Signs you might have roaches in your home

Signs You Might Have Roaches in Your Home

Perhaps you’ve heard that if you see one roach it’s likely there are many more hiding. Roaches have been around for millions of years and have had to adapt to survive millennia to be one of the most common household pests. Roaches can eat just about anything and have adapted to survive in just about every climate in the world aside from the extreme polar regions of the planet. Because they are so adaptive you are going to want to act as soon as possible. Understanding how they survive also holds the key to how to get rid of them. Let’s explore their secret to survival and signs they may be in your home.

Their Secret to Survival

What is the secret to cockroach survival? Well, there are a few factors:

They eat whatever they can – Even if you keep a clean home roaches can still find food sources. It can be especially frustrating as they can enter from a neighbor’s home, especially if you share walls with them. 

They are very fast– cockroaches potentially can run up to 50 times their body length in one second making them difficult to catch

They are radiation resistant – Roaches can survive up to 15 times more radiation than humans making it likely that they’d survive a nuclear fallout, outliving most of us.

They can even live without their head! – Is this a horror movie? No! Roaches don’t need their mouth to breathe meaning they can live up to two weeks without a head before they require water to drink.

They can go a while without food – If you think you can starve out roaches you will be waiting a long time. They can survive a week without water and up to a month without food.

Signs of Roaches

They aren’t the sneakiest creatures and because they are so resilient, you can imagine why. However, here are some signs that you have a serious roach issue:

Allergy Symptoms: If you are feeling stuffed up and congested it may be seasonal allergies. However, the exoskeletons and feces of roaches hold proteins that many people are allergic to. If you are having classic allergy symptoms such as stuffy nose, shortness of breath or dry itchy eyes, it could signal a roach issue.

Roach Feces: Roach feces resemble coffee grinds and vary in size. If you find these in the back of cabinets, it means it is time to act fast! Roach feces have the potential to harbor more than 33 kinds of bacteria, so be sure to wear a mask and gloves when cleaning them and use a strong disinfectant.

Roach Odors: Do you smell a musky or garbage like smell in your home which is more noticeable around moisture? This is the smell of roach feces and protein and while cleaning it up will lessen the smell, without taking immediate action the smell will quickly return.

Egg Cases: It only takes a few roaches for breeding to commence. Roaches lay their eggs in cases called ootheca and their cases look different depending on the type of roach.

Those of the American cockroach are dark brown and about 8 mm long, while those left by brown-banded roaches are reddish-brown and 8–10 mm long. You may find them in the corners of your cabinets, and under sinks before you start to see higher concentrations of roaches. Ideally, you want to exterminate the roaches before the eggs start hatching, so haste is important.

Disappearing Food and Chewed Packages: As stated before, cockroaches are not picky and can eat almost everything, even wallpaper paste. However, they will be more drawn to easy access to food so it is important to store food in airtight bins which will be hard for them to chew through. Even larger roach species will be able to chew through thin plastic and cardboard packages — especially those with sweet foods.

Nuisance Wildlife ServicesYou don’t want to live with roaches. While there are many DIY methods for reducing roaches, it can be very hard to completely exterminate them on your own. If you notice any of these signs of a roach infestation it is a good idea to look towards the professionals. We have professional-grade baits, traps, and insecticides to address and eliminate cockroach infestations quickly. To find out more, don’t hesitate to contact us today for a consultation and estimate.

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