Understanding a cockroach infestation

Almost everyone shrieks or panics at the sight of a cockroach crawling about in their home. While not as dangerous as mosquitoes or rats, cockroaches have one of the worst reputations as a common house pest.

Cockroach infestation is seen as a sign of a dirty home. Cockroaches carry with them all kinds of bacteria they gather from garbage outside your home. The length of their life span depends on the environment and how easy they can find food and water in your home. So the untidier, messy, and dirty our home is the more cockroaches would enjoy staying and living there.

Cockroaches is not just annoying pests that creates phobia for some. Here we compile reasons why it is essential to get rid of cockroaches

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Where you can find a party of cockroaches

There are only a number of ideal places where cockroaches could be seen lurking around. The brown banded cockroach prefers drains and sewers, and with ideal temperature conditions, they could live for about 90-115 days. German cockroaches, on the other hand, prefer the indoors rather than the outdoors. While the American cockroach, which is the most commonly, found species in Singapore, prefer warm environments and outdoors like garbage bins, and woodpiles, but also prefer dark indoor spaces close to water and food.

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Cockroaches can result in harmful infestation outcomes

Firstly, cockroaches’ cause disease transmission and food contamination symptoms including diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach cramp and feeling of unwell. Secondly, their droppings and urine can cause reactions and allergies among some individuals. Thirdly, especially for businesses, cockroach infestation not only affects business and operation, food safety and also financial and brand implication. Fourthly, it can cause stress and worries particularly homes with kids and elderlies, and among people with cockroach phobia. Finally, their droppings and urine can ruin the aesthetics and furnishing of the home.Hence, it is important to get rid of cockroches with proper cockroach control management in place.

How do cockroaches grow into an infestation?

Just like other pests, cockroaches undergo various stages before reaching their adult phase. And with each life cycle phase, cockroaches act differently.

Egg Stage

After mating, a female cockroach starts producing a unique egg case called "ootheca" within a week. There are about 15 – 20 cockroach embryos in a single egg case, and a female cockroach produces around 10 to 90 egg cases in their lifetime.

The female cockroach would carry the ootheca in her abdomen for a few days while looking for a suitable place to deposit the egg cases. Once they find a place with good conditions, the egg case will hatch within 2 to 3 days. Nymphs free themselves from the ootheca by working in sync.

Nymphs

Once the egg case hatches, the cockroaches emerge as little nymphs. These nymphs will undergo metamorphosis and molt at least 13 times before reaching the adult stage. This usually spans roughly around 150 days.

As nymphs, cockroaches can’t reproduce nor are their wings fully developed. They would scavenge for food as they go through each molt and prefer to eat meat and sweets, but will eat anything edible they can find around your home. They will also constantly look for a supply of water since they need it to survive. Without water, cockroaches can survive for only a couple of days. But a cockroach can survive for a few months without food so long as there is water.

Adult

Adult cockroaches have an average lifespan of around 1 year, depending on the species. Temperature and other environmental conditions will greatly affect the life and survival of the adult cockroach, as well as mating behaviour.

Halfway through their lifespan, adult cockroaches are ready to breed, and begin their mating ritual, with females generally attracting males with pheromones. Adult cockroaches reproduce rapidly depending on how good the conditions are for breeding. They are also usually nocturnal, and are awake at night to look for food and water.

Get rid of them early - stop a cockroach infestation today.

You might think having one or two cockroaches in your home is not a problem, yet you will soon regret not getting rid of them early. The longer you let them stay in your home, the higher the chance you will have a troublesome cockroach infestation in your hands within a few months given the rapid lifecycle of cockroaches.

And getting rid of cockroaches doesn’t mean only getting rid of the adult cockroaches you see running around your home, it means clearing out even the eggs and nesting ground of cockroaches that are hard to find. This will help prevent further breeding and reproduction.

By knowing the different life stages of cockroaches, you can prevent an infestation from getting out of hand at the early stages of their life cycle, just before they mature and breed some more in your home.

Other ways to prevent a large-scale cockroach infestation in your home is by keeping your home clean and tidy, clearing out mess and doing other preventive measures to keep your home safe for these pesky creatures. It would also be wise to call a pest control specialist to help you find the best pest management solution to your cockroach problem. Call (65) 6347 8138 today.

Read also: How to Get Rid of Cockroaches in Singapore – The Pest That Everyone Dislikes

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