If you have cockroach activity in your Crawfordville home, you're not alone. Since we live in a warm, humid area, we're in their ideal environment. This guide will tell you how to know for sure if you have cockroaches, how sick they can make you, why they're there in the first place, and the best way to get rid of them. Spoiler alert: You call a professional Crawfordville pest control company like Florida Sun Termite and Pest Control.
How Do I Tell If It's Cockroaches In My House?
There are six different species of cockroach in the Crawfordville area:
- American cockroach
- Australian cockroach
- German cockroach
- Oriental cockroach
- Smokey brown cockroach
- Wood cockroach
While each may look different, there are several shared characteristics of cockroaches that make knowing if you have them in your house easier, including:
- You see what looks like black pepper or coffee grounds on your kitchen counters – cockroach droppings.
- You discover smear marks in corners from where cockroaches have walked through and dragged their feces.
- You smell a musty odor, especially in your kitchen.
- You find ¼ to ½ inch long brown, ridged capsules on your counter – cockroach egg capsules, each containing up to 60 eggs.
- You notice shed skin from the cockroaches molting as they grow in size.
- You spot living cockroaches, which range in size from ½ to 2 ? inches long, in varying shades of brown or black, some with distinct markings.
If you have identified cockroaches in your Crawfordville home, be sure to contact Florida Sun Termite and Pest Control for quality cockroach control solutions.
Can Roaches In My House Really Make Me Sick?
The short answer is "yes." Cockroaches are known carriers of up to 46 different bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens that can make you, your family, and your pets very sick. These include:
- Salmonella
- Typhoid fever
- Cholera
- Gastroenteritis
- Dysentery
- Listeria
- Giardia
- E. coli
You may also have a German cockroach allergy or, in rare cases, allergies to other roach species. These allergies are most common in children with asthma, but anyone can develop an allergy at any age. That's why it's so critical to know how to get rid of cockroaches in Crawfordville – by calling Florida Sun Pest Control to eliminate the infestation for you.
Why Do I Have Cockroaches In My House?
To understand how to prevent cockroaches, you have to know what attracted them to your house in the first place. Cockroaches need food, water, and shelter, just like the rest of us. They aren't too picky about what they eat, often dining on things like toothpaste, soap, glue, leather, and hair. That's on top of a steady diet of decaying food.
If you are inadvertently providing potential food sources for cockroaches, you may be at risk of having them move in. They love crumbs that may fall unnoticed to the kitchen floor, food drying on dishes in the sink, and the leftovers of whatever fell into the bottom of your kitchen trash can.
For water, cockroaches will find a way, no matter how leak-proof you may make your pipes. They'll drink the water from your pet's water bowl, of course. They'll also sip up the drops left in the shower or your kitchen sink after you're done using them.
If you eliminate any of these sources of food and water, you're making cockroach control in Crawfordville a much easier proposition for the pros when they come in to help.
What's The Best Way To Get Rid Of Roaches?
You don't need to know how to get rid of cockroaches all by yourself, and you shouldn't try. A DIY solution is a stopgap measure at best and a drain on your time, energy, and wallet at worst. German cockroaches, for example, can breed six generations in a year. There's no way for you to be able to keep up with that kind of infestation growth. That's why you need pest management professionals from Florida Sun Pest to come to help you out. Contact us today for your free estimate and to learn more about our residential and commercial pest control services in Crawfordville.