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.
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.
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.
Also, never visit Thailand if you are cockroach phobic. Not only are they HUGE there but they fly!

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!

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!!
I'm a big hater of roaches or any big bugs for that matter. Now I am terrified to go back!!

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!
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!!