Palmetto bugs are an unavoidable part of Orlando life. Even nice, clean units are gonna have visitors. I can say that I once lived on a third floor and noticed way less than when I was on ground level - so maybe look for a unit above ground level.
Yup, I second this. Lived on the ground floor at my previous place. I would see a roach every other week, total nightmare. 8 months ago I moved to a new building into an apartment that’s on the 4th floor. In that time I’ve seen a grand total of 1 roach, and even then I think that one might’ve been holed up in my dresser or something when I moved cause I saw it within a few days of having moved. Since then literally not one roach.
Keep in mind with reviews you really only see the bad ones. The old adage was always “If someone likes your service/product/business, they’ll tell three people. If they don’t like it, they’ll tell seven.” People rarely leave positive reviews, but are quick to leave bad ones. See for yourself on a tour before blindly trusting upset people.
While this is normally true, I found out Apartments(.)com factors amenities into their holistic review.
For example, my old apartment building had 2 reviews - one 5 star rating from a father moving his son into the building (so a non-resident) and one 3 star review about some issues.
The site issued it a total rating of 5 stars because the building had “luxury amenities” such as a pool and lobby.
Just a warning for anyone relying on Apartments(.)com and their reviews.
It sounds like they use a similar system as hotel ratings, which is kind of misleading.
When you hear “5 Star Hotel,” it actually refers to the type of amenities (pool, room service, etc.) versus being a customer satisfaction scale.
https://www.littlehotelier.com/blog/running-your-property/hotel-star-rating-system/#:~:text=1%2Dstar%3A%20Budget%20accommodations%20with,service%2C%20or%20Wi%2DFi.
oh my gosh I just bought a couple drain plugs a few weeks back to plug my double kitchen sink up at night. I only ever see my German friends in that area. It has definitely helped.
Lived in multiple houses and apartments in FL across 35+ years of my life. You will never find a single building that has zero of those gross little (sometimes not so little) bugs. There are definitely infestations to watch out for in unclean places. But even clean ones get em. It’s like asking for no lizards. They’re just around. You will inevitably encounter them here and there all year round. Get some bug spray or just get used to smushing em with toilet paper or paper towels.
I will say it’s been nice living up north the last few years where they barely exist. Now we have mice to deal with instead.
It would be more effective to have the place sprayed and throw Gentrol Point Source discs in the kitchen/bath cabinets under sinks. Bombing makes them retreat into the walls if the place is infested, they’ll just come back eventually
Could you please elaborate on what you mean by "have the place sprayed"? What does that entail? We talking spraying every room from top to bottom, or just spritzing a little here and there in the kitchen and bathroom cabinets?
Geez the replies. I've been in the business 39 years, I own a company and I service apartment complexes everything from high-end to lower quality section 8 and HUD. You can have either one have a roach problem depending on the people living there.
In general there are two types of roaches the German roaches that live in side with us and the more than seven species of outdoor roaches that come in occasionally. I've been in my home for 30 years and never have service at once for German roaches but I do get an occasional road from outside. Regarding the apartments, I service seven properties. They're a mix of upscale communities and affordable housing. Every single one of my upscale apartments do not have German roaches, zero. Every complaint we get is either ants, and occasional big Roach or an occasional spider. All of these come in from outside. The big roaches will die of dehydration as the inside of the home is just not their habitat. I service the outside of the buildings to reduce what gets into the units. Of the affordable housing apartments that I service, 2 are 100% roach free. A couple of the other ones are almost roach free and a couple of them will never be roach free because of the sanitation issues of the residents. And those units the best we can do is provide a large number of units that don't have any issues and inform the manager of the housekeeping issues with the ones that we have problems with. There is no reason why an apartment should have German roaches unless the person is filthy or they're not getting service where they live next door to someone that is doing this.
If you want to know for apartment complexes that I service that have zero German roaches send me a DM. I would move into any of the four with no problems at all and I would move into at least three of the affordable housing apartment complexes no problem at all.
Keeping it clean goes a long way. Seeing one or two a year is unavoidable in FL but if you have an infestation there’s something else going on.
https://www.domyown.com/advion-cockroach-gel-bait-p-304.html
This is what pest control companies use when you pay them a bunch of money to treat for roaches.
Advion is good, but you need to be rotating the active ingredient every 90 to 120 days at a maximum otherwise they will eventually build resistance and become immune with at least 3 and ideally 4 different baits in the rotation schedule. In labs they've even seen roaches go so as far as changing which neurotransmitters their nerves were using to gain immunity.
Here is a list of different baits by active ingredient class you can use to make sure you're not building immunity: [https://www.pctonline.com/article/mixing-it-up-a-technicians-guide-to-cockroach-baits/](https://www.pctonline.com/article/mixing-it-up-a-technicians-guide-to-cockroach-baits/)
A complete control solution would also include using an Insect Growth Regulator pad like Gentrol, spraying your baseboards, and using a dust to get into walls, cracks, and crevices. This is on top of the basics like cleaning and controlling/sealing food and water.
So I am terrified (like straight phobia) of roaches/beetles/palmettos. I have also lived in buildings and houses all over town and only in one did I never, not once, encounter a single roach or palmetto bug. That was the Vue. The only bugs I ever encountered there were silverfish. Tbh because of my fear it's still my #1 reason to move back there eventually. I now have two different pest control companies and yet still get one every few months in the house and I hate it so much.
I could have written this. Same Phobia, moved from the Vue where I never saw a cockroach and I was just telling my fiancé last week the next one I see I am packing up the kids and we are moving back to our condo
I'm glad someone else understands! I remember first moving from the Vue and my two biggest things I had to adjust to were the lack of a very high level of security (I'm sure you remember how good the team was there) and having to deal with bugs. I get that these are pretty minor things to care about for some but for me it's everything and I definitely miss it.
Insane, is it the The vue downtown? I used to live in orlando and never had roaches when i lived downtown or most places in the area, honestly thought they were extinct here at a time
Any palm trees with in sight and you will have roaches, keep cardboard out of the house and you prob wont get german roaches, at least the germans dont fly
Could you educate me on the connection between roaches and palm trees? 😅 I don’t want to google it because then roaches will become part of my targeted ads 🥲
Palmetto bugs, flying rosches, live in palm trees usually. They dont actually like to live inside but will enter during especially wet times ( storms ) unless they have set up housekeeping inside, rhey are generally easy to get rid of. Just kill on sight. Dont chase into hiding, targeted jet stream roach sprays or a shoe !
Seconding this. My dad hated cats, and I never had one till after I got married. Now I have realized that the more cats we have the fewer insects we see.
There are condos for rent and typically with more owners they take better care of individual properties. Also you can negotiate for pest control. You can find them on Zillow / realtor.com
I want to add that as long as the building wasn’t originally rental apartments that were converted to condo during the conversion craze of 2002-2007, the building code is much better than rental apartments.
The rental apartments are/were built with composite board and the walls between units are “thinner”. How the state allowed the condo perversions ( not a spelling error) is mind boggling.
I owned a real estate agency through 2006 and forbade my agents to sell one of the perversions without disclosing the difference in building code. The disclosure was written in tone that was meant to deter it.
