On Fri, 15 Aug 2008 11:04:35 -0400, "h"
wrote:


"J. Clarke" wrote in message
Then there are "palmetto bugs", which is the euphemism for Florida
cockroaches, which are quite sizeable and _very_ different from the
pathetic little things that Northerners call "cockroaches". A
palmetto bug will eat just about _anything_. I've seen them eat
paint, plaster, styrofoam, and the wax on a high voltage transformer
(that latter proved fatal for both the bug and the transformer). One
could argue that cleanliness was the issue if the kitchen was the only
thing they got into, but there were as many of them in the detached
garage and the equally detached workshop as in the kitchen. Oh, and
they fly, _very_ well--I once hit one with a Cessna at 10,000 feet.

LOL.
I grew up in New Orleans so I understand about palmetto bugs. However, there
can be VERY large roaches up North, too. Thirty years ago, fresh out of
college, a former dorm-mate invited me to her first apartment in Queens. It
was one room, near the El, and not in the greatest neighborhood. She kept it
very clean, but it was clear that most of the other apartments had roaches.
Whenever they'd spray, you'd see them coming out from under doors and even
walls. I was used to palmetto bugs, so the little roaches didn't bother me
that much. The garbage chute, however, was a different story. Those roaches
were the same size as the ones you see in the Yucatan. You needed a book to
squash these things, a newspaper just bounced off. I'm talking dent your
shoes big. Need to repaint the whole wall big. When they asked for your
garbage, you gave it to them.

The big ones are called water bugs in NY. Both the big and small ones
are quite smart. When you step on them, they know how to snap their
fingers to make you think they've broken their backs. Then when you
lift your foot, they're fine and they run away.

(Actually I lived in Brooklyn for 12 years and only had roaches for 2
to 3 of them. The first year, in my brother's apartment, another
apartment, and a sublet on Eastern Parkway, no roaches. Then I got
an apartment and they got bad when I wasn't in the room and the lights
were off, but they hid when I was in the room, which I thought was
thoughtful of them, because it avoided disgusting me.

Then I moved to a 6 room apartment in the same building, and most
years there were none, but a new guy bought the building and he didn't
have a regular exterminator (as required by NY law) and it got
gradually worse, until I decided to bomb the apartment. For this, I
got one bomb for the kitchen and one for the rest of the apartment.
They are aeorsol cans that once started, keep going until the can is
empty and a fog fills the apartment. One has to get everyone out and
leave himself as soon as triggering them. IIRC, the wall swtiches
have to be taped so you don't accidentally trip one and ignite the
vapor, although maybe that was for polyurethaning the floors.

Anyhow, it killed all the bugs and the tenants in landlord-tenant
court had forced the landlord to have an exterminator by then, and I
didn't have any roaches for the next 5 years until I moved.

Boric acid was very helpful in earlier years. Some people would put
it along all the baseboards and their apartments looked like slums to
me. I just put it behind the stove where no one could see it but the
roaches, and I think it worked just as well.