Managing a cockroach infestation
Cockroaches – the mere mention of them can send shivers down spines. These nocturnal pests are notorious for their rapid reproduction and can quickly turn a home into an uncomfortable living environment. Understanding the seriousness of a cockroach infestation is crucial for effectively addressing and eliminating the problem.
Infestations can be difficult to eliminate. These insects can develop a resistance to common insecticides, and they hide in hard-to-reach areas. DIY methods often fail, addressing only visible roaches, not the underlying infestation. Understanding what causes cockroach infestations can help you prevent them from occurring.
Whether you're noticing a few roaches or a full-blown cockroach infestation, contacting a pest control professional for roach control is the best solution to ensure thorough and lasting eradication.
What causes a cockroach infestation?
Cockroaches can enter a house through cracks, crevices, vents, drains, and open doors or windows. They can also be inadvertently brought in through grocery bags and second-hand furniture. But what attracts cockroaches to your home? These pests seek out warm, dark, and sheltered places to hide and are drawn by strong smells from food and garbage.
An infestation occurs when cockroaches multiply rapidly under ideal conditions. To prevent cockroach infestations, it’s important to seal entry points, store food properly, fix leaks, reduce moisture, and consider regular professional pest control services.
Signs of a cockroach infestation
Noticing the following signs can help determine if you have a cockroach infestation.
Frequency of sightings: Seeing one or two roaches occasionally might not be alarming, but frequent sightings, especially during the day, can indicate an infestation.
Droppings: Roach droppings resemble coffee grounds or black pepper. Finding droppings in various locations around your home is a strong sign of an infestation.
Egg casings: Roaches lay eggs in brown, cylindrical cases known as oothecae. Finding these casings can indicate that roaches are breeding in your home.
Musty odor: If you notice a strong, unpleasant, musty smell, it could indicate an infestation.
Shed skins: As roaches grow, they shed their skin several times. Finding these shed skins is a sign of roach activity and possible infestation.
If you notice one or many of these signs around your home, it's time to consider roach infestation treatment.
Health risks associated with roaches
Knowing how to get rid of a roach infestation is crucial because of the several health risks associated with cockroaches. This includes:
Allergies: Cockroach saliva, feces, and shed body parts can trigger allergic reactions in some people. Cockroaches are a common trigger for asthma symptoms, particularly in children.
Asthma: Exposure to cockroach allergens can worsen asthma symptoms and lead to more frequent and severe asthma attacks, especially in children and individuals.
Disease transmission: Cockroaches can carry and spread various bacteria, pathogens, and parasites, including Salmonella, E. coli, and parasitic worms.
Contamination: Cockroaches can contaminate food, utensils, and cooking surfaces with their droppings, saliva, and body parts.
Cockroach infestation treatment
While some DIY roach infestation treatments exist, they typically don’t address the root cause of infestations. To help eliminate a German cockroach infestation, our technicians will place cockroach baits and non-repellent dusts in cracks, crevices, and voids. Traps can be used to help determine if cockroaches have returned and, in some cases, how bad the roach problem is.
For the larger, peridomestic cockroaches (those that live around and sometimes in our homes), we use various control measures, including exterior granular baits, dusts, and perimeter liquid insecticides.
Cockroach infestations in apartments are especially challenging to eliminate due to the multiple dwellings in one building. That’s why contacting a pest control professional like Terminix is the best solution. Professionals can determine what causes a cockroach infestation, how to get rid of a roach infestation, and how to prevent these pests from returning.
Help prevent future infestation
Here are a few tips that can help prevent a cockroach infestation in your home:
- Regularly clean kitchen counters, floors, and dining areas to remove crumbs and spills.
Store food and pet food in airtight containers. Avoid leaving food out in the open, including on counters and tables.
Inspect your home for cracks, crevices, and gaps around doors, windows, and utility pipes. Seal these entry points to prevent roaches from entering.
Fix leaky pipes, faucets, and drains to reduce moisture in your home.
Dispose of garbage regularly and use trash cans with tight-fitting lids.
Reduce clutter in your home, including stacks of newspapers, cardboard boxes, and other materials where roaches can hide and breed.
Carefully inspect groceries, packages, and second-hand items for roaches before bringing them into your home.
Schedule regular inspections and treatments with a professional pest control service.
Cockroaches are one of the 25 pests covered in our ongoing pest protection plans, PestFree3651 and PestFree365+.2 A multipoint interior and exterior inspection can help identify areas where cockroaches have infested, and our regularly scheduled pest treatments can help prevent them from returning.
1Coverage includes: "House" Ants, Bird Mites, Indoor Ticks, Cockroaches, Carpet Beetles, Fabric Moths, Overwintering Insects, Ground Beetles, Centipedes, Crickets, Earwigs, Firebrats, Millipedes, Clover Mites, Pillbugs/Sowbugs, Psocids, Scorpions, Silverfish, Paper Wasps, Springtails, Spiders, Stored Product Beetles, Stored Product Moths, Mice, and Rats.
2Coverage includes: Black Widow Spiders, Brown Recluse Spiders, Voles (interior only), Bed Bugs, Fleas (interior only), Bumble Bees, Carpenter Bees, Solitary Ground Bees, Yellowjackets, Hornets, Baldfaced Hornets, Crazy Ants, Carpenter Ants, and Fire Ants.