How can you tell if the cockroach scurrying on the wall in your home is good or bad? Most likely it’s bad as it is inside your home and you are scared of it!
The sight of a cockroach makes most people shudder. We fear that our house is dirty and is able to sustain a roach infestation. We fear that a cockroach might scuttle across our faces in the dark bedroom, or invade our food.
Cockroaches are one of the most common household pests and if you spot one here and there, know that it is normal. But keep in mind that roaches reproduce at an alarmingly fast rate and can quickly become persistent as they start making a home out of your home. This is when you’ve got a problem that needs to be looked into by a professional pest control specialist. If you don’t take care of the cockroach in your home immediately, you could end up with a huge infestation in no time.
Let’s discuss further the threats and benefits, if any, of cockroaches in our homes. Keep reading to learn more!
How Are Cockroaches Getting Into Your House?
In general, the cockroaches simply find openings in structures and enter through gaps and cracks in window seals or through a door left ajar and start establishing themselves in your home.
They will crawl inside through any small holes in the building. Besides, they can hitch a ride on suitcases, backpacks, bags, and other containers. If you live in an apartment building, the roaches can travel from one apartment to the next one through pipes and other holes in shared walls.
To find out where the roaches are coming out from, you might use a flashlight or your phone flashlight to get a general idea. Use a light source to look under furniture pieces and other spots with clutter. Flip the light on and off in a dark room and observe where the pests run to hide. This will let you know where their nesting site is located.
What Attracts Cockroaches To Your House?
Before starting to think about how to get rid of cockroaches, you need to understand what’s attracting them to your home in the first place.
Cockroaches are attracted to any place as long as it provides them with their basic needs of water, food, and a place to shelter. If they can find these requirements in your home, they will be inclined to stay and multiply, unless they’re properly dealt with.
Thus, the three most common culprits are:
- Food Source
Cockroaches are omnivores, which means they eat anything they’ll come across, in particular meats, greasy food, sweets, and starches.
They are fond of garbage, so be sure to empty your trash regularly and keep the garbage cans tightly closed.
Other easy sources of food that draw them in include crumbs on the floor and table, dirty dishes in the sink, or pet food spilled on the floor.
- Water
Like all animals, cockroaches need water to survive. To find water, they will come into even the cleanest of homes.
Excess moisture on walls and ceilings from leaky pipes and taps is the most common attractant. Also, pet water bowls and open showers can draw them in.
- Shelter
When the outside temperature falls, roaches will enter homes to seek shelter.
They are fond of quiet, dark, damp, and forgotten places. They might settle underneath large appliances, beneath the sink or behind the toilet, in hollowed-out wood, in the backs of your electronics, behind picture frames, and in the corners of your basement or attic.
How Long Can Cockroaches Live In The House?
If the cockroach has ready access to food and water, it can live from about 100 days up to one year, depending on the species. However, in the case where there is no food or water available, it can survive for about a month without food and only a week without water.
Taking into account that these pests reproduce very quickly, you might end up with an infestation unless you take immediate steps to eliminate them. For example, a female of the German cockroach species will produce somewhere between 120 and 385 babies in her lifetime.
What Are The Disadvantages Of Cockroaches?
Cockroaches are particularly an indoor problem. These are dirty, unhygienic scavengers that thrive in human environments. You’ll usually find them in dumpsters, around feces, and in rotten food.
Even though they don’t usually bite, they can make you sick as they contaminate your food supplies with their waste and saliva that contains germs and bacteria. Roaches carry bacteria that will cause illnesses if left on food, such as food poisoning, diarrhea, and Staphylococcus bacterial infection.
Their babies also carry the same risks as adults. As they crawl around filthy places, eating disgusting things, they pick up all kinds of viruses, bacteria, mold, worms, and fungi, which they then leave elsewhere.
These unpleasant and unsightly pests are also considered dangerous because they cause allergies and aggravate asthma symptoms in some people when in an infested house.
What Are The Benefits Of Cockroaches?
Given the threat they pose, you may wonder if there is any benefit to roaches, and if they are good for your home at all.
Cockroaches are also helpful animals as they contribute to the environment by eating decaying organic matter, which traps nitrogen. Their feeding has the effect of releasing the nitrogen in their feces, which then gets into the soil and is used by plants as easily-absorbed nutrients.
These six-legged creatures are not only able to get rid of unwanted food waste, but they can also be healthy food for farm animals.
They are a food source for predators like birds, frogs, mice, shrews, reptiles, spiders, beetles, and many other insects and mammals.
For people, they are a useful ingredient in medicine as they offer cures for stomach problems and other health issues.
All in all, the bad news is that if you see one cockroach at home, you can be sure there are others as well. These pests are able to produce several new generations of cockroaches within a year.
Therefore, cockroach removal is definitely not a DIY project. Given the disadvantages and threats to you and your family and pets, you’ll surely never want to risk any encounter with them in your home.
Contact our expert team at Peachtree Pest Control in Atlanta to request a quote and schedule an inspection today!
