There are certain pest problems that you can sometimes handle on your own. For instance, a mild ant infestation is fairly manageable. If you clean up your kitchen and put out a little borax, you might be able to keep it under control.
But cockroaches? That’s a different story. Roaches are resilient and filthy, carrying all sorts of diseases, bacteria and allergens. So merely having them around can be perilous to your health. Plus, they’re so difficult to get rid of. They can survive nuclear blasts, you think they can’t handle a little Raid?
So if you’re dealing with cockroaches, we highly recommend hiring a professional pest control company. But what about the aftermath? What do you do after they’ve sprayed and gone?
- First Things First: Don’t Resort to Bad Habits
If you had a cockroach infestation, your cleaning habits probably played a role in it. It’s rare for roaches to infiltrate a clean, pristine home. Therefore, be sure to make cleanliness a top priority now. Your kitchen needs to be spotless at the end of every night, and don’t allow trash to accumulate anywhere in the home – even in the garbage can. Dump it out daily.
- Keep the Food Sources Away
Along with spraying, your pest control company could use poisonous bait to thwart cockroaches. Well, you can help that bait work more effectively by eliminating other food sources. Don’t eat food in other parts of the home (other than the kitchen), and ensure you store all food in airtight containers. That will make the roaches more likely to eat the bait.
- Don’t Give Them Access to Water
Dying roaches will need water, so ensure that your sinks and bathtub are kept as dry as possible. Consider wiping them down after each use, to eliminate any excess water. This will speed up the roach-killing process.
- Don’t be Concerned if You See More Roaches
For a couple of weeks after the treatment, it’s perfectly normal to see a few additional roaches. Despite how rampant the treatment was, some roaches will survive, and some of them will be carrying eggs. So you might still see a few filthy critters. However, the spray and poison left by the pest control company will continue working after the initial spraying. So just give it some time. They’ll be gone soon enough. And if they aren’t, call the pest control company!
