STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Hermione · Kate Spade

I HATE roaches!!!!!!!!

Cortney1982 · Chanel

Sorry for your frustrations! I have never seen a roach before, except on tv so I don't know if I could handle it. I don't like squishing bugs either, for flies, I keep a jar for this (kind of a sport to catch them!) and a thick piece of paper and either let them die in there or release them outside.

NCshopper · Hermes

We get them occasionally in the summer and they are vile, vile creatures. I think it's just a fact of life when you live in the South--I'm not sure it has anything to do with cleanliness. Nonetheless, they are horrid.

kenzie · Chanel

Ew! We don't really have too many roaches here, so I can't really relate, but that's gross. I remember once, when I was about 14, my church youth group went on an outreach trip to Washington, DC. We were staying in the upstairs of a church and one of the youth group leaders saw a roach. Her response, "Oh look, a roach." And then she stepped on it. WITH HER BARE FOOT!!! Eeeek. Of course, she had previously been a missionary in the Philippines and had dealt with much worse than cock roaches. But still. Ew!

Farrah · Marc Jacobs

Are they the small ones or the big water ones? If they are the small ones I would highly suggest getting out of there because that means there is an infestation. Where there is one there are a million and nothing can be done to get rid of them other than leveling the building. (This is straight from the mouth of many exterminators and facilities people.) I lived in a roach infested building for about 2 weeks 6 years ago and it was the most horrendous experience of my life. When I moved out I had to throw out my couch and bed and have all of my clothes dry cleaned because they lay eggs quickly and the infestation can be carried from one place to the next very easily.

If they are the large water bugs, as gross as they are, they are harmless and only travel alone. They also cannot live outside of the water for very long which is why you might see a lot of dead ones on their backs. If you are seeing them in your bathroom it is most likely because you have an open pipe, shower/sink drain, or are not closing your toilet seat. Make sure that all of your drains and toilet seat stay closed. If you still see them have your building check the pipes in the room. I lived in an apartment once that I would see them in during the summer so I just left my vaccuum cleaner plugged in with the hose tool on at all times so I could just suck them up in it if I saw one.

Cricket · Gucci

This is my first summer living in the south (Alabama), and while I haven't seen one yet, while my mother in law was staying with my girls for a week, she said she saw 3 of those big water roaches. I haven't seen any and it's been 2 weeks, but if I do... watch out. I am so not a bug person, and there are so many bugs in Alabama in the summer. The june bugs are driving me crazy! Yuck!

I feel your pain, though. I'd be so disgusted and would probably move if I could. Good luck!

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

OMG that is my apartment!! Every darn morning during the summers I find 1 a day at least. They are usually really really small (ie babies) so they aren't so hard to go after and kill. But every now and then I find a medium sized one and just about die. They are always in my bathroom, never anywhere else. I think they must come from a vent or the faucet. I pray that when I move this fall that my new apartment won't have them but I know I am just kidding myself. All I can do is keep things clean and keep the exterminator coming in to spray.

Hermione · Kate Spade

Farrah -
They're the big ones -
I'm glad to know they travel alone, and you know what? The thingy that goes up and down on my bathtub was broken so I just took it off - I do think that since then I've been finding more.
I'm going to tell my complex to replace it! Thank you so so so much for telling me!
I did see one coming out of that hole in the back of the sink one time - you know that's there to prevent overflow? I have no idea what to do about that one -

Girls, thanks for not murdering me about this - I don't think I'm a very sissy person - but this is just one thing I really can't handle!

Farrah wrote:

Are they the small ones or the big water ones? If they are the small ones I would highly suggest getting out of there because that means there is an infestation. Where there is one there are a million and nothing can be done to get rid of them other than leveling the building. (This is straight from the mouth of many exterminators and facilities people.) I lived in a roach infested building for about 2 weeks 6 years ago and it was the most horrendous experience of my life. When I moved out I had to throw out my couch and bed and have all of my clothes dry cleaned because they lay eggs quickly and the infestation can be carried from one place to the next very easily.

If they are the large water bugs, as gross as they are, they are harmless and only travel alone. They also cannot live outside of the water for very long which is why you might see a lot of dead ones on their backs. If you are seeing them in your bathroom it is most likely because you have an open pipe, shower/sink drain, or are not closing your toilet seat. Make sure that all of your drains and toilet seat stay closed. If you still see them have your building check the pipes in the room. I lived in an apartment once that I would see them in during the summer so I just left my vaccuum cleaner plugged in with the hose tool on at all times so I could just suck them up in it if I saw one.

Cricket · Gucci

Hermione,

Which AL base did you live on? My husband is stationed at Maxwell in Montgomery. We have never lived on a base, but thought about it here because we're only here for a little more than a year, but the housing was so small and old that it wasn't an option for us. It did appear to be clean, but 1300 sq. feet for a family of 4 plus two dogs and a cat just doesn't work!

