Palmetto bugs, water bugs, large roaches? In the house

[poodlecamper]

We live in North Carolina. Our routine is every 4-6 months, spray around inside baseboards, under sinks, anywhere close to the outside with Or tho spray. Then go around the outside of the house.
We've bug bombed the crawl space twice in 2 years.
Once in awhile I see dead as a door nail bugs an inch or so away from the wall.
The ortho is odorless, the bomb, we had to vacate the house for a few hours. First time DH bombed, he said it was like the Exodus. Glad I wasn't there to witness that.

[gentlearts]

I'm in Georgia, and I get them too. I am freaked out by them too, mostly because, unless they are dead, which is most of the time, they are fast moving and if I don't kill them, I'm freaked out about there they went.
I also don't have a clue how they get in.
What we do, is spray the perimeter of the house, foundation, doorways, and inside the garage, with a DIY spray (Ortho). The ones that do come in, we usually find belly up. We find about one or two a month.
Since I'm so creeped out, I also spray places where wires or waterlines come into the house causing an opening in the wall, like behind the washer and dryer and refrigerator.
I was never squeamish about bugs or mice until we moved south and got these things. I am trying to work on my freakout factor, because, really, they are harmless.

[Donna68]

All of a sudden there are water bugs getting into my home. My clothes dryer is not vented to the outside, so i figure the moisture that evidently is under the house may be the cause?

[phonelady61]

okay first off ortho stinks in the way of killing bugs . I prefer Bengal spray it flushes and it kills which is what I like the fact that it flushes . I used it in florida and anything that can kill bugs in florida is a good product . It has a pic of a Bengal tiger on the can . It works . Good luck I know that they are disgusting those bugs .

[Insulated]

I find it's best to put flea collars on the larger ones.

[gentlearts]

Since my last post 2 years ago:

I have them in GA also. It is true that they are harmless and are not interested in food, but that doesn't mean I'm not creeped out. I hate anything that runs fast and disappears...eeek!

I put my foot down and insisted we get an exterminator. We get the perimeter of the house sprayed every other month. The spray is a relatively non toxic plant based. The way it works is the bugs get the poison on their feet. They groom themselves and ingest it. It takes awhile for them to die. Frequently, they come in, but you find them flipped over and almost dead.

This is not as good as if they don't come in at all, but at least they are staying still, so I can pop a plastic container over them until the hubby gets home.

We've had the exterminators for 2 years now, and the number of palmettos inside has gone way down, from several every week to an almost dead one, once in awhile.

It goes without saying that if you have tight seals around doors and windows, this helps too.