German cockroaches are known to be mostly found indoors. A German cockroach is one that appears to have two horizontal stripes behind its head while its body is of a light brown or tan colour. Have you seen a roach similar to the description? If so, then a good guess would be that you are looking at a German cockroach.
It might surprise and comfort you to know that they rarely fly despite having wings. This is because they actually prefer to crawl around mostly warm and humid parts of your home such as you kitchen counter tops.
German cockroaches are known to be a cause for asthma and carry toxic bacteria on their little bodies while wandering through parts of your home, which means that an infestation of German cockroaches cannot be ignored or overlooked for reasons that concern the health of your loved ones.
Cockroach and other pest control in Melbourne are easily available for those that desire professional help to maintain a healthy and pest free home.
Have you recently spotted a roach that matches the similarities or features of a German roach? If you are pretty sure that you have seen, killed or found a German cockroach there is quite a heavy chance that you are dealing with a German cockroach infestation.
How to Identify German Cockroaches?
German cockroaches are flat and light brown or tan with two black lines behind its head. You will often find them indoors, crawling around your kitchen table, floors, and in other humid places in your house. Although they have a good pair of working wings, you rarely see them fly around.
The size of a German roach varies between ½ inches to 5/8 inches. Females can produce up to 40 eggs simultaneously and 7 batches of offspring in a lifetime. Keep in mind, after the nymph hatches and sheds its skin, it appears similar to an adult only darker, smaller, and wingless.
Even though these pests appear small and harmless, they shouldn't be taken lightly. A roach infestation could trigger asthma attacks and transmit dangerous bacteria and diseases. Therefore, if you spot a cockroach in your home, you should contact a reliable and reputed pest control company.
If you live in Australia and need assistance inspecting and treating your home for a pest infestation, you can contact our experts at Protech Pest Control.
What Draws German Cockroaches to Your House?
Similar to other cockroaches and pests, German cockroaches too, are attracted to homes that provide ample food, water, and a moist location to hide. If your home provides even one of them, then it would be challenging to keep them from invading and building their nest in your home.
They love to munch on meat, starches, and greasy or sweet food items. However, if these aren't available, it wouldn't stop them from ransacking your garbage bins, your pantry, or even targeting your pet food. If desperate, they would even eat glue, excreta, soap, hair, and much more.
The Listed Points Should Help You Spot a German Cockroach Infestation or Determine That You are dealing with one.
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Cockroach Sightings by Day
Cockroaches are night bugs; which means that if you are spotting cockroaches running across your kitchen or home floors you have got a serious German roach infestation that needs to be taken care of at the earliest!
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Musty or Oily Odour
German cockroaches don't smell too nice just like other pests and are known to emit odorous chemicals into the atmosphere. If you have a German roach infestation, you will notice that your home probably smells like musty and oily and if you notice such a smell don't hold back from drawing the conclusion that you have a German roach infestation at hand.
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Cockroach Faeces
For those that are already petrified and disgusted with cockroaches a more dreaded experience is to find the faeces of these pesky creatures laying all over your home while the findings of the same might be on an increase in places like your countertops and inside your drawers.
Have you had such a horrifying experience recently? A good way to identify these cockroach faeces is to note that they might look like ground pepper or coffee grounds and can leave very dark stains in the nooks and crannies of your home.
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The Findings of Roach Carcasses
Do you thank your lucky stars when you spot a dead roach? Finding a carcass of a German roach is not always something to be thankful about as it might mean that though this roach is dead his friends and family are pretty close by and not necessarily as dead as the roach carcass you are looking at. Also if a shed of roach skin is found, it is an even more obvious sign of your home being under attack by roaches.
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Finding Allot Smaller Brown Cockroaches in the Kitchen and/or Bathroom
The ultimate hangout spot for a cockroach is the kitchens and bathrooms due to the undeniable moisture and food provisions made easily available to roaches. Cockroaches can find delight in a meal of soap or toothpaste which means that their food is easily available in bathrooms and not just the kitchen, are you shocked? Or just mortified?
Rid Your Home of German Cockroaches
Have you noticed quite a number of signs of a German cockroach infestation?
If the answer to that is a 'yes' it would be advisable to take quick action before it worsens as they are known to multiply very easily and quickly which could mean that the infestation of roach population is increasing heavily with each passing minute that is wasted.
Here are a Few Ways to Help You Rid Your Home of German Roaches:
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Maintaining Cleanliness and Avoiding Moisture in the Kitchen and Bathroom
The best way to get rid of German roaches is by taking away what they love most! Can you guess what that can be? Its their ideal hangout spot. You can do so by eliminating the reasons that bathrooms and kitchens are their ideal hangout places.
