Anyone else annoyed by palmetto bugs? (houses, crawl space, living in)

[Live&Learn]

Those freaking palmetto bugs and the likes. Big roach looking bugs.

Does anyone else have to deal with those?

I am a pretty cool and calm person. But those creature-things just Moderator cut: language.

[ny,ny]

Hey,
Sounds like you may have seen a Smoky Brown aka wood roach.

My wife saw one 2 days after we moved in and, she was ready to leave NC.

Good news is they prefer to live outside though they do tend to come in from time to time especially in the fall.

They are much easier to deal with than the small german species. You can try to find where they are getting in and seal up the space, they need a moist environment to live. Cut back any trees overhanging your home, they can crawl under siding if there are any gaps.

I have the garage and attic as well as the crawl space sprayed we have kids so I won't let them spray inside the home and that has rectified the problem for us. Just don't step on them! Makes a terrible mess.

Good luck.

[lottamoxie]

OMG yes. The first summer in my house they kept showing up...1 or 2 a night. I freaked out! I decided to get my own bug killing potions after 1 visit with an exterminator and I saw how little he sprayed. So I went to this site and ordered some Bifen IT and sprayed around the outside perimeter of my house, around doorways, etc. I still have that same bottle 3 yrs later...it lasts a long time. In my attic I sprayed a fine dust of boric acid powder around windows and along the edges of the floor boards. I did a much better job than an exterminator and I used stuff just as strong as they did. Saved myself a lot of $$$ too.

[miamiblue]

They are just a fact of life in this type of climate. If you have pine straw, bark chips, mulch, etc. on the ground close to your house, they will find their way inside on occasion. They love to live in that stuff because it retains moisture.

They mainly live outside, but will find their way indoors in search of water and sometimes when the temps start to drop. Palmetto bugs do not typically infest houses like german cockroaches do.

I'm used to living in a subtropical climate where you see them scurrying across sidewalks at night all year long. They are really not that big of a deal once you overcome their appearance and learn how to effectively use your shoe.

[NYC2RDU]

Throw a saddle on 'em and ride!

They're easy to find and even easier to hit with most common household objects and if you get them just right they're stunned, not squished and you can toss them outside where they belong. In my house the cats love playing with them and unlike the hamsters that were slaughtered in a botched escape last year we find it entertaining to watch the drama unfold.

[cstleddy]

I opened up the doors under the gas grill to empty the drainage pan and there two huge roaches living there. They were probably eating the food remnants on the grill grates, but they gave me quite a fright and I don't even want to grill anymore.

Occasionally, I'd turn on my deck light at night just to see what moved in the dark and I'd see the big ones dart across the wood. I have a large container garden with tomatoes and what not. I've been emptying out the big containers I've had tomatoes growing in and when I flipped them over the roaches were living in the bottom!!! Yuck!! I've got three more pots to empty and I'm telling you, all I want to do is take a 10 foot pole and chuck the pot, dirt, tomato cage and all, down the deck stairs. I'm afraid one might be under the lip of the pot and as I'm making my way with a heavy pot down a flight of stairs, one will run up my arm.

[DPK]

Ridiculous I know, but I always feel that roaches are going to behave like that one scene in the original Mummy movie where the beetle runs toward the guy and crawls underneath his skin.

Freaks me out to this day.

[joey2000]

Originally Posted by Live&Learn

Those freaking palmetto bugs and the likes. Big roach looking bugs.

Just FYI, they aren't simply "roach looking bugs." They ARE cockroaches.

And yes they gross me out too.

[vwbug]

When we moved here a couple of years ago we would see them scurry across our driveway in the evening. After one got into our house last summer and dive-bombed my head I knew we had to do something!

I went into the kitchen one night around 10pm and flipped on the overhead light. Suddenly this flying roach appeared out of nowhere and zoomed in at my head. I screamed and tried to bat it away but it kept flying into my head. My son heard the commotion and came to my rescue - my husband was listening to his iPod and missed the whole thing!

The next day we went to Home Depot and found COMBAT Roach Traps for large, Palmetto-Type roaches. They have eight traps to a box. My husband put them in the garage, under the deck, and under our kitchen and bathroom sinks. He replaces them every three months. We have not seen ANY Palmetto bugs since - not on the driveway or inside the house! (Just be sure the box says they are for the large, Palmetto-type roaches.)

[Xdeth]

They are wicked little beasties, but way worse further south then here, I hardly see them compared to FLA, or SC.