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.

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.

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.

How do you know that cockroaches live here?

If you suspect that there is a black kitchen or red locust in the apartment, you need to inspect the following places for the presence of excrement, eggs and chitinous cover:

under the sink;
under the baseboard;
large and small cracks in the floor and furniture;
under the refrigerator;
ventilation and air conditioning system openings;
interior space of a microwave oven, built-in furniture drawers, oven;
the cavity between the walls and peeling wallpaper.

If we talk about the sanitary room, the space under the bathtub, mirror, sink, wall cabinet, between the box and the pipe riser deserves special attention.

Where do
cockroaches in the house, and how to find their nest?
Among the large order of cockroaches, numbering over 4,600 species, some representatives prefer to live under the same roof with humans. But this is not very attractive for the owner of his own corner, because in houses where cockroaches live, sanitary and hygienic conditions worsen and the risk of infectious diseases increases. And in general, a nest of cockroaches in an apartment by its very appearance disgusts people.

If you've ever encountered a cockroach at home, in a restaurant, or in a public restroom, it may have been a black cockroach (Blatta orientalis), an American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), or a furniture cockroach (Supella longipalpa). But it is more likely that it was a red cockroach (Blattella germanica), or simply, a Prussian cockroach - the most common species of synanthropic cockroaches. Meeting a cockroach indoors, regardless of its species, is unlikely to make anyone happy, and even more so if it happens at home.

How to find out if there are cockroaches in an apartment

Cockroaches are cautious insects, and therefore try to literally stay in the shadows; direct rays of light signal to them the danger of being noticed. Therefore, once inside the house, cockroaches choose darkened places hidden from view for shelter.

To understand that there are cockroaches in the apartment, it is enough to simply see at least one insect. Usually, the first encounter with cockroaches at home occurs at night, when you suddenly turn on the light in the kitchen or bathroom. At night, cockroaches crawl out of their crevices and go in search of food and water, but they are often seen during the day.

An indirect sign of the presence of cockroaches in the house will be the products of their vital activity - dark fecal spots and capsules with eggs, called ootheca.

Such evidence is found, for example, in kitchen drawers, under the sink, or on the hinges of cabinets and interior doors. And the fact that the colony of cockroaches in the apartment has reached alarming proportions will also be indicated by a specific smell.

Where do
cockroaches in an apartment
? We realized that cockroaches find convenient crevices, cracks, gaps and other secluded places in the house, and arrange shelters there. To feel comfortable, cockroaches require warmth, as well as access to water and food. According to these parameters, the kitchen, bathroom and toilet are ideal in the apartment - the top rooms where cockroaches live.

Areas suitable for cockroaches to live in the kitchen: the space under the sink, behind and under the refrigerator, inside built-in kitchen furniture, inside a microwave oven and other kitchen appliances. Cockroaches also inhabit cracks in baseboards and ceiling moldings, cavities under peeling wallpaper, gaps between hanging cabinets and the wall, hidden spaces on the floor under the kitchen work area, ventilation holes, and so on.

In sanitary rooms, cockroaches hide under the bathtub, under the hanging mirror, in cabinets, in boxes hiding pipe risers. If the rooms are lined with plastic panels, this creates a lot of additional space where cockroaches can hide.

As their numbers grow, pests also look for convenient places to hide in other areas of the apartment: furniture, baseboards, household appliances - any nook. The number of hiding places for cockroaches in an apartment directly depends on its technical condition. If the house has not been renovated for a long time, there are a lot of cracks in the floor and walls, and the wallpaper is peeling off, then cockroaches have room to roam.

The situation with cockroaches also depends on how carefully the house is kept clean and tidy. If the owners do not allow dirty dishes, crumbs and food leftovers to remain on the tables overnight, if the floor is regularly wet cleaned, and grease does not accumulate on the kitchen stove, then it will not be easy for cockroaches to find food.

Where is the nest usually located?

At first, when an apartment is infested, cockroaches behave cautiously and try not to be seen, only coming out at night to look for food. But if at least one was noticed, it means that insects intend to settle here, and perhaps a nest of cockroaches has already appeared in the apartment.

