Even if you are not at all interested in entomology (the science of insects), everyone, without exception, has heard about cockroaches. And there is absolutely no guarantee that one fine, or rather not at all wonderful, day you will not find this “cute” creature in your kitchen or bathroom.
The prospect of such a neighborhood will clearly not please anyone. The presence of cockroaches in the house significantly worsens the sanitary and hygienic situation, which in turn creates the risk of infectious diseases. And in principle, the sight of cockroaches crawling on a plate with leftover food evokes a feeling of disgust and disgust.
It has long been known that forewarned means forearmed, and knowledge of the fundamentally important features of the existence of these insects allows us to successfully resist their invasion and not give these pests a single chance to survive and reproduce.
Signs of cockroaches in the house
For a number of reasons, residents of our country have to deal with such types of cockroaches as red (Prusak) and, somewhat less often, black. Initially, when a house or apartment is infested with these insects, when the population size is still small, it is not always possible to detect them. Cockroaches are predominantly nocturnal; they are quite cautious and shy.
To find out if there are cockroaches in your apartment, you can follow both a simple and one hundred percent correct solution: go into the kitchen or toilet at night and suddenly turn on the light. It is possible that the picture you see will not please you at all. Crowds of insects scurrying back and forth are not a sight for the faint of heart.
Another sign of the appearance of uninvited guests in the house, claiming to become full-fledged owners, is the appearance of black grains, similar to poppy seeds, in kitchen cabinets, on the refrigerator and other places.
Cockroach in the apartment
This is nothing more than the excrement of your new neighbors. You may also find cockroach larvae, eggs, and remains of the chitinous layer (outer cover) of insects. A characteristic unpleasant odor appears. It is necessary to act in the current situation immediately and in the most decisive manner.
What do they eat?
Housewives who keep their apartments perfectly clean do not understand why the number of pests is constantly increasing. The main reason is that insects are not picky eaters. Therefore, they eat not only organic remains and food. Their diet includes plants and books, soap and leather goods.
Scientists note that domestic species quickly adapt. They do not require special nutrition. If they do not detect organic remains at night, they gnaw on the epidermis of a sleeping person.
If you are wondering whether a domestic cockroach can get into the ear, then otolaryngologists have noted such cases. Pests enter the auricle in search of shelter.
The only thing insects cannot do without is water. If you limit access to liquid, the fight against them will be more successful.
Ways of penetration of cockroaches into a home
Absolutely no one is safe from cockroaches entering a person’s home, especially if it is located in an apartment building, where there is also a garbage chute. The paths of cockroaches pass through ventilation passages, cracks in partitions and many other, almost microscopic holes.
Sometimes a person brings them with him in a suitcase from a tourist trip or simply brings them in a shopping bag from the nearest supermarket. This is often enough for a whole colony of cockroaches to settle in the apartment within a month or a month and a half, taking over more and more spaces every day.
Household appliances, especially used ones: irons, microwaves, refrigerators, can be an excellent means of moving a cockroach family to a new apartment.
Even the World Wide Web has contributed to the cockroach migration and emigration process. By placing an order via the Internet, you can, with a certain degree of probability, receive a couple of red or black cockroaches along with the purchased product as a dubious bonus.
Secluded places
Above we talked about the main places where you can check for a cockroach nest.
But if you want to go further and check even inaccessible places, you can use special devices, such as a steam generator with a narrow nozzle. We simply place the tube in this place, turn on the device and wait for the result. Even if there is someone there, he will definitely show up. At the same time, we advise you to immediately arm yourself with weapons to kill cockroaches!
Where do cockroaches usually live?
In terms of household amenities, cockroaches are clearly unpretentious. Their home can be any secluded place in the house - a crack, a gap, the space under the sink, behind the refrigerator, inside built-in furniture and a microwave oven, baseboards, peeling wallpaper, books... You can’t list it all. The places where cockroaches live in an apartment can be the most unexpected.
The main thing is that it is warm and satisfying. And there must be water.
Red cockroaches
The red cockroach (Blattellagermanica) or the red cockroach is the most commonly encountered species of these insects. It can grow up to two centimeters in length. Has a dark brown color. The insect's wings, located on the back, are not used for their intended purpose, but they help when jumping.
Nest
There can be a lot of places in an apartment where cockroaches hide. In addition to the kitchen and bathroom, they can even settle in the bedroom, especially if the owner has a habit of having snacks in bed. It is extremely annoying when the Prussians occupy the bookcase, dirtying books with their excrement.
Black cockroaches
The black cockroach (often called the basement cockroach) has a shiny black color, it has no wings, grows up to 3 cm in length. It runs very fast. Cockroaches of this species live mainly on the lower floors, in semi-basements and basements.
Places where cockroaches hide in an apartment can often be recognized by an unpleasant specific smell. Insects easily change their location, so in apartment buildings you need to fight them together, otherwise the victory over these burdensome neighbors will be very short-lived. The main blow must be delivered to garbage chutes and basements, and it is advisable to resort to the help of a specialized organization.
Can they appear from the sewer?
At first glance, the idea seems strange, but if you remember that in some countries you could sometimes find a whole boa constrictor along the sewer lines in the toilet, then there is no need to talk about cockroaches at all. Moreover, they can crawl through not only the toilet, but also other similar communications that have fairly large gaps. This could be a sink or even a bathroom.
Perhaps it cannot be said that they are in any way different from other standard varieties of cockroaches.
However, the most unpleasant neighbor in this case will be the black cockroaches that crawl out from there. If in a normal case you can see cockroaches the size of a human fingernail, and a child’s fingernail at that, then a black cockroach will be 5 times larger and more terrible. Fortunately, pests don’t particularly like to crawl beyond the place from which they appeared, and therefore they can most likely settle behind the sink or in secluded places near the toilet.
