Ewww-- cockroaches

[dsnrbec]

In the past year, we have found 4 cockroaches in our house (cue sound of me freaking out). Each time Deans has come out and done their thing assuring me that it would take care of the problem. The young man who came today said we were lucky that we had only found 4! He said they must be doing a good job. My question is does anybody else find them randomly? It certainly doesn't appear to be an infestation but just isolated incidents. He said it was nothing to worry about but then again it's not his house! Should I be concerned?

[Bonny]

I have seen a couple. I'm sure they come in from the garage or if I leave the patio door open

[mulligan]

Just like gators and wild hogs, we have invaded their habitat. They were retiring to Florida long before it was the cool thing to do.

[Bogie Shooter]

Or from the grocery store.

[Love2cruise]

Unfortunately living in the south theses types of bugs (can't even stand to say the word) are very prevalent. Now, when you found them were they dead or alive? If dead then deans is right, if alive and moving fast then deans is not doing their job, IMO. Also, are you in a new area or an old area of the villages? We are in a new area and I haven't seen any.

[gomoho]

Are you talking German co kroaches or the big palmetto bugs? I have neither anf hope it stays that way.

[pooh]

Had one in the house a couple of days ago. They just walk in when the door or the garage door is open. Since I do have a pest control company, the insects must cross a pesticide barrier to get in and once in, they are already coughing.....;). I just pick them up with a tissue and re-deposit them them to the great outdoors.....though the one in the kitchen many months ago ran into the sink and alas, he and the garbage disposal were united very quickly.

[jblum315]

Haven't seen a cockroach here. If I did see one I would move out. We had tons of them when we lived in Miami, despite having an exterminator every month. They were in the walls - Yecch.

[buggyone]

I might get one palmetto bug or roach every few months. They always are dead or nearly dead. I use Massey. A running roach is the worst kind as your bug guy has not done what you paid for.

[billethkid]

Remember there are many sources of the roaches coming to your home that are beyond the care of your bug man.
Grocery store bags.....bags/boxes from other stores......carry out bags/boxes from restaurants .......boxes in thie mail.......boxes from Amazon......etc.

Seeing a random bug while having a service is normal. Also remember spiders get free reign as they do not walk through the barrier!

TV by comparison to a lot of warm weather locations is relatively bug free.

btk

[Bonny]

If they are alive, it would depend on when they got in the house.

[784caroline]

WE dont use our dishwasher but twice a week and I have found them inside the dishwasher. If the door was cracked they could easily come into the kitchen. I guess the drain dries up or somehow they get throughthe trap.

[graciegirl]

One of the reasons we do NOT have palm trees on our property is that those big cock roach palmetto bugs live in the bark.

If you talk to people who have lived in Florida for awhile they usually don't want palm trees.

[dotti105]

Having lived in Fl for more than 25 yrs of my life, I can tell you that you do have cockroaches in your home.
If they are dead, then yes, your exterminator is doing his job well.
But as mentioned before, this is their natural habitat. Roaches go with the territory, I'm sorry to say.
My mom had an immaculate house, and had Terminex come every month. But if you went into the kitchen at night and turned on the lights, you would see some scampering under the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher.
They didn't live long.
Once we moved Mom's china cabinet and there were 30-40 dead roaches under there. Belly up!
They will die in your home if the exterminator is doing his job.
They can't keep them out, just insure they don't make it out alive.
Welcome to tropical Florida!!
(I once had an exterminator tell me that they were here before man and will be here long after we are gone. I think he's right!)

[graciegirl]

Having lived in Fl for more than 25 yrs of my life, I can tell you that you do have cockroaches in your home.
If they are dead, then yes, your exterminator is doing his job well.
But as mentioned before, this is their natural habitat. Roaches go with the territory, I'm sorry to say.
My mom had an immaculate house, and had Terminex come every month. But if you went into the kitchen at night and turned on the lights, you would see some scampering under the refrigerator, stove, dishwasher.
They didn't live long.
Once we moved Mom's china cabinet and there were 30-40 dead roaches under there. Belly up!
They will die in your home if the exterminator is doing his job.
They can't keep them out, just insure they don't make it out alive.
Welcome to tropical Florida!!
(I once had an exterminator tell me that they were here before man and will be here long after we are gone. I think he's right!)

I am sure that you are right but I have not seen one in six years. We watched the finishers to our home as it was being built put silicon beading along all interior surfaces, I hope that is part of the reason and that we live in new-er areas.

