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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist

Vermin

Anybody had problems in the past with the usual suspects - mice, roaches, etc? We get mice now and then when there is renovation going on in the building (luckily, cute small mice my mother didn't have the heart to kill, especially as she'd just seen Ratatouille), although thank goodness no roaches - I can't stand them! Do you think the problem is ubiquitous in NYC, or a rarity? Here in the UES we have about one or two incidents a year, maybe more since our beloved dog passed away and no longer chases the bad things out of the house!
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
I currently have a mouse problem. For a long time we thought it was just one mouse - but it turns out this is never the case. Where there is one mouse....

My roommate, the gem, is a bit of a packrat himself. The first thing they tell you when you have a vermin pile is to rid your living space of any piles of junk you may have. That is not happening, so I'm guessing the mice will be residing in the apartment long after I am.

There's also an abandoned building behind our house, which tends to attract vermin. I had a friend who lived in a basement apt next to an empty lot in Williamsburg, and her building was great but she had a rat problem that she couldn't seem to shake no matter what.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
We don't have mice since we have cats. We do have roaches, and I hate them. Disgusting things. Every time I see one, I kill it. What a creature to have been created. What purpose do they serve except to make our lives miserable.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist I have battled both roaches and mice in the recent past and I cant stand both. Roaches especially. I think they are the ugliest creatures on earth. Our building had a mouse problem when the neighboring building was being renovated last year. It always seems to be the case that when a building or apartment is being renovated it seems to unsettle the vermin who live beneath the surface who then coming pouring out.
Apparently NYC currently also has a coyote problem.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/21/its-raining-coyotes-and-roosters-out-there/
http://gothamist.com/2010/01/27/coyotes_roaming_suburban_new_york.php
Though nothing beats what this woman found in her toilet bowl on morning. I often think about it when I have to go-
http://wcbstv.com/local/python.snake.brooklyn.2.376219.html
http://gothamist.com/2009/02/18/boa_constrictor_invades_brooklyn_ho.php
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
I really do get creeped out by roaches, although the adorable cockroach companion in Wall*E managed to mitigate my visceral disate for the creatures. At least mice have Big Cute Eyes, although rats are harder to deal with. I learned recently that rats have a keen emotional intelligence akin to that of dogs, and far greater than mice or gerbils, but somehow it's hard to believe with their weird fingers and beady eyes and long wormtails. I should turn to Pixar again though - Ratatouille was so cute!
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Can't even leave crumbs on the counter without the roaches coming out in plain sight. I think this is a distinctly NYC problem, because I've never seen such aggressive, immodest roaches in any other city I've lived.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Did you want to see something about roaches. Watch this:

http://uglyoverload.blogspot.com/2009/02/cave-roaches.html

Next time you won't want to go into a cave.

What is your view of roaches now?
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
EEEEoowww hhusted it made my skin crawl... I truly abhor roaches..
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
I know. Doesn't it though. Man, I hate them to. Yuck, yuck, yuck.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
Ew ew ew! What is it about roaches that makes them so...terrifying and horrible and squicky and eek ekk eek!? Compared to, say, spiders or beetles or worms? I don't know!
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
I don't know either, ajdadedidealist. Maybe it is the fact, they multiply faster than any other type of insect and they eat anything that is in their path. If you have one around, that one can lay about a thousand eggs and before you know it, you will have a ton of them around. Not fun.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Fact: when a roach comes in contact with you, it will immediately scurry off into hiding and "clean" itself. Apparently, by roach standards, we are unclean.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Didn't fleas play their own role in the bubonic plague as well?

Anyone hear of any bedbug outbreaks lately? :)
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@BroadwayBk eeew that's another one of my fears for apparently they can travel in people's clothing and if you happen to be sitting next to a bed bug infested soul on the subway.... I guess you are toast as well because once bed bugs take root they are extremely difficult to get rid off...heaven forbid...
@ajadediealist its those horrible antlers ..they wave them about with such impudence...
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
I think bedbugs are my least favorite vermin. Anything that sucks blood - ughhhhh!
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
here's some more info on roaches-http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/kunkel/cockroach_faq.html- Do you know there is a cockroach hall of fame and museum in Plano ,Texas-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUpMxz0Fc3c
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Guess they don't have a lot else to do in Plano Texas?

(Man, I really am turning into a NYC-centric snob lately)
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@uraniumfish- Fact most New Yorkers think NYC is the center of the universe ...:) you are by no means alone...
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Have you guys ever messed around on Chatroulette.com? Anyway I don't recommend it as it is populated with hormonal young men, but my roommate and I were bored one day and we ended up web cam chatting with a nice Brazilian boy who told us that Americans on the site always think everyone else is American. Apparently New Yorkers aren't the only ones who picture their lives at the center of the universe....
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Please, Uraniumfish, do not turn into a snob. I see enough of them in the city already. :)

@BroadwayBK: I hate bedbugs to. I got bit by plenty of them once until I bought another mattress.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Even the thought of bedbugs makes my skin crawl.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
oy, Bedbugs! My grandmother dealt with them a while ago, and they turned her into a bit of a nervous wreck until the problem was sorted - one really does get paranoid about them
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
I could tell you some mouse extermination stories that would get you all screaming in disgust. I won't even start. Maybe killing roaches doesn't seem too bad because they're bugs, but mice are mammals and having to deal with corpses is totally unappetizing.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Whoa! I hate to see dead mice. When I do, I pick up the mouse with a glove or paper towel and toss it out my window. I do not throw it in my trashcan. I do not want to start smelling the body decaying.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@hhusted you toss it out of the window!! what if falls on a poor soul walking by???can't you put it in the communal garbage or something? Btw why do New Yorkers refer to roaches as water bugs? or is there a difference between the two?
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
@uptowngirl Good point! Is this "water bug" idea a way to not face up to the yucky reality of having roaches?
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
Read all about water bugs here:

http://animals.howstuffworks.com/insects/water-bug-info.htm

They don't have a whole heck of a lot to do with cockroaches. (And they bite! I didn't know that.) @uptowngirl, Uraniumfish You guys might be right that that some New Yorkers are just too "polite" to call a roach a roach. We always called them roaches at home. Water bugs - ha!
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@uptowngirl: When I throw the dead mouse out the window, I normally do it in the back so it falls on the grown. The super goes out there every day and picks up dead animals anyway. I told him about what I was doing and said to do it for he will clean it up since he is often doing maintenance near the backyard.

