Are Your Bad Habits Keeping Your Home Roach Infested?
It is not difficult to for cockroaches to get into your home. They able to arrive on their own by crawling into very small cracks and crevices, around your windows and doors. They are often transported into your home by you, or your guest. Sometimes they are simply in the neighborhood, and they decide to drop by. No matter how they get there, the key to getting rid of them for good is to ensure you and your bad habits are not keeping them there.
What Do Roaches Need to Survive?
There is an old myth that roaches would be able to survive an extreme nuclear fallout. This is actually not true, although they would survive far longer than humans. For cockroaches to survive and continue to multiply they only need three basic components: food, water, and shelter. Unfortunately, all of these can be found in your home, and you may even be contributing to their proliferation. To get rid of them, as well as to ensure they will know they are not welcome in your home, you must help to ensure your home does not provide these three things for them.
Do Not Feed Cockroaches
Many species of cockroaches are able to survive a month or more without food, and they can find food in the most unusual places. Many of them can even make a meal off of the glue on packing boxes, grocery bags, or even the back of postage stamps. While you may not be able to eliminate all of these food sources, you can help to eliminate the crumbs, food spills, and garbage they can create a buffet off of.
- Do not eat all over the house. Although you may be able to see the small crumbs you are dropping in and around your recliner, the roaches will be able to see them.
- Sweep, or vacuum your dining room and kitchen nightly. This will help to clean up the crumbs, and this will make sure the roaches do not have anything to snack on when they come out at night.
- Make sure your counters, and kitchen cabinets are wiped clean. Take extra care in and around your microwave, toaster, indoor grills, and other appliances which accumulate small bits of food.
- Never leave dirty dishes in your sink.
- Empty your trash cans into a container outside of your home before you go to bed.
- Clean and dry your pet food containers, and fill them with fresh food and water the next morning.
Do Not Give Cockroaches Anything to Drink
Roaches enjoy an environment that is humid and damp. Take steps to reduce the amount of humidity in your home. Not only will this make the roaches more uncomfortable, it will increase the comfort level of your family. Although you may not be able to completely remove any sources of water, there are some steps you can take.
- Make sure you are drying your dishes and putting them away. Even the small droplets of water, that often cling to a dish is enough for a roach to drink.
- Make sure you fix all your leaky pipes. Not only will this eliminate a source of water for the roaches, but it will also eliminate a source of mold and mildew in your home.
- Wipe down your sinks, bathtubs, and showers prior to going to bed. Make sure you are discarding the towels you use to wipe down your surfaces into the washer, or into the trash.
Do Not Give Cockroaches a Place to Stay
Cleaning up outside brush and leaf piles, can help to eliminate some of the places roaches may dwell at in the great outdoors. Make sure you keep your yard clean, and clean up any debris, which may be attracting this type of pest.
Fix any cracks and crevices you may see around your windows and doors. Not only will this keep cockroaches, and other bugs from entering your premises, it will save you money by making your home more energy efficient.
Once you have an infestation of roaches, call local pest control companies like Albemarle Termite & Pest Control to get rid of them. Once the company have treated your home, and you take the steps above to keep them from returning, hopefully you will be able to kiss them goodbye for good.