COCKROACHES, SPIDERS AND FLIES, OH MY!
Orlando endures bug invasion after wetter-than-usual summer
“It’s a big surprise when you have bugs and you have never had them. It’s the first time ever that I have seen roaches in my kitchen.” Sandi Kennedy, Orlando Resident
I| t has been a rough summer when it comes to bugs at Sandi Kennedy’s home in the College Park neighborhood of Orlando. The 67-year-old has battled fruit flies, the small, hairy sewer fly and different kinds of cockroaches in her garbage bins, pantry and on counters. She even considered selling her stove because she thought the bugs were hatching there.
“I hate bugs,” Kennedy said. “I can’t stand bugs. I was so mad at them one night, I just took my bare hand and smacked it.”
Central Florida has become a battleground in the
fight to keep cockroaches, millipedes, ants, termites, earwigs, spiders and other bugs out of homes. A wetter-than-usual summer has driven the pests in from the outdoors, experts say.
Kennedy has noticed the upswing. She said this year has been worse than any other summer since she moved into the one-story, ranch-style home 33 years ago.
“It’s a big surprise when you have bugs and you have never had them,” she said. “It’s the first time ever that I have seen roaches in my kitchen.”
Orlando Executive Airport saw 15.96 inches of rain during July and August, according to Weather Underground data. That is nearly
three times higher than the 6.28 inches that fell last year during the same time.
“There has been quite a bit of spraying and concern,” said Norm Leppla, a University of Florida entomology professor. “So people have been asking for information, which we have quite a bit of, to help them.’’
The invasion has brought more calls to bug proof homes to pest-control companies such as Massey Services of Orlando.
“With all the rain that we have had, you’ve got to understand that bugs are trying to get away from that water, as well, to a certain degree,” said Adam Jones, the company’s vice president of quality assurance, noting that most-common complaints have been millipedes, earwigs and spiders. “When that happens, they’re going to move, and if they find an opening they are going to gain access to the home.”
That means sealing homes as tightly as possible while also clearing gutters of debris to eliminate potential breeding grounds.
It can be a big challenge to figure out how insects and other annoying intruders can make their way into a home.
Jones said one technician had to visit a site multiple times before realizing that a swaying tree limb above the house would briefly touch the roof when even in minor breezes, creating a bridge for whitefooted ants to access a home.
While the rain has driven bugs into homes, Jones said the good news is that it has been a fairly typical summer, with no new species of pests emerging.
That’s little solace for Kennedy, who does not use a pest-control service, and others dealing with infestations.
Once she cleared her home of sewer flies using a baking soda-vinegar concoction, but then she found cockroaches in her kitchen about three months ago.
That meant a trip to the store to pick up bug bombs, which she placed into wall sockets in her 63-year-old home, a common area for roaches to breed.
Kennedy hopes her most-recent strategy — dumping bug-killing diatomaceous earth into affected areas and on her kitchen counters — finally does the trick.
At least for the first four days, so far, so good.
“I don’t let them get away, trust me,” she says. “If I am eating in the kitchen, what am I supposed to do, just live with them?”