What's up with the spiders/roaches now? (Tampa: townhome, buy)

[rezfreak]

The last 3 days we have been getting a lot of spiders and roaches in our house, not baby ones, grown big ones I think in the last 3 days we have seen 3 wolf spiders and 3 palmetto bugs, and for some reason, only from about 1-3 am when I'm in the living room working...alone. *sigh* Its not unbearably hot nor has it rained much this last week, so what gives?

We rarely get any in the house, i think usually in the course of a year we get maybe 3 spiders and 3 roaches.

[floridagirl777]

Lots of spiders here too. I think the ground is too moist for them now, so they are seeking drier shelter.

[FloridaKash]

It's the most wonderful time of the year..... to see bugs. They come out now that it's warmer. Both spiders and roaches perfer roaming around at night. Of course, the rain attributes to it as well.

Get some Bifen I/T spray from Do It Yourself Pest Control which is here in Tampa. Beware, the guy that works there is very strange..... harmless... but odd.

[rezfreak]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

It's the most wonderful time of the year..... to see bugs. They come out now that it's warmer. Both spiders and roaches perfer roaming around at night. Of course, the rain attributes to it as well.

Get some Bifen I/T spray from Do It Yourself Pest Control which is here in Tampa. Beware, the guy that works there is very strange..... harmless... but odd.

What's the rough cost on that stuff? We've been in this house for going on our 3rd year now and never needed any kind of spray

[tjax1000]

Last month we had a three day incident where, for some reason, our house was overrun with jumbo-sized files. Like a house fly, only about 3 times as large. We killed dozens.

As quickly as they came, they left. I mean, we killed all that we saw, but they quit sending reinforcements. I have no idea where they came from, we are obsessive compulsive clean freaks. (Maybe that made us fun targets to harass.) So I do not know where these things come from but my guess is maybe one gets in and lays a lot of eggs or something. I've had pretty good luck with foggers for the nuclear option when something like this happens.

People talk about the bugs here... all I can say is that we lived in a new townhome on Kauai that had built in an old cane field. There is nothing quite like the experience of having cane spiders in the house. They are as large as tuna cans. One morning one got on my wife in the shower before she had her contacts in. Guess how that ended.

[lilacmama]

I was talking to a lady yesterday that suggested a product called Defend. She said to spray is 3 feet up the side of the house and into the lawn from the house. We used Ortho Home Defense back home in MI. I am not sure if we should try to do it ourselves or pay for someone to come out. I did find 3 bugs in the house and I think they are called earwigs.

Spray or not to spray?

[tinalimey]

Please be careful what you spray indoors if you have pets or young children. Are the Bifen or Defend sprays pet/kid friendly?

[FloridaKash]

The Bifen I/T is in concentrated form. You need to mix according to directions. I believe it's roughly $40 a quart... but it'll last forever. I buy 3/4gallons and have a mixer I hook up to my house. I use the stuff in my yard (kills ants, fleas, chinch bugs, etc) around my foundation and under my eaves. I do the perimeter of my screen room (using a pump sprayer). I do all the outside stuff every 3 - 6 months. And once a year I do the perimeter of the inside of my home using less concentrated mixture.

Once dried it is safe for pets and kids. It is approved to use in food handling areas as well. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. A little goes a long ways.

Home Defense works too. The Bifen I/T is far better though. As I stated, you can use it in your yard and on your garden. (I wouldn't use it on anything I plan to eat out of my garden though.)

[rezfreak]

Just mildly concerning since in the 2 years we've never needed any bug spray - the windows are all new and the house is pretty well sealed, so we would rarely get any bugs in the house, now 6 in 3 days

[lilacmama]

Originally Posted by FloridaKash

The Bifen I/T is in concentrated form. You need to mix according to directions. I believe it's roughly $40 a quart... but it'll last forever. I buy 3/4gallons and have a mixer I hook up to my house. I use the stuff in my yard (kills ants, fleas, chinch bugs, etc) around my foundation and under my eaves. I do the perimeter of my screen room (using a pump sprayer). I do all the outside stuff every 3 - 6 months. And once a year I do the perimeter of the inside of my home using less concentrated mixture.

Once dried it is safe for pets and kids. It is approved to use in food handling areas as well. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. A little goes a long ways.

Home Defense works too. The Bifen I/T is far better though. As I stated, you can use it in your yard and on your garden. (I wouldn't use it on anything I plan to eat out of my garden though.)

Thanks for the info!