Cockroaches in an apartment: how they appear and how to destroy them

By Vil Malinoshevsky
About cockroaches

It doesn’t matter whether you are interested in entomology or not, but you should definitely know about cockroaches. All people at least occasionally encounter these insects, and many struggle with them for a long time and not always successfully.

Every day we help people who have been trying to remove cockroaches for months, or even years. And due to the fact that many do not know the key features of the life of these insects, they cannot destroy them. Moreover, people often make mistakes at the very early stage of infestation of a room, when there are single individuals in the room, they allow these single individuals to multiply, and then they can no longer cope with dozens, hundreds, and in some apartments even thousands of cockroaches. Yes, yes, we have seen such premises.

Red cockroaches on the wall behind the stove

Therefore, even if you are not interested in cockroaches at all, you need to know what to do if you encounter these insects in your home. Especially at the first meeting, when it is very easy to kill cockroaches and prevent their mass reproduction. What do you need to know about cockroaches and what do professional exterminators know about them, which allows them to be exterminated in 1-2 hours the first time? And what you don’t need to know about them, what myths about cockroaches need to be thrown out of your head so as not to waste time, effort and money and not give cockroaches a chance to survive and reproduce? Let's figure it out.

Cockroaches can only live next to humans

The most important thing: in Eurasia, cockroaches are insects that can only live next to humans. Insects like them are also called synanthropic. It is human housing, outbuildings, and industrial enterprises that maintain a suitable temperature all year round - these are the only places where cockroaches can survive and constantly reproduce in our climate.

In the tropics, cockroaches can and do live in the wild. Large Madagascar cockroaches, banana cockroaches, car cockroaches live in leaf litter in tropical rainforests, feed on falling fruits and rotting leaves and do not need human proximity.

South American banana cockroach

And the red cockroaches familiar to us have spread throughout the world from India and the Indochina Peninsula. So, at least, scientists think. And there, in warm Southeast Asia, they live safely outside human habitation and outside populated areas in general. And in other warm places on the planet, where they managed to reach with humans, they go out into the wild and survive there due to their omnivorousness and high fertility.

The same goes for black cockroaches.

But in our climate, neither red nor black cockroaches can survive all year round outside constantly heated human buildings.

It is important to understand this so as not to try to scare away cockroaches or drive them away from your apartment or home. Such repelling is ineffective, if not to say that it is ineffective at all. It is almost impossible to scare them away or drive them away, except for a while, because they cannot live anywhere except yours or a neighbor’s house.

Such attempts to scare off cockroaches are similar in their prospects to attempts to scare yourself away from your home. Imagine that in your house someone plugs an ultrasonic repeller into the socket, or lays out tansy, or sprays vinegar on the baseboards so that you “forever” leave your only home. Obviously, you won’t leave your home after this. And the cockroaches won't leave either. Moreover, they are able to exist safely in conditions in which a person would be very uncomfortable.

Horseflies

Horseflies are considered very fast flying insects, capable of reaching speeds of up to 60 km/h during mating. Horseflies inhabit all continents except Antarctica. They are also absent from Iceland, Greenland and some oceanic islands. The largest number of horse flies, both in numbers and in the number of species, are found in wetlands, on the boundaries of different ecotopes, and in areas of livestock grazing. Their number only increases from the proximity of humans.

Cockroaches are very unpretentious

All cockroaches need to live is an air temperature in the range of 20 to 35°C, the presence of food and the availability of water. Moreover, they are extremely unpretentious when it comes to the quality of food: any organic matter is suitable for their nutrition. Adult cockroaches and older nymphs live happily, grow and reproduce, feeding on bread crumbs, drops of oil on the walls behind the stove, peeling skin from people, even mold fungi in pipes.

Cluster of cockroaches behind the refrigerator

Scientists in their studies kept cockroaches on a diet of glue, and the insects survived safely. They were fed only soap, and they also did not think of dying. For lack of anything else, cockroaches happily gnaw paper and soft wood, and symbiotic bacteria in their intestines convert this cellulose into a source of energy and essential carbohydrates.

In addition, it has been shown that the first instar larvae of cockroaches can live for a long time, feeding only on the excrement of adults. This, by the way, is used in pest control - if you feed an adult cockroach poison with a delayed effect, then part of this poison will then go to the larvae, which do not crawl out at all to where a person can see them. And there, in their shelters, they will die from him. But more on that later.

Now it is important to understand that almost any conditions in which a person can live are suitable for cockroaches. This means that there is practically no point in trying to drive or scare them away from the house. They will not live only where humans will not live. And often they survive safely in places where even humans are unable to live.

For example, sewer pipes and sewer collectors in cities are literally incubators for cockroaches. Especially the black ones, for this reason they were also called sewer, because in the summer they can often be seen crawling out of manholes. Cockroaches multiply in huge numbers in food industry enterprises, in flour and grain storage facilities, if they are not poisoned here. People cannot stay in such rooms for a long time due to the large amount of dust in the air. But it doesn’t scare cockroaches.

Locust

Locusts can reach speeds of up to 20 km/h in search of food. Thanks to this factor, it is included in the list of the fastest insects. When there is an abundance of food, the insect leads a solitary lifestyle, but when there is a shortage of food, it forms huge colonies (numbering tens of millions of individuals), which begin an active search for areas rich in food. Colonies make high-speed flights mainly in the morning or evening, over distances of up to 100 km.

Cockroaches can eat almost anything that contains carbohydrates, fats or proteins

It is the ability of cockroaches to feed on any organic food that allows them to survive in almost any room. That is, in fact, even the presence of normal “human” food is not a necessary condition for them to live in a particular room. If somewhere there is no such human food, but there is water and a normal temperature is maintained, cockroaches will most likely be able to live there.

So they live in the same sewers, where a person is unlikely to find something tasty for himself. So they live in attics, in the holds of ships, where in the most difficult times they can gnaw each other’s wings from hunger, and according to some evidence, they even gnaw the dry skin on the heels of sleeping people. Similar stories are known, although their authenticity has not been confirmed.

This means that if you put all the food in your house in containers inaccessible to cockroaches, this does not guarantee that you will get cockroaches. Although, the likelihood of their appearance and mass reproduction will be lower - they will prefer to live where there is plenty of food.

