What is this bug?

When I lived in Brooklyn, NY, I saw German cockroaches and what we called water bugs, wider and fatter than cockroaches.

But in the last month I've found bugs even bigger in my bathroom. I don't know what they are.

They are longer, wider, black, shiny all over, have no waist, and I can almost always step on one and kill it. Even though they run, they don't run directly to a hiding place. They seem thicker than the other two bugs above, but yet they run under the sink cabinet, which looks like it's less than a millmeter off the floor!!

Yesterday, it reached a new level. As I came up the steps, there were two of them in the hall, walking down the carpet, one six inches behind the other and walking at the same pace. Like they were in the army**. As I lifted my foot, they ran quickly, and I got one of them, because as always, he didn't run straight to hiding.

**I figure this is a big clue. Does anyone know what this bug is. It might help me get rid of them.
Reply to
micky
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Mutant roaches from Chernobyl. They've been spreading across Europe for decades and have arrived in The U.S. by hitching rides in ships and planes. ^_^

TDD

Reply to
The Daring Dufas

Where do you live now? Can you post a picture of the bugs?

Reply to
Pavel314

Could be a Palmetto bug, but not if you still live in the Northeast

Reply to
RBM

These are the latest NSA spybots. Their purpose is to detect the numerous paedophiles in the USA. Are YOU a paedophile? Do not tread on them, they are government property. You could go to jail for 317 years.

Reply to
harryagain

Do you have a photo?

A photo would be nice! Sounds like water bugs, BIG waterbugs since they're near a source of water.

Now you're in trouble. You let a scout report back to the main force. (-: They're probably preparing an invasion force as I type. Ever see "Starship Troopers?" There could be a "brain bug" living in your vanity.

I figure it just means you got a busload of them living somewhere in a void or near a slightly leaky pipe.

Do you have a photo? (-:

I'd say you have a lot of waterbugs that have been living there long enough to have bred and created a small army. But you're going to have to stalk them with a camera if you really want to know for sure. We get enough false ID's here even *with* pictures, so I'd say you'd better saddle up for a photo safari. Should be easy based on the apparent level of "infesteration" you're experiencing.

Palmetto bugs usually like it a lot warmer and stay in the South but you could have yourself "one of them ill-legal invader type" varmints looking to drop some "anchor babies" and get free bug care for life. Better build some fences around your sink and call Darryl Issa for advice! (-;

Reply to
Robert Green

Yeah, probably not a roach. They move fast. One caused my only serious "sports injury." Came down the basement stairs, flipped on the light. A roach in the center of the floor made a dash for a rolled rug along the wall. I sprinted after him, and pulled a hamstring. Limped for a couple weeks. He got away too.

Reply to
Vic Smith

Just figure out where they're living and get some roach spray. There's some different kinds of roaches that don't fit the normal way people think about a roach. I had an infestation alongside of my last house, a big brick 2-flat. Saw a couple in the basement, and killed them. They didn't move fast. Figured they came in an unscreened basement window. The grass alongside the sidewalk running the length on that side of the house was in sad shape, even after reseeding a couple times. Never saw any bugs in the daytime. One night my wife went out there with a flashlight, and pulled me out there. Hundreds of bugs all over the sidewalk. Looked like roaches to me, but they were vegetarians feeding on grass. They were living under the sidewalk, using the gap next to the foundation as entry/exit. Think I found the species, but can't remember. They had probably been multiplying for a few years. I got a pump sprayer and some real strong poison from an exterminator. As I ran the spray along the length of the gap, they came pouring out by the thousands. Didn't count, but it seemed that way. Neighborhood kids gathered to watch. They bugs were dancing on their back legs as they died. Horrible sight. But that was that. Never saw a one again, and the grass came back.

Reply to
Vic Smith

In the US, we commonly have three types of inside roaches:

  1. German. You know what those are.
  2. American. Bigger, dark brown. Often called "water bugs".
  3. Orienal. Slightly smaller than American, brown-black, wider and more sluggish. Also called "water bugs". Is this it?

Here's an image of all three...

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Reply to
dadiOH

Great story. I hope *I* don't have thousands.

I forgot. Early on, there were about 6 of them at one time just inside the lip of the bowl of the toilet, at the front.. I hit them one at a time with some toilet paper and knocked them into the bowl and flushed them away. I forget if I flushed once for each bug, or just once.

That was the only time I've seen more than two at the same time, and the only time I've seen them near water, and the only time I've seen them when they weren't on the floor. .

Reply to
micky

Thanks for the picture. It has brown-banded too, and I think I saw those in NY, (I don't remember the band or the name, but I remember they had a big caboose, wider in the rear than the front.)

You're right, it might be the oriental. I have to wait until I see another one, because I keep thinking its legs were hidden under its body. But maybe I just ignored its legs (and antennas) and they really stuck out like in the picture. I haven't seen any for the last 2 days.

Thanks. I'll get back to you in a week or two. It has to be a new thread, I think, or no one will see it.

Reply to
micky

Great pictures We used to call the brown banded an "asian roach"

The one they call "Oriental" is usually called a water bug up north and the "American" is our good old palmetto bug, everyone in Florida has seen.

Of all of them I think the Palmetto bug is easiest to control. Germans and Asians may require fogging the building from what I saw in my apartment living life in Maryland

Reply to
gfretwell

Sounds like the Pointer Sisters. (-:

Reply to
Robert Green

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