How To Identify And Get Rid Of Cockroaches In Your Marietta Home

It is a startling discovery when you see a cockroach in your home. You know that roaches are dirty insects—even if you don't know exactly how dirty. But often, people don't realize they have a cockroach infestation for months or even years after roaches have entered their home. Roaches are nocturnal insects that prefer secluded areas and hide in dark voids and tight spaces. Experts say that seeing one cockroach is a warning sign that hidden within the walls are thousands of cockroaches. We hope you don't wait to see roaches in your home. If you find a cockroach in your house, it will be too late to protect yourself from the health and property risks associated with these insects. Join us as we look at how to detect roaches, why you should make an effort to detect them, and how professional cockroach pest control in Marietta works. We'll also give you five sweet tips for keeping cockroaches out naturally. Are you ready? Great! Let's get into it.

How To Identify The Cockroaches In Your Home

One of the pillars of cockroach control is cockroach identification. You need to know what kind of roaches infest homes in Marietta to know what to expect from them, and you need to know what cockroaches look like in all stages of development if you want to know for sure that roaches are the pests infesting your home.

In Marietta, we have several pest roaches. Some cockroach species are worse than others. These four kinds of roaches demonstrate an essential difference between the species. 

1. Wood Roaches: Unlike the other pest roaches listed below, these are diurnal roaches. If they get into your home, you'll see them crawling around during the day. They have no aversion to the light. The good news is that they don't prefer to be inside your home. Wood roaches subsist on decaying leaves, timber, and animals. You won't have much trouble with this species if you don't have suitable food sources inside your home.
2. Oriental Cockroaches: These are exceedingly dirty roaches that lay their eggs in rotting food matter if they can. They have a hard time living in homes because they are far too clean. They are also far too dry.
3. American Cockroaches: These insects, commonly called palmetto bugs, get underneath leaf and palm litter. They do this to stay hydrated. While they can infest your home permanently, it is more likely that they will go in and out. 
4. German Cockroaches: These are the worst, not just in terms of cockroach pests, but as pests in general. German cockroaches are inclined to live with humans. Inside your home, they will feed on dirty things and move about in unsanitary environments.  

If you've seen one of these roaches in your home, you can move on to the next section. If you haven't, we recommend performing an inspection. Inspect dark areas, tight spaces, and secluded zones within your home. Look for tiny black feces, shed skins, oothecae (cockroach egg pouches), and cockroach activity.

When you search for signs of a cockroach infestation, you might see roaches during your inspection and not realize it. You likely know what a cockroach looks like as an adult. They are oval-shaped and have spines on their legs. Cockroach nymphs are much smaller and you may not be able to see these two features easily. A German cockroach is so tiny that it can fit through the holes of a wall outlet. So, how do you tell a cockroach nymph from other insects?

Antennae: The antenna of a cockroach nymph are noticeably long and shoot out from the top of the head.

Speed: A cockroach nymph can run as fast as an adult roach. It is probably a roach if you see a tiny insect run along the floor, wall, or ceiling at a break-neck pace.

When you find cockroaches, what should you do? Should you purchase cockroach control products and start going after the roaches in your home? There are a few things you should know before you do this.