Also, we will briefly talk about the reasons for their appearance, and even in this way. In Russian cities, residents of Moscow most often suffer from the problem of sewer cockroaches. This is most likely due to population size. Insects emerge most often in the summer, but not due to climate change and rising temperatures. They simply multiply to such an extent that the current food is not enough for each such resident, and therefore they begin to try to get to the surface. On one of these beautiful days you can see this terrible sight. Otherwise, they are no different from ordinary cockroaches, and therefore the methods of fighting remain the same.
Cockroach nest
A cockroach nest is a large accumulation of cockroach individuals swarming among food debris, chitinous shells, cockroach feces, and dead relatives. Ootecae (capsules with larvae) and nymph-larvae are also located here. It is not difficult to imagine what this rookery looks like. It's not a pleasant sight!
In addition, there is always a special sickening smell around the nest to one degree or another. It can sometimes be really difficult for an unprepared person to overcome the gag reflex.
Reproduction
Female with ooteca and offspring.
To successfully fight cockroaches, it is important to know how they reproduce. After mating, the female lays a capsule with eggs, an ootheca, which can contain up to 50 eggs. In favorable conditions, after 2-3 weeks the larvae, or nymphs, appear and scatter in different directions.
Nymphs go through 5-7 molts and after 4 months turn into adults capable of reproduction. The female cockroach only needs one mating, and for the rest of her life she distributes sperm to fertilize the eggs. Some types of cockroaches live up to 3 years.
How to find a nest of cockroaches in an apartment?
Having at least an approximate idea of what cockroach nests look like, you need to immediately begin searching for and eliminating them. It will be much easier to do this if you know what kind of life these insects lead. Since their primary need is water, such a nest will most likely be in the kitchen or, alternatively, in the bathroom.
Carefully, with a flashlight in hand, you need to inspect all hard-to-reach places - behind the refrigerator and dishwasher, under the sink, etc. Watching insects also helps. In case of danger, they most often rush to their nest. If you try hard, everything will definitely work out.
Gels
Gels are convenient and advisable to use if it is not possible to leave the room after it has been treated with aerosols.
The gels are colorless, devoid of unpleasant odor and are easily washed off from almost all surfaces.
They are safe for pets. A component is specially introduced into their composition, which gives an unpleasant bitterness when it enters the oral cavity. The composition is applied to the surfaces where cockroaches most often appear in dotted lines or drops at a distance of 10-15 mm. The effect after using the gels occurs only after 7-10 days. The disadvantages of the drug include the inability to treat hard-to-reach places and the entire room as a whole, and ineffectiveness against egg laying. Gels are recommended for use in combination with drugs of a different release form and action. The most popular gels are:
- "Clean house";
- "Dohloks";
- "Raptor";
- "Global".
How to destroy a nest?
Insecticides are great for eliminating swarms of cockroaches:
- aerosols;
- gels;
- crayons.
Gel
It is good to install traps along the path of cockroaches. No one has canceled the master's slipper either, however, its efficiency (efficiency factor) is extremely low, especially if the cockroaches seriously decide to occupy your home for a long time.
When working with chemicals, you must follow the instructions exactly, since almost all of them are dangerous to humans and pets.
Of the proven folk remedies, boric acid . The powder is mixed with boiled egg yolk, then small balls are formed from this mixture and placed throughout the house. The main thing is to be persistent and not give up.
Folk remedies for Prussians
Method No. 1
The most common folk method of getting rid of barbels is the use of baits made on the basis of boric acid. Prussians love to eat granulated sugar, liquid yeast, boiled egg yolk and mashed potatoes. Boric acid is combined with a tasty and aromatic bait, small balls are formed from the resulting mixture and placed wherever there are concentrations of mustachioed “invaders”.
Method No. 2
Cockroaches are cold-blooded creatures. Air temperatures below +5 C˚ cause insects to lose their ability to reproduce and ultimately die. Therefore, since ancient times, people have often resorted to “chilling out” their homes. This method is quite effective for getting rid of these unpleasant roommates. But in city conditions, its use is unlikely, since you can easily damage the heating system of not only your apartment, but also an entire multi-story residential building.
Method No. 3
Prussians hide in their shelters during the day, and at night they begin active movements throughout the entire apartment. Turning on the lighting in this situation is an absolutely meaningless measure, since cockroaches have no fear of it. They can only be frightened by the noise of approaching steps; upon hearing it, the Prussians immediately take to their heels.
Therefore, you can try to make a trap for Prussians yourself. You need to take a glass or enamel bowl and place a tasty bait on its bottom. Lubricate its edges using Vaseline or any fat. Trying to get to tasty food, the cockroach climbs inside the container, and it will never be able to climb back out. Insects caught in this way can be destroyed by pouring boiling water on top.
The configuration of the body of cockroaches gives them the opportunity to penetrate into cracks in walls, inside furniture, under wallpaper and under baseboards. Only a vacuum cleaner will help remove the Prussians from these hiding places. However, keep in mind that the Prussians do not die inside the dust collector.
What can be done to stop cockroaches from multiplying?
It is almost impossible to fight a cockroach infestation alone, especially in an apartment building. It is best to team up with your neighbors and invite professionals.
Prevention measures:
- timely destruction of spoiled products;
- storing perishable foods in the refrigerator, and cereals and other bulk products in tightly closed jars;
- daily trash removal;
- maintaining cleanliness and order;
- widespread removal of water and moisture;
- maintaining pipes and plumbing, sealing cracks and crevices;
- installing mesh on ventilation holes.
