Palmetto Bugs

yavel · July 2006

Has anyone else been plagued by these things lately?

I've been seeing one or two every day for the past week. I guess they must love this hot and humid weather, but I've never been visited by so many of these things before. Wtf?

idlewild · July 2006

They're usually in the cellars where it's damp. Glue boards should work somewhat. Or a feisty cat. Maybe a lighter and a spraycan of Lysol.

livetotravel · July 2006

Don't sugarcoat your problem - you have an infestation of the American Cockroach! (called Palmetto bugs only in the South). Loves warm, moist environments.

Get thee to the store to buy cockroach hotels.

carmen · July 2006

even in the south we called those roaches. Only the "rich" people had "palmetto bugs" or "water bugs."

they're roaches, plain and simple.

quijibo · July 2006

when i lived in florida
we'd call them palmetto bugs

i saw one this morning in the hallway, as i was leaving for work
looked just like this:

upside down and dead -- just the way they should be

they love this weather

yavel · July 2006

I'm not sugar coating the problem, but I think there should be some way to distinguish between the mildly disgusting small things that live in colonies, and the HUGE loner things that come up out of the bowels of the sewers and will FLY right at you kamikaze style. :shock:

anonymous · July 2006

Saw one of these in my ground floor sublet as I stumbled into the bathroom at 4am. At first I thought it was a giant cockroach. Whatever it is, its super fast - it was running all over the place and I had to jump out of the way in my flip flops. In the morning it was dying belly up in the kitchen.

brooklynpotter · July 2006

it's a giant roach. those things scare the crap out of me.

get the GIANT combat baits. and pray.

yavel · July 2006

I didn't think they came in that size. I am off to Lowes.

prusik · July 2006

Subject: American Cockroach

Best line in the Wikipedia description of the American Cockroach...

The insect is often considered a pest since it invades living quarters for sanctuary and food.

And who doesn't consider these things to be a pest? :?:

livetotravel · July 2006

In some parts of Brooklyn they are considered pets :roll:

prusik · July 2006

Livetotravel wrote: In some parts of Brooklyn they are considered pets :roll:

Are they covered by any kind of leash law?

quijibo · July 2006

Yavel wrote: I'm not sugar coating the problem, but I think there should be some way to distinguish between the mildly disgusting small things that live in colonies, and the HUGE loner things that come up out of the bowels of the sewers and will FLY right at you kamikaze style. :shock:

when that motherfucker. and i'm using restraint
when that motherfucker flew right at my face when i was seven years old
with those big antennae the size of baseball bats waving and smelling my fear
coming closer. and closer

i froze in confusion.

not knowing whether to cry and drop a load
or run screaming. i managed to do both

dope on the slope · July 2006

Mine's bigger.

anonymous · July 2006

Sometimes if there's construction nearby, they'll scurry over to your place. Here's what I do when I see one - it may be a bit high-maintenance but it works: I grab a glass bowl and a bottle of tea tree oil, throw a few drops of the oil into the bowl, and clap the bowl over the waterbug (as we called them when I was a kid in NY). The oil kills it. If it's taking too long you can put a few more drops onto the floor next to the bowl and carefully slide the bowl into position over the oil slick.

Combat or Raid Max baits for large roaches work very well, too. I HATE these things. They make me feel violated and unclean.

seven24 · July 2006

I don't see roaches too often but I do get plenty of silverfish,
and I honestly believe that spiders can smell my fear. Spiders are constantly stalking me.

anonymous · July 2006

"and clap the bowl over the waterbug (as we called them when I was a kid in NY). "

So the exterminator was over the other day and I was able to show him the "evidence." He looked at the dead body of the creature and called it a water bug, aka American Cockroach. The good news about these things according to the exterminator and another source is that they tend to come in when there's moisture outside. It does NOT mean the entire building is colonized. BIG difference here. Point is if u saw something like the pics in the other posts u'll be ok. Set traps if u want too, but these guys are a relatively minor disturbance in the big pesty picture.

raw · July 2006

Can we please get a more exciting image on the Daily Slope's main page. I am sick of looking at those boring bugs.

amyskittysitting · July 2006

Dope on the Slope wrote: Mine's bigger.

That's no roach, that's a water bug my friend

The roach's large cousin. One week in the service industry and you'll no all about them!

steve · July 2006

I'm too lazy to properly research this but I thought the Palmetto bugs were considered "American" and the little guys considered "German" Cockroaches.

