Why do cockroaches appear in the apartment and what to do if they have already appeared?

Hello! Was last week on business in the city. I decided to drop by for an hour to visit my classmate Kristina.

She lives in a rented apartment. During the visit, I noticed cockroaches in the room, although before they were not there. It turned out that they appeared here from neighbors.

Now Christine is fighting this scourge. But neighbors may not be the only source of these insects. Want to know why cockroaches appear in the apartment? What are the main ways they penetrate housing? In the article below I will discuss these issues in detail.

Causes of the appearance of cockroaches in the human home

Today, cockroaches are one of the most unpleasant problems that owners of private houses and apartments face. What causes such unpleasant neighbors to appear and how to end such a neighborhood? It’s time to deal with these issues.

Where do they come from?

First of all, it is worth paying attention to the possible ways of penetration of these intolerable insects into the human home. There can be several such ways.

Cockroaches can “arrive” to the apartment in a shopping bag brought, for example, from the grocery market. One female is enough for whole hordes of cockroaches to appear in the kitchen. You can bring a cockroach even in boxes with new appliances, if the insect manages to get there.

These insects can be brought with you in things brought from other apartments, even if they were not lying in the kitchen. In search of food by nature, a curious cockroach can easily crawl anywhere.

They can even be received by mail. The insect found in the premise can go without food for several weeks. It was this survivability of cockroaches and the development of the postal system that led to the resettlement of not very pleasant insects all over the globe. For example, in Russia you can now meet not only the long-lived red cockroach Prusaka living in our latitudes, but also the black American cockroach.

Once in an environment unsuitable for life and breeding, cockroaches do not stay there for a long time. The appearance of cockroaches in the apartment is a sure sign of unsanitary conditions in the room. In order to feel good in a house or apartment, cockroaches need:

1. Food. Cockroaches eat not only high-quality, fresh, but also missing products thrown into the trash or carelessly left on the table or in the sink. An unmade table or a dirty stove in the kitchen can become a buffet for the whole colony.If there is no food waste, they may be content with paper or leather. It is difficult to call cockroaches picky gourmets;
2. Water. Cockroaches, like any other living creatures, cannot live without water. In order to get drunk, they need extremely little. The source of water for them can be not only containers with water, but also wet surfaces, such as a wet sink or tile covered with condensate, as well as water accidentally spilled on a table or on the floor. As a last resort, they can drink water from pallets with flower pots in the kitchen or other rooms;
3. Temperature. Cockroaches feel comfortable in the same temperature regime as a person. The temperature of the human home perfectly suits them for a completely comfortable existence and reproduction. That is why one of the ways to combat cockroaches is the so-called “freezing” - lowering the temperature in the apartment to extremely low indicators, at which the cockroach population begins to die.

What to do if cockroaches appeared in the apartment?

The first thing to do if at least one cockroach was found in the kitchen is to perform a general cleaning in the entire apartment using all kinds of cleaning and disinfecting agents. It is necessary to deprive cockroaches of all that without which they cannot feel comfortable: sources of drinking and nutrition.

In order to get rid of cockroaches, in the apartment, in addition to cleaning in the kitchen and in other corners of the room, you need to use special tools. What do they not like?

Traps. You can buy ready-made traps in the store, or you can do it yourself using simple boxes with one small entrance, from which you will need to shake insects into the toilet every day. There are also industrial-made electric traps for cockroaches that kill those who wish to find an insect shelter in them by electric shock.

Boric acid. Upon any contact with this substance, the insect overcomes a severe itch, from which it subsequently dies, but before that it manages to return to its relatives, transmitting the itch as an “infection”, as a result of which the entire colony can die out.

It is necessary to grease all sources of water in the kitchen with boric acid or, mixed with food, put it in the places where cockroaches accumulate. For people and pets, this substance is safe.

All kinds of gels. This is one of the most popular cockroach control methods in the apartment. Such gels are available in special tubes or syringes, which makes their use even more convenient. The gel contains bait (flavors that mimic the smell of products, especially those that attract insects) and an active ingredient (actually poison).

Apply such funds in whole strips or strips of separate droplets in places where cockroaches accumulate. Some products contain bitterness that repels curious pets, such as cats, but it is best to apply gels where neither children nor pets can get.

Aerosols. Aerosol treatment of cockroach accumulation sites as a means of pest control is gradually becoming a thing of the past because of the great danger of inhalation of sprayed substances and insects getting used to specific compounds. The aerosol will need to be changed frequently in order to maintain the original effect.

