Giant flying cockroaches who come into your kitchen when the weather starts getting hot and stay out of the way so you can't squish them, not that you'd really want to considering the mess it'd make

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I think there's not going to be much dissent on this one.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 12 May 2005 05:08 (twenty-one years ago)

PICZ

Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Thursday, 12 May 2005 05:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll see what I can do. Getting a shot of one on the wing will be pretty difficult, though.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 12 May 2005 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I've seen a few of those before. The only thing you can do is have on hand a large can of Raid roach spray, because there is NO way a squish will kill them. You have to bring out the chemicals with them. And make sure any companion animals aren't in the vicinity. Because you don't want them getting hurt.

Goodbye Indian Summer (Dee the Lurker), Thursday, 12 May 2005 05:41 (twenty-one years ago)

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

cindy williams permafrost (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 12 May 2005 05:42 (twenty-one years ago)

PALMETTO BUGS

latebloomer: the rebel sound of grits and bacon (latebloomer), Thursday, 12 May 2005 07:17 (twenty-one years ago)

we get these in south carolina. they are HORRIFYING.

latebloomer: the rebel sound of grits and bacon (latebloomer), Thursday, 12 May 2005 07:19 (twenty-one years ago)

OMG!! *faints*

PinXorchiXoR (Pinkpanther), Thursday, 12 May 2005 07:36 (twenty-one years ago)

there are at least two threads relating to the absolute horror known as palmetto/waterbugs, one of them started by me when i came home drunk and found a large specimen relaxing on my floor.

lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 12 May 2005 09:55 (twenty-one years ago)

C

adam (adam), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i lived in georgia for a bit and there were two insect phenomena i associate with that time. a) palmetto bugs - once i was walking down a sidewalk at night and there was a large shadow cast over the pavement ahead by a streetlight. upon closer inspection the shadow was a crawling mass of palmetto bugs. and yes, they are large, gross and can fly. *gag* b) lovebugs - these are small and look a bit like fireflies and they swarm at a certain point of the year down south. during the swarming season they fly around in twos, piggyback-style, mating in the air - hence their namesake.

Amon (eman), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Wait, I mean D.

Sitting on my porch the other night, I saw one like cat-sized. Must have been 2.5" long. Summer sucks.

adam (adam), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:21 (twenty-one years ago)


Yes, I once had one flying around, and I live up north, where they are not common. Then, the next year, would you believe we had one in the library?

zombie vermin go home (dymaxia), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:37 (twenty-one years ago)


Actually, around here, they seem to cause trouble when the weather is bad. Very often on a Monday, but sometimes it's Tuesday or Wednesday.

zombie vermin go home (dymaxia), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:38 (twenty-one years ago)

we don't have 'em here, except my last apartment had itsy bitsy ones.

jill schoelen is the queen of my dreams! (Homosexual II), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Excuse me, did you say cat-sized?

Baaderonixx (it must be a camel) (Fabfunk), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:45 (twenty-one years ago)

We have cockchafers.

Markelby (Mark C), Thursday, 12 May 2005 11:49 (twenty-one years ago)

A squish WILL kill these guys. I know from vile experience. The drawback is that the squish leaves about a 4" diameter mixture of chitin and bug guts, and cleaning up may be the only thing worse than leaving them alive and crawling/fluttering around.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 12 May 2005 14:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, and here in Texas we generally refer to the local variety as "tree roaches."

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Thursday, 12 May 2005 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Last night a friend was over sitting on the couch when he suddenly exclaimed 'dude,' and pointed out one of these mothers crawling across my kitchen floor. I took my Steely Dan songbook from the table and squashed the thing. Damn, I gotta move.

On the bass, 57 7th, he wrote this (calstars), Thursday, 12 May 2005 14:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Excuse me, did you say cat-sized?

