Yard Roaches Anyone? (Glendale: Home Depot, school, gated)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by MotleyCrew

The only time I have heard my husband scream like a girl was in HI. A really, really big roach flew up into his face after he sprayed it with Raid.

LMBO

The mental image of that is hilarious.

[TurcoLoco]

They withstand heat, cold, even radiation (scorpions too), they were here way before us and they will very much likely to be here long before we are all gone....good luck!


PS. I didn't want azriverfan to be the only one making small-talk and offering no real help! My AC died today and maintenance was not able to replace it, so I am sitting in a 90 degree room (with multiple fans blowing) semi-delusional, so forgive any of my posts tonight.

[AZRiverRat]

UG! OH! YUK!

YUP! I had never seen such a repulsive bug until I moved to Bullhead almost 20 years ago. Ive heard some people call them "palmetto bugs", but they are truly just a huge, nasty, filthy, flying sewer bugs!

Part of the reason they are so prevalant here is because of the close proximity of the Colorado River. Another reason is because many of the older sections of town had septic systems and not sewers. Make sure you seal all the areas around your pipes inside and outside your home. Having an exterminator come on a monthly basis will help.

Our previous home was right on the river, and the roach problem was horrendous. We were fortunate to have a huge population of lizards and they helped a lot.

One year we had a lot of rain, and consequently LOTS of ginormous roaches.......We also had a family of Skunks that frequented the neighborhood, and visited our yard to eat from the pomegranite tree and snack on those yummy crunchy bugs . We had to be really careful if we were outside at night.......We would see those bushy tails bobbing around in the yard. Nope, its not a kitty..........Someone would yell "SKUNK!" and everyone was inside the house in a flash LOL!

Best of luck to you and heres one last tip.............

Walk softly and carry a BIG SHOE!

~SPLAT~

[pushkinswife]

Originally Posted by TurcoLoco

They withstand heat, cold, even radiation (scorpions too), they were here way before us and they will very much likely to be here long before we are all gone....good luck!

[UrbaneAspects]

I had thought that moving out west I'd never see things like that...as roaches here are about 8-12 inches long in Florida.

Thats just nasty. Hope it works out for ya.

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by UrbaneAspects

I had thought that moving out west I'd never see things like that...as roaches here are about 8-12 inches long in Florida.

I hope noone out there believes that crap. Seriously.

[Rachel_Shangrula]

I, too have yard roaches. There are 3 that typically affect homes: The German, American and Oriental Cockroaches. If they are huge and flying, they are probably the American cockroach.

What to do: This will sound aggressive, but if you really attack the problem hard now, you'll have fewer headaches down the road. The steps: Clean, seal, kill, mantain.

Clean: Create a 'no man's land' between them and your home. Make sure all vegetation (groundcover, especially ivy) is not closer than 2' from the house. Try to clear out thick groundcover as far as 10 - 15' away from the house and thin plant material. Re-position trash cans to not be near the house. Move/eliminate any logs, brush piles or even overly thick mulch near the house.

Seal: Prevent them from entering. Whip out a handy caulk gun and go at it! Make sure all holes, vents pipes, etc. are sealed up tight. Check around windows and the weather stripping around your door. Replace the weather stripping if necessary. They can fly, so it may not hurt to check to roof, too. A good way to monitor any potential source of entry is a line of sticky-strips.

Kill: Ah, the fun step! Call an exterminator and have you're yard sprayed, property line to property line. You may seriously want to consider having the inside of you're house sprayed too, because a few could easily have gotten in. We did about a week after moving in and found 9 dead ones in the kitchen (eeww). The up-side of this step is that you'll see a bunch of 'crazy' ones wandering around in circles as they die. It's morbid, but kind-of fun.

Maintain: Have your yard sprayed once a month. If you did find any in your house, have the inside sprayed once every 3 months.

Good luck!

[observer53]

Argh, those flying roaches...

I'd spray the yard, too, but I would check with your city to see if they treat the sewers. Tempe does, they even have a number you can call to report roach issues. I've seen them out here treating the sewers; after that, you might see them, but they are either dead or staggering.

[gsheridan]

Apologies up front. I know this will be of no help whatsoever to the OP. It's just another disgusting roach story...just couldn't resist.

I used to eat at a great Greek place in Manhattan, which had lines out the door every day. It wasn't a fancy place at all - it was mostly take-out, but it had a few tables where we'd sit and eat our Souvlakis. We were in there one day, and there was a massive roach marching right down the aisle between the 2 lines of tables. It was one of those roaches that is so big, you could swear you hear its footsteps.

Anyway, one of the workers saw it, and ran over and stepped on it - green flourescent blood?/guts?/whatever oozed out of it. Instead of completely removing it, he just kicked it under the empty table across the aisle from us. I had barely made a dent in my Souvlaki, but I stopped eating immediately. It was everything I could do not to puke, and my friend sat there calmly and finished his food He grew up in Spanish Harlem, and like all of Manhattan(I think), people have roaches and just get used to it. I was horrified, and couldn't eat for hours.

[JDish2000]

Originally Posted by gsheridan

Apologies up front. I know this will be of no help whatsoever to the OP. It's just another disgusting roach story...just couldn't resist.

I used to eat at a great Greek place in Manhattan, which had lines out the door every day. It wasn't a fancy place at all - it was mostly take-out, but it had a few tables where we'd sit and eat our Souvlakis. We were in there one day, and there was a massive roach marching right down the aisle between the 2 lines of tables. It was one of those roaches that is so big, you could swear you hear its footsteps.

Anyway, one of the workers saw it, and ran over and stepped on it - green flourescent blood?/guts?/whatever oozed out of it. Instead of completely removing it, he just kicked it under the empty table across the aisle from us. I had barely made a dent in my Souvlaki, but I stopped eating immediately. It was everything I could do not to puke, and my friend sat there calmly and finished his food He grew up in Spanish Harlem, and like all of Manhattan(I think), people have roaches and just get used to it. I was horrified, and couldn't eat for hours.

Funny story... Original OP was from 2008?