Bugs?

[HumidBeing]

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We do NOT have roaches in the South. We have Palmetto bugs. (A giant roach by any other name...) In the summer they creep across the ceiling and then fly down and land on you. Ugh! I have a terrarium of the Madagascar ones & those are cool. Still, I think having wild ones dive bomb and land on my neck or hair will always creep me out.

DC roaches are just regular ole city roaches. You've gotta go to warmer climates for the mega-roaches.

 

[Lawliet2008]

My family and I stopped by in Dubai once for a day of shopping. The city is breathtaking, but it is so hot there that people pay to cool the water down and not warm it up. Of course my mother wanted to stay in a cheap downtown hotel (so that we wouldn't waste time commuting) instead of the gorgeous hilton room the airline offered to pay for us.

The owner swore to us that there were no roaches in his room even as a 2-3 incher crawled up the insect-repellent drenched wall behind him. My mom told us to suck it up and get to sleep. My brother, sister, and I huddled on the same bed and took turns keeping watch. I swear, there were roaches in the fridge, and more crawling on top of each other in the washroom (I never had to hold it for so long in my life). We went outside for a drink, there were roaches in the vat of soda the man was feeding us.

Ugggh.

 

[seraph524]

hahahahhaha you should probably not have used the word "creeper"

from urbandictionary.com:

Creeper

A person who does weird things, like stares at you while you sleep, or looks at you for hours through a window. usually a close friend or relative.

Older men who hang out in college clubs and bars and stare at girls half their age and occasionally make obscene gestures and comments.

A man who is very odd and lurks around the mall staring at young girls . a creeper can also be a very wierd looking man or boy who does not like to socialize but just stays in a corner and stares at people .

😆

By the way, this thread is soooo disgusting lol

 

[BluePhoenix]

Ew! My cat loves bugs too but I think I draw the line at huge, juicy spiders and even larger, even juicier roaches.

I don't want my cat eating that crap. Especially with all the gross crud in a roach's gut.

Well...I don't think she actually eats roaches...maybe just the little ones, more that they avoided the apartment because there was always something constantly running around and ready to mess with them if they ever got in...I guess the other apartments were just much more dark and still than mine.

 

[nick_carraway]

My family and I stopped by in Dubai once for a day of shopping. The city is breathtaking, but it is so hot there that people pay to cool the water down and not warm it up. Of course my mother wanted to stay in a cheap downtown hotel (so that we wouldn't waste time commuting) instead of the gorgeous hilton room the airline offered to pay for us.

The owner swore to us that there were no roaches in his room even as a 2-3 incher crawled up the insect-repellent drenched wall behind him. My mom told us to suck it up and get to sleep. My brother, sister, and I huddled on the same bed and took turns keeping watch. I swear, there were roaches in the fridge, and more crawling on top of each other in the washroom (I never had to hold it for so long in my life). We went outside for a drink, there were roaches in the vat of soda the man was feeding us.

Ugggh.

That's the most ridiculous story I've heard. "Cheap downtown hotel" in Dubai?

Hahahaha.

 

[Lawliet2008]

That's the most ridiculous story I've heard. "Cheap downtown hotel" in Dubai?

Hahahaha.

I swear to God, every word is true. I didn't notice how pretty the city was until we were flying away since I was on hyper-roach-watch the whole time.

 

[nick_carraway]

I swear to God, every word is true. I didn't notice how pretty the city was until we were flying away since I was on hyper-roach-watch the whole time.

Well when'd you go? Maybe it wasn't pretty back then.

 

[Lawliet2008]

Well when'd you go? Maybe it wasn't pretty back then.

On a "cold" (it was 40oC, everyone was wearing coats and I thought I would melt into a little puddle on the floor b/c I was sweating so much) in August 2003.

Don't get me wrong, the city is gorgeous, but downtown shopping markets were like something out of a nightmare for me. And it was a cheap hotel (equivalent to cheap motel in the west).

 

[lacesoutdan]

We do NOT have roaches in the South. We have Palmetto bugs. (A giant roach by any other name...) In the summer they creep across the ceiling and then fly down and land on you. Ugh! I have a terrarium of the Madagascar ones & those are cool. Still, I think having wild ones dive bomb and land on my neck or hair will always creep me out.

DC roaches are just regular ole city roaches. You've gotta go to warmer climates for the mega-roaches.

Palmetto bugs are as nasty as it gets.

If you're concerned about roaches, maybe you should get a laborador retriever. My yellow lab hunts and eats any and all moving insects in sight. Unfortunately he also eats anything he can reach on a counter top or table, batteries and steel wool included.

 

[doinmybest5840]

Palmetto bugs are as nasty as it gets.

