A favorite game for many children is Hide and Seek. If you’ve played the game, you know the goal was to hide so no one could find you. However, if you hid too well, the game became boring as you waited for someone to discover you. After waiting, you may have decided to spice up the game by scaring the person looking for you nearby. As they search in the room, you reach out from underneath the bed and grab them on the ankle, making them jump out of fear. While you may have lost the game, it was worth it as you heard your opponent scream in terror. 

It can be fun to scare a friend in a friendly game, but it is not fun when you get frightened, especially if it is by a cockroach! These disgusting insects send our adrenal system into high gear when we see them scurry across the floor as we groggily stumble into the bathroom in the middle of the night. 

If cockroaches are frightening you as they run out of the kitchen drawers or from underneath the couch, you need the Concord pest control team from Peeler Environmental. We have removed cockroaches and provided peace of mind to Concord homeowners for over 50 years. Because of our commitment to quality pest control, customer service, and environmental responsibility, the National Pest Management Association designated our locally owned and operated company as a QualityPro firm, an honor awarded to only a few pest control companies. With over 200 years of combined pest control experience, our technicians know how to resolve cockroach issues for homeowners. In this article, we will answer frequently asked questions and give practical tips so you can prevail over cockroaches. 

Types Of Cockroaches That Commonly Invade Homes

Cockroaches are part of the Insecta class in the animal kingdom. Like all insects, cockroaches have three pairs of jointed legs, wings, compound eyes, two antennae, a three-segmented body consisting of a head, thorax, and abdomen, and an exterior shell known as an exoskeleton. 

Since cockroaches are active at night while you sleep, one would assume their compound eyes give them excellent vision, but what directs them as they move through houses are their two long, full-body-length antennas. Another false assumption is that cockroaches fly because they have wings; however, most do not. Since we know basic cockroach anatomy, let us look at the four types of cockroaches in Concord homes: German, American, brown-banded, and oriental. 

The most common cockroach in Concord homes is the German cockroach. All female cockroaches produce purse-like egg capsules that contain individual eggs, but no cockroach species has as many eggs as a German cockroach in each capsule. When a female German cockroach produces an egg capsule, 48 offspring will potentially emerge! If you do the math, you can see how quickly the German cockroach population can grow! They can produce upwards of 10,000 offspring and over six generations annually!

German cockroaches have a light-brown 1/2 to 5/8-inch oval body with two dark parallel strips on their backs behind their head. Like all insects, German cockroaches have wings but prefer to run and rarely fly. Most cockroaches prefer warm, moist environments, and German cockroaches are no exception. You will find these creatures in cracks as small as 3/8 of an inch near food and/or water sources in lower kitchen and bathroom cabinets, underneath appliances, and in closets and laundry rooms. 

The German cockroach may be the most common in Concord homes, but the American cockroach is the largest species to invade houses. These bugs have an oval, reddish-brown, 1 1/4 to 2 1/8-inch body, and like the German cockroaches, they have a distinguishing mark behind their heads. However, in their case, the print resembles a yellowish figure-eight-like pattern. Like German cockroaches, American cockroaches also prefer to run, but will use their wings to fly short distances. Although American cockroaches prefer to live outdoors, they will migrate into homes when temperatures fall below 70℉ for an extended period. Once inside a house, they migrate to the same areas German cockroaches inhabit.

Of the four cockroach species in Concord homes, the one that stands out is the oriental cockroach. While the others have a brownish body, the one-inch oval body of an oriental cockroach is jet-black and shiny. American and German cockroaches can both fly (although they prefer to run); oriental cockroaches cannot fly. Female oriental cockroaches don't have wings but only have wing pads. Like the American cockroaches, oriental cockroaches prefer to live outdoors but will invade homes if the summer is hot and dry. Unlike their German and American counterparts, oriental cockroaches prefer the cool, damp spaces of crawlspaces and basements. When they enter the living spaces of a house, they hang around service ducts, toilets, sinks, and pipes. 

