For some people, what attracts cockroaches into the house is still a mystery. Because like it or not, you might be able to see a sudden appearance of cockroaches even in a clean house.
In this blog article, we will reveal a glimpse of what attracts cockroaches into the house and how to prevent cockroaches from entering your home in the future.
What attracts roaches the most?
Cockroaches are known for their dirty and unhygienic habits. Thus, if you have been thinking that cockroaches are attracted to unkempt or unsanitary homes, then you are not wrong. But finding one cockroach in the house does not always mean that your house is dirty.
Because in fact, even if you do a regular cleaning and maintenance to your house, it doesn’t always guarantee that your house is free from a cockroach infestation.
Although severe roach infestation could easily happen in dirty homes rather than clean homes. Because indeed, dirty homes provide the perfect environment for cockroaches to live and breed.
So, what attracts cockroaches into the house?
Just like any other pests basic needs, cockroaches also need a few basic things in order to survive.
In this sense, some of these things turn out to be the reason what attracts cockroaches into the house. These including:
By knowing what they’re looking for, you will know exactly what you can do to make your home less attractive to cockroaches infestation.
Food
Cockroaches will eat anything that is available to them.
Yes, what you read above is true. A cockroach is an omnivorous animal and considered opportunistic eaters. Meaning, they will eat almost anything available to them.
Cockroaches eat a wide range of foods, including all food used to human eat, and any kind of thing that we don’t even think of as human foods. To make matter worse, they are also known to eat some non-food materials, such as paper, plastic glue, and animal waste.
Looking at the diet of cockroaches, it seems that either clean or dirty homes could face the same cockroach problems at any time, right?
Where does a cockroach find a food source in the house?
Cockroaches can easily find food sources from many places in your house. However, your kitchen is probably the most vulnerable place for cockroach infestation. The reasons for cockroaches in the kitchen is simply because it is the place where we store, place, and prepare our foods.
Cockroaches in kitchen often find food sources from grease around the stove or kitchen wall. Your dirty dishes in the sink, as well as the uncovered foods on the countertop, are also more than enough to attract them to your home.
In some other parts of your home, cockroaches can also find food sources from the food crumbs on the carpet, sweet drinks spilled on the floor, and even leftover grease inside your pet’s bowl.
Although their main food preferences are for sweets, meat, and starches; yet each type of roaches have their own food preferences over some things.
Learn more about what does American and German cockroaches eat in your home here.
Water and excess moisture
Cockroaches need water and moisture in order to survive.
Cockroaches are cold-blooded animals. Meaning, they have no problem at all not eating for a long period of time, but they can’t survive without water for more than a week.
Thus, when you are experiencing a severe roach infestation at home, then you should suspect if they are able to locate a source of water in your home.
Because no matter whether your house is clean or dirty, cockroaches are always able to find available excess moisture and water sources without having so much trouble.
Where do cockroaches get water in the house?
Cockroaches need water to live. Thus, Any source of water in or around the house is a potential lure for cockroaches even if only in tiny amounts. Some common household water problems such as leaky pipes and any standing water that derives from leaky faucets are more than enough to fulfill their thirst.
When inside your home, cockroaches prefer to live in close proximity to most-humid places with easy access to the water sources, such as bathroom and laundry areas.
In the bathroom, a cockroach infestation is often found in a bathroom cabinet with a water leak. Not even rare you could also see them crawling both from the sink or shower drain. Besides acting as entry points for roaches, the drainage system not only provides enough water and moisture; but also enough food sources of many organic materials such as shed skin cells and hair.
In the laundry area, cockroaches commonly hide near to the motors at the back of the washers and dryers. Additionally, they are often found hiding inside the floor drain for a washing machine to drain water. Always check the laundry areas for leaks and standing water, which often becomes a draw to cockroach infestation.
Shelter or hiding places
Cockroaches are primarily nocturnal animals, which means they usually hide out of sight during the day and more active foraging at night. However, the sudden appearance of cockroaches during the day may occur, especially if you are facing a severe roach infestation at your place of residence.
When choosing the shelter inside your house, cockroaches prefer to hide and breed in warm, dark, and humid places that are close to the food and water sources.
Regardless of whether your house is clean or not, cockroaches always find your house very attractive. This mainly because they can find lots of places to hide and be close to food and water.
Where do roaches hide in your house?
Cockroaches have a flat body that enables them to squeeze many places that are hard to see and reach by humans. They are always looking for warm and humid places that are often poorly ventilated areas in the house, such as warehouses, kitchens, and bathrooms.
In the warehouse, they are often found hiding in piles of used goods, books that have been stored for a long time, and among the cardboards. While in the kitchen, you will often find cockroaches hiding in kitchen cupboards, under the kitchen sink, and beneath or behind the refrigerator and stove.
The bathroom is perhaps the dampest room in the house. This is why your bathroom is the other great place for cockroaches to hideout. You can commonly find cockroaches in the bathroom hiding in a place like cabinets under the sinks, floor drains and near the water heater.
How to prevent cockroaches from entering your home?
The best way to prevent cockroaches is by eliminating their access to find food, water, and shelter, which are the main factors that attract cockroaches into the house.
Following each of the recommendations below will help you to prevent cockroaches in house:
Eliminate food sources
- Remove leftovers from tables and countertops
- Avoid to leaving dirty dishes to sit out overnight in the kitchen sinks
- Clean the stove and cooking utensils after use
- Store all of your food in airtight or metal containers
- Rinse out cans, bottles and plastic before throwing away
- Sweep and mop the floors regularly
- Empty bins daily and not left out overnight
Eliminate water and excess moisture sources
- Seal any gaps or crevices around damaged pipes
- Clearing blocked drains
- Fix leaky faucets to avoid standing water
- Ensure all the rooms are ventilated to reduce humidity
Eliminate hiding spots
- Removing excess clutter such as packaging, cardboard, stacks of old newspapers and magazines
- Seal any gaps and cracks where cockroaches can harbour
How to get rid of roaches in your home?
Found one cockroach in house is annoying enough already. But what if I find more than one or two cockroaches at home; should I call an exterminator for cockroaches right away?
The answer is yes. Some preventive measures above may help you to keep cockroaches away from home – especially if the infestation level is low. However, getting rid of cockroaches should be handled by professionals when the infestation becomes more severe and serious.
As the experts in cockroach control, Rentokil provides professional and targeted treatment that are tailored specifically for your needs. Our certified technicians located across Indonesia provide a quick and reliable service to guarantee complete control of the problem and offer expert tips on prevention.
Contact us online to discuss how to get rid of a heavy roach infestation at your property with Rentokil cockroach control and treatment.
Great information , it helps me a lot thank you for sharing it.
Hi,
Thanks for your positive comment and feedback!
Have a nice day.