Cockroaches in the house...should you worry?

For the past couple of weeks when I would go into the bathroom at night and turn on the light I would see tiny cockroaches scurrying about.  It also happened one morning when the boy was with me and he was very upset when I rinsed the roach down the bathroom sink.

The boy- "MOMMY! We should have taken it outside and let it go!"
Me- "It's okay, cockroaches commonly live in sewers so it's going to be reunited with other cockroaches."
The boy- "Really? They live in sewers?"
Me- "Yes.  When I was in college working on cockroaches I used to trap all my roaches from the sewer.  I would get jars full of them overnight."
The boy- "Oh, okay."

So why am I not panicked that cockroaches are taking over my house?  Well for one, anyone who knows me knows that I have a fondness for cockroaches so I don't panic when I see them.  They rank from being cute to a mild annoyance to me.  Secondly, I've identified them as American cockroach nymphs and I know that they are coming in the house looking for water because it has been so dry outside.  If I really cared about them being in the house, I could go up in the attic and screen off any vent openings where they might be coming into the house, clean out our gutters (which probably would be a good ideas to do for other reasons as well) and stuff the weep holes with copper mesh.  Our screens are already in good shape- hubby fixed that last month and the weather stripping around doors and windows is also good.  I could also have the hubby go up and dust the attic or do a foundation spray around the house, but I'd rather not.

What do you do when you find a cockroach in the bathroom late at night?

Fire Ant Webinar on Fall Baiting- September 4, 2013

A colleague of mine- Molly Keck from San Antonio- will be giving a fire ant webinar on next week that will discuss why baiting for fire ants in the fall makes sense. 

 

Seminar: Fall – A Good Time to Control Fire Ants with Bait

Date: Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Time: 1PM (Central)

More information can be found at Fall a Good Time to Control Fire Ants with Bait including how to connect to the webinar.  On Sept.  4, participants can use this link to connect to the webinar.

The Don’t Bug Me Webinar Series, which began earlier this year, included five webinars discussing fire ants, tramp ants and bed bugs.  Links to view these archived webinars can be found here.
The webinars are sponsored by eXtension and the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.  They are coordinated by the Imported Fire Ant eXtension Community of Practice.
As upcoming webinars approach, watch eXtension’s Don’t be Bugged Webinar Series page for more information on that particular webinar.

New Pesticide Labels to Protect Bees and other Pollinators

Just a really quick post this week as the link will give all the information you need to know.  It's a release from the EPA on how pesticide labels will limit certain neonicotinoid products in areas where bees are active.