We had a case of a call to the post office, where cockroaches lived in the warehouse. There were no products there at all. Only boxes, parcels and envelopes. And among all this, cockroaches roam around. Simply because there is a bakery behind the wall. It would seem, why don’t they live only in the bakery, but climb into the warehouse without food and water? But this is already a strategy for the survival of the species.

So be prepared: if your neighbors often leave fried potatoes or half-eaten bread on the table, and even more so do not close the trash can, then cockroaches may appear on yours, even if there is not a single random crumb anywhere in your apartment.

But cockroaches need water much more urgently.

In rooms where there is no water at all, there are either no cockroaches at all, or they live here if they can quickly get into neighboring buildings for a watering hole.

Does the ability of pests to fly affect the success of pest control?

The main danger comes from insects that move from garbage containers to dining tables, from one room to another. Developed wings and the ability to fly help them escape during treatments. Coping with such “neighbors” is as difficult as breeding fast-running and very hardy Prussians.

Many insect pests have lost the ability to fly during the course of evolution. Their hard and durable front wings serve as protection for the body. The second pair in almost all synanthropic species is underdeveloped.

Such insects hardly fly, unlike closely related species in nature. Features of behavior and lifestyle, and not wings, most often help to escape, find a mate, places for breeding, watering and feeding.

Cockroaches definitely need water

Cockroaches cannot live without water. They need it at least in some form. Whether it be drops in the sink, water in the toilet, condensation on the window, damp dust in a dark damp corner, even the flow of sewage in the sewer - this is enough for them. But if somewhere there is no water at all, cockroaches do not appear there, or disappear from there immediately after appearing.

Sometimes they try to use this need for water to remove cockroaches. But in practice, it is almost impossible to “dehydrate” an apartment. There will definitely be water left somewhere. Cockroaches can climb into the pipe in the sink and get to the siphon, which always contains water - it here prevents the smell from the sewer riser from escaping from the sink. They can also drink from coffee or tea cups in the trash can, or from a flower pot. This means that it is unlikely to be possible to get rid of them by depriving them of a source of water. Although theoretically it is possible.

Male black cockroach licks condensation from the wall

For example, cockroaches do not live in silos where grain is stored, although there is a huge amount of husks and crushed grains on which cockroaches can feed. The fact is that it is this husk that absorbs all the moisture that may be in such a tower, and there is simply nothing left for the cockroaches here. But next to such storage facilities - in their annexes, in toilets, in basements - there are sometimes thousands of cockroaches.

Cockroaches almost always get into new, not yet infected premises themselves.

Moreover, if they can get here, they will do it.

For example, if they live with your neighbors and can get into your apartment through an open window or through the ventilation, they will get into your apartment. Whether they will then stay here and live permanently depends on whether they find suitable conditions here. Most likely, they will find it and live. But even if they don’t find them, they will definitely check your home or other premises for suitability for their cockroach life.

Sometimes people bring cockroaches into some premises themselves. For example, cockroaches usually arrive in all supermarkets, canteens, and restaurants in boxes with imported products. And no matter how carefully they are hunted down here, sooner or later these guys will arrive again with a new delivery in some box.

This is how, by the way, cockroaches spread throughout the world. Red cockroaches conquered America, Europe and Africa; American cockroaches, on the contrary, migrated with bananas across the ocean and now breed in basements throughout southern Europe and are found even in Ukraine.

However, cockroaches most often get into apartments and private houses from their neighbors. This is not difficult for them - they run quickly, in the warm season they can live on the street and move between houses, and sometimes even breed in the fields. And they always start up simply because they can get into a new room - there are no special reasons for their appearance.

And this is very important: if you know that in residential areas cockroaches come from neighbors and come here on their own, it means that there are some holes, cracks, openings in the apartment through which these insects can get here. This seems obvious, but this leads to a critically important conclusion: if cockroaches once got into you through such passages, then they will be able to get in again in the future. And if such passages are not blocked - sealed, sealed, siliconed, covered with a net - then even after complete destruction they will sooner or later be able to appear here again. This means that even ideal professional treatment in such a room will provide only a temporary effect. We'll come back to this a little later.

Cockroaches are not dangerous to people

The most common fear associated with cockroaches is the alleged transfer of infections from waste accumulation areas to residential premises. People see how cockroaches run across tables, over food, climb into bread bins, and immediately imagine in vivid colors that just a couple of hours ago this same cockroach could be crawling in a garbage chute, or swarming in the sewer, and now it is trampling bread with these same paws . And he probably picks up various bacteria and viruses in the sewer by the handful, and in a clean kitchen he throws them into the bread...

A cockroach on the handle of a knife - a couple of hours ago it could have been rummaging through the trash can

This is nothing more than speculation. Those cockroaches that live in the apartment run along the walls and floors in the apartment. And, for example, your child, who touches the floor and walls in the apartment with his hands, himself collects in his hands the same garbage that cockroaches can carry onto food or dishes. That is, the cockroaches already living in the apartment do not pollute it with anything new.

Yes, cockroaches can really be swarming in the garbage disposal now, and an hour later they can already be running around your table. But this rarely happens. Single individuals can never move so far. Basically, all these pests move within just one room. Those cockroaches that get into an apartment will clean their legs and antennae many times before climbing onto food, and they will almost certainly not leave sewer or garbage microflora on the food.

Be that as it may, there is not a single case known in which it would be reliably established that a person became infected with any infection that was brought into the room by cockroaches. Cockroaches do not carry any specific human diseases and do not infect people with them.

But what makes cockroaches really dangerous is the allergens they leave in the apartment. Their chitinous shells contain several very aggressive allergens to which many allergy sufferers react. It is believed that a significant part of allergic rhinitis of unknown etiology in people, especially young children, occurs precisely because of an allergy to the shed chitinous covers of cockroach nymphs or to the remains of dead insects. These shells are destroyed over time, their particles fall into dust, are inhaled by humans and cause an allergic runny nose. And if you do not find out that the cause of this runny nose is cockroaches, then after it becomes chronic, it can become complicated and provoke bronchial asthma.

Remains of chitinous coverings of red cockroaches found in the apartment

Similarly, by the way, the remains of cockroaches, which are ground with cocoa beans on plantations and factories in tropical countries, then end up in chocolate and also cause allergies, only this time food allergies, with hives, dermatitis and other troubles. Moreover, scientists believe that almost half of cases of chocolate allergy are actually an allergy not to chocolate, but to particles from the bodies of cockroaches ground together with cocoa beans.

