So… You are having issues with cockroaches? Here’s everything you need to know!
First and foremost, the type of cockroach infesting your residence will determine where to find them and what type of treatment is required to eradicate them.
German Cockroaches
If you have a German cockroach infestation, the most common place you will find them is around your kitchen, laundry room, bathroom and/or a room with a lot of electronics or a cupboard where your hot water tank will be stored. This is because German cockroaches are attracted to electrical devices that give off heat.
Where to look?
THE KITCHEN
In your kitchen, the first place to check is the base of your kettle, tap the base of your kettle onto your kitchen benchtop, you will often find German cockroaches fall out of the base of your kettle when you do this (You may want to have a can of Mortein crawling insect spray with you!). The next most common is behind your refrigerator where the motor is and/or behind your dishwashing machine, pull these forward if you can and check behind the backs of these units.
THE LAUNDRY ROOM
Just like with the kitchen checking the back of your fridge, in the laundry room, you will want to check behind the back of your washing and/or drying machines, also check inside the underneath cupboards of any sink areas.
HOT WATER TANKS
Cockroaches are often attracted to hot water tank units, if your hot water tank is inside the house somewhere (often it will be inside a cupboard) thoroughly check around this area, often people tend to leave the warranty/instruction manual for the hot water tank on top of the unit, pick this up and check if cockroaches are infesting inside of this as it is common to find an infestation of cockroaches in between the pages.
CARDBOARD BAGS AND BOXES
Have you got those Coles/Woolies brown paper bags in a big pile around the house? German cockroaches love cardboard, if you have any cardboard piled up around the home, give it a good shake and see if any cockroaches coming running out. It is best to get rid of whatever cardboard you do not need, if you do need to keep the cardboard, look at buying a plastic tub with a lid and throw all your cardboard inside of the plastic tub to prevent cockroaches getting to it.
ELECTRONIC DEVICES
Cockroaches will often infest inside of electrical equipment, coffee machines, the base of toasters, the backs of microwaves, inside power boards, internet router devices, etc. Go for a walk around the house and give a few of your electrical devices a shake and see if any cockroaches come running out.
TREATMENT:
I’ve had countless conversations with customers who have said to me “I’ve spent 100s of dollars buying chemicals to try and get rid of these cockroaches but I just cannot seem to get rid of them”… SAVE YOUR MONEY. Eradicating German cockroaches is tricky business, it requires a combination of treatments from cockroach gels, surface liquid sprays, aerosol sprays into small gaps/cracks/crevices and sticky glue board traps. These cockroaches once they create an infestation can hide in so many places that can be extremely tricky to find (there are many additional small hiding places these cockroaches will infest on top of the main areas listed above). To effectively eradicate the population requires finding where they are harboring and treating these areas directly.
Professional Pest Controllers purchase their chemicals from chemical companies that have stronger active constituents than those you purchase through Bunnings/Coles/Woolies, etc. Which means they are more capable of killing of the infestation and the chemicals will continue to keep your premises safe from cockroaches for a longer period of time. Also depending on your dwelling (unit VS home) you should only be paying anywhere from $140 to $200 to eradicate a German cockroach infestation, you can easily spend this amount of money purchasing your own chemicals and using your own time trying to eradicate the infestation only to end up having to call a Professional to do it for you anyway.
AMERICAN/ORIENTAL/AUSTRALIAN COCKROACHES
Unlike German cockroaches which are small in size and infest inside of your residence, all of the above mentioned cockroaches are large in size and although you may find them wandering around your residence from time to time, they are not infesting on the inside of your home. Often all of these family of cockroaches will begin in/around bush/shrubbery/garden beds around your building and will make their way to your residence looking for damp/dark/warm areas to hide in. Once they find a suitable area, they will use it for harborage and will multiply, they will find entry points to get inside your residence and are basically scavenging around looking for food. The areas where they will harborage is the sub floors, roof voids and wall cavities, in blocks of units they may also hide in garbage chutes, elevator shafts and in wall cavities where pipes/cables run through the building.
TREATMENT
For German cockroaches the treatment very much focuses on the inside of the home, for all of the larger cockroach Families, the treatment focuses on outer areas and void spaces. A Professional Pest Controller should spray all/any garden bed/mulch areas any entry/exit points of the building (doorways and window frames) and they should do a dusting treatment to any sub floor areas, roof voids and wall cavities. They should also look for any gaps where pipes/cables run into the building where the walls/floors are not properly sealed which allows cockroaches to gain access into the residence, these areas should also be treated with a dusting application.
As an extra precaution, a liquid surface spray can also be applied around the inside of the home so that any wandering cockroaches that make their way into the residence will die from the chemicals used inside the home.
DO YOU NEED HELP?
Maybe you are struggling with a cockroach infestation or maybe you just absolutely hate cockroaches and never want to see them. Whatever the case may be, we can help you either eradicate an infestation or provide you with a preventative treatment to help ensure you do not have to worry about getting cockroaches. Call us today if you would like a quote or even if you just want help or advice, we are happy to have a chat and offer help to those in need!