Well, a tiny cat. Two and a half inches, which sounds small but is huge when you're talking about a winged, armored, goo-filled monster.

adam (adam), Thursday, 12 May 2005 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)

in my first apartment we would get these really scary looking centipedes every time the weather changed. my roommate had one in her bed once, and for a year, i couldn't go to bed without shanking out all my sheets and blankets first! i haven't gotten any creepy bugs yet here, but i'm experiencing an issue with squirrels. they seem to reallllly like to climb on the screen on my window, and i'm getting paranoid that the screen is going to give some day and i'll have new bedmates. i'm not really up for a furry lifestyle.

tehresa (tehresa), Thursday, 12 May 2005 14:49 (twenty-one years ago)


I tried to kill mine with a giant history of Chicago, but it kept flying around.

zombie vermin go home (dymaxia), Thursday, 12 May 2005 14:52 (twenty-one years ago)

ugh. they make noise when they fly! they're totally satan's emissaries.

lauren (laurenp), Thursday, 12 May 2005 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeesh, these are soooo prevalent here in north Florida. Fucking bastards. There's always a cockroach in my flat, and I usually find them first thing in the morning when I hop into the shower. Not a good way to wake up.

b) lovebugs - these are small and look a bit like fireflies and they swarm at a certain point of the year down south. during the swarming season they fly around in twos, piggyback-style, mating in the air - hence their namesake.
Yup, they always pop up in March and September here, unless it's really cold. This past March was chilly for Floridian standards and so I saw very few lovebugs.

That's not cocaine! It's Ian Riese-Moraine! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 12 May 2005 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

We have cockchafers

and do they?

MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 12 May 2005 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

two months pass...
YUCK i had never seen a roach before so i thought these things were just crickets or beetles and ignored them. my roommate goes 'oh there's a roach in the bathroom' so i looked at it and now i think every bug i see is a roach. can they be small, like 1.5 cm? i think there's one crawling around on my desk right now.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 17 July 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

Roaches start off small. Alas, I have seen many roaches in my time. I once lived over a soul food restaurant and the roach (and sometimes rodent) infestation from its kitchen overflowed into my apartment. (I moved after a year. If I had been older and more experienced, I would have gotten out of the lease, I think.)

I don't know what I would do about flying roaches. People keep telling me to move to the South, but I am not going to move anywhere that has flying roaches, even if I could see El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico play every week.

Yo soy Rockist Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 17 July 2005 12:58 (twenty years ago)

never ever live over a restaurant! i assume you know that now.

jody heatherton (Jody Beth Rosen), Sunday, 17 July 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

YUCK i had never seen a roach before

how?

Ô¿Ô (eman), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

never ever live over a restaurant! i assume you know that now.

I was pretty green at that point. Once I moved in I vaguely remembered having heard something like that. I do know now. Oddly enough though, I ended up moving over another restaurant at another time, but I was pretty high up and didn't have bug problems beyond the ordinary. However, I did have some problems with exhaust and an odd smoke problem. (I would probably end up giving away the exact restaurant if I explained that further.)

Here's a link to an article with a photo (the one that says Rittenhouse Coffee Shop and has a cute facade) of the former soul food restaurant (now one of a series of buildings in a well-publicized state of limbo):

http://www.preservationalliance.com/news_19sansom.php

I also lived in the building on the left in the photo, a few years later. (It was a good building from a noise control perspective. My bedroom shared know walls with any neighboring apartments. Had to fight like hell to get heat though.)

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

Here's another. (That's not me.)

http://buten.net/max/cc/tn_1904Sansom_2537.JPG

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

(I'm not really presuming this much interest.)

Rockist_Scientist (RSLaRue), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

i don't know how i went without seeing a roach. i live in the north, maybe? i know they exist there, though. i know i've stayed in hostels and stuff that had roaches but just never saw them.

caitlin oh no (caitxa1), Sunday, 17 July 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

I JUST KILLED ONE.

i saw it crawling around my cats' litter box. a chase ensued, lasting aproximately ten minutes. the ungodly beast hid behind a desk, then behind some boxes, only to meet its fate at the hand of my trusty bug swatter.

