealed when not using your sinks and your toilet seat covers down.

The monthly pest control will help. You should be concerned if you are seeing lots of them on a regular basis. Otherwise, the odd one here and there is normal and part of life, at least while it's hot.

Also, the ones I've seen so far are medium sized, I think because it's so early in the summer season. By fall, they'll be larger. I hate to freak you out but be prepared, they can get really big.

[ja1myn]

Originally Posted by Mollycecile

I just moved to Miami from NYC and I'm having a heart attack. My new apartment is totally empty and clean. I was cleaning everything like crazy the past few days with windex and today this GIANT MONSTER crawled out!!!!! It's the most disgusting living creature on this planet. WHAT DO I DO TO MAKE SURE I NEVER SEE THIS MONSTER AGAIN?!?!?

TELL ME WHAT TO DO, BECAUSE THIS IS OFFICIALLY WAR ON THESE ROACHES.

Lol, from one New Yorker (who's lived in FL) to another those things are pretty nasty. The place I was living in had a bunch of them, but all I had to do was call the pest people and they pretty much had it sorted out.

Other posters on here say it's all good to have little lizards and stuff crawling around but I didn't really like that either. I'm not the kind of guy who leaves doors and windows open and stuff, so I saw no reason why these little lizards should be getting through, but they do. You can have the people spray stuff around the house to get them to go away or have the house sealed up like I did.

[catt6]

ah, yes, forgot about the pet thing - i don't let the apt. staff spray my house either, for that very reason. I do it myself - there are sprays that are non-toxic to pets, and those are the ones i use.

and what gymbuff said.
in general, you can't leave any food out... even cereal, crackers, cookies, snack foods, syrups, honey, jam, - once opened, all of it should go in the fridge. And the sugarbowl too if you have one. For fruits and veggies that can't be refrigerated, make sure you eat 'em before they get too ripe sitting out on the counters.

living here requires whole new levels of bug vigilance.

[jasper12]

Get used to it. Just wait until you get up at night to go pee...crunch! They sting when you step on them with your bare feet. Even if you don't see them during the day...they come out in the dark.

[Pear Martini]

^^^no way


i remember seeing them in my old place and they sure do fly. They wouldn't be so scary if they didn't.

[Pear Martini]

Originally Posted by grandcentraluk

You've gotten great advice. I just started finding roaches in my house after a blissfully roach-free winter. It's just that time of the year and you're going to have to get used to dealing with them as they are part of life in Miami. As indicated above, these are not your northeast roaches which are attracted to dirt. You should keep your place as clean as possible anyway but the palmetto bugs will come regardless.

As stated above, the ones here can fly, I've had them fly at my face, into my hair, etc. They are fearless. Most don't fly but we do have flying palmetto bugs, sadly.

I found the most common sources for palmetto bugs are cracks in baseboards (see if you can get your landlord to seal up any cracks - we went around our whole house and did that, it significantly reduced them), cracks in windows, doors left open, cardboard boxes that you bring in from stores or have delivered, sink drains and toilets. They can slip through the smallest of cracks so take a look around your place and see if you can seal anything up. Keep your drains sealed when not using your sinks and your toilet seat covers down.

The monthly pest control will help. You should be concerned if you are seeing lots of them on a regular basis. Otherwise, the odd one here and there is normal and part of life, at least while it's hot.

Also, the ones I've seen so far are medium sized, I think because it's so early in the summer season. By fall, they'll be larger. I hate to freak you out but be prepared, they can get really big.

That is horrifying. I know of a Fort Lauderdale bar on the intracoastal altho I forget it's name that has a patio on the intracoastal.

One summer day a swarm of palmetto bugs fly up around and onto things and possibly customers, food, etc.

The restaurant had to end up comping (giving away for free) $500 worth of food and drinks.

[AnonChick]

FYI, even normal average variety cockroaches can infest perfectly clean places. Yes, they're attracted to dirt. But they don't need dirt to thrive. They just need access to food, which can be something as mundane as the bacteria found in every kitchen sink-drain in the country. Once they get in, they'll invite their friends. And they won't leave, until you forcibly evict them. But by then, it's too late - their cousins have heard about your sink, and when the old family gets tossed out, the new family pack their shells and take the a-train for your kitchen.

Remember kids: Of all life-forms on the planet, the cockroaches are the #1 odds-on favorite to survive a nuclear holocaust.

[valicky]

OMG - OP! That's awful - my worst fear is those horrible, disgusting, vile creatures!!!! I HATE THEM! I highly recommend the boric acid powder too. Get it in all the nooks and crannies and under all your baseboards. Does anyone know if Diatomaceous earth works on roaches? I would be freaking out too. Yuk. A cat will kill them if they see them, but then you have to be careful about the boric acid. I also use the boric acid with a sugar water mixture to get rid of ants. I started to get them 3 or 4 days ago, my cat's bowl was full of them, and put a few bottle caps of the boric acid liquid out and ants are gone now. I haven't had to have an exterminator for a few years now.

[doggiebus]

Wait till the OP finds out some of them can fly! OP, go to Home Depot you'll find what you need there, no need for pest control just yet. The other good advice is to never keep any food out. Make sure any open food you leave in the cabinets like cereals, make sure they are sealed in some sort of container/bag. Don't just close the box and put it in the cabinet, otherwise you might go to eat your cereal one morning and find a bunch of ants have beat you to the cereal. Try to clean up all the crumbs after you cook and eat. This way you will not attract the ants and roaches.

[FlyMIA]

This is Miami, it will be hard to get rid of all of them. You said you don't mind lizards go ahead and don't kick them out of kill them. Lizards eat roaches.