Ok, I'm looking it up, and that's right. I hate roaches. I saw a couple of germans in my place, but I attribute that to the heat, and my being away for the week before I saw them

However, I think a fly dropped dead from the heat in the bathroom earlier. I actually felt sorry for it. It was pathetic.

steve · July 2006

and having read that, I am never turning the lights in the kitchen or bathroom off again.

yavel · July 2006

Lol! I didn't realize my roach problem made the headlines. I'm glad I registered under a pseudonym.

anonymous · July 2006

Subject: waterbug

I've been seeing these pleasant creatures around as well, I swear one was chasing me up my block one night... ok maybe I'm paranoid but really whats going on with these things I've lived in this neighborhood my whole life and I've never seen so f*ing many in such a short period of time. Call them what you will but they are the nastiest things, whats the best way to keep them out of my bathroom?

sweet tea · July 2006

Subject: Re: waterbug

technicallychallenged wrote: Call them what you will but they are the nastiest things, whats the best way to keep them out of my bathroom?

get a cat.

we got those creatures at our old place, but not one of them made it out of the bathroom alive. and the cats were entertained.

rose · July 2006

Combat worked really well in my old apartment. Also boric acid -- all along where the wall meets the floor -- this works for ants too.

The big roaches/waterbugs are really horrifying -- especially the ones with wings :shock: -- but it's true that they are usually just visiting. The little ones are the ones that move in and stay.

simonesays · July 2006

Don't use boric acid if you have pets or children (unless you don't like your children

)

rose · July 2006

That's a good point about the boric acid. Usually in these old buildings, there will be gaps where the baseboard/molding doesn't quite meet the floor, or even behind the molding if it's pulling away from the wall. You want to find these crevices and get the boric acid into them, because that's most likely where the bugs are coming from. Then you can wipe up any excess before your children eat it.

carnivore · July 2006

Rose wrote: That's a good point about the boric acid. Usually in these old buildings, there will be gaps where the baseboard/molding doesn't quite meet the floor, or even behind the molding if it's pulling away from the wall. You want to find these crevices and get the boric acid into them, because that's most likely where the bugs are coming from. Then you can wipe up any excess before your children eat it.

The best thing to do is to fill in the gaps with caulk. If they're really large, stuff steel wool in first to fill the gap and then cover with caulk. Fill gaps between the wall and floor, around door and window frames (including the inside of the frames in the closets), around the pipes under your sink, around the gas line behind your stove... any potential route into your apartment. If you have vents in the kitchen and bathroom, cover them with a fine mesh screen and seal the edges. Then once you eliminate the problem from your own apartment, you don't have to worry about a reservoir of them in your neighbors' apartments ready to come back into yours. If you can, it's ideal to bomb the place (Raid makes 2 types- "the fumigator" and "the fogger". I suggest using a few of each) before you move in and then seal it off as I described above. Then you start off with a fresh bug-free place, and you don't get any of the insecticide on your stuff, so it's easy to clean up before you move in.

quijibo · July 2006

combat is da bomb! :shock:
i can't use those sprays cause of the dawg
but this heat is making them crazy and brazen

upon waking this morning, i found one crawling up the bathroom wall
as soon as it felt my hand nearing to squash it dead
it kicked its 6 legs away from the wall. all kamikaze style
throwing itself onto the floor, landed and scurried away

i had to laugh. stupid cockroach...

carnivore · July 2006

quijibo wrote: combat is da bomb! :shock:
i can't use those sprays cause of the dawg
but this heat is making them crazy and brazen

upon waking this morning, i found one crawling up the bathroom wall
as soon as it felt my hand nearing to squash it dead
it kicked its 6 legs away from the wall. all kamikaze style
throwing itself onto the floor, landed and scurried away

i had to laugh. stupid cockroach...

If you're using traps, you should also get ones that have the "egg-stoppers". These will help to rapidly get your roach problem under control. Also, you can still use sprays in areas your dog can't access, such as under the kitchen sink, behind the refrigerator, around the outside of your front door, etc.

Believe me, I have experience with this stuff. I used to live in the Bronx. :evil:

stacey · July 2006

Carnivore wrote: Believe me, I have experience with this stuff. I used to live in the Bronx. :evil:

Those bronx roaches are real mother#$)*%. I heard they have their own union

But Carvnivoire's advice is the best - caulk all openings - especially under the sink where your pipe comes out of the wall. We are having more of a problem with ants (which get in through the cracks around the air conditioner). For that we use the combat ant traps (although the kitties have taken to smacking it around like a hockey puck) and they seem to work ok.

Palmetto Bugs

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