Don’t buy or rent one. This is why there’s now like issues The buildings truly were built to “deconstruct “ after 20 - 30 years.
Stay far away from Lakeside Villas, completely infected, charging $4 a month for “pest control” where it’s not an actual pest control person, but maintenance, putting down a few traps.
Look for units above ground level and in buildings with concrete construction instead of shorter, older wood buildings. Places near natural areas are also more likely to get roaches.
Wherever you go, check to see if you can see light through your door gap at night. If you can, bugs can get in. I had a large gap that my property management company wouldn't fix, so I got some stick on weather stripping at lowes and it reduced the number of bugs I got and lasted for 2 years before being easily removed with some goo gone.
I hope this helps, good luck out there.
It’s Florida, they find their way to places
But you can drastically reduce the likelihood they come into your apartment if you keep things clean. People love to overestimate how clean they actually are, which is probably why they have roaches
We've been at Heritage estates the last couple years and have had a pretty great bug free experience. We get rollie pollies downstairs by the front door all the time, but those are harmless and rarely make their way up into living area.
There's no buildings (houses, apartments, anything) that doesn't have them. Only thing you can do is put down baits, sprays, or get a pest control company to minimize seeing them.
I live in an apartment that you open a door to get into a hallway, to then go to your door (kinda like a hotel, you get to your floor and go to your room) never seen a roach here and I am happy about it. It’s also a fairly newer location. I think the hallway door makes it harder for them to come in but I have also never seen them in the hallway either. If the place I’m at, wasn’t so expensive I would be renewing the lease, and a big reason is because I’ve never seen a roach here lol
I lived in an apartment for 5 years without a roach problem. By roach problem I mean “infestation of German roaches” (the tiny ones) the unit was on the “nicer” side at $1800 for a 2 bedroom in a suburb.
That said, I did see a few American roaches AKA palmetto bug AKA waterbug (the giant horrific ones) because they’re bound to get in eventually just because they’re explorers from the outside.
If there aren’t pictures and it’s not a dirt cheap complex, assume this is someone who is confusing large species (American roaches mostly) with the smaller infesting species (German, oriental, smoky brown).
You will likely encounter a big roach once in a while as they like to wander in from outside, that’s very normal here. The small roaches are NOT normal, if an apartment is infested you should avoid it.
i dealt with roaches when i first moved into the apartment i live in now. i called so many times for pest management to deal with it. but the only thing that actually got rid of them was Combat Max roach bait. i stuffed under the base boards and haven’t seen once since. it’s been over a year.
Moved into a brand new construction, first to live in my apartment. I also get roaches now. Not like a ton, just one every couple weeks or a month.
Everywhere in Florida is gonna have bugs of some kind. It’s really not the end of the world.
As someone with ADHD who is not great at staying on top of dishes/cleaning, I had roaches in some capacity in the last three Orlando apartments I was in before moving out of the area.
The floor I lived on didn't really end up being a contributing factor in my experience tbh, I had one ground floor apartment where I only saw one or two occasionally and a third-floor apartment where they were everywhere.
One underrated element I've noticed that can contribute is the amount of furniture you have in the space. If you have so much stuff in the space that makes it hard to clean behind or underneath stuff, that can lead to them having dark and enclosed areas where they love to hang out. So a more open floorplan where it's easy to move stuff to clean under and behind it is probably a good idea
Orkin. The first three months of living here gave me PTSD.
1. **Deny Entry**. Seal up all holes, cracks, and crevices, including around plumbing pipes that will allow freedom of movement into the walls and between rooms. Check all around doors for light shining through, you can use a flashlight at night or look for sun during the day. Install weather stripping around doors and windows as needed.
2. **Deny food & water**. Wipe all the crumbs & food residues from your counters constantly, and especially before bed. Vacuum & mop every single night religiously in the beginning. I still use lemon scented trash bags because I read online they don’t like the smell of lemon or bleach. I even plugged all drains, especially at night, when I was first battling an inherited pest problem at move-in. I still keep my toaster & rice cooker in a waterproof (IP67 rated) latching EZY storage bin. I keep all food items either in the fridge (even if they don’t need to be, like cereal & chips) or in Rubbermaid Brilliance containers in the pantry (they have a rubber gasket to seal, just like the EZY bins).
3. **Work with a licensed pest control operator**. Ideally, have the place treated before you move in, thirty days later, quarterly, and anytime you see activity in between. Initially, I was trying to DIY but it was making me psycho. It didn’t matter that the landlord “included pest control” because it was obviously ineffective. Calling Orkin made the biggest difference the fastest. Between the physical barriers I handled (improved weather stripping, caulking baseboards & windows) and the technician’s poison, it got the job done.
Keep the floors as minimalistic as possible…no where to run, no where to hide. I even flipped the shower curtains over the rod at night so I could quickly scan the tub visually.
And of course keep the place laboratory level clean for at least the first 1-2 months. Wipe ALL kitchen surfaces (I prefer a spray cleaner with bleach) and especially remove any brown smears you might see. Their pheromone trails tell their friends to come join the party. Use a flashlight and inspect under the cabinets.
I legit vacuumed 2-3 times per day in case there were teeny tiny ones I couldn’t see hiding in the carpet. I was trying to break the cycle by killing them before they could reproduce. I took the trash out before bed and after breakfast (before leaving for the day). They can sense vibration and come out when no one is around.
Consider renting a smaller single family home versus a larger apartment. If you have shared walls with neighbors, you will never be able to fully resolve the issue. At least in a single family home, neighbors are not sabotaging your efforts. I realize this is not always possible.
I keep my apartment clean, take the trash out regularly, always do my dishes and mop the floor. I have like 5 roach traps out and even still, I’ll go into the kitchen in the middle of the night and shit my pants when I see one scurrying away.
Not really. The little ones are the ones to worry about. The giant monstrosities usually just blunder in if it's too dry outside, or too wet. It helps to have a lot of lizards and frogs outside of where you live. Or an indoor cat. Or a wolf spider (seriously - you might get freaked out if you see one but chances are you won't see them - they're one of the best spiders for pest control and match the speed of a cockroach).
I lived at Central Station on Orange on the 5th floor and had an infestation that I, for the life of me, could not figure out and get under control. We had housekeepers come every week so it’s not like our place was dirty. I had to constantly put in maintenance requests and they would send a person to just spray the unit.. it didnt do a damn thing. The last straw was I was in the middle of a virtual lecture and a MASSIVE roach strolled into my bedroom.. on top of the tiny fast ones just being everywhere… I literally moved out 1.5 months later because of it; I couldnt sleep and I have 2 dogs and didnt want them around that. Then I moved to the Mondrian by lake eola and about a month in, started to see roaches.. again, we always had housekeepers. At least here, we found their colony; it was by the electrical outlet behind our TV. Mondrian Maintenance never showed up for our requests so we said screw it, hired an outside company for about $350, and haven’t seen one since. That was now 2 years ago. Forever traumatized though for sure.
Also, I agree about getting a dehumidifier!