According to sanitary standards, 100 grams of a natural chocolate product - in the same bar, or in candies - can contain up to 60 particles of cockroaches’ bodies visible under a microscope. And this is not considered an excess or any violation of sanitary standards. Moreover, such surprises are equally contained in both simple cheap chocolate and elite bars. Ironically, the less chocolate there is in a chocolate product, the fewer cockroaches there are.

So the main danger of cockroaches is allergies to them.

Cockroaches: description of the species, biology, control methods

Source: geradez.ru

Cockroaches are an order of insects that, according to classification, number more than 4,600 species (not counting 2,900 species of termites). The body is folded in the shape of an elongated ellipse with a massive abdomen, an accentuated pronotum that covers the head like a shield, six legs, and two long antennae.

There are tergites (segments) on the body - up to 10 in the male, up to 7 in the female. The wings are transparent, with membranes, hidden under dense elytra. There are flying species. The legs are adapted for fast running, with spikes. The ovipositor is hidden in females.

The gnawing mouthparts are equipped with strong jaws, and the legs are studded with chitinous spines.

Cockroaches are united by development according to an incomplete transformation cycle, which lasts from 2-3 months to 4 years (depending on the species) and includes an average of 5-8 molts. These insects are predominantly nocturnal, hiding in shelters during the day, loving moisture and warmth. There are winged and wingless, flying and flightless, oviparous and viviparous cockroaches.

Among the synanthropic cockroaches that live in residential and industrial premises in Russia, the most common are red, black, American, and furniture cockroaches.

Red cockroach (Blattella germanica)

Description of the species and biology

Red cockroaches (or cockroaches) are the most common species among synanthropic representatives of the family. Adults come in different colors, up to 1.6 cm in length, and are easily recognized by their characteristic yellow-brown color and two longitudinal dark stripes on the pronotum behind the head.

Developed wings allow red cockroaches to make gliding flights over short distances, but these insects cannot fly fully. Prussians run quickly on horizontal and vertical surfaces, even glossy smooth ones, including the ceiling. Like other types of cockroaches, red cockroaches are active at night.

Houses are first inhabited by kitchens and bathrooms, where it is warm and water is available, and from there they gradually spread to other rooms. Among industrial premises, as a rule, catering establishments, food production, food warehouses and shops suffer from red cockroaches. Prussians are unpretentious in food - they feed on leftover human food, paper, soap, shoe leather and other materials.

Life cycle of a red cockroach

Red cockroaches reproduce all year round, going through three stages of development: egg, larva (or nymph) and adult. The life cycle lasts about one hundred days, but the duration depends on conditions: temperature, diet, injuries.

The female lays up to 400 eggs during her life, bearing 30-40 eggs in brown capsules protruding from under the abdomen, called ootheca. When 1-2 days remain before the appearance of the larvae, the female sheds the ootheca in a secluded place. To bear offspring throughout her life, the female red cockroach only needs one mating.

The larvae emerge from the ootheca as tiny wingless insects. Over time, the nymphs gradually darken, acquiring a brown color and dark stripes on the pronotum. Before turning into a sexually mature insect, the nymph goes through 6 molts. Adults live 5-6 months. In favorable conditions, 75% of the colony of red cockroaches are nymphs, 25% are adult insects.

Why are red cockroaches dangerous?

First of all, the Prussians spoil food. Through contact with sewage and food, red cockroaches transmit infectious diseases: dysentery, diarrhea, salmonellosis, typhoid, gastroenteritis.

When an apartment is extensively infested, the accumulated chitinous skins and remains of cockroaches cause allergic reactions - asthma, rhinitis, conjunctivitis - primarily in children. In addition, at night they can run around a sleeping person, climb into the nose or ear. Surgery is sometimes required to remove the insect from the body.

Where do red cockroaches come from in the house?

Red cockroaches enter the apartment in suitcases and bags after trips, with purchases in cardboard boxes and containers, with used or even new furniture, appliances and other things.

In apartment buildings, Prussians easily move from apartment to apartment through pipes, ventilation shafts, through the door along the landing, and in the summer through a window or balcony.

Signs of infestation with red cockroaches

Fecal traces are in the form of clusters of dark dots, resembling ground black pepper in appearance. These spots appear in kitchen cabinets, on door hinges and frames, in drawers, on the underside of countertops, along baseboards, and in other cracks or corners.
Ootecae are capsules with eggs that females drop before the larvae hatch, inside kitchen furniture, on top of hanging cabinets, under the refrigerator and in other hidden corners.
Specific smell . Red cockroaches secrete a number of odorous compounds. When the population grows, a slight musty smell appears in the air.

Black cockroach (Blatta orientalis)

Description of the species and biology

In general, they are less common than red ones. This type of cockroach is distinguished by a glossy shine, the color varies from reddish-brown to pitch black. Male black cockroaches reach a length of 25 mm, three-quarters of the body is hidden under the wings, the last segments of the abdomen are open. Females are larger in size - up to 32 mm in length, but have no wings at all, and the elytra cover only the first pair of body segments. Both these and these do not fly or jump. Once in the house, black cockroaches run mainly only on the floor, since vertical and smooth surfaces are beyond their control.

Black cockroaches are adapted to survive in their natural environment and live primarily outdoors. Populations of these insects settle in compacted fallen leaves, under stones, debris or boards. Given access, black cockroaches inhabit voids in walls, under floors or porches, and in cities they also live in storm drains and sewers.

Black cockroaches feed on garbage, organic waste that begins to decompose. This species is more dependent on water than others. According to studies, they cannot survive more than two weeks without water, although they can survive without food for up to one month.

Life cycle of a black cockroach

The life cycle of black cockroaches, like that of red ones, consists of three stages: egg, larva, imago. Sexually mature male black cockroaches live 110-160 days, females - 35-180 days. During this period, the female lays an average of 8 capsules (ootheca) with eggs - 15-16 pieces in each. 30 hours after the capsule appears, the female discards it in a protected place, where it remains until the larvae emerge.

The development period of black cockroaches largely depends on the time of year and climate. In warm months, the period from egg to adult takes up to 200 days, but in cold weather this period extends to 800 days.

