I didn't care.....they were literally crawling all over the door, and on the floor when they got in - urgh!!!

Out here in CA, we have a wide array of spiders and such, but they seem pretty harmless. There are some big monster spiders under the house, but they seem to keep to themselves and I've never tried to kill them. We get skunks, raccoons, deer, and the occasional fox, which are all very entertaining.

On a business trip to South Texas, though, I had a terrible experience with bugs. I stayed at some hotel on the gulf coast, and had massive roaches in my room. I went to the store to buy 'raid'/etc, and sprayed everywhere (I'm phobic about roaches!). The bastards kept coming in through the door, so I took a towel from the bathroom, used it to block the air-gap under the door, and saturated it with bug spray. Still they were getting in! I jokingly referred to them as 'Texas Long-horn Roaches' - big, like everything else in Texas! This experience cemented in my mind the notion that South Texas was at the very bottom of my list of places to return to!

Going slightly off-topic, have any of you encountered Poison Oak/Poison Ivy? Not everyone is alergic to this, but I got some on my skin and my body went nuts. I ignored it for several days, not knowing what it was and assuming it would go away, but it just got worse and worse and had to go in and get it taken care of. I'm now scared to death of wandering in the bushes!

well then no grassin' for you!!

I wasn't keen on the bugs in South Texas -- everything really is bigger there, from roaches to stick insects!! When we first lived in San Antonio, we rented a house that was right on the outskirts of the city. The renter before us did not believe in bug spray, but we didn't find that out until later when we had an assortment of bugs in the house. The worst were the scorpions. Although there weren't many of them, they were a translucent brown, which perfectly blended in with the carpet and made them hard to see. Needless to say, we didn't stay there very long

I'd sooner have those aforementioned creatures. However here in FL its mainly the damn cockroaches. Gosh, I hate them!

and the Palmettos...and the mole crickets..

oh yes our time in FL was a "always check under the bed for bugs" great time...

Palmetto bug is a cockroach ....
Just another name

The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is a large species of winged cockroach. It is very common in the southern United States, and in tropical climates, and can be found in many locations throughout the world, due to its travels via shipping and commerce between locations. In the southern U.S., it is often called a Palmetto Bug

OMG there was one in our room in Fort Lauderdale...couldn't get the bugger so I checked out.

I know...this was the stupid apartment office girls idea of making it sound better...

Me: "I've just found this in my apartment...get the bloody exterminators out now or I swear to god...I'm going to put it down your blouse"

"Oh don't worry....its just a cockroach with wings"

WTF??

it freaked my OH out when one flew right at him in the bathroom though...

and lets not forget the ever popular German cockroach...

Wings just add that extra dimension to an already nightmare situation, don't they! Not only can they run fast and hide, now they can freakin' fly at you too!

I was on business in West Palm Beach, and we got to stay at the (fancy) Hilton. The flooring in my room was a kind of "wicker tile" - presumably a 'tropical theme' - but seemed to be a perfect hiding place for roaches. I hated staying there! I was also lucky enough to go to Hong Kong on business and stayed at the Hilton there, too. Great place, but - I moved out of my pool-side room when I got flying roaches in the shower several times (coming through the vents, I think).

The worst, worst experience though was in Bangladesh (dacca, the capital). I had a forced layover there once on the way back from Thailand. The airline put us up in this hotel. The staff showed us to our room, and opened the door - at which point, an army of cockroaches scattered into every corner of the room .... I did not sleep one wink that night! South Texas was just a notch above Bangladesh in terms of scary roaches!

Even a trip to Hawaii is not without its roach incidents ...

The dry, warm climate of the Bay Area is - thankfully - not condusive to such critters.

God, I hate roaches!!!!!

You sound just like my OH...

he still says that in the all the time we lived in FL he never once had a good nights sleep because of the bloody cockroaches...

So the roaches are all along the gulf coast, obviously - but they don't extend up the East Coast past Florida? Is NC appreciably less humid, or is there another factor?

Course they do...they are everywhere even SF.

OK, roaches are everywhere and will survive a nuclear blast; we all know that. I'm talking about them being ubiquitous and uncontrollable. In this area, if you keep your house clean and take certain measures, you can keep them under control (I have not seen one in my current house in 14 years, and believe me I have a special roach radar!). But I think in Florida, Texas, etc, they are so 'at home' that they can't be controlled. I was simply wondering how prevalent they were as you went up the coast.

I have never seen them in my house either...I've always said the first time I do I will be on the first plane out of here. Although I did see one in our bathroom in Fiji...it was the size of a mouse.