To find out and prevent cockroaches from breeding, arm yourself with a flashlight and inspect the apartment, starting with the kitchen and bathroom. Check cabinets under sinks, kitchen drawers, food and dish cabinets and shelves, look under window sills and behind radiators. Move the refrigerator away from the wall and inspect the back wall, remove or lift wall cabinets to see if cockroaches are hiding under them. Use a flashlight to illuminate the ventilation openings and risers, and check the space under the bathtub and washing machine.

Be sure to look under the microwave, electric kettle, coffee maker and other appliances. Cockroaches love to hide in cardboard boxes, so check them if you have any. If the linoleum in your kitchen or bathroom is loose, lift up the edges and inspect the floor, paying attention to the corners.

In areas that are not accessible to visual inspection, you can use a steam generator with a narrow nozzle - direct a stream of pressurized steam into the cracks of baseboards or the gaps between kitchen cabinets and find out if anyone is hiding there.
can of household insecticide
is also suitable for this purpose Using the same principles, conduct an inspection in the hallway, bedrooms and other rooms. When examining, look for both live cockroaches and traces of their vital activity - dark spots, eggs and dry remains of dead insects.

Be careful and picky when choosing housing. Don't miss the opportunity to see all the nooks and crannies. But if, after all, it turns out that you have a lot of cheerful neighbors in the kitchen, don’t despair! Our store will help you cope in no time! Call us quickly, our manager is ready to answer all your questions right now!

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.

What to do if you are bitten by a cockroach?

These insects rarely bite people, but if such a nuisance occurs, follow these recommendations:

Chlorhexidine bigluconate solution 0.05%

Treat the wound with any antiseptic solution. You can use hydrogen peroxide or chlorhexidine.
Apply a gel or cream to the skin that relieves irritation, for example, Fenistil.
If an allergic reaction occurs, treat the affected areas with an antihistamine (Panthenol, Bepanten and others).
To reduce swelling, use a compress of tea leaves, raw potatoes or plantain pulp.

If itching or burning occurs, try not to scratch the area where the bite occurred. A wound can form in this area of the skin, which can become a source of infection for the entire body.

If after a few days the unpleasant symptoms that appeared after contact with the insect have not decreased, consult a doctor. There is a high probability that such a bite could cause complications. In this case, you need to conduct a thorough examination of the body and prescribe suitable medications.

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. Types of insects

Today, there are a huge number of arthropod insects around the globe. So how many species of cockroaches are actually known to scientists? There are already more than four and a half thousand species and this is not the limit, since new species are constantly being discovered and they claim that this will continue indefinitely, since cockroaches are constantly changing. They get used to new living conditions, climate, poisons and eventually evolve.

Everyone knows that arthropods are the most resilient living organisms on earth, and their ancestors appeared even earlier than dinosaurs. Entomologists have proven that ancient insects were practically no different in appearance from modern ones. The only thing that has changed is the reproductive system. A shell has appeared that protects the eggs during laying - edema. In ancient times, there was a large loss of offspring due to arthropods leaving eggs to fend for themselves without any protection.

Every country and every continent has its own cockroach.

Cockroaches in Russia and the Near Abroad

Types of cockroaches in the apartment.

Prusak. At home, you can very often find a red cockroach. Of course, it is familiar to everyone and is considered the most popular in Russia. The body of such an individual is slightly flattened, light brown or dark in color. This insect loves warmth and places where there is a lot of food. That is, it settles in any living space.
Black beetle. O also prefers the comfort of home, but does not refuse to live in garbage chutes, garbage dumps, basements and other dirty habitats. It can mainly be found in apartments on the lower floors. It often scares people with its appearance, because this species often reaches large sizes.
White cockroach. Contrary to misconception, the white cockroach does not belong to any particular species. The insect takes on a white, almost transparent appearance after molting. Residents of apartments, seeing white insects, think that these are albinos that were born due to constant darkness. But in fact, albinos do not exist among arthropods. Such insects can be very rarely found, since they most often hide in cracks and other places hidden from human eyes.

