Can You Eradicate German Cockroaches?

The German cockroach is very good at setting up an ecological area in structures and is durable in the face of lots of pest-control treatments. To be successful, control solutions should be thorough, sustained, and methodical; survival of just a few eggs is quite sufficient to regenerate a virtually exterminated pest population within a couple of generations, and recolonization from surrounding populations frequently is really fast, too.

Why is the German cockroach so tough to control?

Lack of natural predators in a human habitat
Prolific reproduction
Very short reproductive cycle
The ability to hide in very tiny refuges
Sexual maturity obtained within numerous weeks
Adaptation and resistance to some chemical pesticides and baits

Where do they like to take cover?

German cockroaches prefer confined spaces, and they are small compared to other pest species, so they can hide within small gaps and crevices that are easy to miss, therefore evading humans and their extermination efforts.

Adaptive selection

A type of German cockroaches has emerged that responds to glucose as distastefully bitter. They refuse to consume sweetened baits, which presents a challenge to their control, given that those baits are an economical and effective means of regulation.

German cockroaches can initially infest a structure when infested grocery bags are brought indoors. Inspect groceries for cockroaches before putting away. Keep grocery bags in outside storage places.
Cockroaches breed prolifically in corrugated cardboard boxes. Dispose of unnecessary boxes immediately.
Keep doors and windows shut.
Keep window and soffit screens in good repair to stop cockroaches from entering your house.
Check attic vents and ensure that large openings around exterior drain lines and sewer vents are screened or sealed. Make use of tightly packed steel wool as a temporary filler until openings can be sealed properly.
Caulk or otherwise seal crevices and gaps around frames of doors and windows and around plumbing and electrical to help stop cockroaches from entering your house.
Seal spaces between door frames and doors with weather stripping.
Kids can carry cockroaches from school to home in book bags and lunch containers. Inspect these items routinely.
Properties such as apartments that are separated by a common wall are particularly difficult situations. An infestation can migrate between apartments through the plumbing within a common wall. For that reason, cockroaches from one apartment can easily migrate to another apartment, infesting a “clean” dwelling. To help avoid this, caulk holes in common walls and around plumbing.

Call us for more details about our cockroach pest control services