If you're concerned about roaches, maybe you should get a laborador retriever. My yellow lab hunts and eats any and all moving insects in sight. Unfortunately he also eats anything he can reach on a counter top or table, batteries and steel wool included.

*sputter*cough*gag* That is just vile.

 

[shippudenfan]

I can't take a bag to one of my volunteer places b/c the client has soooo many roaches in her house. I'm terrified that one of them will follow me home so much that I'm willing to freeze through the below -1oC up here in Canada.

When I see one crawling up the wall, I tense up and start sweating. "What's wrong" she asks, I wimper and reply weakly "nothing".

 

[Doublecortin]

Palmetto bugs are as nasty as it gets.

If you're concerned about roaches, maybe you should get a laborador retriever. My yellow lab hunts and eats any and all moving insects in sight. Unfortunately he also eats anything he can reach on a counter top or table, batteries and steel wool included.

😱

 

[Ambrosha]

Half-an-inch?? That's nothing! Everything's bigger in Texas...and WAY bigger for roaches. 😱

I've definitely seen some terrible things already in my life. I've lived in NC and GA, and in GA it wasn't that bad. NC was fine. Is Texas worse than GA? I need more deciding factors between a TX school (San Antonio) and Colorado. i.e. are there flying roaches? There's been some very helpful tidbits on the worst of the worst, but what about actual likely living circumstances? Probably in apartments?

Thanks for the info!

 

[HumidBeing]

Oh, yeah - the South has scorpions, too. They aren't just a Southwestern phenomena; they thrive all the way over to the Southeast. . . and there are the ever present fire ants taking over everything.

You Northerners have the dreaded snow and icy cold weather. We Southerners have critters.

 

[Old Grunt]

I am a big fan of the camel spider:

http://applematters.com/images/uploads/camelspider.JPG

Generally docile and harmless, but the urban legends that have sprung up around it are hilarious (including that they got their name from killing and eating camels and that they will use their venom to anesthetize their victims and then eat their lips as they sleep).

 

[[pj]]

Palmetto bugs are as nasty as it gets.

If you're concerned about roaches, maybe you should get a laborador retriever. My yellow lab hunts and eats any and all moving insects in sight. Unfortunately he also eats anything he can reach on a counter top or table, batteries and steel wool included.

That's nuts.

 

[Woniu]

Please, please, please tell me Atlanta does not have Palmetto bugs

 

[HumidBeing]

Please, please, please tell me Atlanta does not have Palmetto bugs

I could tell you that, but I'd be lying. You get used to them. . . Sort of.

 

[RosesRainbows]

On a related note, which gender do you think is generally more scared of cockroaches and other creepy crawlies, and why? (I would say girls, but I don't know if that's because society has conditioned me to think that way or if that is actually the truth. That being said, I know plenty of brave girls out there.) If girls are generally more scared of bugs, is it because they are conditioned by society to believe that they should be more scared of cockroaches?

 

[154241]

Oh, yeah - the South has scorpions, too. They aren't just a Southwestern phenomena; they thrive all the way over to the Southeast. . . and there are the ever present fire ants taking over everything.

just one fire ant bite hurts like a mother. step in a mound and have them crawl up your leg... so painful. and has anyone dealt with chiggers? i did an ecology research project in ga one summer and my peak chigger bite count was somewhere around 140.

 

[Aynsl156]

I'm okay with roaches, but I'm deathly afraid of worms: caterpillars, earthworm, and this even extends to silverfish and centipedes. I had a dream once when I was six or so that I was being eaten alive by worms, and that's induced this crazy phobia. It really sucks when it's raining outside, because that's when all the earthworms come out.

 

[seraph524]

I'm a guy, and all these bugs are freaking me out. Palmetto bugs and camel spiders? Omg...they are too big to even step on!

 

[seraph524]

Has anybody seen the legendary Clock Spider?

 

[HumidBeing]

I'm a guy, and all these bugs are freaking me out. Palmetto bugs and camel spiders? Omg...they are too big to even step on!

No they aren't. They make a very nice popping sound when you stomp them. In the winter they are slow. In the summer, you have to race to smash them before they hide. It's not a "mean" thing to do. Every one that gets squashed is one less available to multiply. It's a non-toxic way to cut the population. After awhile the feeling is something like that of a successful hunt.

In about a month those little bag worm caterpillars start dropping out of the trees all over the place. They're always fun for the kids to collect and play with.

Critters like these are more of an annoyance than anything else. It's the fire ants and mosquitoes - the biting insects that can be really painful.

They aren't insects, but gators should be added to the list of scary Southern critters. This pic was taken in SC:

If I keep this up, maybe all the Northerners will stay put and leave the Southern spots for us locals.