Where do black cockroaches come from and why are they dangerous?

Black cockroaches thrive in port cities and throughout the southern part of Russia, and are also found in temperate regions. These insects prefer cool, damp places, so they are often found in the basements of city houses, from where they travel along sanitary communications: toilets, sinks and heating pipes.

Although the natural habitat of black cockroaches is natural, they sometimes get into houses in the summer. Often concentrated near water sources.

Due to their feeding habits and lifestyle, black cockroaches carry dangerous foodborne pathogens such as salmonellosis and others on their legs and bodies.

Signs of black cockroach infestation

Insects appear near the house on the street. During warmer months, black cockroaches congregate under damp gutters, scurrying out of storm drains and sewers at night. In damp, dark, unused rooms they sometimes catch your eye even during the day.
Ootecae (or capsules with eggs) of black cockroaches are dark brown or reddish-brown in color, 8-10 mm in length - a sign of the presence of these insects.
The characteristic smell indicates an overgrown colony. This smell is a consequence of the chemicals secreted by cockroaches, with the help of which insects communicate within the population.

American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)

Description of the species and biology

The American cockroach is painted in mahogany color with the addition of yellow shades; the outline of the pronotum is decorated with a bright yellow stripe. Body length reaches 50 mm. The preferred method of movement for the American cockroach is fast running. Nymphs are wingless and do not fly, but adults, both males and females, are equipped with wings and are capable of jumping and making short flights, for example, gliding from a high tree or ceiling.

The American cockroach lives both in the wild and in human homes. In nature, these insects love warm, damp places and settle in trees, flower beds, and under fallen leaves. In Russian cities they are found sporadically - usually in storm drains and sewers. American cockroaches enter people's homes in search of water and food. Once in a living space, they take up residence in the basement, attic, bathroom or kitchen.

In the wild, American cockroaches eat leaves, wood particles, mushrooms and small insects. In the house they feed on found food scraps or pet food, fresh or decaying waste, and do not disdain paper, soap, hair, and book bindings. Like other species, American cockroaches obtain food mainly at night, and hide in shelters during the day.

Life cycle of the American cockroach

5-7 days after mating, the female American cockroach begins to bear capsules with eggs. Each ootheca contains 15-16 eggs. One to two days after the capsule is formed, the female deposits it in a hidden place, attaching it to the surface with her own saliva. Under favorable temperature conditions, the larvae will appear in 25-35 days.

As they grow, nymphs go through 10-13 stages of development, each time shedding their old skin (exoskeleton). With each subsequent stage, the nymphs look more and more like adult cockroaches. After the final molt, they gain wings and the ability to reproduce. The development process takes from 6 months to a year, adults live on average one year.

Where do American cockroaches come from and why are they dangerous?

The flattened, soft body of the American cockroach easily enters the house through gaps in door and window frames, through ducts in walls along gas and electrical lines, or from the basement through cracks in the floor. Cockroaches are driven into human homes by the search for food and water, as well as by worsening weather.

American cockroaches are considered dangerous pests as they contaminate food products, transmit infectious diseases, and cause allergies. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), these insects carry organisms that cause diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, leprosy, plague, typhoid fever and viral diseases such as polio.

Signs of an American cockroach infestation

The appearance of cockroaches in the yard of a house . These insects run quickly; when danger appears, they rush to take refuge in dark areas; they can even fly out of fright. If residents notice American cockroaches outside, they could also get inside.
feces accumulate in dark hiding places: in the basement, pantry, behind the refrigerator or other kitchen appliances. They are sometimes confused with mouse droppings, which are similar in size. They differ in that cockroach droppings are blunt at the ends and grooved on the sides, while mouse droppings are pointed at the ends and contain hair, as mice groom their fur.
Capsules with eggs (oothecae) of American cockroaches are 30-35 mm in length, dark brown with a reddish tint. They are found in the basement, bathroom or kitchen - behind cabinets, electrical appliances and other things.
Specific smell . American cockroaches secrete a chemical called "aggregation pheromone." The smell of this chemical causes insects to stay together in groups. Some people describe the smell of these pheromones as a "musty" smell. As the population begins to grow, people with sensitive noses begin to notice the smell.

Furniture cockroach (Supella longipalpa)

Description of the species and biology

The furniture cockroach is a member of the family with a bright light brown color and compact size. The body length of the imago is 11-14 mm. The wings of furniture cockroaches are transparent, in males they protrude beyond the edge of the abdomen, in females they are shorter - they cover two-thirds of the abdomen. Furniture cockroaches are capable of jumping and flying.

Unlike red cockroaches, which prefer warm and humid environments, furniture cockroaches love dry and hot conditions. Therefore, this species is found mainly in warm climate zones. Furniture cockroaches also make their home in well-heated rooms, for example, in hospitals or kindergartens. Like other species, they are active mainly at night.

Furniture cockroaches are unpretentious eaters, but prefer to feed on materials with a high starch content: book binding, wallpaper glue or postage stamps.

Life cycle of a furniture cockroach

Adult furniture cockroaches live 130-315 days, the average life expectancy is 210 days. During this period, the female lays an average of 14 oothecae with eggs, 10-18 pieces in each. The female incubates the ootheca for 24-36 hours and then attaches it to the hidden lower surface until the larvae emerge. The development time of larvae after hatching from eggs varies depending on environmental conditions, ranging from 90-270 days.

Where do furniture cockroaches come from and why are they dangerous?

Just like red cockroaches, furniture cockroaches enter the room with things and furniture. Once inside, they find dry, warm places (bookcases, sideboards, storage rooms, electrical appliances) and settle down there. Furniture cockroaches tend to avoid water sources and are more often found in the ceiling area.

Furniture cockroaches have been found to carry and spread harmful bacteria and protozoa that cause gastroenteritis and diarrhea. Indoors, these insects sometimes cause asthma and allergies.

Signs of furniture cockroach infestation

Insects discovered . Although furniture cockroaches are nocturnal, they sometimes scurry around during the day in search of food. When you open a cabinet door or drawer, you can see them rushing for cover.
Faecal stains that appear as brown or black dots. Furniture cockroaches use these points as a means of communication within the population, marking safe places to gather in groups. Such marks are usually observed along ceiling skirting boards, near lamps or under paintings and photographs on the walls.
Ootheca with eggs 4-5 mm long are usually invisible, as they are hidden on the lower protected surfaces or in crevices. However, after the appearance of the larvae, the hiding places of furniture cockroaches immediately become obvious.

