A Nightmare on Elm Street? Cockroaches…

I’m willing to guess Freddy Krueger likely wasn’t the only nightmare on Elm Street.

It is said they were here long before us, and they will be here long after us. Cockroaches. Now, you need to get rid of the disgusting cockroach. The things that nightmares are made of. If there is a warm, dark, wet area, like there are pretty much everywhere, you can bet there are cockroaches taking up residence there. Adding to the nightmare is the fact that you might not even see them until you’ve got an infestation on your hands.

Sneaky little suckers, cockroaches are super resourceful. They can enter homes or businesses in a number of ways. They crawl through cracks and holes in foundations or walls, hitch rides on bags and backpacks and suitcases, search out openings around doors and windows, and the most nightmare-inducing way: through drains and pipes. For apartment buildings, drains and pipes are like a highway for roaches to travel from one apartment to another. No drain is safe. No home is safe.

Cockroaches are attracted to food, water, shelter, and warmth – which makes your home  perfect for these nasty little creatures. While they do enjoy a home that is filled with clutter and  messy, they won’t turn down a home that is clean and pristine. They aren’t picky. Their food sources even include cardboard, wallpaper paste, the binding of books, and soap. Like I said, not picky.

Not sure if you have a cockroach problem? Here are some telltale signs:

• Seeing roaches during the day. Since roaches are nocturnal and actively avoid the light, if you are seeing one during the day, it is because the overpopulation of their nest forced it out.
• Finding cockroach droppings. Roach dropping resemble coffee grounds or black pepper and they tend to leave droppings everywhere they go. The more areas of droppings you find, the greater the infestation.
• Finding their oothecae. Nope, that is not a typo. Oothecae are the egg cases that hold the cockroach eggs. Each oothecae can contain 10-50 eggs, and because cockroaches are aggressive breeders, there are lots of oothecae left behind after the eggs hatch.
• You smell a strange, pungent odor that is, for lack of a better word, nasty. Prolonged infestations produce a smell that you will soon want to forget.

So, you know you have them, now how do you get rid of them?

• Cut off their food and water supply. Look closely for signs of food sources that they are feeding on.
• Set out cockroach bait, like Advion Roach Gel Bait.
• Combine three teaspoons of Boric acid with three teaspoons of water and three teaspoons of sugar in an unlidded jar. Place in an area where you have noticed roach activity. This concoction will cause the cockroaches that come in contact with it to become dehydrated, which will eventually lead to their deaths.
• Get rid of random paper and cardboard boxes. If they don’t have a place to hide, they won’t have a place to live.
• Call on the cockroach cavalry – your pest control specialists, or at least the professional grade products they use. HowToPest.com has a number of products that will give you the roach-free results you are looking for.

And you thought I was joking when I said cockroaches are the things that nightmares are made of! If I was on Elm Street, I think I’d rather take on Freddy!