North Georgia, Are Palmetto Bugs Roaches?

Hello again, it’s a another episode of the Faith Pest Control podcast. Mike Stewart, your host today. And we’re going to be talking about Palmetto bugs. Now I’ve called them Palmetto bugs, but they’re just big. roaches. I think they’re American roaches. But federal correct me if I’m wrong on that. But you know, these big Palmetto bugs, I see them all over the south and you know, people in Jasper and LJ and Blairsville and Blue Ridge, Georgia, folks, you’re gonna find Palmetto bugs up here. And they’re nasty. They’re big. And who wants a bug crawl around on the kitchen floor? So Fred, tell us the story of the Palmetto bug, what are they? And what you could do to make sure that our kitchens and our homes stay free of these monsters.

All right, Mikey. Most folks that move up here from Florida call them Palmetto bugs from South Georgia or Colorado a water bug. But Mike was correct. They’re actually an American Roach, which is just, we have four or five that that will typically get in a home. An American is the big one there. inch and a half. I have seen some, you know, approaching two inches long, but they’re the they’re the largest Roach that we deal with generally in the pest control world. This my own crude way of thinking about things I believe most people call them a Palmetto bug or water bug even if they know or highly suspect that they’re Roche, just because they don’t want to say score drugs in association with their home. I’ve even had some people say it looks like a giant Roach to me. But anyway, I’m the aggressor and right off the bat. American roaches live primarily outdoors, but it’s not uncommon to find them inside your home. They are outside of your home. They are commonly found in sewers and drains. They are actually the most common type of roads found in city sewer systems. Here in the north Georgia mountains, we have a lot of rural areas. So we did. A lot of our customers are not on a city sewage system, but they will typically be found in shady humid areas like flowerbeds, underneath the mulch. They live in the hollows. Most old oak trees have a hollow, they’re hollow on the inside. They’ll live in there and they’ll live in the knotholes of trees. When or if they find themselves short of food. Or if they you know if there’s a significant change in the climate. They sometimes try to move indoors. They prefer prefer warm, moist, dark environments with temperatures in the 70s and 80s. It’s very common for them to enter your home inside delivery boxes, large warehouses that that where you will like buy stuff online, the merchandise is warehouse somewhere. And most large warehouses can be a great source for American roaches. And they did get distributed from the warehouse via the delivery box throughout that warehouses delivery area, which typically would mean that at the very least of 48 Continental United States if you happen to live in close proximity to a landfill. American roaches have been known to migrate in mass from they’re in urban areas. And this doesn’t mean like downtown Atlanta it can also mean places like downtown Jasper, or downtown Ellijay or downtown Blue Ridge, anywhere that has a sewer system. And that can be a sanitary sewer system or a storm sewer. You’re going to find American roaches. They’re very common in homes easily scooting underneath, poorly fitting door sweep or poorly fitting or non existent weather stripping around the doors or windows. They can also enter poorly fitting Windows overhead garage doors they do not fit very tight. It’s very common for them to come in their wants inside though usually make their way in into either the kitchen, the bathroom or the laundry room area or possibly all three in search of really water they liked the moisture. They’ll feed on many types of food
but they particularly like fermenting materials outdoors. They’ll eat algae fungus, decaying leaves small insects inside, they like to find food crumbs under appliances. Now think here about your toaster you know the crumb tray on the bottom of your toaster is As a tremendous source of food for American roaches is as well as your, your butcher block or your wooden block knife holder. It’s very common to find roaches nesting or living in those holes in drains, especially the washing machine drain behind the washing machine. A lot of a lot of manufacturers are fixing the discharge tube now so it seals that hole. But my washing machine is probably only four or five years old and it doesn’t seal the hole. But it’s very common for them to come out of there to be living down in that drain line. Behind the Kitchen Cabinets under the dishwasher, and really crumbs in the corner of the floor. Do generally American or any roach problem is not not always a problem of cleanliness. They’ll feast on your pet food, especially if you if you call it free feeding your pets if you leave food out all the time. That’s a great source of nourishment for them. But if you really think about it, it doesn’t take a whole lot of crumbs to sustain a roach that weighs less than a quarter of a gram. American roaches are filthy, their presence inside your home while they’re not there because your home is filthy. But where they have been before they got to your home is filthy. Their presence inside your home can pose a threat to you and visitor visitors to your home they have been known to spread 33 kinds of bacteria including E coli and Salmonella parasitic worms, human pathogens, they pick up germs on the spines of their legs and body and as they crawl through decaying matter sewage. And then they transfer those germs directly on to your food or your food prep and cooking surfaces. The saliva urine and fecal droppings from American roaches contain allergen proteins that are known to cause allergic reactions and in asthma and asthma. Sometimes you may not see the roaches itself, but you may find the evidence they leave behind. American Roach droppings are very often misidentified as mouse droppings, they’re very similar, but a knowledgeable Bug Guy will be able to tell the difference. So if you even suspect you have an American roach problem, call us safe pest control, we offer a free consultation, as well as 100% make you happy money back guarantee. If you hire fake pest control, to get rid of your American roach problem, at the end of 30 days, you’re not 100% Happy, we will come back and retreat your home for free. And we’ll continue to treat it for free until you tell us that you are happy. If that still doesn’t make you happy, we’ll give you back every penny you spent on the original treatment. Plus, we’ll pay you an additional $25 for your time in trouble just for fooling with us. The bottom line is we want you to be happy with the service that we provide. Or you won’t pay a penny period. If you feel like what I’ve said makes sense. Please call me today 770-823-9202 and asked to speak to me Fred Talley. I’ll be more than happy to speak with you and answer any questions that you may have.
Fred, you are the pest expert of the north Georgia mountains. And folks, you know, you’re never going to find out more dedicated, full of integrity pest control company in the world. And you’re lucky to have him in the north Georgia mountains and we do this as a as a customer service to help people know that and like and trust Fred’s company but more importantly learn about these things. You know, you need to know when it’s time to call a professional and you need to know what what’s going on. You know, I love some of the podcasts we have done. We’ve said hey, it’s not a problem. But But these big Palmetto bugs or these American roaches, they are a problem even you know even if you feel that you have a very clean home. Nobody is immune to getting roaches and especially the big Palmetto bug or American roach. So, be sure to tell folks about our podcast, share it with within it’s it’s archived. In Apple, Amazon, Spotify, you name it where podcasts are you can connect to it on your phone, listen to it and learn how to protect your home from the pests that can make it not as healthy a place to live and you want it to be be protected for your family so share our podcasts like our podcast and tune in next month when we have some more information to help you have a pest free home Mike Stewart for the Faith Pest Control podcast