Cockroaches in Hawaii!!!
 

We are planning a trip to Oahu in April and a friend who has been there has informed me that he found cockroaches to be very abundant and even found them in the fold down roof of his rental car. This has me mortified since I detest beetles of any kind especially roaches. Is there any truth to this and where can I expect to find them?!<BR>Any info would be helpful

We were in Maui twice in recent years and saw one cockroach in our room and two geckos. We left a piece of coconut in the car and came back to a small army of teeny ants. But other than that no problems with bugs at all. We were there one year in March and once in May. Have a great time!

Bugs are a way of life in the tropics. You probably won't have too much of a problem in your room because most hotels spray every other month or so to keep them under control. However, don't leave any open food containers in your car or you may come back to find it crawling with bugs.

In Hawai'i they come in all sizes! I like the big ones that can also fly. At first view they're pretty repugnant, but I do have to admit that they can be cute. Cockroaches (aka mogamoga, cucaracha, etc.) are the real survivors of this earth and they will probably still be around when the last homo sapien bites the dust! Best way to avoid them is not to get up in the middle of the night to visit either the toilet or the kitchen!

LOL insectophile! (from a Floridian who knows what you mean! hahaha

Yes, it's a jungle out there! Most hotels won't have them in record numbers, but the cleanest of them won't be able to keep out the occasional roach or a few ants.The trick is to relax - be one with nature!

Alert - Alert, there's salt in ocean water! I hear there might even be mosquitos in N. America!! What is a traveler to do? If this isn't a troll post, I truly feel sorry for her travel companions.

I've been to Hawaii four times, all in June and never seen a cockroach. This includes Oahu, Big Island, Kauai, and Maui. Our hotels are in the moderate range and we've always rented a car.

I lived in San Diego for 10 years and never once had I seen either a rattler or king snake! That doesn't mean they didn't exist. We just did a good job in avoiding each other. The same goes for cockroaches....

Thanks for all of your replies.I truly hope I do not run into any roaches. Snakes,spiders,mosquitos I can handle and do as they are abundant in Canada where I am from but it is just something about large beetles that I have a phobia with. So thanks to all of you for your feedback and by the way Bubba I love saltwater and can't wait to jump right into the ocean-I'll be thinking of you when I do.

Ok, this reminds me of the old Loggins & Messina song... "in Lahaina, where the mangoes are sweet, and the centipede he crawls all over your feet..."

We stayed at the Ritz Carlton there and found a huge roach on the bed when we checked in.<BR>Yes, they are ubiquitous in the tropics.

Hey, we get cockroach races around here. Wen you see one you grab your slippah. But buggah some as big as slippahs.

One more tip - keep your toothbrush wrapped up at night. Some of our kama'aina friends keep their toothbrushes in the refrigerator.

I hate to burst your bubble but the ocean is chock full of bugs. Anyway, it's awfully nice of you to think of me. Enjoy your stay!

Thanks for those kind wishes Bubba.I'll watch for those ocean bugs!!

I've been going to Hawaii each year for 12 years and the only place I have seen cock roaches is in rental cars. Unfortunately, it is not that unusual for rental cars to harbor the little fellows. Also you will not know if you have roaches in your car when you pick it up because they tend to hid out during the daylight hours and only appear in the dark. Often if you have car roaches you will see them scramble when you get into your car at night and the interior light goes on. It's creepy, I know. Sorry to tell all of you with you bug phoebia, but them's the facts.

Roaches are pretty standard in the tropics. We had them in our rental car on the Big Island. I complained when I got back home and got a $35 voucher for my next rental.

I detest roaches too, Lisa. I lived in Hawaii for 4 1/2 years and periodically encountered them out in the street (big, flying ones, usually at night) and in my home (big and little ones). I no longer live there, but frequently visit and stay in hotels. I rarely see or think about roaches during those visits. Don't worry about them, and don't worry about your toothbrush in hotel rooms. Hotels do spray frequently and I can't think of any time that I've seen a roach in a hotel room (but I sometimes see tiny ants). But an aside -- back when I was living in Hawaii, I walked into the bathroom one morning to find a humongous cockroach (at least 1 1/2 inches long) perched on the head of my roommate's toothbrush, gnawing away at the bristles (they LOVE toothpaste). One suggestion with your rental car (I've also heard that rental cars could be infested with them), you could buy those Combat roach bait traps and scatter them throughout the interior of your car and the trunk. I've found them to be extremely effective.

the good news is that there are NO snakes in hawaii:)

Thanks for the advice Judy. I think I will pick up a few of those roach traps for the rental car. We will be travelling with 2 small children-the youngest 6 months old so the thought of a roach crawling on the baby seat at night is gross!! Great tip-thanks again!

Just make sure the little ones can't get at the traps, sometimes referred to as roach hotels. <BR>Best thing might be to desensitize to the issue of cockroaches. I seriously doubt that any would actually crawl over a child in a car seat. The roaches that may infest cars are really quite tiny and tend to scurry away with human activity.

