The cockroach is a domestically found reddish brown colored insect. It doesn’t bite except for a few rare species. Yet is considered harmful for being a carrier of many harmful bacteria. These bacteria may affect your health causing diseases like food poisoning or diarrhea. Being highly adaptable to weather and environmental conditions, a cockroach can stay anywhere in your house, from the edges of a trash basket to the moist and cool corners inside your refrigerator. It can feed on anything ranging from traces of your fallen hair to food crumbs. Being an infection carrier, it can corrupt your food, your bath soap and other durables, especially, disposables. For convenience, the lifecycle of a cockroach is divided into three parts i.e., egg, nymph, and adult. A female cockroach lays eggs packed with dark brown rectangular shaped egg cases. You can find these egg cases in the crevasses of the old furniture. Normally a case carries about 14 to 16 eggs. Eggs take few days to mature till the white nymphs hatch. A white nymph sheds its skin a number of times till it reaches adulthood. Soon an adult cockroach produces wings. The wings take a while to go strong enough to support the flight.

It is sometimes a big trouble to get rid of cockroaches. This because of two reasons. The first one is that they grow immensely in number due to rapid egg laying and hatching. The second is that it is often not easy to locate the cracks and holes in the house where the eggs are laid. Therefore, it is always good to try the professionals to get rid of this hideous looking tiny enemy. Click the given link to fix an appointment for a free survey of your place.

 

Management and Control of Cockroaches:

Cockroaches are becoming difficult pests to control due to lack of natural predators in human areas, high re-productivity, adaptation and resistance from chemical pesticides. Like all other living beings, cockroaches also need food, shelter, and water. They will inhabit the area in which the conditions for their survival are favorable. Therefore for their effective control, we have to make the conditions from favorable to unfavorable for these pests. Here are some ways to it.

  • Store food in containers with tight lids made of plastic, glass or metal.
  • Properly remove garbage (especially from kitchen or bakery) and reduce food spillage.
  • Locate exterior trash cans and dumpsters away from building entrances.
  • Seal and caulk cracks, crevices sewers, tunnels and other openings that could be an entry point for cockroaches.
  • Locate and seal cracks inside buildings where cockroaches can hide.
  • To eliminate water access fix plumbing leaks, gutters that hold water
  • Apply weather stripping and screens over doors and windows.
  • Properly inspect the items being brought into the building from outside because these may be one of entrance way for cockroaches.
  • Cockroaches pass through three stages in their life. Eggs, nymphs, and adults. Therefore check for egg cases (oothecae) glued to undersides of furniture, in the refrigerator and other appliances. Eliminate and destroy any that you find.
  • Prefer baits (attractive food material with insecticide) than spray. Baits are quite effective for long-term control of cockroaches. Sprays tend to scatter cockroaches, you may kill a few but most will run away and return later.
  • Gel baits can be very effective for treatment of crack and crevices. Apply gel using a bait gun or syringe in small dabs in cracks and crevices where cockroaches will find it.
  • Traps (pheromone traps, sticky traps) designed for cockroaches should be placed at the sites frequented by cockroaches.
  • Insecticidal dust can be applied to the harbourage areas of cockroaches.
  • Insecticidal treatment should always be done with extreme care. It will be effective when combined with sanitation and exclusion practices.
  • Cockroaches are nocturnal, but if you find them roaming during day times it means infestation is high. Use HEPA vacuums to treat heavy infestations prior to treatments.
  • Frequently evaluate the effectiveness of the methods that are being used for control of cockroaches.