The Cockroach Truth (Scottsdale: foreclosure, renters, crime rates)

[Montanama]

Thank you, Zippyman and Jimj. That's what I'm asking. If it's normal, I can live with it. Ick.

Zippyman, do you think I should get the inside sprayed as well?

[DetroitN8V]

I've never seen a cockroach. I spray every other month with Cy Kick CS primarily for scorpions and their food.

[grmi66]

My friend's mom is a very neat & tidy lady whose house could be in Better Homes & Gardens, hard to even find a spec of dust in her house. Was over there once and thought she hurt herself by all the screaming she did. Just opened up the dishwasher (which she always did in the high temp sanitize mode) and out crawled a big sewer roach that was surfing on top of a coffee cup.

I spray for roaches, so I always see dead ones around my house. They come up under the floorboards, get hit with the bug killer then crawl about a foot away from my baseboards and die. At least I don't have scorpions to deal with.

[Montanama]

Oh. God. I left the drains unplugged. I have this image in my mind of giant cockroaches partying all over my house right now. Super!! lol

So, what then? Does everyone plug their drains all the time when not using them?

How do I get to the place DetroitN8V enjoys?

I've never seen a cockroach. I spray every other month with Cy Kick CS primarily for scorpions and their food.

I'm not there to spray every month. Inside and out? Why don't sewer roaches ever come up your drains, and what can I do to make sure that's the case for me?

When people say they "never see them," I'm no longer sure what they mean. Never see them inside? Outside? Never see them in Phoenix? I mean, I see them everywhere when I'm out shopping. And again, the landscaper? Wouldn't he bump into them, dead at least, fairly regularly?

This is what's bothering me about it. Not that we asked dozens of people, but literally everyone we've spoken to about it has said "never." (Except home watch guy who said "almost never".) I would like to get to "almost never" or "never" but can live with seeing them (dying) in the yard IF it's normal.

Having one crawl out of the dishwasher might put me over the edge though.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by Montanama

Oh. God. I left the drains unplugged. I have this image in my mind of giant cockroaches partying all over my house right now. Super!! lol

So, what then? Does everyone plug their drains all the time when not using them?

How do I get to the place DetroitN8V enjoys?



I'm not there to spray every month. Inside and out? Why don't sewer roaches ever come up your drains, and what can I do to make sure that's the case for me?

When people say they "never see them," I'm no longer sure what they mean. Never see them inside? Outside? Never see them in Phoenix? I mean, I see them everywhere when I'm out shopping. And again, the landscaper? Wouldn't he bump into them, dead at least, fairly regularly?

This is what's bothering me about it. Not that we asked dozens of people, but literally everyone we've spoken to about it has said "never." (Except home watch guy who said "almost never".) I would like to get to "almost never" or "never" but can live with seeing them (dying) in the yard IF it's normal.

Having one crawl out of the dishwasher might put me over the edge though.

I live here full-time so I'm sure that's a lot of it. I also live against a mountain and desert preserve so while we get our fair share of snakes, scorpions, tarantula hawks, etc., we're spared the bugs that really like moisture.

When I say I never see cockroaches, I mean never anywhere. I only spray outside.

Like scorpions, it seems to be luck of the draw. Having the house sprayed on a regular schedule should take care of the issue.

[Cubanchic]

I live in Miami and palmetto bugs are a fact of life here but what has really done a fantastic job for us has been the Harris roach tablets. Better then spraying because if they are in your house they nibble on the tablets and bring the food (poison) back to the nests which wipe out all of them.

Takes about a month to work, but then what we would see as at least two to three a week to maybe one in about three months and these things every where here.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Montanama

Oh. God. I left the drains unplugged. I have this image in my mind of giant cockroaches partying all over my house right now. Super!! lol

So, what then? Does everyone plug their drains all the time when not using them?

How do I get to the place DetroitN8V enjoys?



I'm not there to spray every month. Inside and out? Why don't sewer roaches ever come up your drains, and what can I do to make sure that's the case for me?

When people say they "never see them," I'm no longer sure what they mean. Never see them inside? Outside? Never see them in Phoenix? I mean, I see them everywhere when I'm out shopping. And again, the landscaper? Wouldn't he bump into them, dead at least, fairly regularly?

This is what's bothering me about it. Not that we asked dozens of people, but literally everyone we've spoken to about it has said "never." (Except home watch guy who said "almost never".) I would like to get to "almost never" or "never" but can live with seeing them (dying) in the yard IF it's normal.

Having one crawl out of the dishwasher might put me over the edge though.

Stop worrying about the drains. Everything will probably be fine. No, not everyone plugs their drains when they are not using them.

DetroitN8V is in Scottsdale. He's been lucky, I'm sure there are sewer roaches there, too.

Threads like this make me grateful not to have such an extreme reaction to a bug.

Find other things to think about.

[Montanama]

Can't do roaches. Honestly, I don't think it's "such an extreme reaction" to want to know what's normal, and what to do to minimize if not eliminate them in my house. The only reason I was even concerned to see them outside (where I'd expect them to be if I hadn't been told otherwise) was the "never" I had kept hearing, which made me think it was very abnormal to see three in a couple of days.

If it makes you think I'm slightly less crazy, spiders and scorpions don't particularly freak me out, though I'd like to keep them out of my house too. The lizards are adorable, though I understand them to be signals that there are lots of bugs in the yard. Snakes don't bother me at all. Everyone is different, but I don't think wanting to keep 2-3" insects out of my home is "extreme."

[hikernut]

Different folks will have different experiences with respect to roaches, scorpions, etc. You're not going to get the same "answer" from everyone. It depends on how clean the area is, how much water is around (natural or from sprinklers/drip), etc.

If your problem is bad enough, you probably do need to spray monthly. Sure, not everyone will need to do this, but spray that's applied outdoors loses it's potency over a few weeks. Any application that was done 90 days prior has long ago lost it's potency. We don't spray inside, for what it's worth.

When we first moved into our house, we had scorpions, roaches, spiders. Tons of them. The previous owner claimed he applied spray himself, but I'm pretty sure it had been a looooong time since he did anything. I remember lifting a pail that was sitting in the side yard, and probably 50-100 roaches were partying under there!

hikernut

[wit-nit]

OP are you sure they're roaches and not crickets. Roaches are generally nocturnal. Crickets can be found most everywhere day and night. They can be controlled or rid of easily by a pest control service.