Reunion at 400 was really good. Lived there for a couple of years and only saw a palmetto bug inside and never a German. Overall, I was very happy with my experience there and the rent was reasonable.
Advion gel kills them pretty much over night. They eat the gel, die, another roach eats the corpse, then dies too, etc etc. I haven’t seen a single roach in months.
Orthene fire ant killer. $10.98-13.98 a bottle. Use a spoon you will never use for food. Sprinkle on any nests, behind appliances, in crevices and vacuum up a few days later. Or don't if you don't have sm animals or children to worry about. I did this a year ago and have not seen one german roach since. I have seen two dead palmetto. The stuff stinks but works.
You live in Orlando that’s just part of life. I work the in the hotel industry and you will find them freshly cleaned rooms on the 25th floor with rooms treated with enough bug killers to kill a small village. If you don’t want bugs or roaches best option is to move.
I lived in an apartment on the 4th floor and know that the previous tenant had maintenance spray the shit out of it months before I moved in. I lived there a year and a half and never saw a single bug. That being said, I know some other people in the building did have bug problems. Unsure if that speaks to a cleanliness problem on their end, maintenance not spraying as well, or just luck
MAA parkside, downtown. Lived there a year, they spray for bugs every single week. You can request it anytime.
That is a question to ask management companies I guess, how often are they spraying.
From someone that worked in hotels, which are basically shorter term apartments, bugs are everywhere. You have rooms on every side of you that are all connected in ways that you can’t see, but the bugs can. It only takes one nasty motherfucker, or hell even a slip up for a day or two, and suddenly ants are in, and roaches, and spiders, and flies, and whatever the fuck else comes in.
I’d recommend, if you can, before you move in get a good spray and get every inch of soft surface and floorboard. I’m not talking raid, but a pump sprayer with some real good stuff that lasts. Get some of the (I think it’s borax?) white powder and sprinkle that shit wherever you can, anywhere there might be gaps that bugs could come crawling in. Lastly, get some terro traps and put them around places like window sills, pantry, and cupboards. Let the place sit for a day or two and THEN start moving in. There is a really good chance you’ll find some more dead bugs, but at least you have the benefit of knowing everything inside is likely dead and you just have to keep that perimeter sprayed every couple months, keep those traps refreshed every month, and keep your kitchen, pantry, and fridge clean! No dirty dishes overnight, no open boxes or bags of chips/cereal, and no crumbs left on the stove or counter.
If you do ALL that, then, you can sleep peacefully knowing that any bugs you see will be coming from your nasty ass neighbors! Also, it’s probably nonsense but I like to think living on higher floors means fewer bugs, but there is literally no evidence or actual proof that I have, just personal reality.
I hate Palmetto bugs so much after renting so many apartments. I finally bought a house and built a 3’ gravel perimeter around my house. No plants or bushes touch my house. On that 3’ gravel barrier I spray pest control. Works great and actually looks nice. I think the roaches traumatized me, lol.
I kept my place so clean you could pull off open heart surgery on my living room floor. Still had four or five or the bastards show up in the time I was there.
Roaches have their reputations for a reason, those fuckers can sneak in *anywhere*.
Probably not. What has worked for me. At the first sign of a roach (or without seeing one but just to prepare) I use these two products together that are available on Amazon. And they work for me really well. Good luck!
[advion 68663 Arena 12ct Bag Cockroach Bait Station, White](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HWHD58L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
[Zoecon Gentrol Point Source IGR ZOE1007](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049EKEEK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) (this is like birth control for the roaches LOL).
Look up something called Boric Acid. If you do not have pets or small children you can use it under appliances like your fridge, stove, dishwasher, below your sink, etc. I also use it inside of my wall outlets.
Also look up "growth regulators"
Keep in mind that with apartments. You will only be as bug free as your neighbors. If you are connected to any other buildings and any of those people are not immaculately clean and on top of everything, you will get them in once in a while.
We moved into some very nice apartments when we first moved to Orlando. We did our walkthrough and saw nothing. Within 3 days, we saw them everywhere. They came in and sprayed. Didn’t see any for a week, then saw them a lot again.
We found out they were coming from the floor above us (neighbors were slobs and left food out for days sometimes).
What worked for us was we bought a bunch of Ortho Home Defense (safe for pets and kids as soon as it dries, so we always sprayed right before bed). We would spray like every 3-4 months. We took our garbage out nightly. Never left dishes out. After we were in that routine, we only saw one about a very six months and it was usually moving slowly (poison was already killing it).
You can move into the nicest apartment available and you will still see them. It’s just the nature of having attached units.
We live on the fourth floor and the only roach we had was a green Cuban roach so we think it was a hitchhiker. We did have a baby gecko find its way in though that was a fun time
I may be the outlier here but, I haven't really seen many where I'm at. It could be because we're on the third floor, or because we have a cat who kills insects, but we've seen more lizards than anything else.
i’ve been able to almost entirely avoid roaches the past few years by just being always on the highest unit (2nd or 3rd floor) i can, exception for one or two times i’ve seen any. other than that, not many issues. i think it can largely be an issue of if it’s just the area the community is in, or if your neighbors are nasty, you cant really avoid them coming over from there
I lived in Dwell in Lake Nona and I never had any roaches there, but it’s probably really expensive now :( I think obviously the higher end places will probably have less or none. Anything near lake underhill, colonial, basically east of downtown Orlando is gonna be a roach motel :/
Every structure has some number of roaches, snakes, rodents BUT there is a huge gap between places that accept that truth and try to resist and those that let it all just roll.
Find a brand new complex off the beaten path with good pest control. I've been at Alta Deco in Williamsburg since September and have not seen a single one. Won't be cheap though.
Also don't live on the ground floor.
i grew up in the new york area and the first time i saw a palmetto bug in my house i had a full blown meltdown but through the tears my boyfriend explained the difference between a german cockroach and a palmetto bug. german cockroaches are smaller usually light brown and move in massive numbers, i was always told growing up if you see one there’s a million more in your walls, hence my meltdown, the palmetto on the other hand is actually a solitary creature and will come round usually during the rainy times through your pipes and cracks in the wall. the palmettos are unavoidable and also do not indicate any type of major infestation. while i still don’t like them they do not illicit the same emotional response from me knowing they are just one big bug on their own as opposed to one of hundreds of thousands. that being said if your seeing reviews for apartments claiming to have infestations do not move there, german cockroaches will hitch hike in your bags and follow you for the rest of your days they are super hard to get rid of and usually an indicator of a filthy environment.
I hate palmettos. I have a big spray bottle with 91 proof rubbing alcohol in it. The impact of the spray combine with the rubbing alcohol renders the bug dead in 5 seconds.
Sorry for your breakdowns.
the first one i ever saw i swear was the size of a small bird and came flying out of my bathroom one night, i locked myself and my kitten in another room until i mustered up the courage to confront it by putting a big heavy bowl on top of it and weighing it down with an encyclopedia lol i still don’t love them but once i realized they don’t come with obscene numbers of friends i no longer break out in a panic when i come across one
FYI they fly straight at the sound of a scream, so if you see another one just *shut the fuck up and run* 😆
I will stare down a snake and a gator at the same time but just one of those airborne bastards will turn me into a blubbering shitshow mess begging for therapy.
