What Attracts Cockroaches to Your Home.

What Attracts Cockroaches to Your Home?

Cockroaches are highly adaptable and primarily seek three things within a structure: food, water, and shelter. Eliminating these resources is key to long-term control.

Food Sources

• Dirty Dishes & Food Waste: Unwashed dishes left in the sink, food crumbs on the floor, and accessible garbage cans are their main food sources.

• Grease: Grease buildup behind stoves, inside cabinets, and on vent hoods is highly attractive to them.

• Pet Food: Pet bowls left out overnight provide an easy, dependable food source.

• Any Organic Material: They will eat almost anything, including glue (behind wallpaper or stamps), cardboard, and soiled clothing.

Water & Moisture

• Leaky Pipes: Constant drips from faucets, pipes under sinks, or leaky toilets provide the essential moisture they need to survive.

• Condensation: Water accumulating under the refrigerator or around air conditioning units creates perfect hiding and drinking spots.

• Standing Water: Wet sponges, mop heads, or condensation on pipes in crawl spaces are major attractants.

Shelter & Warmth

• Clutter: Piles of newspapers, stacks of cardboard boxes, and stored junk provide ideal, tight hiding spots close to food and water.

• Cracks and Voids: Cockroaches prefer tight, dark spaces like cracks in the walls, behind baseboards, under cabinets, and within wall voids where they feel protected.

• Warm Appliances: The motors and heat from refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers offer them warmth and security.

What to Do When You Have Roaches

• If you discover cockroaches, immediate action is necessary to stop them before the population explodes.

  
  

  Step 1: Sanitation & Exclusion

  
  

  • Deep Clean Immediately: Perform a thorough cleaning. Focus on eliminating grease buildup and food debris behind appliances.

  • Eliminate Water Sources: Fix all leaky faucets and pipes, and wipe down sinks and condensation sources before bed.

  • Seal Entry Points: Caulk cracks and crevices around baseboards, pipes, and utility lines where they hide and enter from walls.

  
  

  Step 2: Strategic Treatment

  
  

  • Do NOT Use Bug Bombs (Foggers): These are ineffective, cause bugs to scatter deeper into the walls, and can make professional treatment harder.

  • Use Baits: Apply professional-grade cockroach gel baits in cracks and dark, inaccessible areas (under sinks, behind the fridge). Baits are effective because roaches consume them and carry the poison back to the nest.

  • Place Monitors: Use sticky glue traps behind appliances and in cabinets to monitor activity and catch stray roaches.

  
  

  Step 3: Contact a Professional

  
  

  • Seek Expert Help: Cockroaches are notoriously resilient, and over-the-counter methods often fail to eliminate the eggs and deep harborages.

  • Professional Treatment: A pest control expert uses targeted residual treatments and growth regulators to break the cockroach life cycle, ensuring complete colony eradication.