In local usage, “palmetto bug” means the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana — the biggest roach you’ll meet in a Gulf Coast house. Adults run 1.5 to 2 inches, reddish-brown with a pale yellow band behind the head, and on muggy summer nights they fly. Badly, but they fly — usually straight at the porch light, occasionally straight at you.

The name matters because a palmetto bug is a completely different problem from the other roach people find in Mobile kitchens:

• Palmetto bugs breed outside. Oak-leaf litter, mulch beds, woodpiles, water-meter boxes, storm drains, and Mobile’s older sewer lines are home base. The one strutting across your den floor wandered in under a door sweep or rode a gap around a pipe — it didn’t hatch there. One or two sightings usually means pressure, not infestation.
• German cockroaches breed inside. Small, tan, two dark racing stripes behind the head, and found around kitchens and bathrooms — if you’re seeing a bunch of those in cabinet hinges or behind the fridge, that’s a true indoor infestation with a completely different protocol: interior gel baiting, growth regulators, and follow-up visits, not perimeter work.
• Mixing up the two wastes money. Fogging a kitchen because a palmetto bug walked through does nothing about the mulch bed it came from — and gel-baiting the baseboards won’t slow down what’s living in the storm drain. Species first, treatment second.

And downtown carries its own version of the problem: the older sewer and storm-drain network under and around downtown Mobile holds a permanent American cockroach population. After a hard rain, sewer work, or a long dry spell that empties floor-drain traps, they push up into ground-floor kitchens and baths. If you’re near downtown and the big roaches show up through the drains, say so when you get connected — it changes the plan.

Because palmetto bugs live outdoors and commute in, the work that actually cuts the population happens at the foundation line and the places they harbor. On a good visit, expect the operator to cover:

• The perimeter walk. Mulch-to-siding contact, oak-leaf litter against the slab, woodpiles, garage thresholds, crawl-space vents, and the meter boxes — mapping where the roaches actually live before treating anything.
• Harborage treatment. A residual band along the foundation, treatment into weep holes and expansion joints, and attention to the damp, dark pockets — under deck steps, behind shutters, in the water-meter box — where palmetto bugs wait out the day.
• Entry-point advice. Door sweeps, garage-door gaskets, and gaps around pipe penetrations are how a yard problem becomes a den problem. Good operators point these out even when sealing them isn’t their trade.
• The drain pathway. In downtown and older Midtown homes, floor drains, seldom-used shower traps, and vent stacks are the sewer’s front door. Running water into dry traps monthly is free and shuts one door immediately.
• Species confirmation. If the inspection turns up German roaches instead — or alongside — the plan changes to interior gel bait, insect growth regulator, and scheduled follow-ups. An operator who treats both the same way is guessing.

One thing you won’t see a careful operator reach for first: an indoor fogger. Total-release foggers scatter roaches deeper into wall voids, leave residue across counters, and never touch the outdoor population doing the breeding. Perimeter plus harborage beats fogging on this species every time it’s been compared honestly.

• “Which species is this?” American, smokybrown, or German — the answer decides whether the work happens at your foundation or in your kitchen. An operator who doesn’t ID before treating is skipping the step that matters most.
• “What’s your ADAI license number?” Every legitimate Alabama operator has one, and the Pesticide Management Section in Montgomery — (334) 240-7240 — can confirm it. A pro expects this question.
• “Where’s the harborage?” Ask them to show you — the mulch line, the leaf litter, the meter box, the drain. If they can’t point to where the roaches live, the treatment is a guess.
• “Do the drains need attention?” In downtown and older Mobile homes, the sewer pathway matters. An operator who asks about floor drains and unused bathrooms is thinking about the whole route in.
• “One-time or recurring — and why?” Outdoor breeders reinvade; that’s their nature. Both service models are legitimate, but the operator should explain the re-service terms if the big roaches come back in August.