The short answer
Those big roaches live outside most of the time. When a storm dumps a few inches of rain on Tequesta or Jupiter, the places they hide fill up with water. They go looking for dry ground, and your house is the nearest dry ground on the block. So they walk in under a door, through a gap around a pipe, or up through a garage.
It isn't that your house got dirty. It's that the yard got flooded.
What Floridians call a palmetto bug
Ask around Jupiter and you'll hear "palmetto bug" more than "roach." It's the same family. The nickname usually means the big reddish brown American cockroach, the one that runs about an inch and a half long and sometimes flies. People also lump in the darker smokybrown cockroach and the slow, shiny black Florida woods roach, the one that gives off a nasty smell when it's bothered.
All three are mostly outdoor roaches. They're a different problem from the small brown roaches that breed inside kitchens. More on that below.
Where they hide before the rain
Around here they have plenty of places to wait out the day:
- Mulch and leaf litter in the landscape beds right up against the house.
- Palm trees and thick plantings. The dead fronds and boots on a palm are a favorite hiding spot, which is how they got the name.
- Storm drains and sewer lines. These fill fast in a downpour, and roaches come up and out.
- Woodpiles, pavers and stacked pots in a shady side yard.
- Irrigation boxes and damp spots near the AC drain line.
Older neighborhoods with big trees and established landscaping have more of these spots, which is why a lot of Tequesta and Jupiter homes see them after summer storms and during the fall rains.
One roach or a real problem?
Here's a quick way to tell the difference:
- One big roach after a storm, usually at night. Most likely a visitor from outside. Annoying, but it doesn't mean they're living in your walls.
- A few big ones every time it rains. Something outside is giving them an easy way in, and the outside of the house needs attention.
- Lots of small brown roaches in the kitchen or bathroom, even in daylight. That's a roach that breeds indoors, and it won't go away on its own. Call us.
How we keep them out
Since these roaches come from outside, most of the work happens outside. We treat around the outside of the home and the spots where they get in, so they get stopped at the edge of the property instead of in your kitchen. Inside, we treat where roaches actually show up, like kitchens, bathrooms and along the baseboards. Our techs tell you what they're treating and why before they leave.
One customer in Tequesta told us they have zero roaches, which in Florida is about as rare as it gets. That's the goal for every house we take care of.
What you can do before the next storm
- Pull mulch back a few inches from the foundation so there's a dry strip next to the house.
- Clean up dead palm fronds and leaf piles near doors and the garage.
- Check door sweeps and the weatherstripping on the garage door. A gap you can slide a pencil under is big enough.
- Seal around pipes and AC lines where they go through the wall.
- Fix leaky outdoor faucets and keep the AC drain line from puddling next to the house.
- Keep firewood and stacked pots away from the walls.
None of this replaces treatment, but it cuts down on how many roaches find their way in when the rain comes.
Roaches in your town
We're based at 244 Country Club Drive in Tequesta and take care of homes all over the area. Find your town: Tequesta, Jupiter, Jupiter Inlet Colony, Jupiter Island, Hobe Sound, Juno Beach, North Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. Or read more about our general pest control.
Roach facts on this page line up with the University of Florida IFAS guides on the American cockroach and the Florida woods cockroach.
