Cockroaches are unwanted pests. Cockroaches contaminate food and food utensils with their excrement and saliva and disease organisms, their control are crucial. Most types of cockroaches live outdoors, although some, German roaches, are well adapted to living indoors with humans. While they prosper in polluted areas, even the most clean and sanitary areas are at risk of infestation. Cockroaches are primarily nocturnal and appear during the day usually when disturbed or when large populations exist and they seek additional harborage (hiding places).Indoors, they prefer warm, dark, humid shelters, such as cracks under or inside cabinets: behind window or door frames; in bathrooms; in motor compartments of appliances; or around the kitchen and bathroom sink. Outdoors, cockroaches find harborage in decorative bark, leaf litter, and in sewer manholes. While cockroaches feed on a wide variety of food items, including starchy foods, baked goods, and meat, some also enjoy a feast of leather, wallpaper paste and book bindings.
CONTROL
A variety of control measures should be taken to eliminate any infestation.
Prevention . . . the best technique. All cockroaches require food, water and harborage. Denying cockroaches from any of these essential elements will cause their demise. Use
air-tight containers for food (including pet food) items. Caulk cracks and crevices along kitchen splash boards and around window and door frames.
Contact your online self-help store for proper professional products.
Use trash receptacles with tight fitting lids. Rinse out and recycle aluminum or glass containers and store them and other recyclable items in containers with tight fitting lids. Cockroach traps are another very effective method to find cockroach harborages. These traps are nontoxic and contain a sticky adhesive coating inside. The cockroaches enter the trap and
become immobilized. All installations are required to have a self-help pest management program which should include these cockroach sticky traps. The number of traps required will depend on the size of the area and the extent of the infestation. Normally about six traps per home are adequate. Place traps in paths between the cockroaches ‘hiding places and feeding areas. Keep in mind, cockroach trapping will not usually eliminate large cockroach populations. Insecticides can effectively control cockroach populations when combined with other control techniques. However, consider the following items to get the most from insecticide
applications.
+ Perform all housekeeping duties prior to applying insecticides to reduce washing
off applied insecticides.
+ Before applying insecticides, read the instructions on the product labels.
+ Identify the cockroach’s harborage sites. Carefully apply insecticides directly into the
cracks, crevices, and voids where cockroaches occur. Treating these areas ensures that most of
the cockroach population is affected. Be sure to not over apply insecticides. Over application
is dangerous to your health and may hinder control efforts by repelling cockroaches.
+ Treat outdoor populations as well as indoor infestations. Since cockroaches invade homes from the outside, they may reinfest the home once the insecticide disappears. This
reinforces the need for tight fitting door thresholds.
Please visit our online store, ANT-SER.Com, for all your professional pest product needs.
Thank you for reading,
Jeff the ANT-SER man.
