Pest Spotlight: Tackling A Cockroach Infestation In Durham

Habits And Behaviors Of Common Cockroaches

Step one is to find the cockroaches hiding in your home. You can do so by considering their habits and behaviors. Cockroaches in Durham are typically nocturnal unless they are forced into daytime activity. Therefore, the best time to look for cockroaches is at night. Use a strong flashlight and check the following locations carefully. If you see insects moving around, black feces, cockroach exoskeletons, or egg pouches, you have a cockroach problem. Here are a few places to check first:

• Look underneath your refrigerator.
• Slide your oven out and check all around it.
• Look underneath the overhangs on your kitchen cabinets.
• Inspect your pantry shelves.
• Look behind objects on the floor in your pantry.
• Inspect all pipe gaps.
• Check drains, particularly if they're not often used.
• Check the cabinets and drawers in your bathroom.
• If you have a jetted tub that is in a cabinet structure, check inside the void.
• Check any wall voids you can peek into.
• Check behind paintings and wall-mounted photo frames.
• Look underneath throw rugs and floor mats.
• Inspect your attic space.
• Look inside stored furniture.
• Look between and underneath stored boxes.
• Check drop-down ceilings.
• Inspect your boiler room and look in every crack, cranny, and recess.

Cockroaches are found in dark, humid, and secluded spaces. Even in these areas, they may hide even further by getting into cracks, crevices, seams, and other tight spaces.

Fecal pellets and fecal spotting are the best warning signs of a cockroach problem. If you enter a space with specks of black feces, clean the area and check back later to see if new material has appeared. In particularly dirty locations, take a photo so that you can compare it to the same area later and see if new specks are there. If so, you have active roaches. When cleaning contaminated areas, wear a respirator and rubber gloves. When done, put your clothing through a hot, soapy wash. Keep in mind that cockroach droppings are about the size of coffee grounds. Larger fecal pellets are likely mouse droppings.  

Having Cockroaches In The Home Is A Major Health Hazard

Once you locate cockroaches and you are sure that you have a cockroach infestation, you'll need to consider how to address your infestation. It is hazardous to your health if you use dangerous control products to wipe roaches out. Cockroaches are adaptive animals that construct skins that protect them from hazards. Have you heard that some roaches are resistant to certain products? Have you heard the horror stories of people dousing roaches with a control product only to watch the roach crawl away to safety? What is not often talked about is, "Where does that roach go after exposure to a harmful product?" It may crawl into the pantry or a kitchen cabinet, so your efforts to control the roaches in your home can present a threat to your health.

You also need to consider what happens to a roach that is not controlled by exposure to a product. Not only does it create a new skin and become stronger, that stronger roach can share its resistance with its offspring. That is not a result you want.

The best way to address cockroaches is to take measures that reduce health risks as you work to drive roaches out of your home. Cockroaches are attracted to unsanitary conditions. If you deep clean your home, the roaches may leave. But even if they don't leave, you're better off when roaches can't access dirty things, such as rotting food, dirty drains, and feces.

You can increase the chances that roaches will leave your home if you address other conducive conditions. Here are our best suggestions:

• Store your pantry foods in sealed plastic containers. Doing so will seal the scent of the food in, keep the products fresh longer, and keep roaches from chewing holes through cardboard or paper to get in. 
• Get a trash receptacle for your kitchen that can completely seal. Don't worry. You don't have to open and close it over and over. You can open it while you prepare meals and shut it between meal preparation times. Most importantly, keep it sealed at night, and remove your trash regularly to reduce the smells that attract roaches.
• Cockroaches need moisture. Repair leaking faucets and showerheads. Use your bathroom fan to vent moisture. Install a dehumidifier to get the moisture out of the air. All of these work together to make your home uncomfortable for roaches.
• Block routes. Cockroaches don't tunnel through your walls. They slip into tight gaps, move through wall voids, and come out of tight gaps. Use a caulking gun or some expanding foam to seal those gaps. A good place to start your work is around the pipes that come in under your kitchen or bathroom sinks.

It is hard work to do these things. We understand. But it is best to use what works to limit health hazards as you attempt to deal with your roach problem. 

How To Remove Factors That Attract Roaches Into Our Homes

Once you've given cockroaches time to leave your home after applying all-natural steps, it is time to consider ways to keep cockroaches away from your home for good. There are only a few things that attract roaches. Here are the most common.

• A damp perimeter. Cockroaches love moisture. Some roaches require moisture. If you have an obstructed gutter system, it can cause your perimeter to grow damp. Clean your gutters and make repairs to correct the situation. If you continue to have issues, consider gutter guards.
• Leaf litter, plant clippings, tall grass, and weeds can lead to high humidity in the landscaping near your home. Trim your landscaping, blow leaves out, and remove debris that traps moisture.
• Cockroaches hide in tight spaces. Any object that lays on the ground in your yard can attract roaches. Move objects away from your exterior, store them away, or get them up off the ground to deter roaches.
• Cockroaches can smell a dirty trash receptacle from a distance. Keep your receptacles as clean as possible and make sure to get your trash to the curb weekly.

In most cases, these steps are enough. If cockroach pressures are high or you have other conducive conditions that you can't easily correct, professional service can provide the protection you need. Routine liquid barrier treatments are a powerful deterrent.