At Breda Pest Control, we've been helping our neighbors in the metropolitan Atlanta area eliminate unwanted invaders for more than four decades. From nearly invisible pests to foot-long rodents, our certified professionals know how to get them out of your house and prevent them from coming back. One of the bugs that make Atlanta residents the least happy is the cockroach. If you spot one in your home, it's likely a matter of time before you're faced with a dreaded cockroach infestation in your house.
Roaches tend to be associated with poorly maintained homes or unclean living conditions. However, the fact of the matter is that they can appear in virtually any home regardless of the condition. Besides being gross and an unpleasant sight to see, roaches can contaminate food, spread bacteria and cause or exacerbate allergies and asthma. They can bite and even get inside people's bodies. There are many defense methods that Atlanta-area residents can do to prevent roaches from infesting their home. These simple steps will help prevent other pests such as ants from making their way into your home as well.
Keep Them Outside
The first step is to keep these pesky critters from ever entering your home. Here are some tips to make sure you won't have any unwanted visitors making their way inside your home:
- Seal the cracks and holes in your walls and around your doors and windows. Roaches can infiltrate your home through the tiniest of crevices. Studies have shown that the American Cockroach can slide through a crack the size of two stacked pennies in about a second! Therefore, you should definitely seal even the smallest of openings.
- Trim shrubbery and remove dead vegetation as well as trash from areas adjacent to the walls of your home. Cockroaches are attracted to areas of thick vegetation and debris like piled-up newspapers and firewood. Make sure you keep your firewood off the ground and check the wood for roaches before you bring it inside your home.
Protect Your Kitchen
Kitchens are enticing spots for roaches because of the abundance of food lying around. Roaches can and will consume any type of food. A few crumbs on your kitchen table from that sandwich you ate for lunch can be a feast for a cockroach. Cockroaches are attracted to all types of food but absolutely love sugar, grease, cheese, meats, and of course, decaying foods. It's important to make sure that there is no food lying around anywhere in your home for an extended period of time because chances are that a roach will feast on it. Below are some helpful tips to ensure that your kitchen is roach-free:
- Make sure that your sink, counter, and other areas where you have prepared or discarded food are free of crumbs and standing water, particularly before you go to bed. People usually don't think of excess water being an issue, however, cockroaches rely on wet spots to quench their thirst.
- Store your food in sealed containers. Plastic and glass containers make it extremely difficult for a cockroach to smell and feed on your food.
- Clean inside and around your refrigerator and stove on a weekly basis. Crumbs often fall on the floor around these appliances. Refrigerators and stoves have warm nooks that cockroaches love to hide in, so make sure you're not helping their cause by leaving crumbs next to these appliances making it easy for them to feast.
- Buy kitchen trash bins with sealed lids and empty the garbage regularly. Cockroaches are attracted to strong scents so they tend to be captivated by the rotting food in your trash.
Don't Let Your Bathroom Become a Breeding Ground
Bathrooms are also another common problem area for roach infestations. This is because they are drawn to moisture. Therefore, take these simple steps to prevent cockroaches from flocking to your bathroom:
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Check around all sinks, toilets, and tubs to make sure there are no leaks, condensation or standing water. The moisture in these areas tends to draw roaches to them. Don't forget the area below the sinks if they are part of a cabinet.
- Seal any cracks you find around these areas and anywhere else in the walls and floors. As mentioned earlier, roaches can squeeze through the most minuscule cracks to try to fill these cracks in completely to ensure that cockroaches aren't hiding in your walls and floorboards.
If you find roaches in your home, you should seek help immediately. The longer you wait, the more roaches you'll have and the harder they'll be to get rid of. Call or contact us online today for a free consultation to get your cockroach management needs taken care of. Our experienced Atlanta pest control specialists will not only get rid of the invaders you have but also seal up any areas where they can get in to and prevent more of them from making your home theirs.
