Are cockroaches easy to get rid of?
Nothing is worse than seeing a German cockroach in your home.
Not only are they creepy, but they can make you sick. Roaches cause allergies and asthma and eat disgusting things. They puke and poop on every surface they travel – countertops, sinks, stoves – leaving behind pathogens that contaminate food and spread disease. Learn how roaches can make you ill.
Unfortunately, if you see one German cockroach, there likely are more hiding in places you cannot see.
Roaches reproduce quickly. A single female cockroach can lay up to 300 eggs in her lifetime. These hatch into more egg-laying roaches, which can cause an out-of-control infestation in very little time.
Cockroaches don’t magically appear in your home. They arrive by stowing away in packaging, luggage and household items moved from an infested location.
If you live in a multi-family dwelling, cockroaches also may come into your home from an adjacent unit. If the neighbor above, below or next to your unit has a cockroach problem, the pests may enter your home by traveling through the walls. Cockroaches sneak under baseboards, get behind outlet covers and enter gaps around pipes under sinks. Once inside a wall, they can travel along utility lines right into your living space.
Still, you can get rid of these pests if you follow proven protocols. The experts at Pest HQ, Ontario’s leading source of D-I-Y pest control supplies, say it is essential to act immediately if you see a roach or suspect cockroach activity.
Verify you have cockroaches
Many bugs can look like cockroaches -- crickets, ground beetles, earwigs, silverfish. It’s important to know for sure what insect you’re dealing with. Bugs all behave differently and are controlled in different ways. You’ll only get frustrated, wasting time and money, trying to control a bug using the wrong method.
Make a proper ID. German cockroaches are small, only about 1 to 1.5 cm long. They are tan to brown in colour and have two parallel dark stripes on their backs. Though this roach primarily lives indoors among people, it also can live in cars, delivery vans, buses, trains and cruise ships. Learn more about roach biology and behaviour.
Set out sticky traps. Sticky traps, also called glue boards, use a strong adhesive to capture cockroaches. This helps you get a close-up view of the pest to make a proper identification. Place traps under sinks along the wall, between the refrigerator or stove and wall, and behind furniture. Check the traps every few days. If you have many roaches stuck in a trap, you have a sizable roach infestation on your hands.
The traps help you identify where to focus your control efforts. A trap behind the sofa, for instance, may catch zero roaches, while the one under the bathroom sink may catch many. The best place to start your control efforts, then, is in the bathroom.
Adding a Roach Lure Tab to the sticky traps will make the traps more effective. Explore sticky traps for cockroaches.
Look for signs of cockroach activity. Even if you don’t see an actual German cockroach, you have a problem if you notice:
· Unexplained debris that looks like coffee grounds or ground pepper on surfaces. This is cockroach poop.
· Brown, oval-shaped casings. These contain cockroach eggs.
· A strange oily or musty odour. This is the signature scent of cockroaches.
Watch pet behavior. Is your cat intently staring at a gap in the wall? Pay attention. It is likely tracking pests, possibly cockroaches. Place sticky traps in that area to see for yourself what the cat finds so intriguing.
Be strategic in treatment
Don’t grab for a can of bug killer and frantically spray the entire room. It takes strategy to eliminate cockroaches, which hide in deep recesses and wall voids. Pest HQ experts advise the following treatment approach:
Clean up. Make your home less attractive to German cockroaches by eliminating food and water sources, which roaches need to survive. Remove them and roaches have less reason to be in your home. Pest HQ experts suggest doing the following every day:
· Clean up dishes in the sink (don’t let them sit dirty overnight)
· Take out garbage
· Discard uneaten pet food and wash bowls
· Remove food from counters and store in sealed containers or the refrigerator
· Sweep, vacuum and mop up crumbs and spills on floors and countertops
In addition, take steps to
· Deep clean appliances of grease and spilled foods
· Clean drains using Invade Hot Spot+ foaming drain cleaner
· Reduce clutter so roaches have fewer places to hide
Seal gaps and fix leaks. Keep roaches out of your apartment or condo by excluding them. If you seal up gaps and holes, they are less likely to find a way into your living space. Likewise, fix water leaks as moisture attracts the pests. Pest HQ experts recommend doing the following:
· Use copper mesh to seal large cracks or openings around pipes
· Use caulk to fill smaller gaps in the kitchen and bathroom
· Install door sweeps to form a seal between the door and the threshold
· Fix leaky pipes, faucets or shower doors to reduce moisture issues
Explore pest-resistant exclusion materials.
Physically remove roaches. The more cockroaches you remove, the fewer you have left to kill or that will lay eggs to spawn new generations. Sticky traps or glue boards help lower the number. If dealing with a severe infestation, use a high-efficiency HEPA vacuum to reduce the population. After vacuuming, immediately dispose of the bag in the outdoor trash bin.
Apply Diatomaceous Earth (DE). Also called exterminator dust, DE is a natural desiccant. Apply it lightly to wall voids around plumbing gaps and between cabinets and walls; anywhere roaches could hide. When roaches walk through a treated area, the DE’s microscopic, glass-like shards lacerate the waxy outer layer of their exoskeleton. This causes them to dry out and die. Learn about DE and how to use it.
Cockroach spays and aerosols. Apply professional-grade insecticides as a spot treatment to cracks and crevices, such as behind cabinets, in the gaps around plumbing beneath sinks, under appliances and around garbage containers.
Always apply products according to the label. The label identifies where to apply the product, how much to apply and how often to apply it.
Insecticide sprays and aerosols are most effective in killing roaches when used in combination with other control methods. They should not be your first and only control strategy. That’s because over time roaches can develop resistance to chemicals, making it harder to get rid of them.
Learn about Pest HQ’s discounted bundle of essential cockroach control products.
Don’t let cockroaches back in
Take steps to prevent roach problems in the future.
· Thoroughly inspect items and packaging before bringing them inside the home. Don’t buy or accept used furnishings without through inspection. Never dumpster dive or bring in items from the curb.
· Ask guests or employees to stow their belongings in plastic bins to contain potential roach hitchhikers.
· Continue to monitor for cockroach activity using sticky traps or glue boards. This is your early warning sign. If you notice a roach stuck in the trap, you can implement treatment strategies quickly before the roach population grows larger and more difficult to control.
The more you know about the cockroaches, the more effective your D-I-Y control.
Read more:
5 things that make roaches extra hard to kill… and how to outsmart them
Your complete guide to everything about roaches and how to eliminate them
