Nothing is more irritating than working hard to keep your house clean just to find a cockroach. Sure, a cockroach here or there is not the end of the world. However, you’ve got a problem when the bugs grow persistent and start taking over your home.
You might end up with a full infestation if you don’t take care of the first roaches you find in your home. Cockroaches have a higher rate of reproduction and they multiply quickly, which causes problems.
Taking out the garbage on a regular basis, keeping your house clean, and storing your food in seal pack containers are just a few of the ways you can do to keep pests out of your home. Cockroaches are incredibly adaptable pests. They consume just about anything you can think of and have an extremely diverse diet, and will eat just about anything you can think of.They have fine-tuned water-finding senses and are masters at hiding. They can survive almost in any environment because of their adaptation.
They are also quite difficult to get rid of once you have them in your home.
Let’s dive in!
Why Do Cockroaches Come Into Your House?
Whether you have ants, rodents, or cockroaches in your home, one thing is certain: they are all seeking food and water. As a result, even the cleanest of homes may encounter a few roaches.
The following are the main priorities for the cockroach in your home:
- Dishes on the counter or in the sink that are filthy
- There are crumbs on the floor, chairs, and table.
- Pet food was left on the floor.
- Food in open containers or cans that have been left over.
- Puddles, birdbaths, flowerpots, or other examples of standing water in your yard.
Cockroaches prefer humid conditions. They like the extra wetness that summer offers.
Furthermore, if you have leaking pipes and ducts in your bathroom, kitchen, or laundry room, you’re sure to find a cockroach at some point.
Where Do Cockroaches Live In Your House?
We can often notice cockroaches wandering around your homes, but have you ever thought about where these crawling insects actually reside?
There are a lot of places that cockroaches may choose to live in your house. These can be difficult to identify because each species has their own preferences. There are currently over 3,000 different known species of cockroaches in the world. However, they usually like to hide in the following places:
- Cabinets and drawers
- Appliances
- Sinks
- Under trash bins
- In bathtubs
- Toilets
- Inside furniture
- Closet and storage areas
How Do Cockroaches Get Inside Your House?
When you find a cockroach in your house, you may wonder why they chose your house or how they got in. Even the cleanest home may become infected if roaches locate food, drink, or proper shelter. Cockroaches are capable of locating the tiniest gaps and holes to squeeze through if they want to get in. Cockroaches can enter your house in a variety of ways, including:
- Grocery bags
- Carboard boxes
- Luggage
- Furniture
Always check these containers since you might unknowingly carry a pregnant cockroach (or an egg case) home in a supermarket bag or cardboard box. Before putting food away, inspect it for roaches, and keep your grocery bags outdoors. Cockroaches are less likely to enter your home if you use your own recyclable bags.
Pipes and plumbing
Cockroaches may also enter a home via the plumbing system. They move from one apartment to the next by passing via a shared wall’s plumbing and other utility lines. Some cockroach species enter homes through sewage pipes and emerge into living rooms through floor drains.
Sewers and drains
Cockroaches frequently enter through sewers or drains. As a result of sewer system repairs, displaced American cockroaches may infiltrate buildings. Many homes, in fact, have roach entry sites that are easily accessible.
Understanding how roaches enter your home is the first step in preventing an infestation.
Can You Prevent Cockroaches From Entering Your House?
Cockroaches may find your home to be a perfect nesting site. They may obtain access to buildings by a variety of means, including cracks, fissures, vents, sewers, pipe drains, open windows and doors, and objects carried into the premises.
Cockroaches are drawn to food, moisture, and shelter, so denying them access to these things is the most efficient approach to avoid an infestation. There are few ways to deny their entry:
Close The Doors And Windows
Cockroaches are most active in attempting to come inside during the summer, when the heat leads them to find cooler hiding places, or in the fall when they need to get out of the cold. Cracks and gaps in doors, windows, and foundations allow them to enter dwellings.
By keeping pests from entering the house in the first place, you can avoid an infestation. Weatherstripping and caulk are used to close gaps around windows and doors and to seal cracks.
Keep Food In Airtight Containers
Cockroaches can eat cardboard and thin plastic, which is used to store a lot of food. Transfer food to sealed, sturdy containers if you suspect a bug infestation. Everything in thin packaging is vulnerable, from cereal to flour to chocolate chips. Store food in its original packaging in large, sturdy plastic bins for quick and easy protection on a large scale.
Moist Areas Should Be Dried
Roaches are attracted to dripping faucets and leaking pipes. Moisture should be checked under toilets, under sinks, and throughout basements. Pipes and faucets that are leaking should be repaired. To dry damp regions in the basement, use a dehumidifier.
What Keeps Cockroaches Away From Your House?