 

[[pj]]

Has anybody seen the legendary Clock Spider?

Dude, what the freak?!

 

[Bacchus]

just one fire ant bite hurts like a mother. step in a mound and have them crawl up your leg... so painful. and has anyone dealt with chiggers? i did an ecology research project in ga one summer and my peak chigger bite count was somewhere around 140.

Ugh. Wow. I was talking about this in another thread. When I went to Mississippi, post Katrina, there were tons of No-see-ums. You couldn't get away from them because of collected water and just the general trend of where they live. When I came back to school, you didn't notice my tan. You noticed all the red spots on my arms. We were all like that. One girl got a topical steroid (if that's a treatment?) it was that bad.

 

[Bacchus]

Regarding the palmetto bug. Wiki says its a cockroach. That doesn't look like a cockroach, it looks like a tank.

 

[Lawliet2008]

I hate bugs, but I don't mind reptiles.

On my first night in Nigeria with my family, I saw a foot-long lizard crawling up the wall. Normally, I'm not afraid, but after a day in airports and airplanes, I was exhausted and terrified. I was almost crying and my poor father came downstairs. He hated to see me so anxious so he took off his shoe and offered to squish the poor creature, bones and all. That was even more scary so I said no.

I'm pretty sure that if I had been afraid of a bear, my dad would have showed up, waving his shoe.

 

[RosesRainbows]

I once saw a wasp crawling on a window in my house. I thought the wasp was on the outside so I almost touched it. (I wanted to tap the window so it would get off of the other side.) It's a good thing my sibling was around to stop me. She noticed it was in the inside of the house.

 

[shippudenfan]

No they aren't. They make a very nice popping sound when you stomp them. In the winter they are slow. In the summer, you have to race to smash them before they hide. It's not a "mean" thing to do. Every one that gets squashed is one less available to multiply. It's a non-toxic way to cut the population. After awhile the feeling is something like that of a successful hunt.

In about a month those little bag worm caterpillars start dropping out of the trees all over the place. They're always fun for the kids to collect and play with.

Critters like these are more of an annoyance than anything else. It's the fire ants and mosquitoes - the biting insects that can be really painful.

They aren't insects, but gators should be added to the list of scary Southern critters. This pic was taken in SC:

If I keep this up, maybe all the Northerners will stay put and leave the Southern spots for us locals.

I don't know man, that looks a little fake to me. Those stubby hind legs are not strong enough to support that head, or torso.

 

[pharmy614]

I hate bugs, but I don't mind reptiles.

On my first night in Nigeria with my family, I saw a foot-long lizard crawling up the wall. Normally, I'm not afraid, but after a day in airports and airplanes, I was exhausted and terrified. I was almost crying and my poor father came downstairs. He hated to see me so anxious so he took off his shoe and offered to squish the poor creature, bones and all. That was even more scary so I said no.

I'm pretty sure that if I had been afraid of a bear, my dad would have showed up, waving his shoe.

lol, that's freakin adorable (and gross!). reminds me of that cute parents thread a while back.

 

[pharmy614]

Has anybody seen the legendary Clock Spider?

oh my god! what do people do when they see that??! Sorry, I should've never quoted this pic, b/c now you guys have to see it twice.

 

[Doublecortin]

No they aren't. They make a very nice popping sound when you stomp them. In the winter they are slow. In the summer, you have to race to smash them before they hide. It's not a "mean" thing to do. Every one that gets squashed is one less available to multiply. It's a non-toxic way to cut the population. After awhile the feeling is something like that of a successful hunt.

In about a month those little bag worm caterpillars start dropping out of the trees all over the place. They're always fun for the kids to collect and play with.

Critters like these are more of an annoyance than anything else. It's the fire ants and mosquitoes - the biting insects that can be really painful.

They aren't insects, but gators should be added to the list of scary Southern critters. This pic was taken in SC:

If I keep this up, maybe all the Northerners will stay put and leave the Southern spots for us locals.

😱 Holy SIHT!!!!! All the Southern spots are yours, bud!

 

[seraph524]

Reading this thread makes me want to stay in the North and deal with the snow. At least snow doesn't give me shivers down my spine.

 

[Old Grunt]

just one fire ant bite hurts like a mother. step in a mound and have them crawl up your leg... so painful. and has anyone dealt with chiggers? i did an ecology research project in ga one summer and my peak chigger bite count was somewhere around 140.

As an undergrad at Tulane, I fell in a drunken stupor into a fire ant nest. Never made that mistake twice.

Fire ants can be dangerous too as their venom can induce shock if you get too much of it.

