Cockroaches - Centipedes - Cane Spiders - Scorpions..... (home, landlord)

[khk6]

Centipedes are definitely the worst. They tend to hug the perimeters of a room. Boric acid is good deterent inside. If you're living in a post & beam dwelling (as many are), you can put used motor oil/grease around the posts under the house. They

[xb90]

Centipedes
My wife gets really freaked out by the centipedes (they do get big).
Best solution I've found is to spray the perimeter of your home's foundation about every six months - I'm not using anything special, just the Home Depot all-purpose insect spray in a gallon jug. If you encounter one in your house make sure you have shoes on (as opposed to slippers) before stomping on it and drag it across the floor with full pressure of your foot to kill (just stepping on it won't work).

Cockroaches
Hey, these are everywhere - just keep your home clean to keep to a minimum and let the geckos have a feast.

Black Beetles
A neighbor showed me a really cool solution for these: set up a solar-powered landscape light with a dish full of soapy water rigged underneath - the bugs are attracted to the light, fall in the water and drown (keeps them out of your garden).

Spiders
All Hawaii spiders are pretty cool looking - if we find one in the house, we carefully capture it and let it go outside (we've never seen a black widow spider here [yet])

Termites
When they're swarming (flying) they're everywhere - make sure your attic vents are screened to avoid infestation and again - let the geckos take care of them (they LOVE termites).

Chickens
Yes, they'll keep your bug population down (and even cocqui frogs on the Big Island) at the expense of having to take care of them and having chicken poop everywhere - we went that route for a while but it just got way too disgusting.

[mangococonut]

I have a few questions.....
Regarding the flying termites are these seasonal, or do they happen all year long ?
Regarding the flying cockroaches - how are you to capture them if they fly - what do you use, some kind of spray ?
Also, the centipedes are what really really gross me out !! I know you are not supposed to touch them, or you can get stung, yet I wouldn't want to stomp on them and get that close - I can't squish bugs, that really really grosses me out (I think guys are a lot better with stomping on bugs) so what is the solution to those fast centipedes - when you see one in your house, what solutions do you have to capture it and get it out - without physically touching it, or stomping on it ? Could you vacuum it ? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Does that Home Defense spray work well (sprayed around the perimeter/windows/doors outside)? Or if anyone knows of anything stronger, let me know !!!

Also, just wondered regarding the gekkos - do they ever jump on you at night when you are sleeping ? And is it true they leave poop all over your house ?

[TheRickShawMan]

I really hate the big cockroaches in Hawaii. They are nasty and yes, they can fly! I would just buy a regular fly swatter and slap these suckers to death.

My mother seems to be more brave than me. She would get a rag and smash these nasty big roaches.

I also hate centipedes. They live in wet parts of Hawaii, such as the windward side of Oahu, and the scary part is they can enter your home through windows, drainage, small hoes that termites made, etc. Man, to be frank, I don't know what I would do to a centipede.

happy face spiders?!!! Are you kidding me?!! They only live in the rainforests of the Big Island, are small, tiny and HARMLESS! They are also considered to be some of the endangered arachnids in Hawaii. You would be very lucky to see one if you go hiking.

[cynmkolohe]

Take a look here for some termite info: University of Hawaii Termite Project Swarm season is May/June. It's a bit annoying, but when they come, we turn off carport lights and use only low lights inside. If we can, we turn on a small light in a room we aren't using for the hour or so they are really noticeable, keeping other lights off. (This happens maybe 3-4 nights per year...that we notice enough to get up and turn off lights, that is.) There have been times when we've been working outside on a project when we notice the swarms--sometimes we'll just grab a beer and sit back to watch the frogs and cats chase the termites. It's amusing, for about 10 minutes or so.

Re: sprays for cockroaches - I gave up on that a long time ago. Too toxic for my taste. If I see one inside, I swat it with a magazine (used to be too scared to do that). If I can't get to it or it escapes through a screen, I figure it got lucky and, hopefully, will stay outside. After 10+ years here, I've given up letting their occasional appearance indoors bother me much.

