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Just so there is something for people to look up. A few years ago, a tenant had brought them in by mistake. The pests love cardboard moving boxes.
Remember, if you see “any roaches at all”, there are more. If you see any in daytime, it is really bad.
We implemented a “scorched earth” policy with several products at once. All activity was gone in under a week and has never returned, for minimal cost.
Advion Gel - this stuff is amazing. We only needed a small part of only 1 tube (4 tube kit). Some people swear by this alone.
Home-made “Roach Cookies”. Marble-size. Make with peanut butter and Harris Boric Acid Powder (see Amazon).
More “Roach Cookies”. Marble-size. Make with Harris Boric Acid Powder, bacon grease, flour and little water.
Sticky traps (to help validate activity). Count # collected each day.
Harris boric acid powder, behind stove
We also bought Gentrol IGR Concentrate (renders juveniles sterile before they can breed), and fortunately did not need it. If your infestation is serious this is a must and the best price I found: https://www.bedbugsupply.com/search.asp?keyword=gentrol
When I was a teenager I worked for a fast food]place at the beach, it was infested, they would fall out of the ceilings then they started treating with boric acid, put in the ketchup bottles and squeezed it in the corners and everywhere. It was amazing, a couple of weeks and they were pretty much gone. After that it was maintenance thing.
I’m in Florida. We call them flying palmetto bugs. I’m from NYC. We call them roaches and sprinkle boric acid in every nook and cranny.
When I moved here full time, that winter was unseasonably cold and I had issues with indoor “visitors.” My pest control company put boric acid behind the outlet plates at my request and came monthly for 3 months.
Now I’m dealing with wolf spiders and orb weavers… ugh…
@casailinglady – you can’t have paradise, like we do – without a hint of ‘evil’! Orb spiders keep down the ants and other critters. Wolf spiders are also good guys on the ‘get rid of pesky insects’ team. We do sweep cobwebs from the inside of the pool cage about weekly, to keep the guests happy.
In South Florida we have roaches by the dozen. Hundred. Anyway. The flying variety and the crawl-around-looking-evil variety.
Our mundane answer is the bug lady who comes here monthly and sprays some stuff around - plus the cat at home and the two strays who wander around the property.
Yep. I’m in South Georgia and I hate bugs. The only way to guarantee a bug free place around here is the real industrial evil chemicals put down by a licensed exterminator - they treat my listing once a month and I never see any bugs. The roaches here would just laugh at the home remedies.
I also leave out a can of “Off” during the summer months in case my guests want to enjoy the patio, elsewise the gnats and mosquitoes will carry them off.
BUT I’ve been bitten twice by wolf spiders and ended up in the ER due to severe complications. They love to live in mulch and every time my next door neighbor adds mulch, they come visit my home. I don’t know why - I have shell around the house. I’ve had to clean over 3 dozen of them out of the bottom of my pool as they can scuba dive. It was an infestation before I moved here full time. I still get them by the dozens. I could literally die from another bite.
Orb weavers are great, until the pool cage looks like Halloween every day. Then not so much.
Palmettos and the ground-dwelling cockroaches are actually different, although they are essentially the same critter and even the ground-dwelling ones can fly. We have both types where I live. Endemic to the area, and both equally disgusting, a real pain.
I didn’t know that. But I do know that leaving a door or window open in the evening means that the little buggers can come zooming in. It’s surprising how many guests to Florida like to leave a door open - to get the ‘Florida fresh air’ presumably - but letting them know about the creatures that can fly in usually puts them off continuing the practice.
New Orleans has the flying palmetto bugs as well ( and swarming termites in May!). I always warn guests if I have noticed any around so that if they know they are outside bugs that can find their way in (usually after a rain). No one has every really complained about them. It is the small little German cockroaches that are terribly hard to get rid of once you find them in your house. So gross!
When I say the ground dwelling cockroaches can fly, it’s more like they can fly short distances, but they seldom do- they seem to just scurry away, rather than use their wings. Sort of like chickens have wings and can fly enough to get up on a perch, but you don’t see a flock of chickens flying around.
I had them in my kitchen. It was horrible (and embarrassing bc they were the big ones). Fortunately the problem was mild enough that my guest didn’t notice. As soon as my calendar was free I snoozed my listings and treated using a diy method of boric acid and egg yolk that I found on youtube. The youtuber is called JT Fuller. HIs recipe worked like a charm for me. Within 3 weeks I was completely roach free, I triple cleaned every surface thoroughly, and was back up and running.
We tend to have the perception that cockroaches mean a place is dirty. But I’ve seen them running around in the desert in Baja where there is nothing dirty, no food around. They’re certainly disgusting, but unfortunately, they are just endemic to some areas.
How about these guys? I have lots around where I live. Totally horrendous looking and can get as big as a dinner plate, but they have no toxin and eat other bugs. They’re quite shy and tend to hide out in dark places. I keep a dead one in a jar to show guests, so they don’t have a heart attack if they happen to see a live one.
Also known as whip scorpions or false scorpions, though they aren’t related to scorpions at all. Apparently an evolutionary mutation of a spider, the 4th set of legs morphed into the long antennae.