Methods for controlling cockroaches

Cockroaches penetrate everywhere, multiply quickly, and are able to go for months without food and weeks without water. Controlling cockroaches is a difficult task. The correct strategy first of all includes preliminary cleaning and preparation of the premises, constant maintenance of the required sanitary standards and monitoring of the situation after disinfestation.

Cleaning and preparing the premises

Without cleaning, any pest control program will be a failure. Sources of food, water and places suitable for shelter must be eliminated.

Eliminating food sources

Wash the kitchen and kitchen appliances. Red, black and American cockroaches live in the kitchen due to dried smudges, splashes of grease, fallen crumbs and food particles under the microwave, stove or refrigerator. Wash the floor under large appliances and the kitchen work area, clean the hob, the stove body on the back and sides, and the space under the sink.
Empty and clean cabinets. Spilled particles of sugar, tea, cereals, spilled drops of oil or soy sauce are a feast for cockroaches. Put things in order in this area to block their access to food here.
Store food in tightly sealed containers. Cockroaches easily climb into cardboard boxes and printed bags. Keep food in metal, glass or plastic airtight containers.
Limit eating to one room in the house (kitchen or dining room). Keeping food and eating in one place will prevent crumbs, forgotten dirty dishes and spills from appearing in your rooms. This will make it easier to maintain the necessary cleanliness.
Clean your kitchen every night before you go to bed. Cockroaches come out at night in search of food, and thorough cleaning will not leave food for the mustachioed pests. Wipe countertops thoroughly, do not leave dirty dishes out overnight, wash the floor and put food away.
Vacuum or sweep other (non-food) areas every 3-4 days. Cleaning up stray crumbs, cockroach feces, skins and egg capsules, which contain pheromones that attract other cockroaches, will help keep your apartment clean.
Do not leave pet food bowls open overnight.
Keep the trash can clean and tightly closed.

Eliminating water sources

Fix water leaks in faucets and pipes.

Before going to bed, wipe the sinks, bathtub and shower stall dry, and plug the drains.
Seal wet kitchen wipes and dish sponges in a sealed plastic bag or container overnight.
Drain your pet's water bowls at night and refill them in the morning.
Also seal your toothbrushes in a sealed bag or case.
Empty the refrigerator tray every evening.

Removing hiding places for cockroaches

Caulk cracks and cracks where cockroaches might hide with caulk or sealant.
Seal holes in walls, floors, or ceilings where pipes, electrical wiring, and other cables pass.
Make sure there are no gaps in window and door frames that would allow cockroaches access from the outside.
Cover with tape any cracks or holes in the microwave, toaster, coffee maker, kitchen scales, or other household appliances where signs of cockroaches have been observed.

Pest control

One of the methods of disinfestation is spraying with an aqueous solution of a concentrated pesticide the surfaces on which cockroaches nest and move. To carry it out, you need to turn to professionals!

Empty kitchen cabinets of food and dishes, do a thorough cleaning, move the refrigerator and other furniture. Clear the perimeter of the walls in the rooms to process the baseboards.
Send residents out of the apartment for 4-5 hours.
Use a respirator to protect your breathing and rubber gloves.
Prepare a room and access to water for the disinfectant.
A specialist must carefully clean the places in the kitchen where cockroaches hide: behind furniture, under the sink, along baseboards, and others. In rooms, you should walk along the walls and in those areas where there are concentrations of cockroaches. Ventilation openings, water supply and sewer risers should also be treated.
After treatment, ventilate the apartment until the solution dries and the smell disappears.
After this, wet clean contact surfaces to prevent the chemical from entering the body with food or through hands. Do not wash off the product from baseboards and other non-contact surfaces for as long as the chemical is active.

Layout of gel baits

After emptying the kitchen cabinets, apply the gel to:

internal joints and corners
hinges and fastenings
line of contact between sink and countertop
joints of water pipes and drains under the sink
perimeter of the back wall of the cabinets adjacent to the wall
legs of the refrigerator, dishwasher, stove and built-in cabinets
baseboard behind the refrigerator, areas behind the microwave or other appliances

Do not use gel baits and sharp contact insecticides at the same time in the same room. This combination weakens the luring effect of the gel.

Application of glue traps

Sticky traps, as an aid, physically eliminate part of the population and help monitor the size of the colony. Place traps in cockroach hiding places: under the sink, under built-in cabinets, behind the refrigerator and washing machine, on hanging cabinets or in other suitable places. Lay out traps at the rate of 2-3 pieces per 10 square meters.

Monitoring and prevention

After the measures taken, continue to maintain the sanitary regime described above.
Check glue traps every 2-3 days and replace with new ones as needed.
Install grilles with fine mesh on the ventilation vents.
Make sure that cockroaches do not have access to water and food.
Do not crush cockroaches - these insects accumulate in shelters, and a poisoned individual will bring a portion of the toxic dose to its relatives.
If you are planning an apartment renovation, refrain from covering walls with plastic or other panels, suspended ceilings, or decor that creates hidden spaces that are inaccessible for monitoring and processing.

The number of insects will decrease gradually. According to sanitary standards, a room is considered free of cockroaches if insects do not appear within 2 months (provided that adjacent rooms are not infested and cockroaches are sensitive to pesticides).

If you have cockroaches, we strongly recommend that you contact a professional. Details can be found on the hotline or at our disinfection stations.

Cockroaches don't bite people

Even the largest representatives of cockroaches are harmless. For example, giant Madagascar cockroaches hiss when frightened and hope to scare away the offender, but they almost never use their jaws.

Moreover, Prussians and black cockroaches do not bite people.

These games with cockroaches are completely safe

There is an opinion that with a very large number of cockroaches in the room and a complete absence of food here, these insects can gnaw the skin of a sleeping person. There is even allegedly evidence that on ships in ancient times, cockroaches gnawed off the skin of people's fingers.

In fact, today in no residential building can a situation arise in which cockroaches become so hungry that they begin to bite people. They can go from any room to where there is normal food that is safe for them. And there is always enough food for them in human housing.

