Photo by gailhampshireCockroaches! Just hearing that name makes you cringe. They are well known as being extremely nasty creatures and will infest your home by the thousands in a matter of months if they are not controlled. These bugs may carry germs and diseases from other places they’ve visited that could even cause members of your household to become sick after living with them for a while.
So we’re going to discuss some pretty important information on understanding the behavior of a cockroach and what makes them tick. We’ve also got a Top 5 list of what to do in order to properly control them if you have been infested.
Where do Cockroaches Come From?
Cockroaches have been around for so long, you can’t really say exactly where or when they originated. But one thing for sure, they’ve been around for approximately 350 million years. Humans have only been on this Earth for the last 2 million years, so the cockroach has quite a leg up on us.
The Praying Mantis is actually the closest living relative of the cockroach, but the mantis is quite the predator, feeding on other insects. If you follow the mantises blood line further back, you’ll discover they are distant relatives to the termite.
Although cockroaches may be a distant relative of the Praying Mantis, they have used quite a different set of skills to survive all these years. For one thing, the cockroach is highly adaptable and can survive in almost any environment and learn how to get by. There are several different species of cockroach each having their own taste in food.
Food Sources of the Cockroach
The German cockroach tends to gravitate towards sugars and carbohydrates. The Oriental cockroach loves to feast on book bindings, and the Brown Banded cockroach prefers the glue from stamps and envelopes. Even though these may be their favorite meals, they have surely adapted to feast on pretty much what ever is available.
Human foods, pet food, toothpaste, wool, egg shells and even other cockroaches droppings. As well as dead and disabled members of their own species have become a normal part of most cockroaches diet. You may find it quite amazing that generally cockroaches do not like cucumbers, pretty strange considering they will eat all that other junk.
Humans vs. Cockroaches
The household cockroach has fast become an extreme enemy to humans, and we tend to focus more on killing them rather than controlling them. Although we’d like nothing more than to smash the living crap out of these nasty creatures, it’s much easier said than done.
Cockroaches are mainly nocturnal creatures and do most of their dirty work under cover of darkness. This make it extremely difficult for us to get the upper hand on them. For one thing, they scatter as quick as lightning as soon as you turn on the lights. The fact that they never venture far from their home makes a short trip for them to find cover once discovered. So before we can get to them, they’ve already shot back into a little crack or hole in the wall. According to research a cockroach will easily travel at over 1 foot per second. That’s pretty quick especially if they only have about a foot to go before they disappear!
One thing everyone may or may not know, is that most cockroaches are excellent fliers. The king-size American cockroach measures up to 2 inches long and they can fly really good. They’re also able to squeeze into a crack no thicker than a U.S. dime. These are not the only tools they have for avoiding capture or death either.
They are also extremely sensitive to the slightest change or shift in air movement. They have tiny sensing hairs on their bellies and they use these to sense any approaching trouble. So even the slightest vibration from approaching foot steps or a chair moving will send them darting off in a flash. It is said they can detect movements of less than one-millionth of a millimeter in the surface they’re standing on. Not only this, but they tend to have soldiers similar to ant colonies that will alert the others if trouble is coming. They do this by rattling their fore-wings as well as dragging their spurs over the ground. At which time they will emit a foul smelling secretion on the ground to cover their escape.
Cockroaches have also built up a resistance to many chemical poisons after hundreds of millions of years of contact with tropical vegetation and being exposed to plant toxins. They also seem to reprogram themselves over time to adapt to chemicals used on them. They are basically adapting to what we throw at them. Even though using poison will seem to be effective for a short time, once they’ve built a tolerance to it, the resistance is passed on to the rest of the colony and the poison is rendered useless after a while.
It’s been rumored for quite some time that a miracle poison for curing the cockroach epidemic is fast approaching. But the truth of the matter is that as long as cockroaches remain a creature of this Earth, they are here to stay. The population of them is too vast and they multiply too fast for us to win that war. The best we can hope for is to learn how to control them and let them live, hopefully outside our homes. So here’s the Top 5 list I promised you on how to at least make their stay miserable so maybe they’ll move on to your neighbors house. lol
What to do if You’re Infested with Cockroaches
- First and foremost, you need to cut off their food supply. Be sure that all pet food, trash and dirty dishes are put away or cleaned immediately. Do not let this stuff sit around, cockroaches love this stuff and will gravitate toward it, especially if it’s left overnight. Be sure to empty any crumb-catching trays in your toaster and clean the spill trays on your stove top. These may seem like small areas, but believe me, there’s enough food there to attract a huge colony of roaches.