Have had two cockroach experiences in Hawaii. Once on the drive from Hana to Wailea, we bought a huge bouquet of Bird of Paradise from a local flower stand. They were magnificent. When we checked into our hotel in Wailea, I asked housekeeping for a vase large enough to hold them all. They looked at me dubiously and we ended using a waste basket as a vase. (Only thing big enough to hold them all.) That night I got up to use the bathroom and when I turned on the light, noticed with horror that huge cockroaches were crawling out of the bird of paradise flowers. My scream must have awoken the neighbors. My husband moved the flowers out to the lanai. I still laugh when I think about it. They apparently grow BIG cockroaches in Hana although we have never seen them in the cottage we rent there.<BR> Also, it is true that the hotels and condos are sprayed regularly. We stayed in a condo in Kauai for three weeks when one of my children was still crawling and the other was busy playing games on the floor. Once a week we would get a notice from the condo office that they would be spraying on a certain day. I asked them not to spray our unit because I was unsure of how toxic the sprays would be to our young children. By the 3rd week without spraying we did have two cockroach sightings. (We were in a ground floor unit.) My husband wasn't thrilled as he discovered one by stepping on it in barefeet. (The kids didn't know that he could jump that high.) The bottom line is that the hotels are aware that visitors aren't nuts about bugs and they spray regularly but remember this is the tropics and there are bugs -and cute geckos that chirp.<BR> Also, never visit Thailand if you are cockroach phobic. Not only are they HUGE there but they fly!<BR>

Mary, what a funny story! And geckos that chirp?? I'm looking forward to that! And don't visit Florida either, because SOME of our cockroaches (we like to call 'em palmetto bugs) fly - you never know which ones though!<BR><BR>P.S. Which cottage in Hana? Romantic for two? We already booked a cottage in Wailea (I'm anti-condo) for five nights, and one in Kauai for a week, but looking for two more nights in Hana...thanks!

In the 70's we camped with our children on the different islands. We stopped at the Holo Holo headquarters one night to take showers and in the shower room was every kind of bug you can imagine and some that you can't. Luckily, I'm not afraid of them and they didn't "bug" us.

I read these ridiculous rumors about roaches in rental cars in Hawaii and chuckled about the unlucky saps who came across them. So my wife and I were on our way to Pearl Harbor at the end of May, and a little friend popped out from the overhead visor to say hello. My wife was scared stiff and in tears as it was about 6 inches from her head and "MOVING!" as she would scream. Of course in Honolulu traffic, I couldn't just pull over. So it was true. We bought some roach motels, I moved my wife to the back seat for the trip, and named the cockroach, Larry. Never did see Larry again, but chances are you may if you get a bronze Ford Taurus on Oahu from Hertz.

We didn't find roach problems in Oahu. However, we found plenty of them in Maui. They were in our rental, at the hotels. But if you don't bother them, they don't bother you. They are, disgusting looking though. We saw this huge one, the size of my thumb, in the hallway of our hotel. Thankfully, it was already dead!

May your car rental or your condo rental?

It's weird that I came across this sight because a couple of weeks ago I told my story about the big cockroach that crawled across my husbands neck at 2:00 am. The post is called "Hyatt Kauai that bad?". It is towards the end of the posts. I had people calling me a liar and putting me down. I feel vindicated now that other people are telling their stories about these disgusting creatures. If anyone else out there has had a simular experience I would like to hear about it so all the naysayers out there will see that I did not make this up.

Sorry about that. They were in our rental cars. Since we rented a Jeep, I guess they were able to get in from the outside.

It was too funny to find this topic. We just got back from Maui. We had an Alamo rental car that was infested with cockroaches and ants. They came pouring our of the backseat as we drove down the road. My son jumped into the front with us, and we stopped at the first store we came to. Used a whole can of Raid in the car, and then locked it up overnight. No more bugs in the car. We stayed at the Mahana, and never saw a single bug. Not even during those midnight bathroom visits.

I hate big crawly bugs - now you have all terrified me about roaches in cars in Hawaii. Is this an urgan legend, or do I have to reconsider placing Hawaii on my list of places I have never been but would like to go to?

On Kauai we had a car full of roaches and ants too. Thought DH would careen off the road when he spotted one on my leg. Since I was more afraid of flying off the cliff than the cockroach at that time I flicked it off. DH wouldn't even get into the car at night because of the rustling we heard when the dome light went on. This was many years ago. Had a convertible in Sept on Kauai and it was fine.

I have chills from reading this!!<BR>I'm a big hater of roaches or any big bugs for that matter. Now I am terrified to go back!!<BR>

God, these stories are disgusting. To travel all the way to Hawaii and come back with memories like that. It sends shivers down my spine. I heard they have huge centipedes that sting and bite. Has anyone heard that? Geez, the Cockroaches sound so big you can just about hear them burp! I would surely go off the side of a cliff if I were driving and one of these crawled on me.

Does Raid really kill cockroaches? Which type? If so, that will be my first purchase when we land.

go to Texas if you want Cockroaches.

I lived on Oahu for four years and got used to the cockroaches -- but it took awhile. And I LOVE geckos, so they kind of made up for seeing a 2-inch long roach on the wall before it took off FLYING! And no matter HOW much you cleaned, scrubbed, put out traps, disinfected . . . you'd get up at night, turn on the light, and hear the creepy scuttling of tiny feet! When you live in Hawaii, EVERYTHING goes into tupperware and/or in the fridge. Only canned food in the cupboards!<BR>To Kim -- yes, there are poisonous centipedes in Hawaii, they are very very dangerous but more afraid of you than vice versa. They are quite big, very scary looking -- just be careful in bare feet. You probably won't encounter one but you never know.

The big ones, btw are known as B52s, after the bombers.

Hawai'i without cockroaches would be like Australia without kangaroos. I would miss those little buggers if they were to disappear. Protect the environment! Save the roaches!!