Has an intrusion of cockroaches taken up residence in your home? Have roaches taken over everything you could once call your own—but can’t anymore? There are a few things you can use to keep them away.
Soap
Cockroaches can be haunted by anything as simple as soap water sprayed on them. Cockroaches are killed quickly when a soap solution is poured into their pores.
Lemon
This citrus fruit may be beneficial to your health, but it is not good for cockroaches. Lemons repel cockroaches, keeping them away from locations where the fruit is present. As a result, mopping surfaces with water containing a few lemon drops are recommended.
Solution Of Pepper, Garlic, And Onion
A combination of pepper, garlic, and onion , which are readily available in nearly any kitchen, is sure to terrify the cockroaches that live in your home’s nooks and crannies. In a mixing bowl, crush one garlic clove and half an onion, then season with pepper and add water. Before leaving the kitchen, make sure you wipe this mixture off the counter.
Listerine
Mix Listerine with soap and water to create an effective cockroach repellent for your home. Spraying the mixture directly on the roach will kill them, but spraying it around your home will only repel them.
Contact Clegg’s Pest Control for a Free Home Inspection!
Make it a practice to inspect your house and landscaping once a month to verify your cockroach avoidance techniques are current, paying specific attention to the hotspots mentioned above.
Additionally, Clegg’s Pest Control is always here to help. For over 50 years, Clegg’s has been exterminating pests all over the state of North Carolina. If you believe you have a cockroach problem in your home, fill out the contact form below and someone will reach out to you regarding a free home inspection!
CLEGG’S PEST CONTROL CAN SOLVE YOUR ANT PROBLEM
If you have ever seen an ant in your house then you know that there is never just one. Ants live in large groups called colonies. Often times their nests are underground or inside trees, but sometimes ants move in and make their colony in the walls of a house or building. Inside of your home, ants can nest behind baseboards, moldings, countertops, inside walls, or even in your dishwasher. A single ant colony can live and reproduce for years with one queen, making them extremely hard to get rid of if they have set up residence in your home. Depending upon where the colony has made its nest, you may need to contact our team to control the infestation.
Surprisingly, what ants are attracted to actually changes throughout the year depending on where they are in their mating cycle. In the spring for example, when they are just beginning the mating and colonizing phase, they tend to be more attracted to high protein foods such as meat scraps left in the trash, peanut butter, other insects, or fats like grease, oil, and butter. As the summer continues, the new generation of ants requires more quick energy to grow and expand the nest so the ants will seek carbohydrates to eat for energy. This leads ants to be more attracted to sweets like crumbs and leftovers, spilled drinks, and garden produce.
No matter if the ants are entering your home in search of the food source they need, or if they have built up a residence in your walls, most people agree that getting them out is necessary. Contact our team to schedule your FREE initial inspection and get rid of ants in your home today.
TYPES OF ANTS
ODOROUS HOUSE ANTS
These ants have one node that is hidden by their abdomen and are dark brown to black in color. They are most often found in kitchens. When this ant is crushed it emits a coconut odor which signifies its name. Like the Argentine Ants, these ants may be found under mulch, along foundations, or underneath some form of debris. As with many ants, food sources will draw them out. If you have mulch or debris around the foundation of your home then you need to ensure that all cracks and crevices are sealed to prevent an inside invasion. Locating the nest is the surest way to eliminate the infestation but this is very difficult therefore bait is used on the ant trails which will lead the toxin back to the colony.
ACROBAT ANTS
These ants are yellowish brown to dark brown and are a little longer than 1/8 inch. Their abdomen is heart shaped and when disturbed they try to carry their abdomen above the rest of their body. If nesting outdoors they usually nest in decaying or dead wood. When foraging indoors they like wood or a damp wall cavity to nest in. A spray treatment should be performed in all areas these ants are found and drilling may be required to treat any wall voids that have become infested.
FIRE ANTS
Fire ants are red with 2 nodes and a stinger which sets them aside from most other ants. Fire ants are usually found outdoors versus indoors however when they do venture indoors it is usually along the edge of carpet. If you follow the trail back to the entry point then the mound is usually not far. We treat the mound(s) itself as well as the trail of ants.
How to Get Rid of Fire Ants: Read Article
Fire Ant Queen: Read Article
Fire Ant Mound: Read Article
CARPENTER ANTS
Carpenter ants have one node (circled) and an evenly rounded thorax. Carpenter vary is color and size but most are large and a blackish color. Parent colony lives in constant moisture. Satellite colonies are usually involved in infestations. Carpenter ants are most active at night, and the sound of a colony resembles that of wrinkling up cellophane. Colonies may exist in several areas including: wood, wall voids, hollow voids, under insulation, etc. Treatment usually involves the use of a dust and/or aerosol to flush out the existing colony.
