The Cockroach Explores At Night
Ever wake up thirsty in the middle of the night, walk to the kitchen for a glass of water, turn on the light, and see little brown spots scattering for cover?
When roaches infest the home they’re usually the German variety.
On occasion an American roach makes its appearance, or the Oriental stops by, or the Pennsylvania Wood Roach flies through an open window.
Don’t worry about that long, slender wood roach. He lives in the trees, and prefers life outdoors.
American roaches live in the sewer in every city, and since those sewers are warm, moist, and dark, they don’t often climb out where we’ll see them. If you do see one of these nasty creatures it probably crawled out of a dry drain. Dry drains are rare in the home, making American cockroach sightings rare. We see this roach in commercial buildings like groceries and hospitals where not all drains are used.
Oriental cockroaches thrive in damp environments, and actually do well in cold climates. They live mostly out-of-doors.
All day long the German roach waits for his time to go exploring in your cabinets, crawling into any food items you accidentally left open just the tiniest crack. All night long they invade your kitchen, leaving their deposits everywhere they travel.
But you won’t find these bugs only in the kitchen; Germans infest any area of the home where they find warmth, darkness, and food. Recently I found one in the third-floor room of a motel that didn’t even have a restaurant.
These are nighttime creatures. If you do see them in the daytime chances are there’s a huge population in your house, a population that’s been growing for a while, and elimination requires concentrated effort.
The pellets look much like mouse droppings. The telling difference is that roach feces have rounded ends, while mouse droppings have pointed ends.
Another way to spot a roach problem is suddenly shining a flashlight under the kitchen sink. Do this especially at night and concentrate on movement.
To learn how to control cockroaches, and save money, visit the cockroach control page.