YE UNHOLY BEASTS OF SATAN, BEWARE!

latebloomer: lazy r people (latebloomer), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 05:25 (twenty years ago)

it was a full two and a half inches long, with looooong creepy fucking antennae.

latebloomer: lazy r people (latebloomer), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 05:29 (twenty years ago)

http://www.roachcontrol.com/aroach.jpg

latebloomer: lazy r people (latebloomer), Tuesday, 19 July 2005 05:31 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

Getting along to even less appealing aerial beasts than grackles, last night at about 10 I had my first encounter with a flying cockroach of this season. I'm in a new apartment (new to me - I think the building is probably 25-30 years old), and it's always exciting here in the hot and humid zone to discover the bug-proofiness or lack thereof in a new dwelling. Anyway, this three inch fucker was whirling around my living room and lighting on the walls - including some drawings I had just pinned up. So, squashing him where he stood didn't seem to be a good option. I ended up capturing him in a paper bag and then smushing him by hand through the protective layer it proveded. Still gross, though, feeling and hearing the carapace shatter like they do.

Enjoy your lunch!

Oilyrags, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 17:16 (eighteen years ago)

Sorry, about the grackle thing - repost from elsewhere.

Oilyrags, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 17:19 (eighteen years ago)

ew. i'm dreading this.

Surmounter, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 17:20 (eighteen years ago)

I didn't even know flying cockroaches EXISTED. The return of the lord is truly near.

Z S, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 17:34 (eighteen years ago)

omg once i was playing my keyboard, and THE FUCKING FLYING COCKROACH JUMPED ON THE KEYS

enough said

Surmounter, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 17:34 (eighteen years ago)

I love grackles!

Abbott, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 17:48 (eighteen years ago)

Man, why?

Oilyrags, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 17:54 (eighteen years ago)

They're so full of themselves. I like their odd legs and how they walk, I like watching their mating rituals which involve a lot of puffing up and two-stepping. I like their sounds. I like that they're dirty looking and homely but still very egotistical. I like most every bird, tho.

Abbott, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:00 (eighteen years ago)

giant bugs are easy to catch, at least. i need something to eat all these goddamn mosquitos and things... maybe i'll build a bat house.

Kerm, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:09 (eighteen years ago)

Baby geckos that live in my house eat the baby cockroaches that live in my house. Thanks and much <3 you adorable baby geckos.

Abbott, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:10 (eighteen years ago)

I want geckos!

Laurel, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:26 (eighteen years ago)

lesson from when i lived in florida as a kid: never kick a palm tree at night. you will be horrified at what comes out of every nook and cranny of that thing.

i hate cockroaches' oily rootbeer colored guts so much! and the flying big ones are definitely the worst. they will fly right at your head. i've made many horrible man-yells when they've done this.

andrew m., Wednesday, 21 May 2008 18:45 (eighteen years ago)

ha, man-yells.

they are so unafraid of humans and the cat doesn't concern herself with them. once, when i was taking a shower, one entered the stall with me! NOOOOOOO!

Ai Lien, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 19:13 (eighteen years ago)

i probably mention my beloved sophie the rat too much, but another great thing about her: ace roach hunter/eater!

andrew m., Wednesday, 21 May 2008 19:22 (eighteen years ago)

(RIP sophie!)

andrew m., Wednesday, 21 May 2008 19:23 (eighteen years ago)

wait surmounter don't you live in brooklyn? we don't have these here....do we? please say no

bell_labs, Wednesday, 21 May 2008 19:26 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

i have the smaller version of these things in my new apt.
any tips on how to deal with these things?

my cock is a spiral ham (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 15 July 2010 04:10 (fifteen years ago)

Sprinkle boric acid underneath and behind everything. It kills them when they lick it off of their legs and antennae. The ones that make it out into the open are slowed down and sickly.

This solution is less toxic than Combat brand bait poison containers. Use those as well.

Maintain a perimeter of wildlife friendly landscaping around the exterior of the house to encourage lizards, toads, and spiders. They may eat the roaches before your walls are penetrated.

making posts (Zachary Taylor), Thursday, 15 July 2010 06:04 (fifteen years ago)

Might not be the right climate for lizards - but we have spiders and cats all around the house.
I do have a pet chameleon tho! - but the last thing i want to do is keep him in the kitchen (where the fuckers are) or expose him to any chemicals.
thanks for the tip - will def look into boric acid. any idea if it's safe to use in the kitchen area?

my cock is a spiral ham (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 15 July 2010 06:21 (fifteen years ago)

we do under the stove and sink, behind the refrigerator, things like that. It doesn't emit anything as far as I know. Keep it away from animals and utensils I guess.