As for water bugs and roaches, they are two distinctly different insects:

http://www.eduwebs.org/bugs/giant_water_bug.htm

http://www.orkin.com/cockroaches

It doesn't matter what insect it is, I hate them and want to get rid of them quickly.

Yuk.....
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
Thanks Dblack the waterbug looks as ugly as the roach...and it bites as well...
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Thanks DBlack for the link. As you can tell from your link and the one I posted, there is a lot of info about water bugs. They are a problem in some areas of the city.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@hhusted I agree they are all despicable creatures.....
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
I'd never heard of waterbugs before I moved to New York - in Florida we refer to them a palmetto bugs, but apparently they are also known as the American cockroach: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cockroach

I've actually seen a few in the city - but they are not as common as those little ones.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Looking at the previous posts on waterbugs again, I have to wonder what's going on - I know that people call palmetto bugs waterbugs; I've heard them, but I've never actually seen the bug that you guys posted above.
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DBlack
DBlack 2yrs+
My explanation is: "water bug" is a euphemism, the way some people say "powder room" instead of toilet. Some kind of polite affectation, because the thought of cockroaches in their cabinets leaves a real bad taste. Just a suggestion. I've heard people from Florida and also people from the Midwest talk about their "water bugs" when they so definitely were talking about roaches.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
Or maybe they are just affectionate nicknames :)

I'm just glad the roaches in New York tend to be of the smaller variety; on this topic I'll take my comfort where I can get it.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@BroadwayBk the ones I see in my laundry room are not small by any standard ! some of them even climb the walls.. apparently the laundry room had a 'nest' last summer. Thank god the exterminator comes by ever so often nowadays..zap them all I say...
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@uptowngirl That's unfortunate. I have seen one bug that fits the description of the giant American cockroach up here, but mostly I've just encountered those little ones. By now I see no point in even attempting to kill them off.
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JenMac
JenMac 2yrs+
I'm, officially, not going to sleep after reading this thread. Bed Bugs terrify me. If someone just mentions them, I'll have phantom itching for the next several hours. They seem to be making quite a comeback, lately, too which is very disquieting. You have to be careful with those coyotes uptown, guys. Im from California; and, several people I know have horror stories about murdered pets from those nasty buggers. They're really vicious and quite cocky. They'll just stare at an oncoming cars as if to say, "do you mind?"
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NeverSleeps
NeverSleeps 2yrs+
I'm with everyone on the bed bug thing - they are terrifying. I once had a coworker who claimed to have found one, and the entire place was promptly fumigated - they're not something to mess around with.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Okay, here's my skin crawling again over the thought of bed bugs.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
Yeah, bedbugs. I had them at one point. i got rid of my mattress and bought a new one. Once I did that, I was okay.

Hate insects of any type.
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ajadedidealist
ajadedidealist 2yrs+
Apparently bed bugs are a real social stigma - it's seen as a "lower class" problem despite the fact that people from all walks of life suffer bedbugs, and is often deemed humiliating. Honestly, I don't see why - it could happen to anybody!
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist you're absolutely right anyone can get infested with them.
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Uraniumfish
Uraniumfish 2yrs+
Some associations with lack of cleanliness, I guess. Never had bedbugs, nor lice for that matter, but I like things spic and span at home, especially the things I'll lay my head on. @ajadeidealist Does it really happen to everybody? It would be great to see some bedbug statistics mapped out by neighborhood.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@Uraniunfish here's an article from 2007 which mentions statistics in various neighborhoods of the city
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/12/30/2007-12-30_bedbug_epidemic_attacks_new_york_city.html
must mention I am itching terribly while posting this.
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BroadwayBK
BroadwayBK 2yrs+
@ajadedidealist @Uraniumfish It happened to me one time, but in Tallahassee, Florida, when I was in school. I bought a brand new mattress and box spring from a store that had a bad bedbug problem. My sister also purchased her bed there, and we both ended up with bedbugs.... There was nothing to do but throw them away (and fumigate!) and buy new ones - I still have nightmares about it, so sorry if your skin is crawling right now but...

Yeah, it could definitely happen to anyone.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@Uptowngirl: Begin thinking of a world without bugs. Think of yourself on a beach without bugs. Just feel the gentle breeze of the ocean as it hits your face. Maybe if you visualize that, you won't itch anymore.
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uptowngirl
uptowngirl 2yrs+
@hhusted unfortunately I am very susceptible to insect bites and suffer a lot when I travel to tropical countries.I can't just wish bugs away they seem to come after me with a vengeance.. my only defense is using copious amounts of mosquito repellent.
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hhusted
hhusted 2yrs+
@Uptowngirl: I wasn't talking about wishing the bugs away, I was talking more about wishing the itching away. I figured maybe if you pictured your life away from bugs, you won't think about the itching so much. It is based on association.
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