A Simple Yet Effective Guide To Cockroach Control In Plano

There are few things in life more terrifying than seeing a cockroach skitter under your legs, especially when you are in the safety of your own home. If you just got done with an experience like this and are wondering where this pest came from or how to get it to go away, we would like to offer our assistance. Today we are going to take a few moments to talk about the problems cockroaches cause, what types of cockroaches are in Plano, and how to deal with a cockroach infestation inside your home. If you would rather find direct answers to your problem, contact our team at All-Safe Pest & Termite. We will walk you through our residential pest control options and help you find a treatment to solve your pest problems. If you want to learn more about cockroaches before considering professional pest control in Plano, keep reading.

What Types Of Cockroaches Invade Plano Properties?

All cockroaches share a few things in common. They are all oval-shaped, flat, and have long antennae that they use, often more than their eyes, to navigate their surroundings. Other features like size, color, and markings vary depending on the species. The three most common types of cockroaches in Plano are German cockroaches, American cockroaches, and oriental cockroaches. Here is how to identify each. 

Identify a German cockroach by its ½ to ⅝” long, light brown to tan body, and the dark, almost parallel stripes behind its head.

Identify an American cockroach by its 1 ¼ to 2 ⅛” long, reddish-brown body, and the yellow figure eight pattern behind its head.

Identify an oriental cockroach by its 1” long black body and lack of identifiable markings. 

Female cockroaches are much larger than males. Some species, like the German cockroach, carry their egg casings on their backs. If you see a reddish-brown bug with what looks like a pill on its back, that is probably a German roach. 

Cockroaches are one of the most elusive pests here in Plano. Often, you will not get the chance to see these bugs crawling around before infestations grow severe. To identify a problem without directly seeing roaches, here are some common signs to look for.  

• Dark, irregular smear marks on countertops, floors, and walls. These trails are from grease and grime roaches carry on their bodies. 
• An odd odor in the air. This odor grows worse when more cockroaches are around.
• Egg casings. These casings look like wrinkly pills and are found in secluded areas throughout homes.
• Specks of black fecal droppings. These droppings look much like coffee grounds. 
• Shed skins. Sometimes shed skins look like full cockroaches. Other times they are flakey or dust-like. 

Bring in our team at All-Safe Pest & Termite if you even suspect cockroaches are inside your home. Our team will perform a detailed inspection and help you understand your risk. 

How Are Cockroaches Dangerous?

Before we talk about cockroach control options, we think you should know why these pests are a problem. The main way roaches cause issues is with the bacteria, pathogens, and parasitic worms they carry on and inside their bodies. These sickness vectors can lead to diseases like dysentery, cholera, leprosy, salmonellosis, and gastroenteritis. Cockroaches pick up disease-causing organisms from trash cans, animal droppings, toilets, sewers, rotting meat, and other dirty areas and items. If you are dealing with an active infestation inside your home, be careful what you eat. Contaminated food is one of the main ways to contract a harmful disease. We recommend cleaning your home frequently and storing all food inside air-tight containers until your infestation is gone. After it is gone, clean and disinfect everything to eliminate remaining sickness vectors. 

The spread of disease is not the only problem that comes with cockroaches. These pests are known to trigger asthma attacks and allergic reactions. They do this with their shed skins and dried fecal droppings. These roach bi-products act like dust as they break up and flow through ventilation systems and living areas. This problem grows more and more severe as cockroaches breed and infestations worsen. The good news is that you do not have to live with these pests. We will talk more about cockroach control and how to address an infestation inside your home in just a bit.

There are more problems that cockroaches cause, just none that pose a risk to your health as these issues do. We say this so that you understand that roaches are not a pest you want inside your home. Even if your living areas are spotless, these nasty little critters can and will find ways to cause trouble. Thankfully, we have options to help you combat infestations in and around your home.

How And Why Cockroaches Find Their Way Into Your Home

Cockroaches are not complicated creatures. They only need three things to survive and thrive: moisture, shelter, and food. They find shelter anywhere that provides protection from negative conditions outdoors like cold weather, storms, and flooding. These conditions often drive them into local homes and businesses. Once indoors, these creepy insects look for places to hide. As a general rule, roaches like moist areas where their backs and bellies can touch two surfaces at the same time. You will find these pests squeezed under or behind kitchen appliances, laundry machines, and inside narrow cracks and crevices. They stay in these tight hiding areas during the day or while people are out and about. It is only when activity slows down that roaches skitter out of hiding and start looking for food and moisture. This is why people find these pests after turning on lights late at night. 

Now that you know why cockroaches break into homes, let’s talk about how they get in. These pests are incredibly agile and able to easily climb walls and cling to ceilings. This makes invading homes easier but does not provide the entry points needed to get indoors. Entry points usually form around the exterior of buildings over years of stress, bad weather, and general use. Cockroaches get indoors through gaps under doors and windows, through broken glass, and around unsealed vents. They also slip indoors through gaps, cracks, and holes found in exterior foundations. We recommend walking around your home’s exterior and looking for damaged areas that roaches and other common pests might use to get inside. If you do not know where to look or feel uncomfortable sliding behind shrubs, pushing back branches, and walking through the mulch, let us do this for you. We would be more than happy to inspect your home for potential entry points and help you understand your risk of infestation. We would also be glad to provide advanced pest control options to deter roaches year-round. All you have to do is help us understand your need. 

How Can I Get These Cockroaches Out Of My Home?

There are few things more stressful than living with cockroaches. If these pests are living inside your home and threatening you and your family, we would like to help. All-Safe Pest & Termite is a local and licensed pest control provider that focuses on trusted methods and unmatched customer support. We have service offerings for many common pest problems, including cockroaches. Like all of our services, our cockroach control starts with a thorough inspection of your home and property. This will allow our team to identify signs of roach activity as well as conditions that might allow them to survive and thrive inside your home. If we find anything concerning, we will let you know of our findings and walk you through step two, control.

Our cockroach control involves two main stages; initial services and a follow-up visit. During initial services, we will implement treatments designed to target the kinds of cockroaches that were found crawling around indoors. We often customize these treatments knowing that all infestations are different. Depending on the condition of your home, our team might use liquid bait or a dust material. After we put these slow-working but effective methods in place, we will schedule a follow-up visit. Because cockroaches reproduce rapidly and have a habit of retreating deep into wall voids and other secluded areas to find cover, this visit will allow us to ensure the initial treatment had the desired effect. If it did not, we will adjust our approach and make sure these pests do not survive a second treatment.

In life, many problems require professional help. If you are not prepared to deal with dangerous cockroaches on your own, let our team help. We have proudly served Texas for over 30 years with unmatched pest control services. Let us use this experience to service your home and combat invasive bugs like roaches.

Call All-Safe Pest & Termite now to discover more about our cockroach control or to schedule an appointment for your Plano home and property. We will ensure these pests get the boot so that you can better enjoy life indoors.