You will find German, American, and oriental cockroaches at the ground level, but you need to look up to see a brown-banded cockroach in your home. As their name suggests, these cockroaches have a 1/2-inch oval brown body with a band across their wings. The females have shorter wings than the males and cannot fly, but the males have longer wings that they use to fly when disturbed. This species prefers to live in drier locations where temperatures exceed 80℉; you will find brown-banded cockroaches in the upper level of kitchen and bathroom cabinets and along ceilings. 

No matter the species, if you find a cockroach in your house, call Peeler Environmental to remove the bugs from your Concord home.

Why A Cockroach Infestation In The Home Is A Major Health Risk

People disdain cockroaches because they have dirty habits. Fermented, rotting food laden with bacteria, viruses, and parasitic worms attracts cockroaches. As the insects crawl over sewage, animal feces, and decaying organic matter, the spines on their cockroach legs pick up the disease-causing organisms. When the bugs travel through Concord houses, the pathogens can contaminate countertops, drawers, cabinets, food storage shelves, exposed foods, and other surfaces. Later, when unsuspecting humans eat from those surfaces or use utensils stored in those areas, they unwittingly consume the infectious organisms. Salmonellosis, E.coli infections, typhoid fever, cholera, and dysentery are illnesses from bacterial infections spread by cockroaches. 

Not only do cockroaches crawl over these filthy areas attracting harmful organisms, but they eat the rotting organic material and consume the pathogens. As the insects move through a home, they defecate and deposit their feces, polluting surfaces and exposed foods. German, brown-banded, and oriental cockroaches produce pepper-like droppings resembling coffee grounds, and American cockroaches create rice grain-sized ridged droppings with blunt ends. The location and size of the droppings are other hints regarding the cockroach species in your house. Droppings on the top of cabinetry are likely from brown-banded cockroaches, whereas droppings in lower areas are from the other three species. If the fecal matter is blunt, ridged, and the size of a rice grain, then you are likely dealing with American cockroaches, but if it is like coffee grounds, the culprit is German or oriental cockroaches.

Although most people associate diseases with cockroaches due to their foraging habits, most do not link allergic and asthmatic issues with these pests. However, the National Pest Management Association estimates that 63% or more homes contain cockroach allergens. A protein in the cockroach body and its droppings cause throat and nose irritation for many people. Cockroach proteins also trigger individuals with asthma, causing shortness of breath and other breathing difficulties. 

Peeler Environmental provides cockroach pest control in Concord to protect homeowners from disease and allergens spread by cockroaches. 

Five Simple Yet Effective Cockroach Prevention Tips

You do not have to live with cockroaches! Once a service professional from Peeler Environmental removes the cockroaches from your Concord home, applying these five tips will deter a future infestation. 

  1. Seal cracks leading into the house.
  2. Install door sweeps on the exterior doors.
  3. Place screens over the crawlspace and attic vents.
  4. Repair holes in window and door screens.
  5. Remove animal feces, garbage, and rotting fruits from the property.

Maintaining a clean and dry property will discourage cockroaches from staying in your yard, so their next stop won't be your house. Peeler Environmental is your local pest control for roaches.

The Most Effective Cockroach Control For Concord Homeowners

Stopping a cockroach infestation is not as easy as purchasing a do-it-yourself store-bought product. While these products give some satisfaction because they kill a few cockroaches, they do not destroy the nests or create long-lasting barriers. Peeler Environmental has the tools, experience, and knowledge to end a cockroach invasion. 

Our service professionals know how to get rid of cockroaches in Concord. Our technician will thoroughly inspect your home to determine the cockroach species, hot spots, attractions, and entry points. He or she will create a strategic plan using environmentally friendly products that meet the highest safety standards to destroy cockroaches and their nests in your home. Please feel free to contact us today to learn more and get started.