Palmetto Bug is still a cockroach
“Help!” a Lake Wylie neighbor says. “We are being overrun by Palmetto Bugs.”
How can we help these folks?
Well, for starters, we can suggest these are almost always cockroaches, the most common species being German, Australian or American. They are indeed nasty looking, they make a loud pop if you step on one, and they carry diseases. So you do need to take action. Being a good housekeeper does help with control but is not a total solution.
Best advice: Call an exterminator. There are good ones in Lake Wylie.
Why not go to the store and buy home remedies? Because it take a strong insecticide, and the products and those who use them are regulated. You may just be wasting your money. Because the strength of the products is regulated, none of them last a long time. Our man Joe comes quarterly and roaches seem to sense when the product is losing its strength.
It doesn’t help to hear, “I lived in Charlotte (or name the city) for years and never saw these things until I moved to Lake Wylie.” It’s exasperating. Their distribution covers the earth.
Just do a little study on a search engine. You’ll find roaches were here with the dinosaurs, are one of the oldest living things on earth and may be around after human beings are extinct.
Too bad these critters aren’t green and come out only in early summer so we could tie a string on a leg and fly them like children of many generations have done with June Bugs.
Ken Sanford is a lifelong Carolina resident and has lived in River Hills for 14 years. In high school, he camped in the Smokies near Cherokee and was bitten so badly by black flies his face swelled, and he had to hitchhike into town to get ointment and bug spray.
This story was originally published November 14, 2016 at 9:41 AM with the headline "Palmetto Bug is still a cockroach."