Are you worried that your house has a cockroach infestation in it? Have you been waking up to one too many cockroaches laying on their backs each morning? If so, then you need to learn all that you can about the warning signs of a roach infestation.
As soon as you can identify these signs, you’ll know that it’s time to call pest control for roaches. Delaying this process could result in some serious damage to your house, as well as illness for you and your family.
See below for an in-depth guide listing all the signs that you should call pest control to get rid of roaches right away.
1. Cockroaches Lying on Their Backs
We hinted at this one in the introduction of the article. You may have been prompted to read this article after waking up to find cockroaches lying on their backs when you walked out of your bedroom this morning. But what does that mean?
Here’s the good news: cockroaches roll on their backs when they die, so you technically have one less cockroach to worry about. The bad news? Experts say that for every 1 cockroach you see, there could be as many as 20 more roaches inside your walls. Yikes!
Due to their odd body composition, roaches roll on their backs when they die because they lose their muscle control on one side before the other. That causes them to roll with their belly up. Not to mention that their backs are the heaviest part of them, similar to a turtle, in a way.
While it might seem as if these roaches came out of nowhere, they didn’t. Roaches only come out during the night, so if you start to see them during the day, it could be a sign that they’re near death. Regardless, roaches don’t often travel alone, so if you see one (dead or alive) there are others nearby.
2. You’ve Caught a Whiff of a Musty Odor
This is not a good sign at all. While the smell of a cockroach is certainly detectable by humans, smelling a significant musty odor means that there are a large number of roaches present in your home.
Most homeowners are quick to attribute that musty smell to standing water in their bathroom or wonder if that smell has always been there; it hasn’t.
Reach out to a professional pest control service right away. They can help you detect where the infestations are inside your house and whether or not that musty smell is the result of a cockroach infestation.
If it is, then they can comprise a plan to eradicate them. They’ll use eco-friendly and pet-friendly repellants to push the infestation away from your home and prevent them from coming back.
The musty smell that you’re picking up is what’s referred to as pheromones. Bugs use pheromones to both warn their fellow cockroaches of potential warnings, as well as send out a signal that they found a “sweet new place” to call home.
For that reason, it’s safe to say that if you don’t nix the musty smell now, your infestation will continue to grow. Don’t let that happen.
3. You Found Cockroaches in Hotspots
As you might imagine, there are certain places where a cockroach is much more likely to show up. There are two main reasons they’re in your house, to begin with: it’s a reliable source of food and water.
For that reason, there are places in your house that you’ll find them more often. These places include the kitchen, bathrooms, basements, and laundry rooms.
If you want to go on an in-depth search for these household pests, then be sure to open cabinets, look under furniture, and in crevices (such as behind the toilet, between the wall, etc.).
As soon as you see one cockroach—one—schedule a time for a trusted pest control service to come take a look. At the very least, they’ll tell you there are no signs of an infestation, then take measures to prevent one from ever happening.
4. Fecal Matter
Gross, we know, but it’s a very common sign that you should call a pest control company. Whether it’s a sign of roaches or not, something is creating those droppings, and it isn’t something you want in your house long-term.
Roach droppings are very small and generally found in humid areas, such as under your sink or inside cabinets. At first glance, you might mistake it for a coffee ground, it’s that small.
Call a pest control company but do not try to clean it up without gloves on. Their droppings might have illness or bacteria inside of them that can make you sick.
5. Flakes
The technical term is “exoskeleton”, but most homeowners would describe seeing this as “flakes” of skin on the floor of their home.
Those flakes are parts of the roach’s skin that they’ve outgrown. When they outgrow the skin, they shed it and move on with their lives. The audacity!
If you see flakes of exoskeleton around your home, it’s not only a sign that you have roaches, it’s a sign that those roaches are thriving inside your property.
Hire the Best Pest Control for Roaches in Your Area
Now that you have seen an in-depth list of signs that you should hire pest control for roaches right away, be sure to use this information to your advantage.
Be sure to read this article for more information on the questions you should ask before hiring a pest control service of any kind. Reach out to us right away at 706-733-2445 to take care of your roach problem once and for all.
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