It is characteristic that those who came after the first cockroach are not at all frightened by the body of their dead brother already lying in the house, and they likewise fall into the trap. Such a house can be filled to the brim over night.

Pest Control Services. Today, there are many organizations that are professionally involved in the extermination of cockroaches, bedbugs, midges and other pests. They have special means of combating insects and special equipment that allows you to effectively deal with any pests.

Whichever product you choose from the above, you must clearly adhere to the safety measures described on the package. You need to understand that in most cases we are talking about the use of toxic substances, the ingress of which into the body of a person or a pet can end very sadly.

Maintaining perfect cleanliness is the best protection of the house from the unpleasant neighborhood with a cockroach colony.

Cockroaches in a city apartment

Cockroaches, one of the most ancient types of insects, belong to the order of Orthoptera. In total, there are about 3600 species in the world, of which, most live in tropical and subtropical climates, in forests.

Synanthropic, i.e. living near a person, there are about 30 species, of which the most common and bringing us a lot of trouble is a red cockroach, aka Prusak, as well as a black cockroach.

Insects have the ability to quickly adapt to their environment, and also differ in their viability, because even a lethal dose of radiation for them requires several times more than for humans. But progress does not stand still and at present there are many ways to combat cockroaches.

Habitats and breeding sites

Cockroaches, or as they are affectionately called "Stasics", are very thermophilic and hygrophilous insects. Like bugs, they mostly leave their shelters at night, in search of food, and during the day hide from the human eye.

Insects live in colonies and places for breeding and living, choose dark, with high humidity and room temperature. Consider the most common areas of the accumulation of insects.

Of course, it's no secret that the kitchen is the most favorite place for cockroaches, there are all conditions for a favorable living for these parasites. Cockroaches eat absolutely everything: food leftovers from our table, garbage, paper, cardboard, soap, plastic, etc.

They can hide in places such as washing, behind a stove and refrigerator, behind cabinets and shelves, near a garbage container, behind electrical appliances, in floor slots and baseboards.

Bathroom, another "shelter" for cockroaches. Water is the main source of life for these insects, if they can live a month without food, or even more, then they can not live without water for more than 2 weeks.

Even if a half-dead cockroach can reach the source of water, after drinking, he will survive. You can find the "settlement" of cockroaches behind the bathtub, behind the toilet bowl and sink, behind the washing machine, in the baseboards and crevices, in the ventilation shafts.

You can also find "Barbel" in your apartment by the excrement left (small black dots), by the dried skins (chitin), you can find them around, or on the products themselves, near the sink, on dishes, furniture and wallpaper. If the apartment is sufficiently infected with insects, then a specific unpleasant odor appears.

If cockroaches are found in the apartment, immediately proceed to their destruction, they multiply quickly, and also leave behind chemical traces along which other relatives can come running after them.

Penetration paths

For normal life, cockroaches need only 3 factors, these are: water, food and heat. Insects are very fond of unsanitary conditions, therefore, where there is high humidity, a lot of food and garbage debris, it is an ideal place for cockroaches to inhabit and breed.

One of the reasons for the appearance of cockroaches in an apartment may be grocery stores, cafes located in residential buildings, especially for “high-rises” and “high-rise buildings”. Such houses are most susceptible to insect infestations, especially if the store does not support hygiene standards.

Also, cockroaches can run into the apartment from their neighbors, it can be mass races, but, as a rule, if cockroaches are poisoned and they flee.

If the colony has grown significantly and they just don’t have enough food for everyone, in this case the cockroaches first send one, the so-called “scout,” and if the neighboring apartment has all the conditions for a “comfortable” stay, then soon the insects will populate such a dwelling.

You can bring a cockroach to your home from a store or market along with groceries. Returning from a trip, or from a business trip, you can also bring a cockroach with you in your bag, suitcase, in things. Your acquaintances or friends can bring insects to you in things, books, technology.

Insects can enter the apartment and from the basement. There were such cases that after the disinsection of the basement, cockroaches crawled around the house.

Basically, cockroaches enter the apartment through ventilation shafts, through cracks in the floor, ceiling and walls, through outlets. They can also penetrate through sewers, garbage chutes, from basements and attics.

Having such "neighbors" is extremely unpleasant and unsafe for humans, they feed on absolutely everything that gets caught, and do not even disdain garbage waste or excrement, therefore they are carriers of various diseases, such as: Tuberculosis, Dysentery, Diphtheria, Hepatitis, and. etc., and can also cause allergic reactions.