Farrah · Marc Jacobs

Hermione wrote:

I did see one coming out of that hole in the back of the sink one time - you know that's there to prevent overflow? I have no idea what to do about that one -

I would just put a piece of duct tape over it and leave it there until summer is over. You can replace it when necessary.

Hermione · Kate Spade

We were at Maxwell - It was the four of us plus 2 cats - I don't remember much about it but the roaches - and I think my brother and I shared a room (we were both still very young)

Cricket wrote:

Hermione,

Which AL base did you live on? My husband is stationed at Maxwell in Montgomery. We have never lived on a base, but thought about it here because we're only here for a little more than a year, but the housing was so small and old that it wasn't an option for us. It did appear to be clean, but 1300 sq. feet for a family of 4 plus two dogs and a cat just doesn't work!

Hermione · Kate Spade

Farrah - I'm going to try the tape. Thank you for your suggestions!

cahabo · Kate Spade

Kind of made me laugh how you deal with it because I'd be the same way. I can't even stand using a fly swatter for flies. I've never seen a cockroach before but, eeeeeeeek!. I sure hope you can get the problem resolved!

Hermione · Kate Spade

any of you girls who haven't seen them - or who haven't seen the big ones like i'm talking about (easily 2 inches or more) it's probably because you're not in the south - I grew up in DC but lived for one year in AL on the airforce base, and that's where I saw them. Probably first time my mom saw them too. having grown up near Chicago. When we moved back to DC, I didn't see them again until I moved to TX for school.

The funny thing is, I moved here to get away from the roaches - I was very close to moving to Baton Rouge as well, and it was going to be either here or there. I hadn't decided up until the week of whenever I was to move, and then someone mentioned to me that there were alot of roaches in BR. I immediately called my friends there and asked and they confirmed it. They said I'd "get used to it."
I booked it for TX.

I guess there's not as many here as there would have been there, but it's far from "roach free" like I had hoped.

blubirde · Chanel

This is late but I have to say: hahaha!! I hate those f***ers myself. I'll find one every once in awhile dead on the floor and have a mini freakout because I think I might have stepped on it and then throw it away. The other night I saw a live one climb behind my tv. It was a total fight to the death between the two of us. I had a broom in one hand, a shoe in the other and was carefully removing every piece of electronic/tv equipment until I could get to the damn thing. Needless to say, I won the battle.

But, the good news is that it's just a weather thing. It's not an infestation or a result of food lying around or whatever. It's just a bug that's coming indoors, like a spider for all intents and purposes (except much, much bigger). Luckily my bathroom and bedroom are on the 2nd floor and I've never seen one up there. I guess they don't do stairs very well.

orlando · Nine West

Yup, you'll see them in the south no matter how clean your house is. My husband and I bought a brand new house in November and not only do we occasionally see a roach, but we also have geckos, springtails, grubs, and the best.....scorpions!!!!!

luckyclover · Dooney & Bourke

OMG I know exactly what you mean! I hate them too and can't kill them because of the crunch ugh...just reading that made me all creepy crawly. Where we lived before there were 2 bathrooms. One had a shower and the other a tub. We never used the tub...there was some kind of plumbing leak if you turned on the water. We never made a big deal of it...we just used the shower instead. And then one night right before we moved I got up to pee and there was a roach in the tub! It had crawled up through the dry pipes. It was huge! But I couldn't bring myself to crunch it and didn't want to wake DH up at 4am to kill it because he had some important work stuff the next day. I was already freaking out and then it started to crawl OUT of the tub! I kept pouring water on it from the sink and it just kept coming back up so finally I covered the drain with the toothbrush holder (which was clear glass). I knew it couldn't get out so I went back to bed and in the morning it was STILL there just looking at me! DH got rid of it but I left the drain covered...when we left I left that toothbrush holder still over the drain lol.
Just for the record I was really really panicky about a roach sneaking over to the new house with us after that but (thank you Jesus!) none showed up.

Hermione · Kate Spade

luckyclover, that sounds exactly like something I would do! except I WOULD have woken him up! If sealing off my bathroom was an option, i'd do it, just to keep the dumb roaches out!

and lol about the roach looking at you - ha!

blubirde - you're brave for being willing to get it with a shoe!

tara t · Marc Jacobs

ew. i hate them too... but living in SC, they are everywhere. we have our house sprayed for bugs quarterly because i almost died when i saw a black widow spider on my porch. i could only think of one biting my dog and called the bug guy right away. so no roaches in my house.

also in SC, if the bug is in your house it's called a "palmetto bug" but if it's in someone elses house it's a "roach" haha.

blubirde · Chanel

orlando wrote:

Yup, you'll see them in the south no matter how clean your house is. My husband and I bought a brand new house in November and not only do we occasionally see a roach, but we also have geckos, springtails, grubs, and the best.....scorpions!!!!!

Ah, the beauty of new construction: scorpions. Luckily those go away with time (they're attracted to new wood or something like that).