As a rule, people want to consider bumps on their bodies to be cockroach bites when they convince themselves to the last minute that there are no bedbugs in their house. Some people are terrified of bedbugs, others cannot admit to themselves or their relatives that bedbugs live in the house, and they come up with any explanation for the bumps on their skin - including trying to explain to themselves that they are being bitten by cockroaches.

In fact, there is no documented case in which it would be reliably confirmed that a person was bitten by a red or black cockroach. If you can photograph something like this, please send us such confirmation. It is very interesting.

Plus, in such quantities that cockroaches in housing are critically short of food, they do not accumulate here. When there are a lot of them, some of them spread out into neighboring rooms and their number in the apartment never exceeds a certain threshold. Although…

Dragonfly

The dragonfly is considered the fastest insect in the world, which can reach flight speeds of up to 97 km/h. The normal flight speed is 30 km/h. They are classified as predatory insects. When scientists began studying dragonflies in 1999, they learned that dragonflies don't "track" their prey by flying through the air, they "intercept" it. In other words, dragonflies ensure a precise kill of the prey by flying to where the prey will be after some time. This indicates that dragonflies calculate three things when hunting: the distance to their prey, the direction in which it is moving, and the speed at which it is flying. Within milliseconds, the dragonfly calculates the angle from which it should approach, and, like in a horror film, the unfortunate victim is already waiting on the spot, who flies into its claws, without knowing it.

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Cockroaches reproduce very quickly

This is especially true for red cockroaches. This is the key to their survival and the reason why they are so difficult to fight.

An adult cockroach lives for about six months to a year. During this time, the female manages to bear and lay from four to eight oothecae with eggs. Such a capsule with eggs, when seen on a cockroach, is sometimes mistakenly considered one egg. From each such ootheca emerge from 8 to 56 nymphs, which over the next 50-60 days molt 7 times and turn into adult cockroaches. That is, already two months later, these small cockroaches themselves will reach the age when they begin to reproduce.

By the way, immediately after molting, each cockroach remains white for several hours. These are not albinos, as is sometimes mistakenly believed. These are just nymphs with body coverings that have not yet hardened...

At the same time, cockroaches do not have any natural enemies in the apartment - no one eats them here on purpose, and even if some domestic animal does this, it eats insects only occasionally, just when they meet. The general population of insects in the apartment does not suffer from this.

As a result, the number of cockroaches in an apartment, under conditions suitable for them, grows very quickly, one might even say rapidly. Consequently, even minor delays in their destruction, including attempts to try to remove them using unreliable means on the principle of “maybe it will help,” end in hundreds of cockroaches behind the refrigerator and shock for the owners, to whom the exterminator shows such nests.

For example, watch the video from the processing, where the master discovers many hundreds of cockroaches in the apartment:

In red cockroaches, this ability to reproduce quickly is especially noticeable due to their peculiar care for their offspring.

Bee

The list of the fastest insects in the world rightfully includes the bee . The bee's flight speed is 65 km/h, which is approximately the same as the speed of a car in the city. In one flight, a bee collects almost as much nectar as it weighs. With a full honey ventricle, a bee can reach speeds of up to 30 km/h. To collect 1 kg of nectar, a bee will have to make up to 150 thousand flights from the hive. On average, a bee travels up to 3 kilometers in one flight. To produce a kilogram of honey, a bee needs to fly an average of 450 thousand kilometers. This means that the distance a bee flies is similar to the distance it would take to circle the Earth's equator approximately 10 times.

Prussians protect their eggs

Not so directly that they protect them and drive predators away from them. Their care is different: females carry oothecae with eggs at the end of the abdomen almost until the very moment when the larvae hatch from the eggs. Thus, the eggs, which could be eaten by any predator or even another cockroach, are always with the female, who can escape in case of danger. And the larvae emerging from these eggs themselves hide quite effectively.

Ootheca of the red cockroach shortly before the larvae hatch

Due to this, by the way, red cockroaches displace black ones in those places where these species are found together.

The fact is that female black cockroaches lay ootheca a few days after the entire capsule has formed, and for several more weeks such ootheca simply lies where the mother left it until the nymphs hatch from the eggs. If red cockroaches find this capsule, they happily eat it. Thus, in those places where red and black cockroaches live next to each other, the red ones completely destroy the new generation of black ones, and the more Russians appear here, the less chance the eggs of black cockroaches have to survive.

For this reason, the black cockroach, although it remains a widespread species, is much less common than the red one.

Interestingly, the same feature that ensures the high survival rate of red cockroach eggs also makes it easier to control.

There are almost never any eggs of red cockroaches in the room, which means that after good disinsection, nymphs should not appear here.

This feature is especially clearly visible when comparing the baiting of cockroaches with the baiting of bedbugs. Bedbugs often have to be poisoned twice because after the first treatment, eggs remain in the room, which are not affected by insecticides. As a result, when baited, adult bedbugs and larvae die, but new larvae hatch from the eggs after a few days. They grow, begin to bite people and need to be re-poisoned before they reach maturity.

Red cockroaches do not have eggs indoors. Such eggs are either carried by the female, or after laying, larvae hatch from them within a few hours. The probability that at the very moment of treatment one of the females will lay such a capsule and nymphs will emerge from it at that very moment is minimal. Even if this happens, all newly hatched nymphs will immediately come into contact with the product that has not yet dried and die. This means that in one treatment you can destroy all the cockroaches in the apartment. Moreover...

TOP 9: New facts about cockroaches that you would rather not know

Cockroaches don't make people decide whether to love them or hate them. Most of us would dream of seeing every cockroach on the planet burn in the flames of hell. The only people who have a weird affinity for these insects are the “I feed them to my snakes” weirdos. This says a lot.

But there is a side to cockroaches that you probably didn't know about. The side you don't want to know. These running little insects are truly amazing creatures. There's a reason for the cliché that cockroaches will survive the apocalypse. That's because they're super terrible. And that's why…

9. Their milk could be the world's next superfood

There is one species of cockroach in the world whose females, contrary to God and all that is holy, give birth to live babies and actually produce milk for these creepy newborns. The Diploptera punctate species of cockroach receives a rich protein liquid from its mother that is four times richer in nutrients than cow's milk. And science believes that this “milk” could become the new superfood. For people.