American and Oriental cockroaches are just a fact ofp life in Florida, no matter how nice, no matter how clean. Yearly pest control usually keeps them at bay but you’ll still see them occasionally.
If it’s German roaches that’s an infestation and a red flag.
I can't share the link but it's called Advion Cockroach Gel, it's bait and works great.
Use this n boric acid n you'll be pretty set.
I used the boric acid on top of my cabinets, n behind oven n fridge
Use the bait close to where you see them, give it a few days n you will see a difference
Even though we get our house sprayed every 3 months, this is what our bug guy recommended.
If Florida, bugs happen....
You’re going to go to “Do it yourself pest control”
You’re going to get the spray that stops them from reproducing and the poison gel in the syringe
You’ll follow the directions on the packaging
No more roaches
Repeat if problem persists or if they come back after a couple years of a roach free existence.
Orlando is hot and humid and when it rains, bugs come inside. Including roaches. You'll need to have traps or spray for them regularly or it's going to be a shit show.
To give you just a bit of hope, remember that reviews can leave a wrong impression. Not that they will always be biased, but there is typically just one type of person willing to leave an apartment complex review: the one who had issues. You don’t typically read the ones that didn’t have problems because, that’s it, they just didn’t!
I personally have never had any roaches with the exception of my very first apartment. A very old complex and the apartment was on the first floor.
Not all roaches are the same.
[Palmetto Bugs](https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/earth-systems/blog/tell-me-about-palmetto-bug/) are everywhere and a natural part of living here that you’re gonna need to get used to. They’re huge, scary, and fly but they’re harmless. They reproduce much more slowly than typical house roaches and if you see one in your apartment it most likely means it got in somewhere near a door or window. You can’t get rid of them. I’ll go weeks/months without seeing one but then will find one randomly in the weirdest spots and will scare the hell out of me.
[German roaches](https://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/cockroaches/german-cockroaches/) are the buggers you need to worry about. They’re tiny, reproduce insanely fast, and their presence is a sign that something nasty is around (trash, food waste, lots of moisture, etc.) They can also spread quickly between units of apartments.
the flying females are the ones that freak the hell out of me. and they absolutely suck at flying which makes them even more terrifying. unpredictable af in the air.
Those reviews are from northerners who don’t realize that bugs are going to be around no matter what. Palmetto bugs will find their way into the cleanest of places, especially on the first floor.
Pretty much every complex under 2k a month most likely has a terrible roach problem.
I floated between about 7 different complexes over the last 10 years (friends). Literally every complex had the ownership even acknowledging the problem, but not doing anything about it.
I lived at Cortland Jubilee for 3 years and had 3 roaches the entire time I was there. I learned roaches HATE peppermint and rosemary. Pest control guy smelled my diffuser one day and said it's what's in most repellants anyway so it probably helped.
Rainy seasons are super notorious for palmettos and roaches. If you keep your place clean, and things properly sealed, you shouldn't have an issue. 😊
Friends of my wife and I live in probably the most expensive apartment building in Orlando (The Lalehouse) and they have not heard about German cockroaches (which are the bad ones) there.
Other friends live in a less expensive apartment complex and just pay for their own exterminator who sprays monthly and keeps the bugs away.
Palmetto bugs are part of Florida life and don't personally bother me like a German cockroach would.
If the community has a monthly charge for pest control, that’s a good sign, if it doesn’t, ask why 🤣. With the complexes I’ve stayed at or knew people at, I’ve only had & heard good experiences. So not sure where you’re hearing all the negativity from. Best of luck.
Palmetto bugs are unavoidable and you will see them here and there. They do not want to be in your house anymore than you want them there. German roaches are the smaller ones that infest spaces and you do not want to live anywhere that mentions German roaches.
If one is seen out in the open, there are hundreds more hiding in the walls, cupboards, etc. I lived at The Landing at East Mil when I first moved to Orlando and have been fully traumatized by that place. Moved to Harper Grand and haven't seen any roaches since.
Every building in Florida will have a roach every now and then. Just like every body of freshwater has gators, every tree has spiders, and every left lane has a Yankee driving half the speed limit. It’s just part of what makes Florida special.
Palmetto bugs will be what you see most along with daddy long legs. The later is a friend, so leave it alone.
Palmettos aren’t common if you’re clean. I saw one one in a blue. Just a part of life. Saw at least one everywhere I lived. They can fly, btw.
I found that marijuana plants and the smell of people burning marijuana from smoking attracts pesty roaches.
I never had a problem of roaches until I realized my neighbor smoked marijuana. I don't smoke by the way.
If possible have a good carpet cleaning or ask for new carpet. This may help get rid of marijuana smell.
The other obvious mentions are don't leave food out etc.
Palmetto bugs are an unavoidable part of Orlando life. Even nice, clean units are gonna have visitors. I can say that I once lived on a third floor and noticed way less than when I was on ground level - so maybe look for a unit above ground level.
Yup, I second this. Lived on the ground floor at my previous place. I would see a roach every other week, total nightmare. 8 months ago I moved to a new building into an apartment that’s on the 4th floor. In that time I’ve seen a grand total of 1 roach, and even then I think that one might’ve been holed up in my dresser or something when I moved cause I saw it within a few days of having moved. Since then literally not one roach.
Keep in mind with reviews you really only see the bad ones. The old adage was always “If someone likes your service/product/business, they’ll tell three people. If they don’t like it, they’ll tell seven.” People rarely leave positive reviews, but are quick to leave bad ones. See for yourself on a tour before blindly trusting upset people.
While this is normally true, I found out Apartments(.)com factors amenities into their holistic review. For example, my old apartment building had 2 reviews - one 5 star rating from a father moving his son into the building (so a non-resident) and one 3 star review about some issues. The site issued it a total rating of 5 stars because the building had “luxury amenities” such as a pool and lobby. Just a warning for anyone relying on Apartments(.)com and their reviews.
yep i noticed that—i sure as hell don’t trust those reviews
It sounds like they use a similar system as hotel ratings, which is kind of misleading. When you hear “5 Star Hotel,” it actually refers to the type of amenities (pool, room service, etc.) versus being a customer satisfaction scale. https://www.littlehotelier.com/blog/running-your-property/hotel-star-rating-system/#:~:text=1%2Dstar%3A%20Budget%20accommodations%20with,service%2C%20or%20Wi%2DFi.
Yeah that is shady IMO. It’s negating ratings from real people
Ignore 5 star & one star reviews. Always read 3&4 stars.
I always look at 2 stars to see what's some of the worst issues I'll deal with and decide if I can live with it
Its Florida. Learn to live with it. Its our state mascot. We even elected one governor.
LMAO
Lmfao
Cover your drains! Doesn’t fix everything but I’m getting German roaches searching for water. And I keep my apartment very clean, as do my neighbors.
oh my gosh I just bought a couple drain plugs a few weeks back to plug my double kitchen sink up at night. I only ever see my German friends in that area. It has definitely helped.
