Are you suspicious that your home might have a cockroach problem? Maybe you haven’t seen a live roach yet, but other odd occurrences have you thinking something is wrong. If this is the case, we are here to help. Here five early warning signs of a cockroach infestation and what you should do if you suspect these pests are skittering around inside your Scottsdale home.
Live Cockroaches
The first and most obvious sign of a cockroach infestation is seeing a live roach skittering around inside your home. Cockroaches in our area grow between one-half and two and one-eighth inches long, have flat, oval-shaped bodies, six legs, two long antennae, and come in a variety of colors, including reddish-brown, tan, and black. One thing you should know, however, is that most cockroaches are shy and won’t come out into the open unless a room is silent and free of activity. If you see one of these pests skittering around in broad daylight, it means one of two things; either that specific roach is an outlier and is braver than its brothers and sisters, or the places it was hiding in are getting cramped due to overpopulation.
Cockroach Excrement
A cockroach will eat just about anything, including book glue, toenail clippings, fabric, and human saliva. After one of these pests finishes processing a meal, it excretes small black pellets of fecal matter. This excrement smears on furniture and drapes and sticks to walls. If you didn’t know better, you might mistake a pile of cockroach fecal matter for coffee grounds.
Grease Streaks
Cockroaches are one of the nastiest pests on the planet and prefer to wallow around in greasy areas. They often leave the thick oily residue these insects carry on their bodies behind them in trails. You’ll find these grease streaks along baseboards, up walls, across floorboards, and in other areas.
Shed Cockroach Skin
Like many other insects that live in our area, cockroaches go through several developmental stages before reaching adulthood. Many of these transitions involve the shedding of skin. Shed cockroach skin is white and almost translucent in color and takes on many similarities to living roaches, depending on how intact it is.
Cockroach Eggs
Female cockroaches do not lay individual eggs. In order to protect their eggs, they lay them inside hard-shelled egg castings. These castings are a quarter to a half an inch long and typically mahogany in color. A German cockroach egg sack is reddish-brown to tan. You’ll find these nymph filled pods around areas cockroaches live and breed, such as beneath large kitchen appliances and in other tight spaces around your home.
Why You Need Professional Cockroach Control
Have you ever heard it said that a cockroach could survive a nuclear war? You might not know this, but these pests are five times more resistant to radiation than the average human. They are also less susceptible to pest control products and use their speed and ability to squeeze through tight cracks to avoid danger around homes. All of this is to say; cockroaches are not easy pests to treat. If you suspect these dirty insects are causing trouble around your living areas, your best bet is to get a professional involved. At Scorpion Shield LLC, we handle cockroaches with advanced solutions and industry-leading pest control products. With a heart for our community and a dedication to quality, you won’t be disappointed when you pick us.
Call our team now with any questions you have or to find your best solution to cockroach problems. Learn more about our history of pest control in Scottsdale AZ.