One protein crystal of this cockroach milk contains three times more energy than buffalo milk. And buffalo milk is better than cow milk. Obviously, scientists know that creating cockroach milking facilities is a fool's errand, so they want to create the same protein crystals in the laboratory. The benefits are obvious: it's incredibly rich in calories and nutrients, and it's long-lasting, so your body will get the benefits when it needs it. Science believes that such crystals will be especially useful for poor countries, since they can provide a large amount of calories. Cockroach milk calories.

8. They can run at a speed of almost 5 km per hour. And even faster

Most cockroaches you encounter are scurrying, running creatures. As soon as you turn on the light, they rush in different directions. But if you witness a major invasion, they will not even consider it necessary to leave the room. They will stare at you as if you are trespassing on their territory. Perhaps they are right.

Most likely, you did not pay attention to the speed of their movement because you froze in horror. But they are very fast. Just unbelieveble. The speed of the cockroach was detected and it was almost 5 km per hour. You may have noticed that if you live in a cool enough climate, they usually don't unfurl their wings and fly. But if it's hot enough where you live, they can also fly.

7. Females can save sperm for later.

Like a group of girls fighting off a bunch of jerks at a club, female cockroaches are known to crowd together to fight off thirsty males. Since female cockroaches are larger, together they repel aggressive males who want to mate.

It turns out that females don't need males that much, period. Of course, they need males for mating, but even then they can take the male's sperm and store it in their bodies until a more opportune moment. In fact, in one mating they can produce so much sperm that they will never need to mate again in their lives (usually for about a year).

6. If you have termites, then you have cockroaches.

One of the common fears of those who buy a house is: will there be termites in the wood? Once they're there, who knows how much damage they've already done? Termites do not sleep, so they constantly feed on wood. Another interesting fact: some termite queens can lay up to 40,000 eggs per day. And here's another addition to your nightmares: termites are cockroaches!

Without any need other than to annoy ordinary people, science has discovered that termites are social cockroaches. Although there are certain differences in that termites, for example, build colonies, and cockroaches are less friendly, and they eat different things, science has long known that they are genetically related. The predilection of cockroaches for eating feces was the very fact with which science connected these types of insects. Scientists believe that long ago, their ancestors' ability to eat feces evolved into the ability to eat wood, leading to the evolution of termites.

5. They fart (a lot)

Of all the farting creatures that live in this world, insects seem to be the least prone to it. But, amazingly, they do it! Considering the size of their bodies, there are so many questions that arise. Can you hear them doing it? Do they giggle at their own farts? Do they smell bad?

Science has no answers to these questions. It is difficult to say whether the gases produced as a result of digestion actually come from the insect's anus. We know that cockroaches have intestines and anus, and that they sometimes release an insane amount of gas. One interesting piece of evidence that ancient cockroaches emitted gases is ancient cockroaches encased in amber surrounded by bubbles of their own gases.

4. You ate more of them than you think

When you hear about "acceptable levels" of pests and animal droppings in your food, this is something that has been scientifically measured and something that will not harm you. Food products may contain insect parts and, in some cases, insect heads. Spices like oregano and cinnamon seem to be particularly rich in insect limbs and bodies.

Cockroaches are very good at finding food, so they often become part of it. They secrete special chemicals to “recommend” to their relatives the newest “restaurants” nearby. As we have already said, cockroaches are usually not dangerous to humans, but sometimes they can create certain health problems. Crushed cockroach parts in chocolate cause allergic reactions that most medical professionals have previously attributed to the ingredients in the chocolate. In most cases, it turns out that cockroach parts were the cause.

3. They have their own "neighborhoods"

In the vast New York City there are many different, distinct areas. They vary in landscape, topography, local population and other factors. They smoothly flow into each other, but each has its own character. Oddly enough, urban cockroaches have similarities with them.

Just like individual areas, the cockroaches in some of them are distinct and do not extend beyond this radius. Moreover, they may recognize that other cockroaches are “native” to other areas. And although they are known to mate with each other, they prefer to stay in their own "neighborhoods." It's pretty cute.

2. China has huge cockroach farms

There is a huge food waste problem in the world. And China is no exception. There is a real crisis there because too much food is going to landfills. And all this can only rot. But what to do with an incredible amount of food? Beijing alone accounts for 9 million tons of food waste per year. What did they come up with? You are reading an article about cockroaches. So of course their proposed answer is an unrealistic number of cockroaches.

To solve this problem, billions and billions of cockroaches are being raised throughout China. On one particularly busy farm, more than a billion cockroaches can deal with about 50 tons of food waste a day. There are other ways to use the cockroaches in these huge cockroach farms, such as to create cosmetics or as livestock feed, but just imagine a billion cockroaches feasting on rotting waste and save your lunch.

1. They practically defy the laws of physics when they walk upside down.

If you're looking for a ninja from the insect world, the cockroach is a great choice. They manage to do a great job of avoiding any moves you make that could result in their death, and that's partly because they're tiny and fast and can squeeze into tight holes, but that's not all.

The ability of a cockroach to run to the edge and then quickly roll over and disappear may seem like something normal, but in fact the laws of physics come into play. The cockroach grabs the edge of the ledge with its tiny claws on its hind legs, and then, like a pendulum, makes a 180-degree flip and ends up upside down, under the ledge. Scientists couldn't understand the complexity of this movement until they used high-speed cameras. The cockroach looks like a small, shiver-inducing ballerina.

Cockroaches die from most insecticides

We have already tested more than 40 drugs based on various insecticides. In the form of an aerosol, almost any means kills red and black cockroaches.

So, in our experiments, cockroaches from different apartments and from different industrial enterprises were successfully killed:

Get Total and Get Express
Executioner
Chalk Mashenka (!)
Boric acid and borax
Karbofos
Cifox
Combat
Sinuzan
Averfos
Lambda Zone
Various aerosols from the Raid and Raptor lines
Hector from cockroaches

It was not possible to kill the cockroaches with Phenaxin powder, permethrin-based smoke bombs and several gels. We believe that the point here is not so much in the active substance, but in the preparative form of the products themselves. For example, an aerosol with fipronil quickly killed cockroaches that had not previously been “taken” by a gel based on the same fipronil.

