Cockroaches may have been over-wintering in your cozy home, but now that the weather outside is warming up, you may notice that you are having run-ins with these skittering, frightening insects around every corner. Breeding season is among us during these warm summer months and a couple of cockroaches can explode into a full infestation in a short period of time. Preventing a cockroach infestation in your home may seem impossible, but there are some solid prevention tips to follow that can help and there is always a pest control professional waiting in the wings to swoop in and eliminate your summer cockroach infestation.
Signs
If you aren’t sure if you have a serious cockroach problem, there may be signs around your home to indicate an infestation. A female cockroach can lay up to 50 eggs at a time and these eggs will hatch in a matter of weeks. Any sign of cockroaches means it is time to stop them in their tracks, before it gets worse. Look for signs like:
- Droppings- Cockroaches leave behind tiny droppings, but because there can be a good number of droppings in one place, you may notice it.
- Exoskeletons- like other insects, cockroaches have an exoskeleton that they have to shed in order to grow
- Smear marks- Cockroaches often hangout in wet, damp areas in the home. If the cockroaches are very active in one area, they scurry through water, and leave brown, smear marks on surfaces and sometimes at the wall and floor junctions.
- Casings or Capsules- Cockroaches lay a lot of eggs. You may not find the eggs when searching for signs of cockroaches, but it is very possible to find the egg casting left behind after the eggs hatch.
Tips
Knowing what is attracting cockroaches into your home in the first place and discontinuing these habits can help keep cockroaches out. A few tips to maintaining a cockroach-free home include:
- Don’t let any water stand inside the home
- Containing all food use to the kitchen
- Promptly take out kitchen and bathroom trash when full
- Keep trash away from the outside of the house
- Use a dehumidifier in humid places in your home
Treatment
There are many different ways to treat cockroaches. You can buy:
- Roach traps
- Bait Stations
- Diatomaceous Earth used in a thin layer in hard to reach areas
- Roach sprays
- Boric acid in a thin layer in hard to reach areas that are draft free
The problem with treating cockroaches is that one approach is often not very effective. You have to hit cockroaches from all sides, using different approaches to be sure you eliminate them all. If one cockroach remains, the whole process could start over again. A professional pest control company knows this and is prepared to treat your home so that cockroaches do not stand a chance of coming back. For Tulare County residents seeking relief from a cockroach infestation this summer, call San Joaquin Pest Control in Visalia today.