Street cockroaches. Kinds .

Central Asian cockroach. This species of arthropod lives in the south. It differs from its fellows in appearance and ability to fly. The insect has a yellow head and a brown, brown or black belly.

For most people, the sight of pests will cause a storm of negative emotions , but there are also individuals who specifically keep arthropods in their homes as pets.

Decorative cockroaches as pets

Lucihormetica subcincta. Popularly called the American cockroach. If you look closely, this insect resembles a car with its headlights on. A white stripe stretches along the entire black smooth body, and two bright spots stand out in front.
Chess cockroach. This insect came from India. Fans of exotic cockroaches consider this type of insect to be the cutest, most original and even beautiful. The pest's back is painted black and white. This war paint serves as protection against enemies in the homeland.
Dead Head. Also an unusual insect in appearance. The name of the pest is explained by the coloring of the front part, which resembles a frightening mask from movies.

It is worth noting the unusual cockroaches that will take your breath away

Madagascar cockroach. It has two striking features. The first is the rather large size of the insect’s body. Typically this pest reaches ten centimeters in length. The second is an eerie hissing sound. A very unpleasant and frightening sound that the pest makes when exhaling. There are interesting observations that the Madagascar cockroach often fights with rivals for the right to own a female or territory. And the individual that is defeated most often leaves the battlefield without any part of the body.
Burrowing rhinoceros cockroach. This insect is native to Australia. It is noted for having the heaviest weight compared to its brothers. One individual can reach more than 37 grams, which is the approximate weight of an average sparrow. And it lives much longer than other species. Life expectancy is ten years.
American. All cockroaches have wings, but in almost no species they are not developed enough to fly. The American pest has a distinctive ability to move by flight. So, in one second, this insect can fly a distance fifty times greater than its own body.

All types of cockroaches are individual and each requires its own approach. This applies to both keeping them at home and removing parasites from your home. If you know the names of cockroaches, their appearance and features , then you can easily cope with this task. Most species of cockroaches live in residential buildings. They can be both original family members in a terrarium and pests that carry infections and diseases.

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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…

What do cockroaches eat in the house?

So, what do cockroaches eat when they settle in a house? In this case, they will eat the same foods as humans. That is why these insects settle in the kitchen, in cabinets and pantries where food is stored, and also where people eat. In these places, even the most careful housewife will always have crumbs, small particles of food, and leftovers on the plates. All this is available food for arthropods.

The favorite foods of domestic animals are sweets, animal proteins, and foods with a lot of starch. Although these parasites are omnivores, from a set of foods they will choose those with more fat and carbohydrates. Other favorite products include:

meat;
bread;
potato;
soap without a strong odor;
beer;
fruits and vegetables.

Since the intestines of barbels contain a huge number of bacteria, their body can digest any substance.

If the insect population is small, then pests go out in search of food at night, and during daylight hours they hide in dark places inaccessible to people. If the apartment is heavily infested, the barbels will constantly look for something they can profit from. In this case, they are observed in large numbers also during the day. At the same time, they will run not only in the kitchen, bathroom, pantry, but also in living rooms, bedrooms, and children's rooms.

But what do cockroaches eat if there is no tasty affordable food in the house? In this case, they can eat anything:

newspapers and books;
book bindings;
leather goods;
wallpaper;
starch-based paste;
clothing fabric.

Parasites will first gnaw on those clothes that have remains of human activity on them. Therefore, never put out-of-season clothes that you have not washed in your closets. Don't do this even if you think it's clean. There may be traces of sweat on it, even after wearing it once.

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.

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...

What types of cockroaches live in an apartment?

How cockroaches live depends primarily on their species. In nature, there are almost 4,000 species of these arthropods. Only three of them live in our homes.