In any case, cockroaches indoors can be completely exterminated at one time with a relatively inexpensive means. If this fails, it means that the product is being used incorrectly. If you manage to destroy cockroaches, but then they appear again, it means that the places where they enter the room are simply not blocked.

We have completely removed cockroaches from apartments many times. In one heavily infested apartment, we even shot two videos: one before treatment, so that you could assess the degree of infection and look at the procedure for disinfestation itself, and the second, three weeks after the persecution, when not a single live cockroach could be found in the apartment.

In most cases, DezinCity specialists poison cockroaches with exactly this result; in the most difficult situations, after the second treatment, not a single cockroach remains in the apartment. And the exterminator always warns the customer that if cockroaches once got into the apartment, then in the future they will be able to do this again and will probably do so. People nod their heads in understanding, promise to find and block all ways for cockroaches to enter the apartment, but forget about this exactly at the moment when the exterminator leaves the apartment. But they remember after a couple of weeks, when they notice new newcomers. That is, when it is too late to eliminate the routes of their penetration.

Cockroaches are not afraid of repellers

Neither ultrasonic, nor electromagnetic, nor magnetic resonance. Such repellers are nothing more than dummy toys for those who want to try their luck before a normal pest control and throw away a couple of hundred rubles with the expectation of “what if it helps?” Will not help. Even theoretically, there is no principle according to which a signal from such repellers could scare away cockroaches. But in fact, such repellers are nothing more than a box with a light bulb, for the blinking of which the buyer, in fact, pays money.

Not a single case has been confirmed in which such devices would get rid of cockroaches

At every second treatment, experienced exterminators listen to stories from clients that before calling the service, a person tried to fight cockroaches with repellents, but was unable to completely remove the insects. Moreover, people seriously believe that a certain ultrasonic signal from such a device, plugged into an outlet, is really effective against cockroaches, capable of scaring off and even killing these insects. It’s only a pity that over the years of treatment, specialists have not found a single cockroach that would have suffered from the repeller. But more traditional methods are quite effective. For example…

Cockroaches die quickly at high temperatures and frost

It is known that cockroaches generally cannot tolerate negative temperatures. In this regard, they are even more vulnerable than bedbugs: bedbugs can survive long-term cooling down to -5 - -10°C, and cockroaches die at -5°C within a few hours.

Likewise, both red and black cockroaches die in less than an hour at air temperatures above +45°C.

This means that you can destroy them indoors, for example, using an industrial heat dryer. They warm up the air to 50-55°C, this temperature is maintained for 1.5-2 hours, and there are no live cockroaches left here. Moreover, such a disposal will be completely safe for people and pets - cats and dogs.

It's easy to kill cockroaches

And all the problems with exterminating them are related to the fact that it is much more difficult to prevent them from getting into the room again.

It is simply surprising that most people understand this, but do not take any measures to find and block the entry points of cockroaches into the premises.

For example, we regularly communicate by phone with customers of an online store that sells insect repellents. And many quite sensible people tell us that they have poisoned cockroaches many times with various means. These remedies work, the cockroaches disappear, but then appear again. And when we say that in this case there is probably a repeated migration of cockroaches from neighbors, people agree and say that they understand this.

The most amazing thing is that, realizing this, they continue to look for a new super-effective remedy that could both destroy cockroaches and prevent their reappearance. People cannot answer the question of how such a remedy could work to prevent cockroaches from getting into the apartment. Apparently they are hoping for a miracle.

But there is no miracle. The whole secret of exterminating cockroaches is to find, while they are living in the apartment, through which holes and cracks they get in, then seal these routes of entry, and then poison those insects that are already in the apartment. Moreover, such blocking of the “entrance gate” is an inexpensive procedure. Usually it requires a tube of silicone sealant or a can of polyurethane foam, which is enough to seal the cracks and holes found. And during normal renovations in an apartment, there are usually very few such entrance gates - literally two or three small cracks, in the bathroom or kitchen. Why people don’t do this, but prefer to live with cockroaches for years, fight them and look for more and more new means to destroy them, is a big mystery to us.

There is another life hack for those who don’t want to seal cracks and holes...

Water strider

Water striders are known as the fastest insects that live on the surface of the water. These representatives of the suborder of bedbugs are capable of moving at a speed of 4-5 km/h

In full accordance with Cassier's law, unique microhairs located on the water strider's legs allow it to glide through the water. The body of the water strider remains completely dry. In slow motion footage, scientists observe the movement of a water strider, which evokes an association with the movements of a speed skater.

Cockroaches can and should be poisoned by teaming up with neighbors

This is obvious: if cockroaches live with neighbors, then it is from the neighbors that they can migrate to you after destruction. If you team up with your neighbors and poison cockroaches in all neighboring apartments at once, then there will be no re-infestation - the cockroaches simply will have nowhere to come from. Provided, of course, that not a single treated apartment borders an infected premises.

Therefore, re-infestation occurs much less frequently in private houses: they do not border on other premises at all, and in order to infect them, cockroaches must come here through the street, which happens relatively rarely.

Hawk Moths

Hawk moths are butterflies that are considered the fastest in the world. When flying, lepidopteran insects are capable of reaching speeds of up to 54 km/h. They fly better than all other butterflies. They spend a lot of time in the air, and are able to hover over a flower and suck nectar from the flowers with their long proboscis. Thanks to this, they play an important role in pollinating flowers with deep corollas. They flap their wings very quickly, like hummingbirds, as if they “stand” in the air above a flower, and they are sometimes confused with these birds. Some genera of hawk moths fly during the day.

You can protect your apartment from cockroaches even if the whole house is infested with them.

Very often we hear statements that it is impossible to protect yourself from cockroaches, because they have already crawled throughout the house.

But exterminators, even in infested houses, saw apartments without a single cockroach. And such apartments are not always ideally renovated. True, there are almost always cautious and prudent people who live there, who know that a tube of silicone sealant costs much less than professional pest control or a kit of cockroach killers. In such apartments, the joints between pipes and walls are insulated, the entrance doors are sealed, there are small mesh on the ventilation, and there are no cockroaches. Although literally behind the wall of such an apartment, insects are literally swarming.

The most important thing: to protect your apartment from cockroaches in this way, you do not need to make new repairs here. Pointed, cheap, but correct solutions will be quite enough to completely block cockroaches from accessing your chambers.