Cockroaches

Cockroaches will often take up residence in your home. Remember - these insects are opportunists! They are always seeking shelter, food, and water.

To discourage these pests, be sure to fix leaky faucets, enclose food items in airtight containers, enclose your kitchen garbage can, and never leave any food, including pet food, out on the counters or floors. (A small crumb to us is a large meal to them!)

To discourage cockroaches from seeking shelter near your home, trim low-lying shrubs to prevent them from touching the ground and clear out any plant debris close to your home. Cockroaches like to hide, so by clearing debris and leaf litter from around your home, you can discourage them from living nearby.

If you suspect that cockroaches have already taken up residence in your home, sticky traps can tell you where they are living. Place these traps behind appliances and under sinks where cockroaches like to hide. Once you have established the fact that you have cockroaches living in your home, there are a number of treatment options. The first step is physical controls. Check the weather stripping around doors, make sure window screens are intact, and check the space around the pipes under sinks.

Cockroaches can squeeze through extremely small spaces. If you discover that there is space around pipes, use something to plug up the hole like caulk. If you still find cockroaches in your sticky traps after completing these physical barriers, the next step would be to use cockroach baits, powders, or other insecticides. Be sure to read the label and follow all the directions carefully! If you are uncomfortable applying pesticides, call a licensed pest control company and they can apply baits and or insecticides behind your baseboards and crack and crevices where cockroaches like to live.