Oriental Roach expelling egg case http://www.dfwpest.com/roaches.htm
American Roach http://www.dfwpest.com/roaches.htm
Many buildings are, or become infested with cockroaches. Roaches are the most common pest insects found in food preparation areas. Several common species of roaches occur in residences. The most common is the German cockroach, Blatella germanica (Fig. 1). Others fairly frequently seen are Oriental roaches (Fig. 2) and American roaches (Fig. 3).
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| Figure 1: ~0.5 in. long German Roach http://www.bugsaway.com/ germanroach.htm | Figure 2: ~1.0 in.
long Oriental Roach expelling egg case http://www.dfwpest.com/roaches.htm |
Figure 3: ~1.5 in.
long American Roach http://www.dfwpest.com/roaches.htm |
The German roach is about half an inch long and light brown. It has two dark stripes on its back, behind the head. Roaches are generally found in warm, moist environments where there is a food source. They prefer dark, tight places such as cracks or crevices. Outdoors they hide in, and around garbage receptacles. Indoors they occur near furnaces, heat ducts, electrical outlets, in basements, and elsewhere. They are very mobile, capable of traveling up elevator shafts, drains, and walking on ceilings.
However, roaches are “shy.” They will only go out of their hiding places into the light if there is not sufficient food. If roaches are seen during the day, there is most likely a large population infesting the building.
If you see roaches in your apartment, the whole building is most likely infested. Roaches consume human food, but are not fussy. Small scraps of garbage and even crumbs will sustain large roach populations. If food is left out, uncovered, they will contaminate it with their saliva and feces. They can harbor certain organisms causing disease in humans, but they have not been proven to transmit any pathogen to a human. The Center for Disease Control has taken cockroaches off their list of public-health pests. However, roaches cause serious allergies that affect many people.
If you treat your apartment for roaches, but your neighbor in the building fails to control them, the roach population will persist. You can lower the population in your apartment, but there will most likely always be roaches in the building. By monitoring when and where you see cockroaches, you can decide how severe a problem there is in an area.
There are many ways to treat for roaches. The first steps should be eliminating or protecting ALL foodstuffs that may attract roaches. After ALL food and trash has been placed in tightly sealed containers that prevent roaches from getting in, the area of infestation should be cleaned; commercial cleaners for bathrooms and kitchens are adequate. Make sure counters and cabinets are free of any remnants of food by wiping them down thoroughly. Next, mop floors, taking notice of any cracks or crevices that roaches might hide in or gain entrance to indoors. Then, caulk cracks and crevices. This is very important in keeping roaches out of the building to limit population numbers. Monitor how many cockroaches you see for a period of time. The number should decrease, just by doing these few things.
If there still is a problem, or you feel uncomfortable with the number of cockroaches still visible you may want to get a cockroach insecticide or contact your local pest control applicator. There are insecticidal dusts, bait stations, and biological controls to reduce cockroach numbers. Some insecticidal dusts include boric acid, diatomaceous earth, and silica aerogel. Boric acid dust can be sprinkled around and puffed into cracks. When roaches crawl through it then groom them, it poisons them. Boric acid is a general poison; so keep it away from pets and children. Diatomaceous earth or silica aerogel placed around cracks and crevices absorbs the waxy outer layer on insect cuticle (skin). This causes death through dehydration after the roach picks up the particles by contact. Bait stations usually have some kind of attractant and a sticky substance to physically entrap, or chemical insecticides to kill. Bait station examples include sticky traps, and other bait stations made by D-Con or Raid. Some use insecticidal growth regulators such as fenoxycarb and hydroprene that mimic natural hormones specific for arthropods like insects. These compounds inhibit molting, metamorphosis or prevent maturation of roaches. Roaches die as sterile adults.
If you are interested in a nonchemical, biological control for German roaches, BioLogic Company has a unique bait station. In it German roach pheromone (a perfume for roaches) lures roaches into the station where beneficial nematodes kill the roaches. The name of the product is BioRoach, but it is only effective on German roaches.
Text copyright ©2003 by Albert Pye, BioLogic Company http://www.biologicco.com/
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