Take measures to destroy cockroaches, as soon as possible, do not put off “for later”, otherwise getting rid of insects will be very problematic.

Self destruction

Cockroaches are considered one of the most hardy insects, getting rid of your apartment from them is a laborious process and takes a lot of time and effort. Currently, there are many ways and all kinds of drugs that help us in the war against "parasites."

We will analyze the most effective and effective methods for the destruction of cockroaches, from home remedies to professional insecticides.

You can use "homemade" traps. An ordinary can is taken (0.5 or 1 liter), the bait is put on the bottom (it can be honey, fruit, bread, mashed potatoes, you can pour beer, the cockroaches are very fond of it), grease the inner walls of the can with glycerin or vegetable oil and arrange on apartment for the night.

To make it easier for cockroaches to get to the bait, a paper or fabric strip can be attached to the trap. Thanks to glycerin or oil, insects will not be able to get out of the can, and the next day you will collect the "crop".

Another effective way to destroy cockroaches is to spread the bait prepared with your own hands in places of accumulation. In equal proportions, mix boiled potatoes and egg yolk, add boric acid to this mixture and roll the balls.

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

Gels, Traps and Glue

Gels from cockroaches, also an effective means to combat cockroaches, are inexpensive and easy to use. One of these preparations is the Klinbait gel, which is applied as a toothpaste to places of accumulation and movement of insects, and is odorless. As shown in practice, after a week the gel will save you from cockroaches.

At the moment, there are all kinds of traps against cockroaches with baits already inside. They can be disposable, as well as for repeated use.

There are also drugs such as glue or glue mass against insects. This tool is intended for mechanical trapping, glue is applied to any surface (it can be paper, cardboard, double-sided tape), and is decomposed into areas of accumulation and movement of cockroaches. Insects, running through these places, stick to the glue mass.

Chemicals:

There are a lot of tools and methods to destroy such unpleasant insects as cockroaches at present. To rid your home of the "parasites" once and for all, you need to be patient, and most importantly, the desire to win this war, and of course, an effective means.

But if all your independent efforts are in vain, cockroaches do not want to leave your house, contact a specialized pest control service for help. With the help of modern equipment and professional preparations, they will help you clean the apartment of insects.

Apartment Protection

The fight against cockroaches is relevant to this day, insects penetrate into our apartments from various sources, whether it is a grocery store located on the ground floor of a residential building, cellars, from neighbors. For a "good life" cockroaches do not need much, if only it was warm, a lot of food and water.

Unfortunately, our apartments meet all these requirements, and sometimes we ourselves create favorable conditions for these "neighbors" to live. To protect your home from the invasion of cockroaches, there are several simple and effective ways.

The first thing you should pay attention to is maintaining cleanliness and order in the house. If the cockroaches have nothing to profit from in the apartment, then they will not live and reproduce in such a room. If cockroaches appeared in your apartment and you declared war on them, then the kitchen and bathroom should be kept in perfect cleanliness.

Remove all crumbs and food debris from the tables, especially at night, take out the trash in a timely manner, do not leave dirty dishes in the sink for a long time, wipe the sink and tables dry, store food in sealed containers. If the apartment has pets, then at night it is better to remove bowls with food and water. The bathroom should also be kept clean and dry.

If cockroaches are poisoned in the next apartment, be prepared for the fact that whole colonies will come running to you, fleeing the poison. It is better to fight with neighbors together, and work together, whether it be independent efforts, or with the help of disruptions.

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

For prevention, you can set traps in the ventilation shafts, or treat them with a special means against cockroaches.

The fight against cockroaches must be approached very seriously, because only we ourselves can rid our apartments of all "evil spirits." Cockroaches, if they have taken root in the house, are far from easy to bring, a lot of effort and effort should be made to this.

Remember that the cockroaches in the apartment are more fond of not too clean kitchens, keep clean and tidy, do not scatter leftover food, because even an unfinished sandwich or a piece of bread left on the table will turn into a “cockroach feast” at night.

In the period until the complete destruction of insects, it is necessary to isolate to a maximum their access to water and food, and carefully process the room. Also take preventative measures, especially if you know that insects live nearby. If you find cockroaches in the apartment, immediately proceed to their destruction.

Prusaki in your home

Cockroaches are one of the most unsafe neighbors for humans. They damage food, books and plants. Since they feed on garbage, they contribute to the spread of infectious diseases, including dysentery - naturally, the harm from cockroaches to humans is obvious.

