Palmetto Bugs?

[rondelco]

You don't typically see this addressed in travel brochures, but I'm certainly hoping for more candor about it here. We're planning a trip to Key West in late May or early June. What has been your experience seeing the large, flying palmetto bugs in Key West (and, for that matter, Key Largo), especially in places of lodging and restaurants? If you can, please be specific- name place names! Thanks.

[peter_krynicki]

You don't typically see this addressed in travel brochures, but I'm certainly hoping for more candor about it here. We're planning a trip to Key West in late May or early June. What has been your experience seeing the large, flying palmetto bugs in Key West (and, for that matter, Key Largo), especially in places of lodging and restaurants? If you can, please be specific- name place names! Thanks.

 

I've been goiong down to Key Wesy in May - early or middle - for the last several years and have never been bothered by or even noticed bugs of any kind. You might encounter a few no-see-ums if you kayak around a mangrove island, but otherwise, nada.

 

Pjk

[fllady]

I live in SE Florida and don't worry about them. They don't bother anyone and only seem to come out at night, if they do at all anymore. Years ago you would see them but I think with all of the building and spraying they aren't around. So don't worry about them and enjoy Key West. We were just there last week and it is really looking good!!

[claroquesi]

The huge rooster population seems to keep them pretty much in check.

[ClipperMiami]

You don't typically see this addressed in travel brochures, but I'm certainly hoping for more candor about it here. We're planning a trip to Key West in late May or early June. What has been your experience seeing the large, flying palmetto bugs in Key West (and, for that matter, Key Largo), especially in places of lodging and restaurants? If you can, please be specific- name place names! Thanks.

i've lived in South Florida since 1969 and seen precisely ONE one of them and that was out in a lightly developed area near the Everglades.

 

They are not a problem. The No-See-Um's on the other hand ... :-)

[dablondebabe]

I have lived in Key West since 1993 and rarely see palmetto bugs anymore. We have free roaming chickens all over the island so our bug problem is kept in check! Not sure about Key Largo though. Hope you enjoy the Keys...critters and all.

[dablondebabe]

The huge rooster population seems to keep them pretty much in check.

Great minds think alike!!! hahaha

[Aquahound]

The only "Palmetto" bugs in the Keys are the cockroaches. Otherwise, the only real flying annoyances are the mosquitos and no-see-ums.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

The only "Palmetto" bugs in the Keys are the cockroaches. Otherwise, the only real flying annoyances are the mosquitos and no-see-ums.

 

Aquahound, you've said it! The Palmetto bugs are just large cockroaches, and are ubiquitous in Florida, although the other posters are right about the chickens probably keeping them in check in Key West. Never seen them fly. (My mom wintered in Florida for 15 years and would never admit that they were cockroaches.)

[rondelco]

Hey, thanks a lot for all your responses thus far.

 

Paul and Wendy (+ any others): At the risk of unduly belaboring the point, OK, they're "just large cockroaches". But where specifically in Key West (and Key Largo; "especially in places of lodging and restaurants"), and in roughly what numbers/frequency have you seen them recently, poultry notwithstanding?

 

-Ron

[Aquahound]

Yes, they're just a tropical name for a cockroach. They are on all the Keys. Don't worry, it's not like they swarm over you in your sleep. You really just see one every now and then.

 

They're more common in ground level houses. I have a stilt home and see them very rarely.

[Silvery Seas Cruiser]

My family moved to Florida in 1958. I have never seen a cockroach or palmetto bug fly in Florida in all that time. However, I did see cockroaches fly in Manila, Philippines when I lived there. We used to call them kamikasi dive-bombing roaches. I hated them. I think Florida and especially Keys cockroaches are too laid back to fly.

 

All that said, no one can give you an absolute guarantee that you will not see a cockroach if you visit the Keys. Also, I don't think your chances are any greater or smaller on any particular key. Your greatest probability will be mosquitos and no see ums which are pesky nearly invisible bugs that bite mostly during the night and at dusk and dawn, leaving a bite similar to a mosquito bite.

[keywesst]

Don't move....there's one in your hair.....I'll get it.....

 

THWACK!

[ParrotRob]

Hey, thanks a lot for all your responses thus far.

 

Paul and Wendy (+ any others): At the risk of unduly belaboring the point, OK, they're "just large cockroaches". But where specifically in Key West (and Key Largo; "especially in places of lodging and restaurants"), and in roughly what numbers/frequency have you seen them recently, poultry notwithstanding?

 

 

-Ron

 

I don't live there, but I've been all over the Keys dozens of times from my first time honeymooning there in 1993 up through, most recently, last Tuesday.

 

In dozens of visits and a hundred nights or more of lodging and dining, from Homestead and Florida City through Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Sugarloaf, Key West and even the Dry Tortugas, I have never ONCE seen a palmetto bug in all of the Florida Keys.

 

The closest I've ever come is seeing a dead one in the Holiday Inn Express in Florida City in the late 90's. Exactly one. Dead.

 

My experiences with Keys wildlife has been limited to mosquitoes, an alligator at the blue hole, cats and chickens on the island, birds, tarpon, and, of course, the lovable tiny Key deer.

[Nonna and Papa]

Hi,

 

I'm in Key West now - have been here for two weeks and have been coming here several times a year for about 12 years. I'm always on the lookout for the Palmetto bugs, roaches, or whatever those nasty things are called, because they give me the shivers! I have to tell you though, that I've never seen one in the house or in any hotel where I've stayed. Of course, I've seen one or two outside in the foliage, but never inside. Just Lucky, I hope.

 

I have seen one on just one occasion, in a Miami hotel that I frequented at least a week at a time or longer, about six times a year, and I was given that night as compliments of the manager.

 

These things are all over Florida, but unless you choose to stay in a filthy setting, you shouldn't have any problem at all.

 

Mary

[scgirl816]

Not just FL but also GA and SC...I have lived in all 3 states...SC by far the worst for these pesky bugs! Some species do fly, but it's rare that you see them during the day and rarer that you will see them inside.

[Flacruiser123]

All you Floridians claim seeing so few Palmetto bugs? Please! Palmetto bugs DO NOT like the indoors, they prefer to be outside. You'll see them most of the time outside in garages, barns, gardening storage sheds. I'm a gardener and so I see more than I want to, but I'm not afraid of them anymnore.

 

A neighbor moved down from Detroit and clear-cut 3 beautiful acres in fear of the almighty palmetto bug. He said they were in the trees on his property, even the (palmetto) palms. Everyone here thought he was crazy. He now has 3 acres of constant sun!:eek:

 

I've never heard of them biting anyone or hanging around kitchens and restaurants. They do look like huge roaches. Ugly, yep. But mosquito's are much more common and they bite!