How To Prevent
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Preventing cockroaches can be successfully carried out with a few basic measures. When it comes to prevention and control of pests, simple things such as keeping doors and windows shut and good standards of cleaning and tidying that can make a huge difference.
1. Eliminate food sources
Cockroaches are amazing scavengers. In an urban environment, roaches rely heavily on the food humans leave behind. Like us, their diet mainly consists of sugar, protein, and carbohydrates. The best way to prevent cockroaches is to remove any potential food sources lying around your home or business.
Removing liquids:
- Although like rodents, cockroaches can last a week or two without water as long as the moisture content in their food is high, it is still a vital part of their diet. Removing standing water from buckets and sinks can help prevent cockroaches from entering your property in search of water
- It’s also worth noting that cockroaches are attracted to moisture and love to live in damp places. Eliminating standing liquids can make your home and/or business seem less appealing
Remove standing food:
- Removing leftover food sitting on tables, kitchen counters and desks can help reduce the appeal of your home to cockroaches. Cockroaches only need minute amounts of food for a meal, so any crumbs, powders, liquid foods spilled on floors, worktops, shelves, cupboards, food containers, packaging, etc will provide enough for a meal
Store food away:
- Smell is an important factor in cockroaches finding your home or business inviting. You can help reduce this attraction by storing items of food such as cereals and pet food in airtight containers
Rinse and remove cans, bottles, and plastic containers:
- Leftover residue in empty cans, bottles, and plastic containers will attract cockroaches. Even though these items are usually found in a bin, there’s nothing stopping roaches from making the transition from your garbage into your property. A good prevention tip is to rinse these containers out thoroughly before disposal
Empty bins regularly:
- Bins are a prime cockroach attraction. They offer cockroaches a whole range of different food to consume. Emptying your bins regularly, preferably on a daily basis, will help prevent roaches from entering and breeding in your property. Commercial premises need to ensure that waste is disposed of before it builds up and overflows containers
2. Clean
As with other forms of pest prevention, one of the best ways to reduce the risk of accumulating a cockroach problem is keeping kitchens and food handling and storage areas clean.
Ensuring that work surfaces are clear of food debris, as well as clearing up all waste and spillage will help prevent cockroaches. Cockroaches are more active during nightfall so removing pet food, drink, and litter trays is also a good method.
In businesses such as hotels, restaurants, healthcare facilities, retail stores and food processors, adhering to food hygiene standards is an essential part of keeping pests such as cockroaches from damaging and contaminating food.
When it comes to offices and workplaces, keeping your office clean as well as limiting eating and storing food at your desk can help prevent cockroaches from moving in.
3. Declutter
Cockroaches release a pheromone in their droppings which signals to others that they have found a safe place to live? Removing excess clutter such as packaging, cardboard, stacks of old newspapers and magazines.
This will prevent cockroach droppings accumulating by eliminating areas for them to be distributed. Removing clutter from your business or home also reduces the amount of areas where cockroaches can hide.
4. Maintenance
General building maintenance will deny cockroaches routes into and around your property and access to places to hide.
Pipes and Drains
As already stated, cockroaches are quite fond of damp and moist areas. Because of this when it comes to your home or business they can usually be found near pipes and drains. Regularly checking this area for signs of cockroaches and taking the necessary procedures such as repairing damaged pipes and clearing blocked drains is a good cockroach prevention measure.
Shelves
Wooden shelves provide a great spot for cockroaches to live on. The cracks in the grains of the wood provide a great hiding spot. A good roach prevention tip is to paint or varnish wooden shelves. This seals all these cracks and crevices reducing the places a cockroach can hide. Alternatively, you could replace your wooden shelves with ones made from plastic or metal.
Seal entrances
There is a handful of cockroach weak spots around a property that provide roaches with an easy way in. These are:
- Walls
- Skirting boards
- Electrical sockets
- Under kitchen sinks and bathroom cabinets
Check these areas for cracks and crevices and seal them using products such as cement or expanding foam.
Locations of cockroach infestations
Check bathrooms - right at the back of bathroom cabinets (especially if they are full of soaps and toiletry products that have been stored for a while) or medicine cabinets. Check plumbing behind sinks, baths and toilets, anywhere they can hide in sheltered dark spaces with access to water even if it's simply condensation. Cockroaches will happily eat soap residue, toilet paper and tissues - even shed skin cells and hair.
Check kitchens - look in cupboards and cabinets, pay particular attention to hidden areas with pipework such as under sinks and behind dishwashers. Sometimes cockroaches can be found in the upper inside corner of cupboards, hanging upside down out of sight. Nooks and crannies of appliances with motors, offering warmth and hidden crevices like backs of cookers, fridges and freezers are another area to check carefully. Even smaller kitchen appliances like microwaves, coffee makers, toasters and blenders could harbour cockroaches.
Check laundry rooms - cupboards under sinks, where plumbing enters through walls or floors leading to washing machines and tumble dryers. Also check warm areas near the motors at the back of washers and dryers.
Check basements - search along the base and corner joints of walls in cellars for any gaps cockroaches could squeeze through. Cracks in wood baseboards or floor cavities are opportune areas for them to hide. Cockroaches will hide in and eat cardboard and newspapers, so check boxes and piles of paper stored for long periods of time.
Check drain - as some species like Oriental cockroaches can survive in drier, cooler areas. Look around down pipes for cracks and crevices they might hide in, as well as damaged drain covers they could scuttle through. Other areas to check are pipe ducts and any opening beneath porches or decking. Undisturbed areas of garages and outbuildings may also offer shelter to Oriental cockroaches. They are also known to survive in rubbish tips.