This and also a dehumidifier.
You actually convinced me to go buy one right now.
seconded
Ugh I'm getting them too 😩
Amazon sells a great product for those fuckers, it's about 26 bucks, works great
Link?
It’s Florida. They are everywhere. What matters is if they have good pest control.
Lived in multiple houses and apartments in FL across 35+ years of my life. You will never find a single building that has zero of those gross little (sometimes not so little) bugs. There are definitely infestations to watch out for in unclean places. But even clean ones get em. It’s like asking for no lizards. They’re just around. You will inevitably encounter them here and there all year round. Get some bug spray or just get used to smushing em with toilet paper or paper towels. I will say it’s been nice living up north the last few years where they barely exist. Now we have mice to deal with instead.
I personally roach bomb my place before I move in because living with a roach infestation causes trauma that I haven’t gotten over 😅
It would be more effective to have the place sprayed and throw Gentrol Point Source discs in the kitchen/bath cabinets under sinks. Bombing makes them retreat into the walls if the place is infested, they’ll just come back eventually
Could you please elaborate on what you mean by "have the place sprayed"? What does that entail? We talking spraying every room from top to bottom, or just spritzing a little here and there in the kitchen and bathroom cabinets?
Usually pest control sprays all of the baseboards and crevices. Not sure if they go inside cabinets?
That’s only temporary. They are in the walls so you’d have to turn the building inside out.
BRB
Hard agree
That's kinda bad and possibly illegal considering neighbors aren't notified
Geez the replies. I've been in the business 39 years, I own a company and I service apartment complexes everything from high-end to lower quality section 8 and HUD. You can have either one have a roach problem depending on the people living there. In general there are two types of roaches the German roaches that live in side with us and the more than seven species of outdoor roaches that come in occasionally. I've been in my home for 30 years and never have service at once for German roaches but I do get an occasional road from outside. Regarding the apartments, I service seven properties. They're a mix of upscale communities and affordable housing. Every single one of my upscale apartments do not have German roaches, zero. Every complaint we get is either ants, and occasional big Roach or an occasional spider. All of these come in from outside. The big roaches will die of dehydration as the inside of the home is just not their habitat. I service the outside of the buildings to reduce what gets into the units. Of the affordable housing apartments that I service, 2 are 100% roach free. A couple of the other ones are almost roach free and a couple of them will never be roach free because of the sanitation issues of the residents. And those units the best we can do is provide a large number of units that don't have any issues and inform the manager of the housekeeping issues with the ones that we have problems with. There is no reason why an apartment should have German roaches unless the person is filthy or they're not getting service where they live next door to someone that is doing this. If you want to know for apartment complexes that I service that have zero German roaches send me a DM. I would move into any of the four with no problems at all and I would move into at least three of the affordable housing apartment complexes no problem at all.
Hello! Will you please DM this list? We might be looking for a temporary (6 month lease) soon. Thanks!
On the ISS.
Off what exit of I-4 is that?
Take the 528 east and don't stop until you reach Merritt Island.
Keeping it clean goes a long way. Seeing one or two a year is unavoidable in FL but if you have an infestation there’s something else going on. https://www.domyown.com/advion-cockroach-gel-bait-p-304.html This is what pest control companies use when you pay them a bunch of money to treat for roaches.
Advion is good, but you need to be rotating the active ingredient every 90 to 120 days at a maximum otherwise they will eventually build resistance and become immune with at least 3 and ideally 4 different baits in the rotation schedule. In labs they've even seen roaches go so as far as changing which neurotransmitters their nerves were using to gain immunity. Here is a list of different baits by active ingredient class you can use to make sure you're not building immunity: [https://www.pctonline.com/article/mixing-it-up-a-technicians-guide-to-cockroach-baits/](https://www.pctonline.com/article/mixing-it-up-a-technicians-guide-to-cockroach-baits/) A complete control solution would also include using an Insect Growth Regulator pad like Gentrol, spraying your baseboards, and using a dust to get into walls, cracks, and crevices. This is on top of the basics like cleaning and controlling/sealing food and water.
So I am terrified (like straight phobia) of roaches/beetles/palmettos. I have also lived in buildings and houses all over town and only in one did I never, not once, encounter a single roach or palmetto bug. That was the Vue. The only bugs I ever encountered there were silverfish. Tbh because of my fear it's still my #1 reason to move back there eventually. I now have two different pest control companies and yet still get one every few months in the house and I hate it so much.
I could have written this. Same Phobia, moved from the Vue where I never saw a cockroach and I was just telling my fiancé last week the next one I see I am packing up the kids and we are moving back to our condo
I'm glad someone else understands! I remember first moving from the Vue and my two biggest things I had to adjust to were the lack of a very high level of security (I'm sure you remember how good the team was there) and having to deal with bugs. I get that these are pretty minor things to care about for some but for me it's everything and I definitely miss it.
Insane, is it the The vue downtown? I used to live in orlando and never had roaches when i lived downtown or most places in the area, honestly thought they were extinct here at a time
yes the vue is downtown and it’s one of the nicer buildings
Avoid kirkman. I lived in 3 different complexes and each time found evidence on move in before we even moved our shit in
Any palm trees with in sight and you will have roaches, keep cardboard out of the house and you prob wont get german roaches, at least the germans dont fly
Could you educate me on the connection between roaches and palm trees? 😅 I don’t want to google it because then roaches will become part of my targeted ads 🥲
Palmetto bugs, flying rosches, live in palm trees usually. They dont actually like to live inside but will enter during especially wet times ( storms ) unless they have set up housekeeping inside, rhey are generally easy to get rid of. Just kill on sight. Dont chase into hiding, targeted jet stream roach sprays or a shoe !
i live on the top floor and just make sure to have a sink stopper and haven’t seen more than 2 in monthsss.
Get a cat. They find all of the roaches and kill / eat them.
Seconding this. My dad hated cats, and I never had one till after I got married. Now I have realized that the more cats we have the fewer insects we see.
i have a senior cat, ill let him know 😂
There are condos for rent and typically with more owners they take better care of individual properties. Also you can negotiate for pest control. You can find them on Zillow / realtor.com
that’s how i found my current place and i love it. they have hidden gems fr
I want to add that as long as the building wasn’t originally rental apartments that were converted to condo during the conversion craze of 2002-2007, the building code is much better than rental apartments. The rental apartments are/were built with composite board and the walls between units are “thinner”. How the state allowed the condo perversions ( not a spelling error) is mind boggling. I owned a real estate agency through 2006 and forbade my agents to sell one of the perversions without disclosing the difference in building code. The disclosure was written in tone that was meant to deter it. Don’t buy or rent one. This is why there’s now like issues The buildings truly were built to “deconstruct “ after 20 - 30 years.
Stay far away from Lakeside Villas, completely infected, charging $4 a month for “pest control” where it’s not an actual pest control person, but maintenance, putting down a few traps.
I moved into a condo that had a severe roach infestation. It took me 3 months to get rid of them. I can’t believe the previous tenant lived like that.
