Cockroaches

They are mostly thought of in the home but there are varieties that hang out in your garden as well. It is thought that cockroaches have existed 350 million years and reproduce at alarming rates. One pair of German cockroaches for example can expand to more than 2 million offspring in less than 1 year.

Roaches like nearly any area humans like - especially where food, moisture and warmth are abundant. Cockroaches prefer darkness and crawl into amazingly small crevices as small as the thickness of a dime! An adult cockroach can live for a month without food as long as water or moisture is present.

Roaches carry and spread diseases. It’s not unusual for bacteriologists to find salmonella bacteria (which causes food poisoning in humans) on the bodies of cockroaches. Additionally, cockroaches are believed to spread viruses and their presence can cause allergic reactions for many people, especially asthmatic children.

The most important method of cockroach prevention and control is sanitation. Even a few crumbs that slip down beside a stove, for example, can serve as a gourmet dinner for several cockroaches for some time. Most cock roaches are unlike the majority of insects in that their exoskeleton is coated not with a waxy layer but a greasy one. Among other things, this characteristic enables cockroaches to slide into narrow cracks and crevices where even the human foot cannot reach them.

After good sanitation, you may need to resort to chemical solutions. Read the labels and keep all poisons away from children, pets and food.