Red cockroach. People call this species “Prusak” or “stasik”. Prussians have a brownish or orange body color, small size (1-1.5 cm) and wings that are located along the entire length of the body. However, they do not use wings. On the head of the individual there are long antennae, with the help of which the insect moves and senses danger. Thanks to sharp claws with suction cups on running legs, the Prussian can move along any surface, even with its belly up.
Black beetle. This species has a black color, small wings and dimensions of about 3-4 cm. Black individuals develop and reproduce much more slowly than red ones and therefore their population is much smaller. These pests practically cannot climb walls, since the suction cups on their legs are very weak.
American cockroach. The habitat of this species is America, however, with the development of the Internet, as well as due to the busy traffic flow between different countries, this species may appear here too. It is difficult to confuse this cockroach with a red cockroach, since its body length is approximately 5 cm, and two spots are clearly visible behind its head.

In addition to these three species, Madagascar cockroaches can also live here, but people keep this species specifically as pets.

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.

How to get rid of cockroaches in an apartment yourself

Cockroaches are considered one of the hardiest insects; ridding your apartment of them is a labor-intensive process and takes a lot of effort and time. Currently, there are many methods and all kinds of drugs that help us in the war against “parasites”. We will analyze the most effective and efficient methods for exterminating cockroaches, from home remedies to professional insecticides.

Folk recipes

Previously, our grandparents used a method such as freezing. They opened all the windows wide and went to spend the night with their neighbors, a really effective method, since at a temperature of -10°C cockroaches immediately die. But this method is better suited for rural areas, since pipes in an apartment may burst during a long period of “freezing.”

You can use homemade traps. Take an ordinary jar (0.5 or 1 liter), put bait on the bottom (it can be honey, fruit, bread, mashed potatoes, you can pour beer, cockroaches love it very much), coat the inner walls of the jar with glycerin or vegetable oil and place apartment for the night. To make it easier for cockroaches to get to the bait, you can attach a paper or fabric strip to the trap. Thanks to glycerin or oil, insects will not be able to get out of the jar, and the next day you will collect the “harvest”.

Another effective way to kill cockroaches is to place bait, prepared with your own hands, in places where they accumulate. Mix boiled potatoes and egg yolk in equal proportions, add boric acid to this mixture and roll into balls. Boric acid is a killer for cockroaches, and after trying this “delicacy” the insects will drop dead.

Cockroaches cannot stand the smell of ammonia. You can add a little product to the water and wipe the floors; of course, the “aroma” will still be there, but the “stasiks” will run away from your apartment.

Gels, traps and glue

Cockroach gels, also an effective means of fighting cockroaches, are inexpensive and easy to use. One of these preparations is Cleanbait gel, which is applied like toothpaste to places where insects accumulate and move, and is odorless. As practice has shown, within a week the gel will rid you of cockroaches.

Currently, there are all kinds of anti-cockroach traps on the market with baits already inside. They can be disposable or for repeated use. Such means are more suitable if the size of the colony is insignificant, as well as for prevention, for example, against “neighboring” cockroaches.

There are also preparations such as glue or adhesive mass against insects. This product is intended for mechanical catching; glue is applied to any surface (it can be paper, cardboard, double-sided tape) and spread on areas where cockroaches accumulate and move. Insects, running through these places, stick to the adhesive mass.

Chemicals

Micron is a microencapsulated product that contains three active ingredients and copes well with an entire colony of cockroaches, leaving them no chance to survive. The drug is non-toxic, odorless, and leaves no traces on the surface.

Lambda Zone is an effective remedy against cockroaches; the poison is in microcapsules. Insects, coming into contact with the drug, are completely enveloped in it and begin to die, also successfully infecting their relatives. The product has no odor and is safe for people and animals.

Medilis Cyper is a sharp insecticide that “hits” cockroaches in the intestines and eats into the skin. Quite quickly and effectively destroys hordes of insects. The product has a specific smell that disappears after the room is ventilated.

Delta Zone is a safe, non-toxic drug, has absolutely no odor, and at the same time has a powerful effect on cockroaches, ridding your apartment of unnecessary “neighbors”. It kills insects not only upon contact, but also infects other “brothers”.

Get Total is a microencapsulant that effectively fights cockroaches, the product is safe for animals and people, and does not leave marks or stains on the surface. It will quickly rid your home of insects and also has residual properties for up to 6 months.