Look for units above ground level and in buildings with concrete construction instead of shorter, older wood buildings. Places near natural areas are also more likely to get roaches. Wherever you go, check to see if you can see light through your door gap at night. If you can, bugs can get in. I had a large gap that my property management company wouldn't fix, so I got some stick on weather stripping at lowes and it reduced the number of bugs I got and lasted for 2 years before being easily removed with some goo gone. I hope this helps, good luck out there.
It’s Florida, they find their way to places But you can drastically reduce the likelihood they come into your apartment if you keep things clean. People love to overestimate how clean they actually are, which is probably why they have roaches
My cat kills them for sport. I just vacuum them up.
We've been at Heritage estates the last couple years and have had a pretty great bug free experience. We get rollie pollies downstairs by the front door all the time, but those are harmless and rarely make their way up into living area.
Lived at what is now Arcadia in Dr. Phillips on the 4th floor, and we never had any bugs other than mosquitos that would get in.
There's no buildings (houses, apartments, anything) that doesn't have them. Only thing you can do is put down baits, sprays, or get a pest control company to minimize seeing them.
Bruh...echoing everyone else here. If roaches are a problem for you....leave Florida.
I live in an apartment that you open a door to get into a hallway, to then go to your door (kinda like a hotel, you get to your floor and go to your room) never seen a roach here and I am happy about it. It’s also a fairly newer location. I think the hallway door makes it harder for them to come in but I have also never seen them in the hallway either. If the place I’m at, wasn’t so expensive I would be renewing the lease, and a big reason is because I’ve never seen a roach here lol
Boric acid for the win. Before you move in, treat all the baseboards and cabinets. Repeat periodically.
The raid gel goes well with that. Also a big spray bottle with rubbing alcohol for the spray bug. Kills in about 5 seconds
I lived in an apartment for 5 years without a roach problem. By roach problem I mean “infestation of German roaches” (the tiny ones) the unit was on the “nicer” side at $1800 for a 2 bedroom in a suburb. That said, I did see a few American roaches AKA palmetto bug AKA waterbug (the giant horrific ones) because they’re bound to get in eventually just because they’re explorers from the outside.
I live in Baldwin park and we’ve had maybe 1 palmetto but in like 4 years and that was after a ton of rain.
If there aren’t pictures and it’s not a dirt cheap complex, assume this is someone who is confusing large species (American roaches mostly) with the smaller infesting species (German, oriental, smoky brown). You will likely encounter a big roach once in a while as they like to wander in from outside, that’s very normal here. The small roaches are NOT normal, if an apartment is infested you should avoid it.
We live in Camden La Vina apartments and do not have issues..
If you are concerned about roaches (or termites, mold, and slumlords) avoid The Sands Orlando, at all costs.
I’ve lived in my apartment for almost two years now and have never seen a roach or palmetto bug 😭
The aren’t any buildings without roaches at some point. They were here before us and will be here long after.
Advion is your friend
i dealt with roaches when i first moved into the apartment i live in now. i called so many times for pest management to deal with it. but the only thing that actually got rid of them was Combat Max roach bait. i stuffed under the base boards and haven’t seen once since. it’s been over a year.
Moved into a brand new construction, first to live in my apartment. I also get roaches now. Not like a ton, just one every couple weeks or a month. Everywhere in Florida is gonna have bugs of some kind. It’s really not the end of the world.
My cat kills them.
As someone with ADHD who is not great at staying on top of dishes/cleaning, I had roaches in some capacity in the last three Orlando apartments I was in before moving out of the area. The floor I lived on didn't really end up being a contributing factor in my experience tbh, I had one ground floor apartment where I only saw one or two occasionally and a third-floor apartment where they were everywhere. One underrated element I've noticed that can contribute is the amount of furniture you have in the space. If you have so much stuff in the space that makes it hard to clean behind or underneath stuff, that can lead to them having dark and enclosed areas where they love to hang out. So a more open floorplan where it's easy to move stuff to clean under and behind it is probably a good idea
Orkin. The first three months of living here gave me PTSD. 1. **Deny Entry**. Seal up all holes, cracks, and crevices, including around plumbing pipes that will allow freedom of movement into the walls and between rooms. Check all around doors for light shining through, you can use a flashlight at night or look for sun during the day. Install weather stripping around doors and windows as needed. 2. **Deny food & water**. Wipe all the crumbs & food residues from your counters constantly, and especially before bed. Vacuum & mop every single night religiously in the beginning. I still use lemon scented trash bags because I read online they don’t like the smell of lemon or bleach. I even plugged all drains, especially at night, when I was first battling an inherited pest problem at move-in. I still keep my toaster & rice cooker in a waterproof (IP67 rated) latching EZY storage bin. I keep all food items either in the fridge (even if they don’t need to be, like cereal & chips) or in Rubbermaid Brilliance containers in the pantry (they have a rubber gasket to seal, just like the EZY bins). 3. **Work with a licensed pest control operator**. Ideally, have the place treated before you move in, thirty days later, quarterly, and anytime you see activity in between. Initially, I was trying to DIY but it was making me psycho. It didn’t matter that the landlord “included pest control” because it was obviously ineffective. Calling Orkin made the biggest difference the fastest. Between the physical barriers I handled (improved weather stripping, caulking baseboards & windows) and the technician’s poison, it got the job done. Keep the floors as minimalistic as possible…no where to run, no where to hide. I even flipped the shower curtains over the rod at night so I could quickly scan the tub visually. And of course keep the place laboratory level clean for at least the first 1-2 months. Wipe ALL kitchen surfaces (I prefer a spray cleaner with bleach) and especially remove any brown smears you might see. Their pheromone trails tell their friends to come join the party. Use a flashlight and inspect under the cabinets. I legit vacuumed 2-3 times per day in case there were teeny tiny ones I couldn’t see hiding in the carpet. I was trying to break the cycle by killing them before they could reproduce. I took the trash out before bed and after breakfast (before leaving for the day). They can sense vibration and come out when no one is around. Consider renting a smaller single family home versus a larger apartment. If you have shared walls with neighbors, you will never be able to fully resolve the issue. At least in a single family home, neighbors are not sabotaging your efforts. I realize this is not always possible.
I keep my apartment clean, take the trash out regularly, always do my dishes and mop the floor. I have like 5 roach traps out and even still, I’ll go into the kitchen in the middle of the night and shit my pants when I see one scurrying away.
Not really. The little ones are the ones to worry about. The giant monstrosities usually just blunder in if it's too dry outside, or too wet. It helps to have a lot of lizards and frogs outside of where you live. Or an indoor cat. Or a wolf spider (seriously - you might get freaked out if you see one but chances are you won't see them - they're one of the best spiders for pest control and match the speed of a cockroach).