making posts (Zachary Taylor), Thursday, 15 July 2010 06:26 (fifteen years ago)

i have had palmetto bugs fly into my bedroom on two separate occasions in the last couple weeks

fuck these things imo

latebloomer, Thursday, 15 July 2010 09:05 (fifteen years ago)

See if you can figure out where they're coming in, maybe an open drain? They can fit through smaller spaces than you might think, so if your sinks and/or tub have stoppers, try closing the drains at night. Just an idea.

the soul of the avocado escapes as soon as you open it (Laurel), Thursday, 15 July 2010 13:30 (fifteen years ago)

One billion of those smaller roaches invaded my mom's house last summer. They started living in her desk and printer so she chucked the printer, stuck the desk outside in the sun for a few days with all the drawers emptied and laid out. She emptied every cabinet in the kitchen and sprinkled Borax everywhere including all over the couch. Borax is non toxic, she has two cats and they weren't harmed by it. Within a week they had moved out. Now she is insane about crumbs and doing dishes immediately after using them but still no cockroaches.

peacocks, Thursday, 15 July 2010 13:43 (fifteen years ago)

The geckos that lived in my former house were just geckos that came in from outside. I didn't buy them or anything. Deliberately buying them would be like the time my parents bought a goat in the hopes that it would eat all the cheat grass on their 1.5 acre plot, ie bad value for the cost & inefficient.

I always had good luck w/the bait poison containers, where they take the bait back to their homes & feed it to babies = dead baby roaches. I also loved imagining this. "Go poison your children!"

Also, I know you moved into a place w/them, but once you get rid of them, be like peacocks' mom and keep that shit clean. Also keep your food containers closed tight.

could be a bad day for (Abbott), Thursday, 15 July 2010 18:15 (fifteen years ago)

i'm normally a clean enough person - and have pretty much been off the charts since i first spotted these fuckers! on my way to buy Borax now.

my cock is a spiral ham (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 16 July 2010 20:46 (fifteen years ago)

oh man, that SUCKS. hate to tell you but if it's an apt, you might be doomed to live with them unless you leave or the whole building is dealt with (maybe it's small??)

had them once when i first lived on the Quay at the bottom of Spadina (supposedly nice place) and they were absolutely everywhere, two varieties even so they must have been there a good while. horrifying! roommate and i freaked out, sterilized and bug sprayed, and had basically no food in the place at all, but they still came up from the other apts via plumbing, inside the walls and out from the baseboards, running across my bed etc... i was literally in tears over it every day and was considering breaking the lease to get out, and then like some miracle, service staff entered all the apts for "maintenance purposes" (never officially admitted there were roaches) made a bunch of little holes in all the under cabinets, and secretly fumigated the little creepers out of existence.

never saw another one after that and i ended up staying there about 7 years. so i'd lean hard on your landlord if i were you. good luck - i feel your pain!

Kim, Saturday, 17 July 2010 02:10 (fifteen years ago)

Oh, Kim, that sounds like a nightmare.

could be a bad day for (Abbott), Saturday, 17 July 2010 05:51 (fifteen years ago)

i would move out of they were turning up in my bed! fortunately i'm not seeing them outside the kitchen very often.
just put down the boric acid under the sink etc. hopefully that keeps em down for a while.

my cock is a spiral ham (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Saturday, 17 July 2010 06:24 (fifteen years ago)

one year passes...

I went downstairs in Dad's "man cave" to get some stuff out, and... some coo coo critter (insect division) has taken up residence down there. At least it isn't a hornet's nest. But I am scared of how it got in there.

Die, Foghat, Die (Mount Cleaners), Saturday, 3 September 2011 14:28 (fourteen years ago)

four weeks pass...

http://i.imgur.com/aUhRk.png

dayo, Sunday, 2 October 2011 01:04 (fourteen years ago)

five years pass...

fuck ya

N Vogue (darraghmac), Sunday, 5 February 2017 23:13 (nine years ago)

DARRAGHMAC DON'T READ THIS
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http://shanghaiist.com/2017/02/07/cockroach_ear.php

, Tuesday, 7 February 2017 13:29 (nine years ago)

That wasn't so bad man

What else u got

N Vogue (darraghmac), Tuesday, 7 February 2017 14:05 (nine years ago)


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