Discovering cockroaches in your house can be devastating. A roach issue must be handled right away to prevent future health problems. Cockroaches spread diseases such as dysentery, cholera, leprosy, and salmonella. Their saliva carries allergies that can cause severe allergic reactions in sensitive individuals. When the presence of cockroaches is ignored, this can get out of hand in no time. Roaches tend to reproduce quickly in big numbers. Thus, you want to get rid of your pests as soon as possible when you spot even a few of them.
What Draws Roaches to Your House
As with a lot of pests, roaches are drawn to the places that provide food and shelter. If these essentials are available in your house, roaches will invade it. To ensure your house does not attract roaches, ensure the following is not available:
- Food scraps and crumbs. Roaches consume human food, book bindings, and cardboard. But they are especially drawn to food scraps and crumbs. To ensure your house does not attract these pests, ensure it’s free of discarded food.
- Dirty dishes. Usually, dirty dishes contain leftovers from food and roaches can be drawn to them. These pests are particularly attracted to spoiling or decaying food.
- Uncovered garbage cans. The decaying food in garbage cans can attract roaches. While these pests are attracted to the food in trash cans, they can also creep into uncovered cans that have glue products, dandruff, hair, dust, and drywall.
- Moisture or damp areas. A lot of cockroach species thrive in damp, moist environments. This is the reason they are usually found in the bathroom, crawlspaces, kitchen, and laundry room. To prevent roaches from gathering in a damp or moist area in your house, address moisture issues right away.
How Roaches Enter Your House
Roches have a knack for finding tiny openings to sneak into your house. Below are their secret routes:
- Cracks and crevices. Roaches can easily compress their bodies, so they can fit through tiny gaps. Any crack in the foundation of your house, around doors and windows, and in walls can serve as ideal entry points for cockroaches.
- Vents and drains. The drain pipes and ventilation systems in your house, particularly in the kitchen and bathroom, can become highways for a roach infestation. Usually, roaches navigate through sewer systems, and then access homes through drains.
- Groceries and packages. Roaches can be unintentionally brought home through packages and groceries. They can transition from warehouses or stores to your living space.
- Gaps under doors. The space between your back or front door or the garage door can be enough for roaches to crawl through. You can prevent this from happening by installing door sweeps or thresholds.
Keeping Roaches at Bay
To prevent roaches from invading your house, keep it clean and tidy. Clean up spills immediately and ensure no crumbs are on the floor. Also, keep the trash cans covered. A clean house is less likely to be infested by roaches as it does not offer a food source to them.
