I would have dealt with it and stayed -unless it was fire ants infestation. The roaches are to be expected in some areas. H would have refused a bug spray treatment (allergic to it). He would have ignored it, too.
Thanks for the feedback.
My poor friend… I’m not sure who’s paying for the hotel, but I know she paid for the original house, and it was an awesome looking place for little kids.
We ran into a few Palmetto bugs at a VRBO in Naples FL once; we just lived with it although I told our cat she wasn’t doing her job taking them out.
We also had ants at a VRBO in Del Mar. The owner sent someone with spray and poison. We had encountered the same kind of ants in our own home so didn’t freak.
In both situations, our cat at least alerted us to the intruders by staring intently at them.
For ants in a rental, I’ve call mgt. and also bought Terro traps at a nearby grocery or drug store. Roaches are another matter for me. I grew up in an area where folks often complained of “palmetto bugs” yet never saw one in my family’s home. My first encounter was in college. I cannot tolerate them.
We once rented a house in FL via VRBO that had roaches. It also had extensive mildew, ants around the pool and other issues. I reported it and we left. We were lucky to find another rental the same day that was nearly new and very clean. It took a couple of months, but I did get a refund on the first place. At the time we left, a refund was far from certain but we were not staying there. I later learned that the owner had a bad reputation among his fellow vacation villa owners.
We also rented a house in NC for which the photos must have been at least a decade old. It was filthy and had holes punched in a door and wall. In less than five minutes we were gone; I didn’t wait to see if it had bugs or rodents but it probably did. I disputed the charge, included photos with my letter, and got our money back.
As I posted elsewhere, my kid’s AirBNB had a family of mice rooming in the kitchen. The kids discovered that when they started making breakfast and caught one. The photo they sent me clearly showed a deer mouse! Their fee was refunded by the apologetic owner. I would not want to room with deer mice!! Ants… I would buy a Terro trap and notify the manager. Roaches? Depends. If they are marching through the kitchen like Putin’s army on parade, I would hightail outta there and complain. My next step would depend on what the manager does. If that is a single roach in a tropical location… that is almost a given (I never leave food open in the kitchen when we are in Hawaii). I would call the manager and tell them a bug bombing is needed.
Similar random question - why the fear of ants or roaches? They’re quite common in many places I’ve lived or visited. We keep Terro traps on hand here in my house. When we lived in the south (aka Roachland), we kept things in tight containers. We never spray. I guess I feel there’d be more health issues with regular pesticide use from sprays.
Not fear… ants don’t faze me unless they are carpenter ants (but I have a miracle product to deal with those suckers!!). Roaches - it is plain disgust. They can harbor disease-causing organisms. I don’t want any roach feces in my food or floating through the air, thank you
I find them nasty and don’t want anything crawling over my toothbrush or dishes. I’ve always lived in the south and we’ve managed to keep out ants and roaches by treating the exterior using diatomaceous earth and borax, making sure there’s no standing (or dripping) water to attract them, ensuring windows and doors have good seals, and never leaving out food.
We did not always have the same success keeping out small scorpions at one previous house, but even there never saw ants or roaches inside.
I suppose our outdoor living lifestyle has shaped our thoughts along with not being brought up worrying about them either at home or at my grandparent’s FL house. We keep food “safe” from them (toothbrushes too), and don’t worry otherwise. We just set out traps when needed.
When you’re on vacation - even at a rental where you’re cooking - you don’t have the luxury of things like tupperware and multiples of ziploc bags and other air tight things for your food. At home it’s easier to ant-safe the kitchen!
I always bring a few jumbo (2.5 gal) ziploc bags with us to vacation rentals where we’ll be using the kitchen. We like chips and salsa, cheese and crackers, etc so I store open bags of chips/crackers/cookies/etc inside them to deter possible pests.
I do the same thing, but bring various sizes of bags. If we are going out for hours we can make lunches, and use bags of ice to keep stuff cool.
I also stick stuff in the microwave for storage.
We’ve literally never had problems finding things to keep food safe in while on our oodles of travels. Most places have containers. If needed, stores have ziplock bags, though we try to avoid single use plastic things. Many hotels have fridges for leftovers.
When we’re tenting we have the car or secure things to put in a bear box (pending location). At some places hanging things from a tree works.
We’ve never eating things any insect or bug has gotten into, but it’s very rare that we have to ditch something. If at home, that “something” goes to our chickens unless it includes poultry in it.
The only bugs that would bother me in a rental are bedbugs. Then we’d be out of there as quickly as we could and expect a refund.
My friend with the roach issue is back home now.
She said her son-in-law saw 2 (2…2…) roaches (I didn’t ask whether they were dead or alive) and decided they had to leave immediately, late at night (10-11ish I think). They were in a bedroom, Not the kitchen. (I don’t know which floor bedroom was on - they were in a multi-level house).
So they went to a nearby hotel and rented multiple rooms for the rest of the time.
I think I’m with the camp that would have stayed put, especially given they sent pest control the next day.
Probably would have unpacked/shaken things out on the deck, but that’s about it.
That’s extreme! I mean what the friend did!
Roaches are a fact of life. But I would not freak out about two. That said, I probably would do the middle of the night thing and turn on the kitchen light to see if there was any commotion and scurrying!
What I find funny is that it was the dad that wanted to leave. NOT the 4 “girls.”
Friend had choice. If she wanted to be with her family, she had to go. He made it very clear they would not go back.
Here’s a random question!
Would you believe, in the one year since I’ve had my induction range, I haven’t made a hard boiled egg? With my electric range, I’d bring it to a boil, turn the burner off, put a lid on, and let it sit for a while… And poof! Done.
I’m assuming since the induction range boils water much quicker and cools down immediately that I need to rethink this.
Induction owners…How do you cook your eggs? I just have a few so didn’t want to lug out the instant pot… And don’t make them frequently enough to want the egg cooker (and don’t want to veer off into egg-cooker- discussion, lololol)
Would you believe I’ve never made a hard-boiled egg in my life? Hate ‘em.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
I haven’t hard boiled an egg on the stovetop since I got my Dash egg cooker.