I lived at Central Station on Orange on the 5th floor and had an infestation that I, for the life of me, could not figure out and get under control. We had housekeepers come every week so it’s not like our place was dirty. I had to constantly put in maintenance requests and they would send a person to just spray the unit.. it didnt do a damn thing. The last straw was I was in the middle of a virtual lecture and a MASSIVE roach strolled into my bedroom.. on top of the tiny fast ones just being everywhere… I literally moved out 1.5 months later because of it; I couldnt sleep and I have 2 dogs and didnt want them around that. Then I moved to the Mondrian by lake eola and about a month in, started to see roaches.. again, we always had housekeepers. At least here, we found their colony; it was by the electrical outlet behind our TV. Mondrian Maintenance never showed up for our requests so we said screw it, hired an outside company for about $350, and haven’t seen one since. That was now 2 years ago. Forever traumatized though for sure. Also, I agree about getting a dehumidifier!
Live on the second floor for about 10 months in a brand new apartment building. Have not seen a single roach. I feel so blessed geniunley
happy for you :) i’m touring a new condo today and i’m hoping it goes well
The ones that dont you guys complain the price is to high lol
Look for a place not near water or palm trees and you should be good to go. Good luck!
If you don’t want roaches, don’t move to Florida. Good news is they’re called Palmetto Bugs but they will outlive your stay regardless.
Roachs also exist
https://diypestcontrol.com/crawling-insects/roach-control-products/recommended-roach-control-products/kill-small-roaches-german-brown-banded
Welcome to the swamp! The answer is no.
In Florida? Unlikely.
Reunion at 400 was really good. Lived there for a couple of years and only saw a palmetto bug inside and never a German. Overall, I was very happy with my experience there and the rent was reasonable.
Cumberland Park Apartments. I live here now since may 22, 2023. It’s honestly great. The only downside is thin walls 😭
They're in Southbrooke condos. Although it's improved since the exterminator came.
Advion gel kills them pretty much over night. They eat the gel, die, another roach eats the corpse, then dies too, etc etc. I haven’t seen a single roach in months.
Orthene fire ant killer. $10.98-13.98 a bottle. Use a spoon you will never use for food. Sprinkle on any nests, behind appliances, in crevices and vacuum up a few days later. Or don't if you don't have sm animals or children to worry about. I did this a year ago and have not seen one german roach since. I have seen two dead palmetto. The stuff stinks but works.
You live in Orlando that’s just part of life. I work the in the hotel industry and you will find them freshly cleaned rooms on the 25th floor with rooms treated with enough bug killers to kill a small village. If you don’t want bugs or roaches best option is to move.
I lived in an apartment on the 4th floor and know that the previous tenant had maintenance spray the shit out of it months before I moved in. I lived there a year and a half and never saw a single bug. That being said, I know some other people in the building did have bug problems. Unsure if that speaks to a cleanliness problem on their end, maintenance not spraying as well, or just luck
Nope. Welcome to Florida. They’re everywhere.
Nope. Palmetto bugs basically RUN Orlando (and Florida). Your best bet is to try and secure an apartment on a higher floor.
MAA parkside, downtown. Lived there a year, they spray for bugs every single week. You can request it anytime. That is a question to ask management companies I guess, how often are they spraying.
From someone that worked in hotels, which are basically shorter term apartments, bugs are everywhere. You have rooms on every side of you that are all connected in ways that you can’t see, but the bugs can. It only takes one nasty motherfucker, or hell even a slip up for a day or two, and suddenly ants are in, and roaches, and spiders, and flies, and whatever the fuck else comes in. I’d recommend, if you can, before you move in get a good spray and get every inch of soft surface and floorboard. I’m not talking raid, but a pump sprayer with some real good stuff that lasts. Get some of the (I think it’s borax?) white powder and sprinkle that shit wherever you can, anywhere there might be gaps that bugs could come crawling in. Lastly, get some terro traps and put them around places like window sills, pantry, and cupboards. Let the place sit for a day or two and THEN start moving in. There is a really good chance you’ll find some more dead bugs, but at least you have the benefit of knowing everything inside is likely dead and you just have to keep that perimeter sprayed every couple months, keep those traps refreshed every month, and keep your kitchen, pantry, and fridge clean! No dirty dishes overnight, no open boxes or bags of chips/cereal, and no crumbs left on the stove or counter. If you do ALL that, then, you can sleep peacefully knowing that any bugs you see will be coming from your nasty ass neighbors! Also, it’s probably nonsense but I like to think living on higher floors means fewer bugs, but there is literally no evidence or actual proof that I have, just personal reality.
Raleigh is affordable and awesome.
Nope. Welcome to Florida
I hate Palmetto bugs so much after renting so many apartments. I finally bought a house and built a 3’ gravel perimeter around my house. No plants or bushes touch my house. On that 3’ gravel barrier I spray pest control. Works great and actually looks nice. I think the roaches traumatized me, lol.
I kept my place so clean you could pull off open heart surgery on my living room floor. Still had four or five or the bastards show up in the time I was there. Roaches have their reputations for a reason, those fuckers can sneak in *anywhere*.
Probably not. What has worked for me. At the first sign of a roach (or without seeing one but just to prepare) I use these two products together that are available on Amazon. And they work for me really well. Good luck! [advion 68663 Arena 12ct Bag Cockroach Bait Station, White](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HWHD58L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) [Zoecon Gentrol Point Source IGR ZOE1007](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049EKEEK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) (this is like birth control for the roaches LOL).
Look up something called Boric Acid. If you do not have pets or small children you can use it under appliances like your fridge, stove, dishwasher, below your sink, etc. I also use it inside of my wall outlets. Also look up "growth regulators"
No, it's Florida. Every building has bugs.
Bainbridge Winter Park
Get an iguana.
Keep in mind that with apartments. You will only be as bug free as your neighbors. If you are connected to any other buildings and any of those people are not immaculately clean and on top of everything, you will get them in once in a while. We moved into some very nice apartments when we first moved to Orlando. We did our walkthrough and saw nothing. Within 3 days, we saw them everywhere. They came in and sprayed. Didn’t see any for a week, then saw them a lot again. We found out they were coming from the floor above us (neighbors were slobs and left food out for days sometimes). What worked for us was we bought a bunch of Ortho Home Defense (safe for pets and kids as soon as it dries, so we always sprayed right before bed). We would spray like every 3-4 months. We took our garbage out nightly. Never left dishes out. After we were in that routine, we only saw one about a very six months and it was usually moving slowly (poison was already killing it). You can move into the nicest apartment available and you will still see them. It’s just the nature of having attached units.
We live on the fourth floor and the only roach we had was a green Cuban roach so we think it was a hitchhiker. We did have a baby gecko find its way in though that was a fun time
I may be the outlier here but, I haven't really seen many where I'm at. It could be because we're on the third floor, or because we have a cat who kills insects, but we've seen more lizards than anything else.
i’ve been able to almost entirely avoid roaches the past few years by just being always on the highest unit (2nd or 3rd floor) i can, exception for one or two times i’ve seen any. other than that, not many issues. i think it can largely be an issue of if it’s just the area the community is in, or if your neighbors are nasty, you cant really avoid them coming over from there
I lived in Dwell in Lake Nona and I never had any roaches there, but it’s probably really expensive now :( I think obviously the higher end places will probably have less or none. Anything near lake underhill, colonial, basically east of downtown Orlando is gonna be a roach motel :/
Two plus years at MAA sand lake never seen a roach yet anyplace. I’m on 5th floor but even lower down…never
Every structure has some number of roaches, snakes, rodents BUT there is a huge gap between places that accept that truth and try to resist and those that let it all just roll.
