Are 2017 rentals worse for "Giving an inch; taking a mile"?

In Florida, too. Palmetto bugs are the airborne arm of the cockroach apocalypse.

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I just had a professional pest control spray and a lot of them are dying but it also could just be the end of their season as well.

That’s crazy! Maybe start a “shoes off indoors” rule.

I keep hinting at this in other threads, but I think the rise of Airbnb properties used specifically for STR - as opposed to a home share or the part-time rental of a vacation property otherwise occupied - is to blame. Guests have stopped seeing a difference between a condo/co-op/house rental and a hotel.

In addition, whereas hotel chains are firm in their boundaries and policies because it costs them money, personally, to refund, Airbnb is extremely liberal in its willingness to side with guests because it does not cost them much at all. They keep the booking fee.

Not all of them. They changed the policy since last year.

Ah!! I stand corrected. Thank you!

Last year I booked a couple of properties for my road trip and cancelled less than 24 hours later when I was offered free accommodation in the DC area. I’d like to have had those fees back.

Yoga is good. Also, relatedly, meditation, supposedly. Though I don’t do the latter.

Wikipedia describes these as cockroaches that fly. That sounds utterly horrifying. Regular cockroaches are bad enough. I would scream and run.

I think I’ve actually seen regular cockroaches try to spread what looked like wings and fly. Fortunately not often.

Sidebar: somewhere, possibly here, I read of some powder that one could sprinkle to get rid of cockroaches. Here’s the stuff I purchased on Amazon India - Amazon.in. I believe the generic term is Diatomaceous Earth. I was sceptical, but figured I’d try anything once. (Well, with obvious exceptions.) The theory is that when the roaches crawl over the powder, it clings to their bodies, dries them out, and kills them. Kind of like the sf/horror film, “The Faculty”, but with less screaming.

Surprisingly, it seems to have worked. Amazon in its helpful way says I purchased this product on 2 Jul 2016. And for a while we haven’t seen any cockroaches here at all, not even the small baby ones which are very hard to get rid of, even though this is India. Though we do spray as well. But we did the spray before the powder, and would still see cockroaches.

Coincidence? Did the cockroaches possibly decide en masse that our home was in an inferior neighborhood and they were going to move somewhere more upmarket? Possibly. Thoughts/comments? And would this work on the flying roaches? Possibly not if they don’t crawl.

And here is a Youtube video of the Earth in Action.

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They sometimes fly, but only, I notice, when they seem disoriented or frantic about suddenly being inside when they were just outside.

I have had a few dive bomb me at night but that’s quite rare. Mostly they are a nuisance in your house, running around at night…sometimes invading your kitchen.

Good news is they have a season. They hatch in early summer, live their lowly lives, lay eggs and die out.

This year, I finally forked over 150 smackaroos to spray… I haven’t even seen them outside! :-1::weary:

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@faheem

“…cockroaches that fly. That sounds utterly horrifying. Regular cockroaches are bad enough. I would scream and run.”

(Good thing I swallowed my coffee before I got to that part because the visual set me off in giggles.) … :grin:

You are absolutely correct about diatomaceous earth ("food grade as opposed to aquarium grade) being the best and most foolproof eradicator.

The secret is to apply it using a plastic squeezable container and “puff” it along baseboards, under fridges, stoves, cupboards, etc., so it is a fine dust rather than piles of it. Roaches and insects will walk over it and the powdery dust will cling to the hair on their legs but they will not walk over or through clumps of it.

Try not to breathe in the fine dust - not good for your lungs

Palmetto Bugs are our state bird here in South Carolina - The Palmetto State !

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My immediate thoughts were that you may need a little break. Doing Airbnb constantly can get wearing.

Just some food for thought:
So, if hosts were to get several unreasonable visitors in a row, with negative reviews, there’s a good chance that they might say: ok, I’m not so happy with airbnb right now, so, I’ll add my account to their competitor and see how their guests are"

Since there’s only one main competitor, they would benefit from this sudden onslaught of unreasonable airbnb visitors, of which many only have 1 or no reviews.

Just a thought.

Hi @SandyToes,

Sorry not to have responded earlier to your very helpful post. I remembered it, searched for it, and found it.

Currently our use of the powder, per some instructions somewhere, is to put a small pile of it on a piece of paper, in places where we think cockroaches will walk. E.g. under sinks and other dark enclosed places.

This method does, however, appear to be working. We haven’t seen any cockroaches for awhile now. Of course, it could be something unrelated. But the only other thing we do is occasionally spray those areas. We’ve been doing that a long time - before we started using the magic powder - and it never succeeded in disappearing the cockroaches.

If I was to follow your instructions - it seems to me that it would get swept away in the course of normal cleaning. Isn’t that an issue?

Have you yourself tried it both ways? Did the dispersion method work better?

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Hi @faheem,

Sounds like you have an equally successful method - piling the powder on a piece of paper…more like an offering - :grin:

Yes, it does seem that my “dusting” method of application would get swept away except that it’s not really in the path of a broom or floor sweep; it’s between the base of the appliance (fridge, range, etc.) and the wall and also under the appliance. I don’t recall it being a problem because the roaches were gone in no time.

Who knows if the residue is still under the appliances of that one house but it is also used in my LTR properties when roaches are present. If the tenants don’t clean under the appliances, perhaps it is a gift that keeps giving.

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the cheek of some guests!

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Hi @SandyToes,

I guess I’ll stay with my method, imperfect though it doubtless is. Because I don’t see a way that more finely dispersed powder wouldn’t get swept up eventually.

Was it the stuff of Weinstein?

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