Signs of Carpenter Ants: Read Article
Carpenter Ant vs Termite Damage: Read Article
Carpenter Ant Queen: Read Article
Carpenter Ant Bite: Read Article
What Do Carpenter Ants Eat: Read Article
FIELD ANTS
Field ants are black, brown, tan, reddish, or red and black in color. Field ants have 3 small eyes in the middle of their head (between their 2 compound eyes). Field ants are not usually found inside but rather around structures or under piles of wood, brick, or rocks. Once the colony is located, the mound itself is treated to eliminate the problem.
LITTLE BLACK ANTS
Black ants are tiny in size and are jet black in color. Little black ants occasionally invade homes but are usually found in the soil or nesting in the masonry or woodwork of a structure. Treating the colony itself is the best way to eliminate this ant. Indoor treatments may include the use of dust to treat wall voids.
How to Get Rid of Tiny Black Ants: Read Article
PAVEMENT ANTS
Pavement ants also have 2 nodes and are usually found in one of 3 places: 1) Outside along the foundation 2) Beneath slab foundation 3) Inside hollow foundation walls. Pavement ants may also be found trailing along the edge of carpets. Displaced soil indicates colony locations. They are a small brown to black ant with pale legs; their abdomen is black. Treatment is most successful when the colony itself is located and then treated. Depending on colony site, drilling may be required in order to apply the appropriate chemical.
PHARAOH ANTS
Pharaoh ants have 2 nodes (circled left) and are usually found traveling wires, the plumbing in walls, or inside wall outlet boxes. Baiting is the only effective treatment method for pharaoh ants. Pharaoh ants are known to have many colonies therefore all ant trails need to be baited. They are very small ants, usually light yellow to red in color with black markings on their abdomen.
CITRONELLA ANTS
Citronella Antsare usually light yellow to light reddish brown with small eyes and they have a citronella odor when crushed. Nest sites usually include open pastures, gardens, lawns, or around a home’s foundation. They may also be found underneath a concrete slab or inside of or underneath a timber that has become rotten. There are 2 species: the worker and the swarmer. The swarmers are almost twice the size of the workers and have smoke colored wings. Once colony is located the mound itself is treated to eliminate the problem.
ARGENTINE ANTS
Argentine Ants are a one node ant and that one node is sharply peaked. They are usually dull brown in color and when they are crushed a musty odor usually follows. Argentine ants are usually found outside under mulch, foundation slabs, or inside of a tree or shrub. We check all items that come in contact with the soil and treat all mounds that are located. On some occasions drilling may be required in order to treat a void that a colony may be inhabiting.
GHOST ANTS
Ghost Ants are a one node ant, very small in size, and pale in color. A rotten odor is emitted when ghost ants are crushed. Eliminating harborage sites around the foundation of a structure will help reduce the chance for an infestation of ghost ants. Ghost ants also travel inside along carpet edges, moldings, windowsills, electrical outlets, and any area near a water source. Finding the nest site by following the trail is the key to eliminating the infestation.
CRAZY ANTS
Crazy Ants are a one node ant, relatively small in size. They have extraordinarily long legs and are dark brown to blackish in color. Crazy ants are most easily identified by their zig-zag like movement. The crazy ant adapts very well to its environment whether it is a dry or wet habitat. We check all items that come in contact with the soil and treat all mounds that are located. On some occasions drilling may be required in order to treat a void that a colony may be inhabiting.
WHITE FOOTED ANTS
White Footed Ants have a hidden node. Its body color is darker than that of the odorous house ant and the end of their legs are a yellowish white color. These ants like to nest in soil, in old trees, and various other damp locations that have may provided a good nesting site. Their 2 preferred sources of food are dead insects and food with lots of sugar. Once the colony has been located the mound needs to be treated in addition to a perimeter spray performed around the infested site.
BIG HEADED ANTS
Big Headed Ants are a dimorphic species which means the worker ants vary in size. These ants are small in size and are yellowish or light to dark brown in color. The major worker has a large head for its body size whereas the minor worker’s head is more proportionate to its body size. These ants will nest in open areas but are usually found in the soil beneath a protective covering such as firewood or landscape timbers. Individual mounds should be drenched to eliminate the colony. Bait is effective for indoor treatments.
THIEF ANTS
Thief ants have 2 nodes, very small eyes, and is yellow to light brown in color. These ants normally nest outside in the soil underneath rocks. If these ants move inside they usually nest in wall voids or behind baseboards. Nests are hard to locate because they will travel long distances for food. These ants eat almost anything but prefer meats, fats, and grease. Ant bait is the most effective control method to use for thief ants.