- If you keep bulk foods around, store them in glass, plastic or metal containers that have lids. And be sure to either throw away old envelopes or keep them sealed in a plastic tub of some sort. If the roaches can’t get to the goodies, then they’ll go somewhere else to find food.
- If they don’t have a way in, they can’t get to you. So sealing up any possible entry points is a must. Use a caulking compound to seal up cracks and crevices around base-boards, cabinets, plumbing pipes and window seals. Be sure to repair any leaking pipes and use a tight fitting strainer basket on your drains. Cockroaches love to crawl into your drain to access food particles that may be there.
- If you are still suffering from these awful visitors, then poisoned bait traps may be useful. These will administer a deadly dose of poison to the roaches that feed on them. The best poison currently used is probably a compound called hydramethylnon. It isn’t harmful to humans, but is quite deadly to cockroaches, until they adapt that is. Argg! But the good thing about this is, once the roaches that have fed directly on the baits die, then the ones that feed on the dead roaches will get poisoned as well.
- Then of course once you’ve cleaned your house or are sure they aren’t there, keeping them out is a must. Avoid transporting new roaches into your home by checking any containers or boxes you may bring in and make sure they’re clean before bringing them in. The brown-banded cockroach was basically a southern pest until it was transported North in supplies being shipped to soldiers during WWII. So don’t bring boxes home from your storage without making sure they are clean of roaches.
Well, that’s pretty much all I’ve got on the subject. We’re all well aware of what a pest the cockroach can be and how hard they are to get rid of. But I hope this list will act as a reminder to anyone that may be suffering with them currently.
You can never have too many remedies for fighting the war against cockroaches!
They can’t adapt to my boots 😀
lol, that’s pretty funny…that’s usually the most effective action in the fight.
Lol,that’s pretty funny , Thank’s
Very Informative. Now I am literally more scared of Cockroach. 😛
lol, sorry Sudarsh, it wasn’t my intention to scary anyone, but it’s good to be aware as they’re a big health concern. Better to prevent than to fight. 🙂
Cutting cockroaches food supply is virtually impossible in a house since they can eat almost everything and from everywhere. A better solution is to cut their water supply since they can only live about one week without water. Do this by drying everything in the kitchen before going to bed and put 2 spoons of bleach in every drain in the house.
Very true Joe, even the smallest crumb may be sought out by the evil creatures. Cutting their water supply is definitely a must in combating them, thanks for the great tips!
We have actually seen quite a few in our garage, around 20 in the past two months and even squashed one in the house to my surprise it flew away! Of coarse my husband killed it, but do you think it’s time to hire an exterminator? Or is this a problem that can go away by its self?
I think the best course of action at this point would be to call the exterminator. This way they can treat the entire house inside and out, getting all the cracks and hiding spaces. Then once it’s been exterminated, you can follow a lot of the tips on this post to help in preventing their return.
AFTER BATTLING ALMOST A YEAR.. Better believe it.. ORTHO..(orthene) FIRE ANT KILLER .. 12 oz plastic black container with yellow lid .. Its from $9-$12 .. Home depot or walmart .. It works .. Take everything out of kitchen/area if infest.. Put it in cabinets on floors behind the fridge n stove and all other appliances.. Leave it overnight .. when cleaning up make sure u try to clean well .. Leave the powder behind the nonmoveable appliances (fridge stove) just clean up some excess and any dead creatures .. use the vacuum for excess powder.. make sure ..!! no matter how much u clean the areas that every time u use a dish pot pan silverware after that you wash n rinse it well it is a strong poison.. but its so worth it .. I waited and waited so many people tild me about it but i was stubborn.. But i did it yesterday and it worked so far .. Remember they like water too..keep water away from the faucets .. And any leaks .. Clean kitchen constantly .. Itll help in the end ..
Thanks for an excellent recommendation Ashley! That Ortho stuff does work I’ve used that stuff to kill fire ants and it works literally over night.
Plus keeping things very clean as you’ve suggested will maintain a bug free environment, thanks for helping out with some good info!