Keeping food crumbs and soap out of reach while avoiding moisture and keeping the bathroom and kitchen as dry as possible is a good way to make sure the roaches don't have their hangout spot anymore.
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Are Your Pet Food Dishes Empty?
Cockroaches are known to be active mostly during the night and a good supply of food is provided to roaches by your pets food dishes which is why it is essential to ensure your pets food containers are emptied and clean before going to bed each night.
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Use a Dehumidifier to Reduce Humidity
Roaches seek humid places to live in which is why you should eliminate all moisture and humidity to send these pests away in search of humidity and moisture for their ideal environment.
A dehumidifier should be able to help do the trick and by using one in humid areas that retain moisture. It is important to make sure that the dehumidifier is designed to cover the area that you intend to use it for to ensure you are using it to its full potential.
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Are Your Kitchen Cabinets Cleaned Out?
What is garbage to you can be the ultimate thanksgiving feast to a German cockroach. Even the tiniest crumbs can lure cockroaches into your home. So and important question to ask yourself is: Do you clean out your kitchen cabinets thoroughly from time to time to eradicate all signs of food sources for cockroaches?
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Do You Leave the Trash Out?
It is important to make sure that you do not leave your trash out as cockroaches delight in feeding off the trash, you can also make sure your trash cans are sealed tightly enough to keep roaches out and prevent them from creeping into the trash cans.
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Do You Seal Food Products?
Are the roaches always found to be delighting in a bag of chips? This means that you are not sealing food products properly. Avoid just rolling up bags of edibles and stuffing them into cabinets.
If food isn't stored by being well sealed the roaches will never give up on your home due to it being an eternal food source for them. Practise storing food in air tight plastic containers that are sealed tightly enough to keep pests away.
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Avoid Moisture
Do you ensure that all sinks bathtubs are showers are dry before going to bed? If you don't, it' a good practise to start! This helps avoid the humid and moisture filled environment that cockroaches thrive in.
How to Prevent an Infestation and Remove German Cockroaches?
By following the steps mentioned below, you can successfully eliminate and prevent a German cockroach infestation:
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Identify the Problem
You can only come up with a solution after identifying the real problem. Therefore, it is essential to confirm what type of pest you are dealing with, inspect your home for any roach activities, and identify their hideouts, access points, and nests. Some of the main signs of an infestation is spotting a live cockroach, finding their droppings, dead roaches, or shed skin.
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Use Baits
Once you have identified the type of cockroach you are dealing with and their hideouts, carefully place multiple baits around your home, especially in your kitchen, bathroom, cabinets, etc., with a gap of 6 feet between each bait for a higher success rate of catching them by at least one bait.
While looking for food and water, the cockroach would go for the bait and then take it back to their nest that should help kill the infestation slowly but efficiently.
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Use a Spray
If you do not have the patience to wait for the cockroach to go to the bait, you can spray them with an over-the-counter cockroach killing spray to get rid of them instantly. However, you may need to keep spraying them for a few days until you are sure you have got them all. Because even if a few remain, they could soon multiply, and you would be dealing with another cockroach infestation.
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Using Baking Soda
For this method, you would need to mix sugar with baking soda and keep it out on the table as bait, along with a bowl of water nearby. This is an effective way to get rid of cockroaches as the sugar attracts the cockroach while the baking soda, when mixed with water, would cause their stomach to explode, killing them instantly.
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Make a Trap
All you need is a bit of petroleum jelly, a bowl, and food as bait. Just add the food to the bowl and grease the insides of the bowl with petroleum jelly. The food will attract the cockroach to enter the bowl, while the petroleum jelly would make it impossible for the cockroach to escape. All you need to do is effectively dispose of the bowl after the cockroach is trapped.
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Determine If You Need More Insecticide
Although baits and sprays are enough to help you control the infestation, sometimes it is just not enough if the infestation is too far gone. In such situations, you can use more insecticides to control the infestation. Using insect growth regulators, diatomaceous earth, boric acid, and other stronger insecticides should help you get rid of the infestation.
Are you at the end of you tether with German cockroaches?
The team of highly skilled professionals of Protech Pest Control are just a call away!
Though cockroaches can multiply and double their population quite quickly our team of experts are trained to eradicate them from your home for good! We use the highest quality products while making sure that the safest measures and procedures are followed while providing you with a cockroach free environment to. However bad the infestation we are here to help you get rid of it!
Conclusion
The above write up should be able to equip you with the necessary precautionary measures to keep German cockroaches at bay or drive them away from your home. For further professional help feel free to contact us at Protech Pest Control to ensure a cockroach free environment for you and your loved ones at home.