Geckos - never had one jump on me at night, but have had them fall on me when I've opened a door. Again, you get used to it. They will leave droppings behind the microwave and occasionally on a wall. But, nothing serious. Routine cleaning takes care of it.....

I have a problem with the spiders that multiply constantly around our house and carport area. Not sure what those are, maybe crab spiders? I hate walking into a spider web. But, I've learned to deal with them by taking a broom out every few days to knock down webs and either step on or relocate the spiders to the back of the yard. (Other times, if you drive by my house on my first rounds of the yard for the day, you'll see me waving ti leaves around as if I'm blessing the place. Really, I'm trying to make sure I pull down any webs that appeared over night!)

[mangococonut]

Originally Posted by TheRickShawMan

I really hate the big cockroaches in Hawaii. They are nasty and yes, they can fly! I would just buy a regular fly swatter and slap these suckers to death.

My mother seems to be more brave than me. She would get a rag and smash these nasty big roaches.

I also hate centipedes. They live in wet parts of Hawaii, such as the windward side of Oahu, and the scary part is they can enter your home through windows, drainage, small hoes that termites made, etc. Man, to be frank, I don't know what I would do to a centipede.

happy face spiders?!!! Are you kidding me?!! They only live in the rainforests of the Big Island, are small, tiny and HARMLESS! They are also considered to be some of the endangered arachnids in Hawaii. You would be very lucky to see one if you go hiking.

Hey RickShawMan - yes, I see I am not the only one who hates centipedes ! Truly the worst of the bunch. I know Some of you out there - have had encounters with them (from what I have been reading on the internet it seems to be a common occurrence - not too thrilled about reading) - so I NEED to know how you handle something like this when it happens - You see a centipede zipping across your bed, your floor, your wall - somewhere in your house - WHAT TO DO NOW ?

Yes, those huge cockroaches also are disgusting - wish they didn't fly, would make it easier to get them out.

If you think a centipede bit you (lets say you are sleeping and it happens) what emergency treatment do you advise ?

[hotzcatz]

Centipedes don't move really really fast but they kinda move steadily along. If it goes "zip, zip" and then stops, it is a gecko. If it just kinda trundles along in a fastish but not real zippy speed, then it is probably a centipede. The first thing you do is yell "CENTIPEDE"!! Then you find something to smash it with. Last one I used a piece of board to smash it. Other options are to pick it up with a long pair of tongs and put it in a bottle and consider selling it on eBay. We didn't auction it, but we put water in the bottle and drowned it. I think putting fiberglass resin over it and making it into a paperweight might be something else which could be done with them.

[Balad1]

A few years ago while stationed at Schofield on Oahu we were on a field exercise and I was bitten by a large centipede while sleeping on the ground. My arm doubled in size within an hour.

At home on Kauai I worry about stepping on one in the dark so I keep my slippers on in the house.

[mangococonut]

Balad1 - did you have to go to the ER ? What did you do to get your arm back to normal ?

Well - smashing the sucker is too gross for me - I honestly can't stand just seeing them let alone crushing the thing and making an even bigger mess that I would have to clean up !! All the guts and legs flying - gross !!! Does anyone have a better solution ? I think someone should invent the 'centipede vacuum' suck up all those yucky things....but I wonder if it could then still come out the tube....

[Balad1]

Originally Posted by mangococonut

Balad1 - did you have to go to the ER ? What did you do to get your arm back to normal ?

Well - smashing the sucker is too gross for me - I honestly can't stand just seeing them let alone crushing the thing and making an even bigger mess that I would have to clean up !! All the guts and legs flying - gross !!! Does anyone have a better solution ? I think someone should invent the 'centipede vacuum' suck up all those yucky things....but I wonder if it could then still come out the tube....

I went to the field medic and said "look at this"...he said what "so do you want me to do?" I told him to kiss my _ _ _ and went back to work.

My arm was normal size again the next day.