Not only can spotting a roach in your home be an unsettling sight, but it may even be a sign of an underlying infestation.

If not properly eliminated from your home, roaches are a persistent pest that can easily multiply when living in the right environment. Regardless of how many times you’ve cleaned your home, you just can’t seem to get rid of them.

How should you go about getting rid of roaches in your home (and how do you prevent them)?

What Are the Signs of a Cockroach Problem?

Cockroaches are nocturnal pests, meaning that you most likely see signs of an infestation during the day. During the day, cockroaches will hide away in exposed cracks or any other secure hiding places that your home may provide.

The good news is that while you may not spot a live roach during the daytime, you can find other signs of an infestation when the sun is up. These signs include:

• Roach droppings (this looks like spilled grounds of coffee)
• Bodies of dead roaches
• Egg casings that have an oval shape

Why Are There Roaches in My Clean Home?

Roaches aren’t picky visitors when it comes to finding a sustainable home for them to survive and reproduce in. There are only three main things that roaches need to thrive in an environment:

• Water
• Food
• A warm shelter

It’s a common misconception that cockroaches only live in homes that are filthy, and while an unclean home do attract roaches, cockroaches can also infest clean homes!

While these pests are unsightly, they are highly adaptable and can easily survive in environments that even offer the smallest amounts of water (even just droplets) and food.

Even if your home is immaculately clean are typically on the milder side and can be eliminated by making sure that you’re cleaning your home on a more consistent basis. In addition, make sure that you seal up any cracks in the walls that roaches can slip through so that they aren’t able to hide when you’re cleaning or setting traps!

But, what’s inviting cockroaches into your home? Let’s delve into the seven reasons you may be finding roaches in your home!

1. A Collection of Trash

A great way to make sure that roaches don’t continue to breed in your home is to remove all exposed trash from your home. Cockroaches love to breed on newspapers and cardboard boxes.

Leaving trash bags out in your garage or not emptying your trash cans out frequently enough will also encourage an infestation. Your collection of garbage provides cockroaches with easy access to food, water, and a dark place to hide.

Make sure that you’re taking your trash out on a consistent basis, that you’re not leaving trash lying around your home, and that you’re not leaving newspaper or cardboard boxes!

2. Exposed Food

It doesn’t matter if you’re vegan, carnivore, or a lover of all carbs, cockroaches aren’t fussy eaters. Taking the steps to make sure that you’re not leaving food out on your counters and making sure that open food in your cabinets are properly stored.

Keep in mind that storing food in cardboard boxes won’t keep roaches away. Roaches are attracted to cardboard, which is why we recommend storing your food in plastic sealed containers.

Also, make sure that you’re cleaning up any leftover crumbs off of your dining room table and kitchen counters. Making sure that you’re washing your dishes when you’re done using them and not leaving them in the sink will make it harder for roaches to thrive and survive in your home.

Even if you’re not leaving human food for cockroaches to feast on, dog and cat food can also encourage a cockroach infestation. An easy way to discourage cockroaches from mooching off of your dog or cat food or treats, try using a food dispenser and keeping your pet treats in a sealed plastic container!

3. Open Cracks in Walls

Cockroaches are surprisingly good at hide-and-seek. Any sort of open cracks, open spaces, or cracks in piping or tiles, and cockroaches will find a way to make it their home.

Take time to look around your kitchen, basement, and bathroom. You can use caulk to fill in any gaps around sinks, showers, and bathtubs. Installing door sweeps can help to prevent roaches from just walking into your home, but can also prevent roaches from living under doors.

Finding ways to seal any gaps around windows, along your roof, attic, foundation, and any holes caused by piping used for gas, plumbing, and electric will help to remove areas for roaches to comfortably live!

4. Water

Bugs of all types thrive off of moisture, especially cockroaches. If you’re having problems with a leak (even if it’s a small one), you’re increasing your chances of attracting roaches.

Make sure that you’re regularly checking your fridge, dishwasher, shower, bath, sinks, faucets, and any other plumbing to ensure that nothing is leaking!

Keeping an eye out for leaks isn’t the only thing that you should be cautious of. Empty out your pet’s bowl of water when they’re finished drinking for the night will make sure that roaches don’t have easy access to water.

Taking time to put out the effort to keep your home as dry as you possibly can will help to quickly kill off your roach population; cockroaches can only live up to two weeks without water!

5. Bringing Other Roaches into Your Home

Roaches attract roaches. Bringing roaches into your home unknowingly can increase your chances of an infestation.

When bringing outside materials, such as cardboard, newspapers, or things that roaches can easily hide away in, make sure that you’re double-checking for roaches. If you find roaches in something that you’re about to bring into your home- don’t.

It’s easier to prevent roaches in your home by finding a replacement object to bring in (for example, a new newspaper) than it is to fight a roach infestation!

Enjoy a Pest-Free Home!

Still struggling to remove roaches from your home for good?

Contact us today to set up an appointment and we’ll be more than happy to help eliminate your roach problem!