Avalon is an acute insecticidal chemical; cockroaches in the apartment begin to die within 1-2 hours after treatment. The product can help out in the most advanced and emergency cases; it mercilessly kills insects, bringing comfort and coziness to your home.

There are currently many means and methods for exterminating such unpleasant insects as cockroaches. To rid your home of “parasites” once and for all, you need to be patient, and most importantly, the desire to win this war, and of course, an effective remedy. But if all your independent efforts are in vain, cockroaches do not want to leave your home, contact a specialized pest control service for help. Using modern equipment and professional products, they will help you clear your apartment of insects.

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.

Remedies for cockroaches in a private home

To poison cockroaches in a private home, you can use folk remedies or special preparations.

note

A folk remedy does not mean safe.
Really working cockroach repellents include powerful toxic components, which, when mixed by eye, can be much more dangerous than the substances contained in balanced, ready-to-use preparations. The most effective homemade remedy for cockroaches is bait with boric acid or borax. You will need:

Boric acid or borax powder.
Thick, mushy consistency, sweetish food - boiled potatoes and/or eggs, sugar/jam/jelly, chocolate spread, etc.
Substrates for placing bait - pieces of thick cardboard or foil, plastic covers, etc.
Disposable plastic plate and spoon for mixing bait.
Latex gloves.

Boric acid or borax powder must be mixed to a homogeneous consistency with food bait, divided into small drops or pieces and placed on substrates in places where you often see cockroaches.

Borax and bait are mixed in a ratio of 1/2.
Boric acid - in a ratio of 1/1.

Eating poisoned bait will cause cockroaches to die. Destroying a colony using this method takes time. If you do not want to prepare bait yourself, you can use commercial trap houses. They can be disposable, with replaceable filling or adhesive. Traps are easy to find on sale:

Combat Superbait
Raptor
Raid Max
Forsyth
Argus
Bros
Dohlox
Taiga
Block

Any traps must be replaced with new ones from time to time or the bait inside them must be updated. How often you need to do this, look in the instructions.

Carefully!

Do not place baits where they can be reached by pets or small children, or near areas where you cook or eat.
The second option for exterminating pests yourself is ready-to-use products in the form of an aerosol, spray, chalk, powder or concentrate for dilution in water. The most convenient option for treating rooms in the house is aerosol products, for example, such as:

Raid against cockroaches and ants
Raptor from tenacious cockroaches
Combat Superspray
Dichlorvos Neo
Clean home universal protection
Dr. Klaus against ants and cockroaches
Delicia universal
Varan
Cobra

Each bottle is designed to treat a room of a certain area; see the instructions for the selected product.

Helpful advice

Carry out the treatment throughout the entire house at once, purchasing as many bottles of the product as required for your area of premises.
Otherwise, cockroaches will simply migrate from treated rooms and premises to safe ones. When using any product, strictly follow its operating and safety instructions. Spray the preparations while wearing closed clothing, rubber gloves, and eye and respiratory protection. During treatment and for some time after it (which one exactly - look in the instructions) there should be no people or pets in the house.

Helpful advice

The treatment needs to be done not only in the rooms of the house and in the kitchen, but also in the underground or basement, if there is access there, in the attic, covered veranda, porch, any outbuildings and under them, if, again, you can get into it.

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...

What are cockroaches afraid of?

Cockroaches have no natural enemies inside human homes. In nature, they are birds, insectivorous animals, as well as predatory arthropods (for example, ticks). However, there are some important environmental parameters that humans can regulate, depriving these insects of the opportunity to live and reproduce normally.

Frightened cockroach

In nature, prolonged and severe droughts that completely destroy insects are extremely rare. Most often, they always manage to find damp crevices and cracks in the ground to wait out the heat and lack of moisture.

Temperature

Temperature sign

Cockroaches are able to live and reproduce comfortably at temperatures from +2 to +28°C. In winter, temperatures below -5°C cause the death of these insects within half an hour. This is due to the fact that they are unable to maintain a constant body temperature, as they are cold-blooded animals. Even stable oothecae do not save cockroach offspring from frost.