 

[Old Grunt]

I'm a guy, and all these bugs are freaking me out. Palmetto bugs and camel spiders? Omg...they are too big to even step on!

Don't worry about camel spiders. Unless you are somewhere in between Iraq or Afghanistan, you'll never see them.

 

[Law2Doc]

they can only fly if it's hot. i learned this my medical entomology class.

their wing muscles can't activate or something otherwise.

Well, the roaches down south (eg Palmetto bugs) look a bit different than the ones up north, so I think the flying is more related to different speciation than heat activation. At any rate bigger roaches are preferable because the small ones can crawl into your ears looking for warmth. The big ones just cuddle with you.

 

[154241]

Ugh. Wow. I was talking about this in another thread. When I went to Mississippi, post Katrina, there were tons of No-see-ums. You couldn't get away from them because of collected water and just the general trend of where they live. When I came back to school, you didn't notice my tan. You noticed all the red spots on my arms. We were all like that. One girl got a topical steroid (if that's a treatment?) it was that bad.

yep, i had to do that around my ankles especially. the swelling didn't go all the way down until about a month after i left and i still have some scarring from scratching the bites.

 

[Doublecortin]

Well, the roaches down south (eg Palmetto bugs) look a bit different than the ones up north, so I think the flying is more related to different speciation than heat activation. At any rate bigger roaches are preferable because the small ones can crawl into your ears looking for warmth. The big ones just cuddle with you.

Man!!! This must be the best thread on SDN👍

 

[Jolie South]

Well, the roaches down south (eg Palmetto bugs) look a bit different than the ones up north, so I think the flying is more related to different speciation than heat activation. At any rate bigger roaches are preferable because the small ones can crawl into your ears looking for warmth. The big ones just cuddle with you.

oh there's different speciation for sure, but I'm looking at my entomology book (Medical Entomology by Mike Service) and it definitely says that cockroaches cannot fly in more temperate climes. Is it weird that I keep this book a couple feet away from my bed?

The bigger ones down south are "american" cockroaches, while I think the smaller northern varieties are "oriental" and "german" cockroaches.

 

[Doublecortin]

oh there's different speciation for sure, but I'm looking at my entomology book (Medical Entomology by Mike Service) and it definitely says that cockroaches cannot fly in more temperate climes. Is it weird that I keep this book a couple feet away from my bed?

The bigger ones down south are "american" cockroaches, while I think the smaller northern varieties are "oriental" and "german" cockroaches.

I am pretty sure that the "oriental" roaches have really good work ethic and are overrepresented at the most prestigious houses in the north. The parents of an "oriental" roach work really hard to make sure their son/daughter ends up in a house of a doctor or lawer

 

[al112987]

I hate bugs, but only indoors.

 

[MDHopeful08]

I am pretty sure that the "oriental" roaches have really good work ethic and are overrepresented at the most prestigious houses in the north. The parents of an "oriental" roach work really hard to make sure their son/daughter ends up in a house of a doctor or lawer

this is the best thread on SDN.

 

[Lawliet2008]

oh my god! what do people do when they see that??! Sorry, I should've never quoted this pic, b/c now you guys have to see it twice.

If I saw that thing in my room, I would just cry.

 

[Green Grass]

Dale, where are you living?

 

[Begaster]

In Boston the lucky ones have mice, the unlucky ones have cockroaches.

Our friends have lots of roaches, and they feed them to their scorpion, who grabs the roach and bends it in half before eating it. Gross.

Roaches >>>> Scorpions. UGH!

I could tell you that, but I'd be lying. You get used to them. . . Sort of.

Well, Emory's off the list.

 

[Begaster]

Whoops, I'm spamming. Mods: Delete? 😀

 

[WinterLights]

The only bugs that disgust me are spiders and other biting insects. Flying insects can be annoying, but generally not scary.

 

[WinterLights]

roaches can bite!!!! after running screaming from my apt i did some wikipedia research hoping to find out that my fears were irrational and that roaches are just yucky but not actually that bad...

but in fact all i read was that they CAN bite, can crawl in your ears, can FLY when it's warm, they carry diseases, and they poop in your food

it's the biting/flying combo that really kills me. spiders at least you see them coming...i think a bugs creepiness factor increases exponentially when it can just come surprise attack whizzing through the air.

i'm never going to be able to set foot in my apartment again 🙁


jon2727: i'm in glorious philadelphia for the summer. ie this wonderful heat wave has given my roaches the power of flight.

I've never lived in a roach infested house, and I don't plan on doing so any time soon.

 

[Green Grass]

I've never even seen a cockroach before. I'm from cold Minnesota where such things can't exist. right?