Cockroaches in Phoenix area? (Sun City, Sun City West: renting, scorpions, landlord)

[Xica_da_Silva]

I've seen very few roaches in Phoenix since moving here from South Florida about 10 years ago. Thank God. I agree that they tend to like more humid locations, which is why Florida has so many of them. I hate and fear roaches like no other insect, they creep me out big time. So dirty and disgusting, and notice how they always tend to run towards you when you spray them? What's up with that...that's just malicious behavior, plain and simple. I hope my cats will eat any of them that they find in my house! But then again, I notice my cats tend to want to play with things, rather than kill or eat them. A pity, really. And they aren't very good at catching darting silverfishes, which I see in my bathroom from time to time. I thought cats were supposed to be nimble? Maybe I need to put them on a kitty diet? They do look a bit fat.

But scorpions, snakes, spiders, lizards, hermit crabs, alligators...none of these bother me much(this is what we kids played with growing up in South Florida). In fact, I had a semi-pet-spider hanging out (literally) near the door next to my kitchen for a while, but when my cat starting eating its web, I felt bad for the spider, so caught it in a cup and released it outside. What can I say, maybe I watched Charlotte's Web too often as a child, but I generally admire spiders as long as they're not daddy-long legs and on the ceiling of my hotel room like one I saw in Caracas, Venezuela(like Florida, very very humid and buggy)! That thing was a monster! The housekeeping lady had to swat it with her broom like, 5 times to kill it all the way! Anyhow, the grossest thing is that the kitchen for the motel was on the other side of my room and I had eaten spaghetti (yes, they have spaghetti, just like we do, in Venezuela) with 'meat' sauce there earlier that day!

[Steerpike]

Originally Posted by twiggy

I believe those are "June" bugs. I am waiting for Steve-O to confirm. lol

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

Those are June beetles.

Actually, I think they are 'Drugstore beetles' - see this link.

None of the 'June beetle/june bug' links match anywhere near as close.

[shg1]

I live in the city of Goodyear. We just bought a beautiful home that was built 3 years ago. I am a neat clean OCD freak! We live in a gated community with an HOA association. I clean and take the trash out daily to work. We have found 27 American (sewer roaches) dead or dying all in 8 days all found in my backyard usually around the porch! We have an exterminator he has come out 2 times now since living here for 3 months. We had again today a pest control from the HOA assoc. come to figure out why we have been seeing do many! He found the best right next to the side of our house no exaggeration over 500 sewer roaches in this electrical box... And he said there were more he needed to open and kill. Tonight my hubby had went to see the activity outside with flaslight where the roaches were sprayed outside the side of the house he was in shock! Hundreds of them on the wall, tree bushes and scattering around on the cement ground. he opened one of the elec boxes on the ground and he said about hundred of them were dead in there from the spray earlier! I spoke to my neighbors this last week and they font have this issue. They and the exterminators had mentioned is that my home is located on the green belt on a park right by the manholes and sewer storm drainage tunnel.!! I tam PHOBiC of roaches and have been taking my Xanax again. I told my hubby that I can't handle this on top if being home sick Seattle! I am mentally exhausted and afraid they will try to find there way in. I gave a child and makes be Anxious! We check for roaches every day in the house snd rooms! I don't know how long I can handle this. I LOVE my beautiful home but can't enjoy this roach infest right outside my walls and am on constant eggshells! (((

[sablebaby]

So sorry to hear about your roach problem!! I've lived here my whole life and NEVER had a roach problem. Lived in several areas and many apartments and several homes. Still never had a problem. It is something I have on my mind when I look for a place to live. This sounds unusal to me. Sorry I can't offer any advice.

[stasi_crystals]

Originally Posted by jody8423

Are there many cockroaches in AZ? I went to FL several months ago and just had the worst experience with huge flying cockroaches everywhere! So I was wondering if the Phoenix and Gilbert area were the same since the weather is so hot. Thanks for the help!

Unfortunately yes. Big flying ones too, and the prehistoric looking ones. But if you leave your place clean then you shouldn't have much of a problem.

[avn]

My friends would beg me to tell this story to new people at parties so many times that I finally wrote it down for posterity. Maybe it was all the hand-waving and voices that sold it, but it's still fun to tell.

It's all true.

How I learned to never, ever barter for landscaping « Don Kehote

[theyreinphx]

Yes there are cockroaches and they are gross! A pest control company told me once that it has little do with how clean or dirty your house is because like someone else said, they come up from the sewer. That is the one bug that I just cannot handle. Gross!

[observer53]

In Tempe, they are very good at treating the sewers if you call them and report that you are seeing any. I see dead ones outside FAR more than live ones (and not many of those), and I don't have them in the house.

[Stefanie99]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

And this thread is quite silly since cockroaches are EVERYWHERE! They can survive everywhere. Some of the respondents above imply that this is somehow unique to Phoenix when every city in the country has them. In fact, Phoenix probably has less because of the dry climate. Sorry but the science doesn't back your opinion. How are you going to explain how these bugs can be greater in Phoenix with less humidity than other cities with higher humidity. There are far more cockroaches in Tucson because it is more wet in Tucson and they receive a higher average rainfall than Phoenix which is around 12 inches of rain

I live in Salem, Oregon, which is nowhere near the size of Phoenix, but we do not have cockroaches, at least not a regular, year-round community of cockroaches. Neither does Portland. In fact, I've lived all over the state of Oregon and have never even seen a cockroach in real life. Ever. So I don't think your opinion that "cockroaches are EVERYWHERE" is correct.

That being said, OMG. I am seriously considering a move to one of the smaller cities outside Phoenix and while I think I knew cockroaches were a possibility somewhere in the back of my mind, this thread, unfortunately, has scared me. BUT I want to make a very informed decision, so I need to know everything, including things about disgusting bugs that I can't even imagine. *shudder*

Well, I will just have to man-up and besides, we have disgusting slugs and tons of mosquitos, mosquito-eaters, horseflies, and moths here, and I've heard that those are much less common there, so that's good.

[Java Jolt]

I have seen a few cockroaches, mostly in Tempe around my workplace.

They usually like older areas, especially places that use lots of water, fountains, irrigataion systems, they seem to be attracted to moisture.

Even the few cockroaches I saw seemed to be only in the summertime, usually during periods of higher humidity or after a rain in the monsoon season.