Cockroaches are usually active at night. They tend to stay hidden in small gaps or in cracks and crevices throughout the day. What attracts them to your property is the availability of food sources. Once they gain access to your property, they will get into anything like food crumbs and scraps, and even animal feces and droppings.
Cockroaches pose lots of health risks. It is the main reason why you should immediately create a pest management plan to control the infestation and get rid of the pests.
Telltale Signs of Their Presence in Your Property
If you think that you are having a cockroach infestation, it is crucial to act immediately to get the right solution. With this, you can resolve the problem quickly and minimize potential health risks due to the presence of these pests. To resolve your problem, the following are signs of cockroaches you should start looking for:
1. Droppings or Fecal Matters
Since these pests are roaming around your property and feeding on anything, they will most like leave fecal droppings around. The size always depends on the size of cockroaches.
The droppings usually resemble coffee grounds, larger pellets, or cracked black pepper. Finding more droppings only mean that there is a high population of these pests in your property.
You will most likely find cockroach feces behind appliances such as stoves and refrigerators and even in cupboards. Once you find fecal matters, it is crucial that the area must be treated.
2. Oothecae or Egg Casings
Cockroaches produce oothecae or egg cases. Within each case, it may contain at least 10 to 20 eggs. German cockroaches, on the other hand, can lay oothecae that may contain a maximum of 50 eggs.
These cases are long, rounded oblong-shaped, and has a brownish colour. Unhatched and empty casings indicate the presence of cockroaches. You can find these cases in small gaps and other undisturbed and out-of-the-way areas.
3. Cockroach Odours
Though a single cockroach may already give off little to no odours, a group of them will smell musty, oily, and musky. This will intensify as their population grows continuously. On the other hand, dead or decomposing cockroaches give off a smell as they secrete oleic acid.
4. Dead Cockroaches
Since cockroaches are nocturnal, you might not see them often during the day. This is true unless you are already having a serious cockroach problem.
You will most likely find dead ones during the day if they are already in large numbers. Check your cabinets, under the stove, around your refrigerator, and under sinks.
5. Seeing Roaches in Broad Daylight
One of the biggest signs that you have a serious roach problem is when you start seeing these pests even in broad daylight. Once the eggs hatch, you will most likely find small light brown roaches that are already in their late nymphal stage. Dark brown roaches are adults.
If you notice that there are more roaches coming out as the day goes by, it is only necessary that you immediately take action.
How to Deal with These Pests
Given that cockroaches are a nuisance in many ways, you can always start with using various pest control specifically made for these pests. This may require you to patiently and continuously check on traps and other products you use, but it is all worth it.
When the problem is no longer in your range of knowledge and skills, calling for an exterminator can be your last resort.