I have lived in my apartment for 7 months now. I am very cleanand i only jave foumd maybe 5 the entire time living here. Why is that? Is it cause im very clean? I have an exterminator coming, will that help? Thank you, this was very informative.
Hi Bonnie and thank you for the comment.
Apartment buildings are breading grounds for creatures like these. Even though you may be extremely tidy and clean, your neighbors may not be. Most apartment complexes will have adjoining walls that are linked from apartment to apartment and cockroaches use the walls to travel from one place to another.
We must keep in mind that even though you’ve only seen a few cockroaches that doesn’t mean that is all there is. Normally when you see 1 or 2 there are thousands in hiding, they usually don’t come out until the lights go out.
I’m not saying this to frighten you, but in hopes of awareness to help you in knowing what the potential of your situation “may” be. It’s very good that you have an exterminator coming out, but keep in mind, unless they do the whole building that your apartment is in, then they will likely return after the dust settles.
Hope this helps…
Hi I live in Cleveland Ohio my Family just moved into our house me my Husband and our eight month old baby Girl! We seen on our first night different size roaches crawling around the house except our bedroom we kilt the ones we seen and tried cleaning up!! guess the people while stayed here before us was not the cleanest people. Our Landlord said before we moved in an exterminator sprayed some stuff to make the cockroaches come out and eat it and then soon after they will die…. that didn’t work… so I moved all our things out and had my Landlord call another exterminator…. now this is our first night back in the house… seen a huge Roach in the laundry closet a large one in the kitchen. Big dead ones under the sink and behind the refrigerator one was Even upside down moving still!!! One was On the stove it was really little. And I opened the fridge which is empty there was a medium and a small one Oh there!! and one frozen in the freezer…. help is this a infestation…. the people before us must have been really filthy… our house is like new and empty…. I’M terrified of bugs and my baby is already on a breathing machine. I need answers ASAP
Hi Kyana, and thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds like you’ve got a pretty big problem on your hands and I hope it’s resolved soon. It sounds like your landlord has taken the necessary steps to correct your problem, but you may experience a few lingering pests after an extermination. Some of these critters may take a little longer to finally die out so time may be the answer here. Although I’m not sure how long it’s been since the treatment was carried out. If they are still returning, then regretfully another treatment or bombing may be necessary. I hope for the sake of your family that this is resolved quickly.
Greetings; I have a very serious and uncontrollable situation in my house. Cockroaches everywhere ( I mean everywhere) I have tried different kinds of sprays to no solution. Please I need a serious help if not ; am going to avaquate my lovely apartment. Please help.
Hi Ibrahim and thanks for sharing your infestation crisis with me. Having an infestation of this level is a frightening experience to say the least. But there is only so much you yourself may be able to do within an apartment situation. I would firstly contact the Landlord and request that exterminators be immediately dispatched. I’m pretty sure you’ve already done this, but the main concern would be in your neighbors. Obviously there are folks living around you that may be bringing the pests into the building. So it’s quite important that your whole building be exterminated, not just your apartment.
Now I’m terrified! I’ve been in my house for just a year and tonight out of nowhere we saw three cockroaches. My husband killed all three but I’m terrified. We have a person who walks our dog and she told me she had our porch door open off and on more than usual today. we also got a package in the mail that she brought into the house. We are trying to figure out if these three were tag alongs from something outside or maybe were in the package. Our house is spotless and we just had an exterminator here two weeks ago for chipmunks. They didn’t mention anything about cockroaches so I can only hope this is a new problem and we’ll be able to get it under control quickly. I’m so petrified after reading this that we’ll never get rid of them and my dream home just turned into a nightmare. 🙁
Well Lucille, spotting one or two cockroaches doesn’t Always mean that you are infested. As we know all things have to start from somewhere, so it is possible that you caught them in their attempt to migrate into your home.
My intention of this post certainly wasn’t to scare anyone, but merely to educate on things to look for and things that can be done to tame a infestation for this sort. If I were you, I would surely keep an eye open and pay close attention when first turning on the lights in a dark room. That is when they will be out searching for food so that’s the best opportunity to spot them if they’re there.
If you have any doubts I would suggest getting the exterminator back out to do a thorough evaluation of you home for pests and insects just to be sure. If you were overrun with them you would certainly know it, but if you have a small problem with them it’s best to catch it sooner than later.
I wish you the best of luck and hope that your findings are that you have no problem! 😀