We are extra careful about containing open food, cereal, bread, cookies too.

We have called Dean for "pith anth' several times in our bathroom when we returned for the season in first home in Hadley.

[dsnrbec]

We do have queen palms on both front corners. I hate to think we would have to cut them down but I also hate to see these critters in my house. All four have been alive so maybe we need to talk to another exterminator. Thanks for all the input.

[ivanhoe]

Here's another 10 points for installing light colored flooring!

Massey guy says bugs are in the food (eggs)...humidity brings them out.

You must pull cereal bag from box and check (a favorite hiding place)!

[gomoho]

Gracie - I'm not so sure I buy the Palmetto bugs living in the palm trees. Have palm trees and no palmettos here - had no palm trees in Wilmington NC and those suckers were everywhere. One night late I went out on the deck and turned the light on - I am not kidding I bet there were at least 50 running up and down the exterior walls trying to figure out how to get in.

Also lived in Jacksonville - no palms, but palmetto bugs. Jacksonville Beach - had palms that touched the 2nd story deck and no palmetto bugs.

Soooo - I think my point is the palm trees don't necessarily bring the palmetto bugs the devil does!!!

[rubicon]

Palmetto do live in palms. Massey treats them often. I have had two enter my house. massey said they only live 72 hours and I told them it was 72 hours to long.

Palmetto bug usually enter your home via the ducts in your ceiling. They generally become a problem if you have some activity with a plam such as trimming it.

German roaches are a different matter and can enter via packaging from items purchased or delivered food,UPS, etc. German roaches re more difficult to get rid of and requires successive treatments.

So far we have only experienced two palmetto bugs. We keep a vigilant watch.

While in Key West we rented a home on the ocean great view but palmetto /and german roaches enveloped that 2 million dollar home . I was ready to exit the second day and we rented for 30 days. Key West is off my list forever

[gomoho]

Interesting, I had Massey and they never treated my palms for Palmettos or mentioned they would create a problem. I don't think we will ever get a straight answer.

[Phanatic Luvr]

I picked up a neighbors POA paper last month, the one's in the yellow bags, and thank goodness, I threw it on their floor, a palmetto bug (roach) came running out. I chased that thing around till I finally got it. So the morale of the story is, be careful the little critters aren't in your newspapers.

[gomoho]

So that's where they come from???

[graciegirl]

So that's where they come from???


Giant Cockroaches That Live in Palm Trees | eHow (http://www.ehow.com/list_7431430_giant-cockroaches-live-palm-trees.html)

[PennBF]

We had them and we have a couple of Palm Trees. I understand they are called "Palmetto's" and do live in the Palm Trees. We had Massey and they treated all of the inside of our house and a couple of months later we saw another and Massey came back and, treated again and we have never seen another one. They did a great job.:smiley:

[gjbl8114]

The culprit is likely Palm trees - especially Queen Palms. Do you have palms in your landscaping. If so, you have extended an open invitation to them. How do you get rid of them???? Get rid of the palms.....

[kittygilchrist]

ENY-214/IG082: Cockroaches and Their Management (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig082)

[deltaguy]

In the past year, we have found 4 cockroaches in our house (cue sound of me freaking out). Each time Deans has come out and done their thing assuring me that it would take care of the problem. The young man who came today said we were lucky that we had only found 4! He said they must be doing a good job. My question is does anybody else find them randomly? It certainly doesn't appear to be an infestation but just isolated incidents. He said it was nothing to worry about but then again it's not his house! Should I be concerned?

How close do you live to the Kitchen at Havana CC?

[PaPaLarry]

WE dont use our dishwasher but twice a week and I have found them inside the dishwasher. If the door was cracked they could easily come into the kitchen. I guess the drain dries up or somehow they get throughthe trap.
If they get in your dishwasher, they will get into your kitchen. LOL

[PaPaLarry]

The culprit is likely Palm trees - especially Queen Palms. Do you have palms in your landscaping. If so, you have extended an open invitation to them. How do you get rid of them???? Get rid of the palms.....
Highly agree with you!!! Queen Palms are the culprit! And its not just cockroaches that nest in them. If you have these Palms, make sure none of the branches are touching the home, so they don't have a ladder to come into home through vents, etc

[kittygilchrist]

Palmetto Bug Stomp! - Charleston Folk (http://charlestonfolk.weebly.com/palmetto-bug-stomp.html)

[Halibut]

Aren't palmetto bugs cockroaches?

