No one wants to deal with a roach infestation of any sort, but German cockroaches pose a more complicated challenge. While they’re smaller than most other species of roach, they’re hardy and quite a bit more stubborn to eradicate.
How do German cockroaches get into homes? The odd thing about German cockroaches, which are found worldwide, is that they seem to need a human presence in order to thrive. So it’s not that they happened upon your home and decided it looked like a nice place to live; they actively sought you out. German cockroaches are attracted to human living spaces due to the abundance of food debris and water.
Often, German cockroaches arrive as stowaways in pre-owned furniture, electronics, and other household items. They can also move easily from one unit to the next within apartment buildings.
Where are their favorite nesting places? Once they arrive in your home, German cockroaches will prefer to nest in cupboards, drawers, underneath the stove, and anywhere else that food is readily available. They also love the warmth of electronic devices, so you might find them congregating underneath your WiFi router or even inside a computer!
Why are German cockroaches so difficult to eradicate? First, they reproduce rapidly, laying about 40 eggs at a time which hatch within two months. Second, they have few natural predators (your cat probably won’t care about them). Third, German cockroaches notoriously develop a tolerance to many common pesticides, so we must take a multi-leveled approach to combat them.
For the most part, their only weakness is cold. German cockroaches typically do not survive winters in cold climates, if a home does not have central heat. But here in Southern California, we’re hardly what anyone would consider a cold climate.
Over-the-counter solutions rarely work on German cockroaches. For each roach you do catch in one of those roach “traps”, there are a hundred more thriving inside your walls (sorry to disappoint you). And over-the-counter poisons often don’t work on German cockroaches, who quickly develop a tolerance. Sprays that kill them will only reduce the populations you can see, and many more are nesting in places you can neither see nor reach.
Professional help is essential to eradicating German cockroaches. Homeowners often spend quite a bit of time, energy, and money on over-the-counter methods, while watching their German cockroach population continue to flourish. If you spot these smaller, but very invasive roaches in your home, call us immediately so that we can get to work. With aggressive and quick treatment, we can eradicate German cockroaches.