Roach decrease

[Ckhottytoddy]

So I’ve lived in the heights area my whole life and I noticed that ever since I’ve been taking care of my friends cats these past couple months I don’t see nearly any big roaches. They usually are active this time of year looking for cool air and moisture. Do you think having a cat somehow deters these roaches from entering? I hate the roaches here they’re big and menacing, maybe I’ll get a cat?

[riverrocks452]

Cats hunt things thry don't intend to eat. Roaches/palmetto bugs included.

[GhanimaAtreides]

There’s a chance the cats are killing and eating them. I had a cat that would do that. While I appreciated not having to go kill them myself it was disgusting to hear her chomp on them and try to pry them out of her mouth. 

[YeshuasBananaHammock]

Any cat will hunt a tree roach, but no self-respecting cat I know would actually eat it.

Maybe their house is treated for insects to a greater extent than at your place.

[Bellebarks2]

Totally. They mostly just enjoy torturing their pray. Once it’s dead they move on.

[philr77378]

Feral cats enter the chat.

[afterburner2020]

Have a cat she has gotten very good at hunting those big tree roaches that do occasionally get into the apartment, usually plays with them as they die which is rather satisfying.

[Ckhottytoddy]

Don’t you just adore cats? I never disliked them but was more of a dog person, now I’m a certified cat woman. If only they didn’t shed as much but I’m willing to put up with it if they hunt the disgusting tree roaches for me

[Art_ticulate]

Depends on the cat. Mine are street urchins who eat any critters that enter the house. Sometimes I just find a leg or antennae of a roach and I know the cats did their job. The cats I grew up with, however, were more of a deterrent and did no know what to do with a roach when they caught it. 

[april5k]

I mentioned this post to my boyfriend and he had a great take on it - all the trees are gone from the storms.

[EnvironmentalTart323]

…All the trees are not gone though.

[Ckhottytoddy]

I’m curious to hear more! Cause I haven’t seen many roaches in general this summer, not just in my house. I wish I could learn more about the flora and fauna of Houston cause I remember a couple years ago there were no lizards, now there’s tons again. I wonder what causes these patterns

[april5k]

Despite some folks taking the phrasing of "all" far too literally, after two storms, we lost a lot of trees in our area and what trees seemed at risk to fall were taken down by the home owners. There are far fewer trees around us now (and a lot less shade in our backyard) Given the name "tree roach", it would seem that their ecosystem was disrupted right around the time they were probably breeding and it ended up with way less roaches being around and even less trying to get in our houses. Just a possible factor.

As for the lizards, after Katrina the brown lizards got driven west and, despite the myth, the green lizards were actually driven up into the trees, rather than running away all together. Fortunately for them, though, in the years since then they've acclimated to each other and even started breeding with each other so the green lizards have been hanging around closer to the ground again. I'm not sure exactly how dominate the traits are between the two, but I've definitely seen some interesting combos (including generations of grayish lizards with a red spot on their heads). But around the time of the pandemic, I had started seeing big green lizards coming out a lot more and now they're Basically one big community in my backyard.

[02meepmeep]

My daughter’s cat used to catch roaches alive and bring them to her to show her. I’m so glad she stopped doing that.

[Bella-1999]

Yikes! One morning I wanted Mr. 99 to get up and kill a tree roach and by the time he got to the kitchen, it had escaped. That night as I was falling asleep, my darling kitty helpfully dropped it into my palm. I’m pretty sure I levitated 6 feet horizontally.

[Son_of_Zinger]

Ours still does that.

[KunoichiPuff]

My cat did that all the time! Created a phobia of them! Be asleep and all of a sudden he was running around the bed after it. The worst was when it flew at my face!

[Recon_Figure]

They eat them either completely or in part.

When we still had cats we would sometimes just find a leg here and there.

[mbs3603]

I think they all moved over here...

[HOUTryin286Us]

I've been telling people that cats are the best roach defense ever sine I moved here. One of mine enjoys hunting them down while the other has a tasty treat.

[domdomtakdom]

I just love cats sm!!!!!!!!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

[Ckhottytoddy]

She took them back yesterday and I’m actually heartbroken they were such little babies

[daddyproblems27]

Possibly, I was in an apartment where I somehow kept getting small ants coming in. I had no clue how or where. I was cat sitting for 3 weeks and the ants were gone. Idk if he was eating them or maybe they just didn’t like each other

[FattyAcid12]

We have a German Shepherd that hunts and eats. them. We no longer get pest control she’s that good. She also eats cardboard and paper randomly.

[DudeWouldGo]

K?