Did you ever live in a place that had so many bugs that you

[styersc]

eventually just gave up hating them and got used to them. In college we had an unspoken agreement with the roaches that anything between the shins and the floor was theirs and anything above was ours. They were allowed to live in peace if they obeyed the treaty.

[Maestro]

1. When it comes to cockroaches I kill all!

No treaties or diplomacy! When it comes to cockroaches I sound sort of rethuglican. :scared:

[styersc]

3. I live in the land of the Palmetto Bug which is a variety of roach

but four times the size. Last time I hit a Palmetto Bug with the newspaper, it took the paper from my hand and cut out the best coupons.

[Maestro]

5. Well at least those cockroaches know how to save money.

:rofl:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

24. Are those the flying tree roaches we have in Texas?

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

2. We are currently fighting a "little black ant" problem

I put Terro liquid ant baits in the pantry, which quickly killed them. Now they're along the baseboard in the game room, so I put one there. They're supposed to be nontoxic to pets, but I don't want to take the chance, so I have to put it under something so the cats won't find it. I don't hate ants, but I don't want them living in my home unless in an ant farm!

[VenusRising]

15. Use a spray bottle of soap solution.

Just use regular dish soap in the bottle with some water and spray it where the ants come in. The soap suffocates them and kills them quickly. I have done it numerous times and it always seems to run them off.

Good luck with your ant problem.

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

17. Thanks - I'll try it!

:hi:

[noonwitch]

4. I've been in some pretty nasty houses over the years

I was at one about 18 years ago that had so many roaches on one wall, that it appeared that the wall was moving. The people in the house left plates of food everywhere-on tables, dressers, etc., and it smelled horrific. I was just glad to leave without sitting down on any of the furniture and without seeing any rats.

I'm a social worker in children's services, in Detroit. I've seen some pretty nasty houses in the 20 years I've been working there.

[styersc]

7. My grandmother used to put a saucer full of beer down on the...

...kitchen floor with the idea, I guess, that the roaches lap it up and drink themselves to death. Don't know if it worked but lapping beer out of a saucer on the floor kept Grandpa limber.

[xmas74]

10. Never heard that one

but pepsi will kill mice.

[commander bunnypants]

8. 10 years for me adult services.

I once went into a house that the walls were brown with nicotine. It had never been painted. Glad I did not see the bathroom.

:hi:

CB

[idgiehkt]

6. spiders are everywhere all of a sudden

I'm kind of undecided about how to handle it.

[Kali]

9. oh man

the carpenter ants can have the counter and bathroom floor after dark (they don't seem to hurt anything) but piss ants cause action - they stink and get into cereal boxes and stink. did I mention they stink? i hit thier trails and the window and door sills with diatomaceous earth.

desert cockroaches are rare and of no concern (they occasionally fly to inside lights) but real "city" cockroaches? :nuke: (come in on used furniture and crap like that)

we also have walapai tigers or kissing bugs that lurk until you are sleeping and then suck your blood - those get hunted down and crushed

we also have scorpions that follow this other stuff in - those get killed as do crickets and flies. Spiders are encouraged to stay but will get vacuumed if their webs start interfering with travel through rooms.

then there are the minor annoyances like a zillion moths that come to the lights, but they can be directed back outside by leaving one on out there and turning all inside lights off.

Yes we have screens but this house is pretty old and there are lots of "leaks"

[RebelOne]

11. When I lived in South Florida, I always had to have a can of Raid nearby. n/t

[hyphenate]

12. I've had a phobia of bugs

for most of my life. Currently, I have a carpenter ant infestation and a fly fest that varies from small to tiny (fruit flies right now). The flies no longer make me skittish, but the ants do (they're over 1/2" in length) and I've declared war on them this year. As far as my phobia, it's less of a phobia right now and more of an all out disgust and desire for entomocide (killing of insects?).

As far as roaches would be concerned, if I saw one, I would immediately remove all the cats from the house, put them in my car and myself in the backyard and bomb the shit out of the place, probably twice a week for three or four weeks. If that didn't do the trick, I'd move on to a professional exterminator. And the first time I actually SAW a roach, I would get a cheap hotel room until I knew they were gone permanently. **shiver**

[jobycom]

13. I just let them be, usually. I grew up in Mississippi, and live in Texas

so bugs are just part of the atmosphere to me. I see people sitting around with fly swatters or bug spray, and wonder what the heck they are bothering with. You kill a bug, more will arrive to replace it. It's got to be a hobby for these people, because it doesn't decrease the number of bugs. I guess it's a form of revenge.

The only ones I really have a problem with are cockroaches--the Palmetto bugs you mentioned. I was swarmed by them as a kid, and I still can't get over the phobia without a supreme effort. Luckily, my cats find them amusing as chew toys, so mostly I just have to vacuum up parts.

Oh yeah, and horse flies. Those are evil.

[electron_blue]

14. Roaches in the bedsprings of one dorm room in college long ago. I had nightmares all that summer

can't say as I got used to it. Of course now I'd immediately insist on fresh bedding from the dorm-meisters, but at the time, being 18, naive, and afraid of authority, I just put up with it. But never got used to it.

[crim son]

16. I'm doing that with ants right now.

I have a real phobia about ants and in the past the sight of more than two or three in a season has had me literally hysterical. This year I'm seeing them and killing them and the STBE isn't here to take care of them so... meh. I still get a shiver but I've also developed a WTF attitude.

[hippywife]

18. Every coupla years or so

we get invaded by ladybugs. I don't mind them so much which is a really good thing since tons of them seem to find their way into the house! Last year it was boxelder bugs. That I did mind! Again, tons of those! I was so glad when they finally all died off, went awy, whatever!

I moved down here to OK from OH and I was totally freaked out by the scorpions that would occasionally find their way into the house. We seem to see more of them when the rains have been heavy and they're looking for higher ground and end up in the house. The longer we've lived here and the more we've done to house, the fewer of them we actually see.

There have been times in the past when I felt like I was in one of those PBS documentaries where they are totally focused on the bug and there are people (out of focus) in the background walking around totally unaware of the presence of the little critters! LOL

[Pierre.Suave]

19. yes

this mysterious place was called "Windows", and I finally escaped to "Apple" and will never go back to "Windows."

[hfojvt]

20. it's your own fault

If you were not clearly an enemy of the state, then Homeland Security would not be bugging you.

Can't you buy a device to sweep for them?


I know what you mean though. When I first moved into my Nebraska apartment I was freaked out by the roaches. I cleaned up though, and got some traps and poison and reduced their numbers. But after a while I would be watching TV and see a roach appear on the wall. Meh, too much trouble to get up and kill it. I used to leave spiders alone, as a matter of principle, since I figured they would kill other bugs for me. Then I found out the suckers will bite you while you're asleep.

[Nikia]

21. Luckily roaches don't live in this part of WI

We sprayed for ants when we moved in since there seemed to be a problem. Although we occaisionally see one, the infestation seems to be over. My husband actively swats flying insect and my dog likes killing insects as well.
We just noticed that we have mice today though which disturbs me a lot.

[Mutley]

22. There are mosquitos out the wazoo around here.

You should see my poor legs. I didn't have to deal with this when I lived in the city. :cry:

[Broken_Hero]

23. Nope, never....

I'm in the SW Missouri Bug Killing Army, 44th Airborne Division....The only good bug, is a dead one.....:D

:hi:

[Left_Winger]

25. No, but I had this weird friend in college

who was not the best housekeeper...

In his bathroom there was a bar of soap with a toothpick inserted, and impaled on the toothpick was a dead roach. When I asked him why, he told me that it served as a warning to all other roaches who dared enter.