Detecting a cockroach infestation as early as possible is critical to winning the war against these nasty invaders. The longer you let them have their way the harder and more expensive it will be to get to rid of them. To get them asap, keep an eye out for these five signs indicating you have a serious problem.
1. Fecal droppings
Finding their feces is a sure sign you’ve got a problem. Smaller roaches will leave behind droppings that are similar in size and appearance to ground coffee or black pepper. Larger roaches will leave larger droppings. Trying to determine exactly if you’re really dealing with roach droppings, use multiple monitor glue traps to see if you can catch a few roaches for absolute confirmation.
The more fecal droppings you find, the higher the number of roaches you are dealing with. Areas in your home with lots of feces are clear indicators of high traffic areas for roaches. They come through that area often to scavenge for food and water. Take note of these areas as they are critical areas to target when you try kill them off.
2. Egg casings
Cockroaches produce egg casings, which actually holds multiple eggs inside it. These casings are called oothecae. Whether you find the unhatched eggs, or just the casings left behind you can be certain that finding even one means you have roaches. Of the 3 out of 4 common roaches in the US, each ootheca can hold between 10-20 eggs inside. The German cockroach ootheca can hold 50 eggs inside.
You can identify them visually from their long rounded shape and their brownish color. Some roaches species will carry their eggs with them until they hatch. While others will leave them hidden in a safe place.
If you find any signs of roach eggs, you need to take steps immediately to stop the eggs from hatching. The only way to do that is to use Insect Growth Regulators. Gentrol is the best at stopping these eggs from hatching, as well as stopping juvenile roaches from being able to make more eggs.
3. Odor
While a single cockroach may appear to give off little to no odor, a large number of them combined will definitely get your attention. Once you are able to smell roaches, you already have a huge infestation. What does cockroach smell like? Most experts and victims agree that the smell can be described as oily and musky.
If you’re unfortunate enough to have a roach problem of this magnitude, don’t mess around. Either you call in an exterminator, or you load up on as much Advion Roach Bait as possible. Get a few packs because you will be needing them. Advion has the highest chance of being able to attack the entire population.
4. Dead roaches
Cockroaches are nocturnal, so seeing them during the day may be a rare sighting (unless you have a serious problem, but you can read more about that later). To catch them during the night, when they are most active, you need to use cockroach traps. But the dead ones can no longer run and hide during the day, so you’ll see dead roaches if you have a large number of them. Check under your sinks, in your cabinets, under your stove and around your fridge. These are common areas for them to hide, so it isn’t uncommon to find a few dead ones around them.
5. Roaches during the day
The biggest sign that you have a very serious cockroach infestation is seeing them run around during the day. As stated above, these intruders are nocturnal. They typically only come out to scavenge for food and water during the night when you are usually asleep. They only come out when their numbers are so great that some of them gets pushed out from their nests.
The sooner you detect them and take steps to kill them, the better and cheaper it will be. Start treatment upon first detection of sign number 1, fecal droppings and don’t wait until you get to 3, 4 or 5. By number 5, it’s already too late and even a professional exterminator may not be able to kill all of them in just a couple of expensive visits. It’s imperative that you keep an eye out for these signs of a cockroach infestation.