The cockroaches you’ll find in Saratoga County are the typical cockroaches you will find in many states throughout the US. They include the German cockroach, the American cockroach, and Oriental cockroaches. All of these cockroaches can very quickly infest your home and present problems. These three cockroaches are known to carry and transmit a variety of viruses and disease. Identifying and eliminating a cockroach infestations in your Saratoga County home is important to the safety of your family.
All cockroaches, like many other pests, seek out food, shelter, and water. Cockroaches are a social bunch, so you are not likely to have just a few of them hanging around your Saratoga home. They emit pheromones that leave chemical odors in their feces and on their bodies. The pheromones are a way cockroaches communicate, letting others know there is food and shelter nearby. The pheromone will encourage roaches to form clusters in areas that provide harborage. Since cockroaches reproduce quickly, it doesn’t take long for the population to multiply in your home or business.
How Do Cockroaches Enter a Saratoga County Home?
The American cockroach is often an outdoor cockroach, preferring to live in moist areas where there is shade. They can be found in trees, around tree stumps, and under rocks. Just because they mostly found outside, that doesn’t mean they won’t go into your home if conditions are right. Oriental cockroaches are more often found in the home, particularly in low-level areas like damp basements. However, they will often migrate into other parts of the home. German cockroaches are frequently found in homes, carried from other areas in used furniture, appliances, and cardboard boxes.
Roaches of any kind can enter your home through just about any available opening. As small as they are, they can fit through openings that are hard to detect. Once they are inside your home, they are free to contaminate your food and invade your home, settling in cracks and crevices, behind walls, and in your furniture. They bring a host of bacteria and disease with them, including:
- Salmonella
- Staphylococcus
- Streptococcus
- Polio Virus
In fact, cockroaches have been linked to at least 33 different kinds of bacteria, including gastroenteritis, dysentery, E. coli, and cholera. Cockroaches have also been linked to the spread of at least six parasitic worms as well as other human pathogens. The spines, legs, and bodies accumulate germs and bacteria when they rummage around in trash, sewers, and decaying matter. Cockroaches transfer these germs and bacteria through saliva, fecal droppings, urine, and saliva, all of which contain allergen proteins known to trigger allergies. Children are particularly susceptible to this health issue.
How to Prevent Cockroaches from getting into Your Saratoga Home
- While you can’t guarantee you will be able to keep cockroaches out of your home, there are some things you can do to reduce the risk of cockroaches.
- Keep your house clean. You don’t have to have a dirty home to get cockroaches, but the cleaner your home is and the less cluttered it is, the less there is to attract cockroaches. This includes keeping food crumbs cleaned off the counters and floor.
- Fix leaky pipes. Cockroaches need food, water, and shelter. Don’t allow water to pool in basement or shower areas, or anywhere else in the home.
- Check any used furniture, appliances, or boxes you bring into your home. German cockroaches hitch rides from other locations in these items.
- Seal openings around the foundation of the home, make sure screens are not torn, and seal gaps around doors and windows.
- Keep food sealed and stored properly.
- Pick up pet food bowls at night.
- Keep outside trash cans away from the home and use tight-fitting lids.
If you discover you have a cockroach infestation, it’s time to let the professionals at Old School Pest Control help you regain control of your home. We have proven methods and products that will rid your Saratoga home of cockroaches. Call us today and let us inspect your home. We’ll offer the best solution to your cockroach problem today. Don’t risk the health of your family or the integrity of your business.