The thought of a roach infestation is always scary. As a homeowner, you will never want to spot cockroaches whenever you flick on the kitchen light at night. The presence of roaches can indicate poor sanitation, the sight of these pests can be embarrassing if you have guests around. Plus, roaches carry different bacteria that can contaminate surfaces, food, and kitchen utensils, resulting in food poisoning and other health issues. No matter the reason why you don’t want roaches in your house, Saela Pest professionals can help keep your home roach-free and eliminate an active roach infestation. 

How to Know if Cockroaches Have Infested Your Home

Cockroaches are most active at night. They prefer to be in dark, humid environments. As they look for dark, hard-to-reach areas to breed, noticing an infestation can be challenging. As a result, you may not discover you have a roach infestation until a huge population has been established. Thus, when you spot roaches during the day, this indicates a few more of them are hiding nearby and only come out at night when you are already asleep. 

Another indication of a roach infestation is seeing their droppings, which look like coffee grounds. Pay attention to droppings in the pantry or kitchen cabinets. These droppings are often accompanied by a strong, musty odor. In addition, you should check the kitchen, basement, laundry room, and bathroom for other signs of infestation. 

Handling a Roach Infestation

There are steps you can take to end your roach issue. If there are only a few roaches to deal with, home remedies and preventative measures may do the trick. But if you are dealing with a full-blown infestation, it is best to have a pest control expert handle it for you. Here are the things you can do if you have a roach issue in your house:

• Get rid of everything that attracts roaches. Sometimes, roaches can invade a clean space; however, they usually infest places with unhygienic conditions. To prevent them from being attracted to your house, dispose of the garbage immediately and keep your floors free of food scraps and spills. Also, do not leave dirty dishes in the sink. Then, tight up leaking pipes as cockroaches love moist environments. 
• Use roach deterrents. You can find a lot of cockroach deterrents in stores. These include sticky traps, toxic gel baits, insecticides, and boric acid powder. Before you apply baits, make sure you know where to put them properly. But roaches tend to move quickly, so taking them down with a paper roll or insecticide may not be effective. 
• Hire a pest control expert. If you have a serious roach infestation or you want to prevent an infestation from happening, hire a pest control expert. When everything fails, you must trust the experts to assess the underlying cause of the roach issue and create the best control strategy. 

The use of roach traps alone usually does not work since they only allow you to monitor roach activity. Professional roach control together with good housekeeping practices helps protect your house against a roach infestation.