Hide and Go Seek, Cockroach Style

While spiders can terrify some people, cockroaches illicit a more basic survival response in humans – like scream, shutter, conquer and destroy. However, as most Florida homeowners know, it’s just not that easy to get rid of these persistent, disease-spreading pests. Why? Well, for starters . . .

• Resilient, cockroaches have existed on this planet for some 280 million years
• 5,000 different cockroach species are known to exist
• Cockroaches can run up to three miles per hour
• Cockroaches can survive without food or water for months
• Adaptability, cockroaches can survive higher and lower temps than most other insects
• Versatile, cockroaches can adapt to inhospitable environments

Once established in a home, cockroaches can prove difficult to eradicate

The first logical step in eliminating cockroaches from your home focuses on the places cockroaches are most likely to call your home their home. Ever wonder where these cockroaches come from when they suddenly appear in your house? Check these places.

Kitchens

In particular, kitchen appliances, such as your microwave, your fridge, and your oven, along with toasters, coffee makers and other countertop appliances as they can attract cockroaches. And why not? What’s not to like? Warmth, moisture and a great place to grab a bite of leftover food debris make your kitchen appliances highly sought after in cockroach real estate preferences. However, other places in your kitchen will work just as well.

Cabinets

With the ability to flatten themselves and slide through the tiniest crevices, cockroaches can find spilled food and crumbs in your kitchen cabinets, no problem. Dark, undisturbed cupboards, such as a dried-good pantry offer cockroach retreats from the hustle and bustle of the more active areas of your kitchen. After all, food and moisture aren’t that far away anywhere in kitchens. How about the sink? Food scraps left on dishes and lingering in sinks make excellent finds, along with a water source, as well. You and your family snacking anywhere can be a plus for cockroaches.

Electronics

Even your laptop, desktop computer or your gaming console can provide cozy places for cockroaches to nest. Snacking at your laptop attracts cockroaches who can crawl between the keys to find the treats you leave for them. You may as well hang a sign that says, “Free food and lodging, just ahead.” Currently, a new trend involves dead roaches infesting gaming consoles. Apparently, some video game repair shops are charging a “roach fee” when repairing consoles that malfunction due to fried, dead cockroaches in the system. If that’s not bad enough, fried cockroaches can mean a pricey power supply replacement for your gaming console.

Home Furnishings

Sofas, couches and other upholstered furniture you tend to sit on when playing games, streaming movies and snacking, make ideal places for cockroaches to set up housekeeping and multiply. With plenty of food between the cushions near warm, dark crevices, cockroaches can lay eggs and concentrate on multiplying. Other crevices and cracks in your home’s walls can also provide nesting and egg-laying spaces for cockroaches.

Pipes and plumbing

Situated in dark, out-of-the-way places such as under sinks and in basements, pipes and faucets are cockroach gold. Cracks and leaks around your plumbing leading outdoors? Bingo! Superb cockroach habitat and hideout near water and warmth.

 Ceilings

Because they can, given their ability to hang upside down on ceilings and scurry off when approached by humans, cockroaches can often be found chilling on ceilings in dark areas of your home. Cracks and crevices in your foundation can offer cockroaches plenty of escape routes when the lights come on and they can just drop and head towards the exits.

Debris and clutter