A similar situation occurs in rooms whose temperature is above +28°C. At this temperature, humidity decreases and in the absence of water sources, cockroaches first stop reproducing and then die. The last to die are the females, which have shed their ootecae. These devices do a good job of saving future nymphs from drying out in the heat, since they are covered with a dense cover that retains water inside.

Such folk remedies against cockroaches as freezing and treatment with boiling water are based on knowledge of these features. They involve the destruction of cockroaches in the house through prolonged exposure to low temperatures in winter and treating their habitats with boiling water.

Ultrasound

The effect of ultrasound on a cockroach

There are many theories why cockroaches are afraid of ultrasound. Here are the most common versions:

Cockroaches react to ultrasound as a danger signal;
Ultrasound negatively affects their metabolism, which makes them avoid rooms where it is present;
Ultrasound disrupts the communication settings of insects.

In fact, there have been no serious studies of the effect of ultrasound on cockroaches in our country. Abroad, such repellers are often used in public places and are most effective at repelling mosquitoes. Their effect on different types of insects most likely depends on the frequency and power of the device used.

By increasing the intensity of the ultrasonic signal, the inhabitants of the apartment will inevitably feel its effect on themselves. The consequences will be headache, nervousness, irritability, and sleep disturbances.

It is not surprising that cockroaches leave the apartment where such a device operates. However, you can only turn it on when no one is home and if there are no pets in the house.

Bright light

Bright light from a lamp

The fact that when the lights are turned on at night, insects begin to scatter in different directions makes some people think that cockroaches are afraid of light. However, their reaction to light is more likely a way to avoid potential danger. The fact that colonies never settle in the light is also not proof of this thesis. Dark areas usually require adequate moisture levels and protection from major hazards.

Studies in which cockroaches were exposed to light of varying frequencies and intensities showed that in fact these insects do not change their behavior when the light changes. Therefore, the effect observed in the kitchen is associated with their reaction to the sounds of an approaching person and his smell.

Drought

Faucet tied in a knot

Cockroaches fear the lack of water even more than the lack of food. That is why insecticidal treatment of premises is always carried out after all wet places in the house are isolated. Controlling this parameter allows you to avoid the appearance of a colony in a new apartment. Low humidity (less than 65%) combined with high air temperature (more than 28°C) slow down the metabolism of these insects, reduce the hatching rate of eggs and, with prolonged exposure, completely destroy cockroaches in the house.

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.

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.

Protecting your apartment from cockroaches

The fight against cockroaches is still relevant today; insects enter our apartments from various sources, be it a grocery store located on the ground floor of a residential building, basements, or from neighbors. For a “good life,” cockroaches don’t need much, just warmth, a lot of food and water. Unfortunately, our apartments meet all these requirements, and sometimes we ourselves create favorable living conditions for these “neighbors.” To protect your home from cockroach infestation, there are several simple and effective ways.

The first thing you should pay attention to is maintaining cleanliness and order in the house. If cockroaches have nothing to profit from in the apartment, then they will not live and breed in such a room. If cockroaches appear in your apartment and you declare war on them, then the kitchen and bathroom should be kept perfectly clean. Remove all crumbs and leftover food from tables, especially at night, take out the trash promptly, do not leave dirty plates in the sink for long, wipe the sink and tables dry, store food in airtight containers. If there are pets in the apartment, then it is better to remove bowls with food and water at night. The bathroom should also be kept clean and dry.

If cockroaches are being poisoned in a neighboring apartment, be prepared for entire colonies to come running to you to escape the poison. It is better to fight with neighbors together and deal with them together, either through independent efforts or with the help of the disinfection services. Otherwise, insects will run from neighbor to you, and from you to neighbor, for a very long time. If apartments are repeatedly infested, you should immediately contact a pest control service.

To protect your home as much as possible from insect attacks, you should block all possible entry points for cockroaches. Seal all cracks in the ceiling, floor and walls, as well as near the front door, install a mosquito net on ventilation and windows. If pipes are leaking, this can cause increased humidity in the bathroom, replace them with new ones.

For prevention, traps can be placed in ventilation shafts or treated with a special anti-cockroach agent.