From Orkiin: "The term palmetto bug or waterbug is a general name commonly used to refer to several species of cockroaches in the southern U.S. These names can lead to confusion and misidentification by the public. The cockroach species most commonly called a palmetto bug are the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) or the Florida woods cockroach (Eurycotis floridana)."

As for pest control, after paying a ridiculous amount of money to 3 different companies with no appreciable results, we took over the job ourselves. There are consumer products with the same ingredients as commercial companies use.

I'm not saying the historic side has more roaches, but since manufactured homes aren't on a foundation, there are more ways for them to get inside. I would guess that most of us here keep ready access to Raid, fly swatters, bait boxes, gel, etc.

[Bonny]

How close do you live to the Kitchen at Havana CC?

:ohdear:

[blueash]

Everything you want to know about the ecology of the Florida woods cockroach, AKA palmetto bug
http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/roaches/florida_woods_cockroach.htm
Nice photos and this description of their preferred habitat
The Florida woods cockroach feeds primarily on decomposing plant matter and is effectively a detritivore. Reasonable food sources could include dead or dying plant matter such as leaves and bark, as well as lichens, mosses, molds, soil microbes and mycoflora that would be encountered easily in damp dark environments (Bell et al. 2007). Because of these feeding habits, the species does not generally benefit from invading urban dwellings. However, these food sources may be present in nearby areas such as tree lines, decaying logs, under dense leaf litter, compost piles and other suitable locations.


This species tends to reside in stable sheltered areas. In populations outside of peridomestic scenarios, common habitations would include the cavities in trees or stumps, under tree bark, limestone cavities, leaf litter and densely shaded shrubs (Friauf 1953, Young and Cantrall 1958, Smith & Whitman 1992, Robinson 2005). In peridomestic environments, habitations can include holes in signs, around the base of ornamental trees such as coconut and palm, woodpiles and other shaded areas (Brenner and Pierce 1991, Young and Cantrall 1958, and Smith & Whitman 1992).

[Suzi]

ENY-214/IG082: Cockroaches and Their Management (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig082)

Informative but the pictures caused whole body shivers. I do not do well with bugs and hubby wants palms. Ewww

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

We had them for a little while last winter. I spry around the perimeter of the house and lay down some cockroach traps that I buy in Lowe's or Home Depot. We haven't seen any in the past six months.

[gomoho]

ENY-214/IG082: Cockroaches and Their Management (http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ig082)

After reading this I am convinced palm trees are the least of the problems causing infestations. They may contribute, but are not the main source. I will keep my palms and thoroughly enjoy them.

[Love2cruise]

Aren't palmetto bugs cockroaches?

From Orkiin: "The term palmetto bug or waterbug is a general name commonly used to refer to several species of cockroaches in the southern U.S. These names can lead to confusion and misidentification by the public. The cockroach species most commonly called a palmetto bug are the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) or the Florida woods cockroach (Eurycotis floridana)."

As for pest control, after paying a ridiculous amount of money to 3 different companies with no appreciable results, we took over the job ourselves. There are consumer products with the same ingredients as commercial companies use.

I'm not saying the historic side has more roaches, but since manufactured homes aren't on a foundation, there are more ways for them to get inside. I would guess that most of us here keep ready access to Raid, fly swatters, bait boxes, gel, etc.

Can you tell me what product you use and where you get it? Thanks.

[Halibut]

We have 1-2 a month, almost always in the kitchen.

For outside, I get this (http://www.lowes.com/pd_2842-446-0196910_4294772321__?productId=3609656&Ntt=pest+control&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dpest%2Bcontrol&facetInfo=) or whatever is available at Lowes. I spray around the entire house, with special attention to doorway thresholds. I think that's what keeps them down the most.

We also use standard bait traps under the sink, fridge, stove, etc. and put gel (http://store.doyourownpestcontrol.com/maxforce-roach-gel-fc) behind the switchplates and outlets to get at those in the walls.

I haven't had a lot of luck with boric acid, I think mostly because it's difficult to get it applied lightly enough. Gets too clumpy.

We were also advised to try spreading moth balls in the crawlspace under the house, but those are toxic; naphthalene does not break down in the environment and seeps into the groundwater. I'd rather live with the roaches!

[Carla B]

My husband once shot a "Palmetto Bug" with his BB Gun in Houston, renowned for the size of its cockroaches.

I discovered one here in the master closet, clinging to a piece of my clothing. It was obviously not feeling well, as it didn't scamper, and I was able to pick it up with a pair of tongs and dispose of it down the toilet.