Find a brand new complex off the beaten path with good pest control. I've been at Alta Deco in Williamsburg since September and have not seen a single one. Won't be cheap though. Also don't live on the ground floor.
I have been at my apartment complex for 6.5 years and have yet to see any! Feel free to message for the name!
It’s the south; it’s hot, you’ll sweat, there are bugs.
i grew up in the new york area and the first time i saw a palmetto bug in my house i had a full blown meltdown but through the tears my boyfriend explained the difference between a german cockroach and a palmetto bug. german cockroaches are smaller usually light brown and move in massive numbers, i was always told growing up if you see one there’s a million more in your walls, hence my meltdown, the palmetto on the other hand is actually a solitary creature and will come round usually during the rainy times through your pipes and cracks in the wall. the palmettos are unavoidable and also do not indicate any type of major infestation. while i still don’t like them they do not illicit the same emotional response from me knowing they are just one big bug on their own as opposed to one of hundreds of thousands. that being said if your seeing reviews for apartments claiming to have infestations do not move there, german cockroaches will hitch hike in your bags and follow you for the rest of your days they are super hard to get rid of and usually an indicator of a filthy environment.
I hate palmettos. I have a big spray bottle with 91 proof rubbing alcohol in it. The impact of the spray combine with the rubbing alcohol renders the bug dead in 5 seconds. Sorry for your breakdowns.
the first one i ever saw i swear was the size of a small bird and came flying out of my bathroom one night, i locked myself and my kitten in another room until i mustered up the courage to confront it by putting a big heavy bowl on top of it and weighing it down with an encyclopedia lol i still don’t love them but once i realized they don’t come with obscene numbers of friends i no longer break out in a panic when i come across one
FYI they fly straight at the sound of a scream, so if you see another one just *shut the fuck up and run* 😆 I will stare down a snake and a gator at the same time but just one of those airborne bastards will turn me into a blubbering shitshow mess begging for therapy.
I never thought of it that way. I have five cats. On the occasion one gets in, it doesn’t last. I find it dead.
American and Oriental cockroaches are just a fact ofp life in Florida, no matter how nice, no matter how clean. Yearly pest control usually keeps them at bay but you’ll still see them occasionally. If it’s German roaches that’s an infestation and a red flag.
I can't share the link but it's called Advion Cockroach Gel, it's bait and works great. Use this n boric acid n you'll be pretty set. I used the boric acid on top of my cabinets, n behind oven n fridge Use the bait close to where you see them, give it a few days n you will see a difference Even though we get our house sprayed every 3 months, this is what our bug guy recommended. If Florida, bugs happen....
You’re going to go to “Do it yourself pest control” You’re going to get the spray that stops them from reproducing and the poison gel in the syringe You’ll follow the directions on the packaging No more roaches Repeat if problem persists or if they come back after a couple years of a roach free existence.
Just spray around the inside/outside and should be good to go (probably)
Orlando is hot and humid and when it rains, bugs come inside. Including roaches. You'll need to have traps or spray for them regularly or it's going to be a shit show.
To give you just a bit of hope, remember that reviews can leave a wrong impression. Not that they will always be biased, but there is typically just one type of person willing to leave an apartment complex review: the one who had issues. You don’t typically read the ones that didn’t have problems because, that’s it, they just didn’t! I personally have never had any roaches with the exception of my very first apartment. A very old complex and the apartment was on the first floor.
This is the equivalent of finding a building in the French quarter without rats.
Not all roaches are the same. [Palmetto Bugs](https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/earth-systems/blog/tell-me-about-palmetto-bug/) are everywhere and a natural part of living here that you’re gonna need to get used to. They’re huge, scary, and fly but they’re harmless. They reproduce much more slowly than typical house roaches and if you see one in your apartment it most likely means it got in somewhere near a door or window. You can’t get rid of them. I’ll go weeks/months without seeing one but then will find one randomly in the weirdest spots and will scare the hell out of me. [German roaches](https://www.pestworld.org/pest-guide/cockroaches/german-cockroaches/) are the buggers you need to worry about. They’re tiny, reproduce insanely fast, and their presence is a sign that something nasty is around (trash, food waste, lots of moisture, etc.) They can also spread quickly between units of apartments.
the flying females are the ones that freak the hell out of me. and they absolutely suck at flying which makes them even more terrifying. unpredictable af in the air.
Those reviews are from northerners who don’t realize that bugs are going to be around no matter what. Palmetto bugs will find their way into the cleanest of places, especially on the first floor.
Pretty much every complex under 2k a month most likely has a terrible roach problem. I floated between about 7 different complexes over the last 10 years (friends). Literally every complex had the ownership even acknowledging the problem, but not doing anything about it.
I lived at Cortland Jubilee for 3 years and had 3 roaches the entire time I was there. I learned roaches HATE peppermint and rosemary. Pest control guy smelled my diffuser one day and said it's what's in most repellants anyway so it probably helped. Rainy seasons are super notorious for palmettos and roaches. If you keep your place clean, and things properly sealed, you shouldn't have an issue. 😊
In Florida? No. That's like asking if there's any apartment building/house/structure without mold.
Friends of my wife and I live in probably the most expensive apartment building in Orlando (The Lalehouse) and they have not heard about German cockroaches (which are the bad ones) there. Other friends live in a less expensive apartment complex and just pay for their own exterminator who sprays monthly and keeps the bugs away. Palmetto bugs are part of Florida life and don't personally bother me like a German cockroach would.
If the community has a monthly charge for pest control, that’s a good sign, if it doesn’t, ask why 🤣. With the complexes I’ve stayed at or knew people at, I’ve only had & heard good experiences. So not sure where you’re hearing all the negativity from. Best of luck.
Palmetto bugs are unavoidable and you will see them here and there. They do not want to be in your house anymore than you want them there. German roaches are the smaller ones that infest spaces and you do not want to live anywhere that mentions German roaches. If one is seen out in the open, there are hundreds more hiding in the walls, cupboards, etc. I lived at The Landing at East Mil when I first moved to Orlando and have been fully traumatized by that place. Moved to Harper Grand and haven't seen any roaches since.
Every building in Florida will have a roach every now and then. Just like every body of freshwater has gators, every tree has spiders, and every left lane has a Yankee driving half the speed limit. It’s just part of what makes Florida special.
Not in Florida. You’ll have to move to NYC to get a clean spot.
Palmetto bugs will be what you see most along with daddy long legs. The later is a friend, so leave it alone. Palmettos aren’t common if you’re clean. I saw one one in a blue. Just a part of life. Saw at least one everywhere I lived. They can fly, btw.
I found that marijuana plants and the smell of people burning marijuana from smoking attracts pesty roaches. I never had a problem of roaches until I realized my neighbor smoked marijuana. I don't smoke by the way. If possible have a good carpet cleaning or ask for new carpet. This may help get rid of marijuana smell. The other obvious mentions are don't leave food out etc.