How Did Cockroaches Get Inside My Kitchen?

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cockroach in tulsa home

It can seem strange when you find a cockroach running across the floor of your kitchen, especially if you live in a newer home. But cockroaches are equipped to enter homes efficiently. They can scale walls, walk across ceilings, and compress their bodies and push their legs out to the sides so they can squeeze through gaps half their height. If all of that isn't bad enough, cockroach nymphs of some species are so small they can pass through a hole of an outlet. Good luck keeping these dirty insects out. But there is good news. Let's look at this good news and discuss some prevention tips that can help you prevent cockroaches from getting into your Tulsa home.

The Good News

Most cockroaches don't want to get into your home. It is too dry for many cockroach species to survive inside your home. They prefer climbing around in sewers and culvert systems where there is plenty of moisture and lots of decaying organic material to feed on.

The Bad News

We have a few cockroaches species that can survive in residential structures. These are the American cockroach, the Oriental cockroach, and the German cockroach. Of these three, the German cockroach is the worst. German cockroaches are tan in color and very tiny. When they get inside, they can move about a home quite easily due to their size. And they don't require as much moisture as other cockroach species.

How to Keep Roaches Out

There are many things you can do and one thing you should not do to keep roaches out. Let's cover the dos first.

  • Do a detailed inspection of your foundation wall and seal any gaps or cracks you find. Look closely around pipes and wire conduit. These usually have a gap that can become exposed and give entry to pests.
  • Inspect door and window frames. Roaches don't damage homes but they take advantage of damage done by other pests. When carpenter ants, mice, rats and other wood-damaging pests attack wood frames and the seal around frames, cockroaches take advantage of those holes.
  • Check your screens to make sure you don't have any holes. While a hole in a screen isn't necessarily going to give a cockroach a pathway into your home, holes can be evidence of a pest chewing through. If the screen has been chewed, there is a chance the frame inside has been chewed, then cockroaches will be able to slip right into your wall voids.
  • If you have a brick home, make sure you have pest protectors on your weep holes. Weep holes let moisture out but they can let pests, like cockroaches, inside.

When homeowners find cockroaches around the exterior of their home, they sometimes resort to laying bait down or spraying the foundation perimeter with pesticides. We strongly recommend you don't do this. The roaches you are seeing around your home may not be a species that will get into your home and stay. Plus, killing cockroaches near your home will create a food source for cockroaches that do infest homes. Cockroaches eat dead cockroaches. If pest control is needed for your exterior, it should be applied by a licensed and experienced pest control professional to ensure an effective barrier and proper control.

Montgomery Exterminating provides industry-leading pest control service for Tulsa and the surrounding region. If you need cockroach control you can trust, we can help. Requestion a free inspection to get started. There's no obligation to pay for services. A free estimate just help us take a look at what pest pressures you're dealing with and offer some insight into how much it will cost to protect your home from invasion. We can quote one-time pest control costs as well as package prices for ongoing pest prevention.

Cockroaches are dirty insects. They live in sewers, dumpsters, and other dirty places. When they get into a home, they spread harmful bacteria to food prep surfaces, stored foods, dishes, silverware, toothbrushes and other sensitive locations. It is never a good idea to let a cockroach infestation go untreated. Reach out to Montgomery Exterminating today. We don't just exterminate pests, we offer ongoing proactive pest prevention as well.