Nobody wants to find cockroaches living in their home. These filthy pests can spread diseases, contaminate your food, and even trigger allergic reactions. Not allowing cockroaches to ever make their way into your home and preventing an infestation is the best strategy. However, if you find yourself dealing with a roach infestation, you need to recognize the subtle clues of an infestation and how to handle the situation properly.
Prevention Tips
To prevent a cockroach infestation, you need to make sure that your home doesn't cater to the needs of roaches. Cockroaches have three simple needs: food, water, and a place to hide. Obviously you can't get rid of all the food and water in your home, but we have some tips that will help reduce the risk of an infestation.
- Start storing your food in glass Tupperware or plastic containers to ensure that the roaches can't find your food.
- Fix your leaky pipes. If you have faulty pipes or an indoor moisture problem, get these issues resolved so that roaches can't quench their thirst.
- Clean up your garage and basement a bit and get rid of the clutter. The debris in your home gives roaches a safe place to hide and reproduce.
- Barrier insecticides and other preventive treatments can be sprayed on cracks and crevices on the outside of your home to deter roaches from coming inside.
Infestation Clues
You don't usually see multiple cockroaches scurrying around your house until your home is severely infested. To be sure that your prevention methods are working, you'll need to pay attention to subtle clues. Below are some signs that you might have a cockroach infestation in your household:
- Small, reddish-brown casings lying around are in fact cockroach eggs that have been laid by roaches inhabiting your home.
- Specks that look like bits of pepper may be cockroach feces lying around.
- A repulsive odor in your home may be due to cockroaches as they emit an unpleasant scent.
Treating an Infestation
Cockroaches are stubborn pests, so homeowners and pest control services need to work together to eliminate them. Insecticides should be used alongside sanitation and exclusion practices to make your home roach-free.
Insecticides can be used to control the roaches that have already made their way inside. Gel bait can be injected into the cracks and crevices where roaches love to hide. Any cockroach that feasts on the alluring bait won't be a problem for long. Gel bait dries out over time, and when it does, cockroaches aren't eager to eat it anymore. The bait will need to be replaced as needed to ensure maximum effectiveness.
After insecticides are used, we highly recommend that you clean your home thoroughly to get rid of the food, water, and trash that are letting these pesky cockroaches thrive. This involves actions like getting rid of clutter, cleaning up spills quickly, not leaving food lying around, and thoroughly vacuuming inside small cracks and crevices.
Once your home is nice and tidy, seal any openings that could enable cockroaches to sneak into your home. They can slide through the gaps under your doors, the tears in your window screens, and even the cracks in the corner of your walls.
If you need any help preventing a cockroach infestation or dealing with roaches that have already entered your home, Breda Pest Management can help you out.
