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You found one cockroach in your apartment or house; how concerned should you be? More importantly, what can you do about roaches you've found in your home? We're going to walk you through the thought process. We'll start by discussing the warning signs of a roach infestation and what they mean. We'll look at why a cockroach infestation is considered dangerous and how reducing the risks will actually help you deal with cockroaches in your home. Then, we'll move to the outside. We'll zero in on the factors that attract cockroaches to your home, discuss prevention tips, and end by looking at how to get rid of cockroaches in St. Charles, both indoors and outdoors. Remember that, at any point, you can contact us for answers to your cockroach questions. The service team at Pest Control Consultants is here for you. We offer advice and service options for pest control in St. Charles. We can help.
Warning Signs Of A Cockroach Infestation
Cockroaches in St. Charles are incredibly sneaky pests. Experts say that, for every cockroach you see, there are likely a thousand you don't see. Why is this the case? There are three primary reasons. Roaches are nocturnal and prefer to hide in the darkness. They are drawn to tight spaces and prefer to tuck themselves into gaps and cracks. Only a small number of roaches have what researchers refer to as a bold personality. The rest are timid and wait in hiding while the bold roaches go out in search of food resources. Since they are so sneaky, what can you do to detect cockroaches in your home? We don't recommend waiting until you see them out in the open. Look for these subtle signs of a cockroach infestation.
Cockroach Fecal Matter: The droppings left by cockroaches are your best warning sign. Roaches can't help but leave their waste as they explore your home. The material looks like black pepper, and you'll find it stuck to floors, walls, and even ceilings. You may also find black fecal spotting on fabrics.
Grease Marks: Cockroaches are filthy, greasy insects. As they crawl on walls and squeeze through cracks and gaps, they often leave greasy smudges behind. Some describe these smudge marks as looking like a Rorschach test.
Exoskeletons: One of the most disturbing things a cockroach will do inside your home is break free of its skin and slip right out—not unlike a snake. What they leave behind is a hollowed-out shell that looks a lot like a cockroach. If you find one of these (or more) in your home, it is evidence that roaches are developing from nymphs to adults. That is a warning sign of an infestation because a random adult cockroach that is checking out your home will not shed its skin.
Ootheca: A cockroach stores its eggs in a pouch called an ootheca. If you find one ootheca, it is a bad sign. If you find several, it is a worse sign. If you find oothecae that are broken open, you have a serious infestation. Each pouch can contain fifty eggs.
Odors: Cockroaches have a smell. If you notice a sickly sweet scent and something that smells a bit like decaying organic material, you're likely smelling cockroaches. There are many descriptions of what cockroaches smell like. Words typically associated with the smell are: Oily, sooty, mildewy, and musty.
If you don't catch cockroaches early and start seeing them in your home, there are a few things you should know. Let's quickly look at them before we move on to how to control and prevent cockroaches.
Identification: Some people think they have cockroaches when they don't. We hope this is the case for you. Cockroaches often have wings that hang slightly past the abdomen and two small appendages called cerci. Cockroach legs have spines, and their heads have long antennae.
Dead Roaches: If you find a cockroach in your home and it is lying on its back, it is likely dead. You may find this confusing if you don't have any pest control materials around the exterior of your home. There are two common reasons roaches die. They may become dehydrated. That is good because it means your home may be too dry for roaches. The other reason is that the roach starved to death. That is bad, but it means you have a large infestation, and that poor roach couldn't outcompete the others to get food.
Once you have performed an inspection and evaluated the results you've found, the next step is to consider how you may get rid of those pests. While we recommend contacting a professional immediately for an inspection, you may consider taking steps to reduce health risks and deter roaches yourself.
Why A Cockroach Infestation Is Considered Dangerous
Cockroaches are unhygienic critters. If you understand what roaches do in your home and how their behavior patterns and food preference make them dirty, you can guard against illness and make your home less inviting to these insects. We won't get into the specifics. We'll just share the facts and let you connect the dots.
- Cockroaches feed on animal feces. Picking up waste in your home can deter sickness.
- Cockroaches eat rotting organic matter. Covering trash and keeping receptacles clean will help you resist the transfer of germs.
- Cockroaches eat hair, dead skin cells, and toothpaste. A clean bathroom will reduce health risks associated with roaches and make your home resistant.
- Cockroaches can get into cat boxes. Make sure your cats are able to keep waste covered.
- Cockroaches can get into mop buckets. Clean and disinfect your mop and bucket.
- Cockroach exoskeletons have proteins that aggravate asthma symptoms. Routine vacuuming and cleaning vents can help to reduce allergens.
Sanitation is critical for many reasons. A clean home resists the transfer of harmful and invisible organisms, makes your home less suitable for roach habitation, deters roaches from getting food, and stunts population growth.
While it is important to clean your home, sanitation alone is not enough to arrest an infestation. Cockroach control is a multi-pronged process. Contact Pest Control Consultants for advice or treatment options.
Factors That Attract Cockroaches To Your Home
Long before it is time contact Pest Control Consultants for pest control in St. Charles, there are many ways to reduce cockroach activity around your home and prevent infestations. If you don't have an infestation yet, these all-natural prevention tips are a good start toward keeping it that way.
- Cockroaches hide underneath leaf litter in your yard. The material traps moisture and shields cockroaches from the sun.
- Cockroaches climb around inside damp landscaping. Removing weeds, giving plants only the water they need, and clearing out obstructions in your gutters will help keep things drier than cockroaches would like.
- Cockroaches can smell a dirty trash bin from a distance. Soapy water can clean your receptacles and remove that roach-attracting scent.
- Cockroaches eat all forms of waste. Picking up dog droppings, removing bird feeders, deterring wildlife, and disposing of baby diapers in plastic bags, are all ways to prevent roaches from finding waste. Fertilizer is also an attractant. One way to counter the impact of applying fertilizer is to have a licensed pest professional perform an exterior treatment at the same time.
- Cockroaches are drawn to tight spaces. A caulking gun or a can of expanding foam are great tools for patching gaps and other openings in your exterior walls and foundation.
Natural cockroach control is far from perfect, but it requires no specialized knowledge and is able to give you a level of deterrence without using products that are potentially harmful. They are also a better option than roach bait. When misapplied, it is possible to develop bait-averse cockroaches on your property, making them harder for a licensed professional to address—which will increase the cost of cockroach treatments.
Professional Cockroach Control Is The Way To Go For Your Home
It is always best to hire a trained and experienced professional for cockroach control in your home and ongoing cockroach and home pest control around your exterior. We use science-based solutions and field-tested methods to locate and target the cockroaches infesting your home. We apply control materials and products within your home for the initial flush-out. Once the roaches are gone, we offer our Four Season Protection Plan to give your exterior the protection it needs to keep roaches and other common St. Charles pests out. We apply liquid treatment to your foundation and perimeter, spot treatments to target pests and pest food sources, disrupt pest development, and use targeted control as necessary. If you'd like to learn more about general residential pest control for your Illinois home, jump over to our contact page and connect with us. We use industry-leading pest control solutions that follow strict protocols, and we back our service with a pest-free guarantee. If you see pests between services, we'll come back and treat your home at no charge. All you have to lose is pests. Reach out to us today. We look forward to guiding you in this important protection for your health and property.