Direct signs indicating the settlement of cockroaches near you are:

• the appearance of a specific smell,
• detection of cockroach masonry in the chitinous cover,
• the discovery of even one cockroach,
• the presence of cockroach feces (in the form of black dots) on dishes, wallpaper or furniture.

Moreover, the signs will be the same for all varieties of these insects - both the huge cockroaches in the apartment and their small relatives leave the same traces of their presence.

Types of cockroaches living in our homes

Cockroaches - perhaps the most tenacious insects in the world, and reproducing with incredible speed. Even one cockroach can be the beginning of countless colonies. Moreover, it will not be easy to find, because the large black cockroaches in the apartment lead a nocturnal lifestyle.

In addition, cockroaches are capable of year-round reproduction, and throughout life, the female is able to reproduce up to three hundred individuals. Also, these insects in a special way mark the “easy” paths to water, food and shelter, so that all “brethren” become “informed” and practically invulnerable.

It used to be that only the Prussians can live in our kitchens. In the modern world, thanks to the development of the tourism business, all sorts of boundaries are erased, and in our housing we can find the following types of these insects:

• American (by the way, they have existed since the time of the dinosaurs),
• black (kitchen)
• ginger proussaks.

And the so-called white cockroaches are growing individuals that go through the molting stage. However, for a successful struggle, it is important to know not only how they look, but also why these unpleasant neighbors start.

The main reasons for the appearance

Before you do anything to destroy these pests, you should try to determine how the cockroaches get into the apartment. And this problem is quite real even for those rooms where perfect cleanliness is maintained.

So, where do the cockroaches come from in your apartment:

In addition, the large black cockroach in the kitchen may indicate that your home has more attractive conditions for the population. So in time not thrown out garbage or dirty dishes left in the sink will only contribute to the spread of these insects.

Why do cockroaches come back after pest control

A separate nuisance can be pests in a private house. However, in suburban possessions it is easier to deal with the population - after all, there is no possibility of migrating the "neighboring" colonies. Of course, large cockroaches in the country - this is unpleasant, but solvable.

Very often, even those who have spent a lot of effort on combating these pests ask themselves the question - why do cockroaches again appear in a high-rise or private house? There may be several reasons for this:

1. the mandatory requirement for reprocessing was ignored and part of the existing masonry was not affected,
2. the room is cluttered and littered, and therefore has become attractive to another migratory colony,
3. cockroaches passed from neighbors, where they were successfully disposed of,
4. you threw the "dead" cockroaches into the bin, and they "came to their senses" and again settled in the apartment. The thing is that these insects “lose consciousness” from contact with poison, which is perceived by a person as death.

Ways of struggle and preventive measures

Most likely, you will not be able to find out where the cockroaches come from in the apartment. Nevertheless, even such your ignorance should not prevent you from choosing the most effective methods of struggle.

It is important that today you can independently use even professional methods, including gels (Globol and Kaput) and suspensions (Dobrokhim and Get). Processing should be carried out everywhere:

• in the pantries
• near skirting boards
• in places of detection of insects,
• near the sink and the bin
• in places of access to water and food.

Naturally, the main thing to do if cockroaches appeared at home or in the apartment is to provide an exhaustive set of measures. After all, insects of this group as quickly as possible adapt to the effects of chemicals.

In addition, a huge cockroach at home is a definite occasion, if not for cosmetic repairs, then at least for spring cleaning. Be sure to:

In addition, if cockroaches are wound up at home, then you definitely need to take a more thorough approach to cleaning - wipe all surfaces that are in some way in contact with moisture, as well as regularly sweep crumbs and remove garbage.

Why are cockroaches wound up and where do they live?

It is believed that cockroaches are companions of dirty, cluttered rooms with poor organization of the kitchen space. A mountain of dirty dishes, scattered flour, a forgotten piece of bread on a plate - all these are tidbits for cockroaches. This is true, but, unfortunately, cockroaches come not only in such homes.

These insects are very mobile. An adult cockroach is able to cover a kilometer in a day. Not surprisingly, cockroaches are so common in modern apartment buildings.

Breeding very quickly, they wander from apartment to apartment, constantly looking for new food sources and find them even in regularly cleaned dwellings.

Anyway, if cockroaches once came to your apartment, it is almost impossible to get rid of them yourself. This is facilitated not only by the colossal reproduction of this species of insects, but also by their habits, secrecy and natural caution.

Most often, cockroaches settle:

1. In the baseboards of the kitchen and the surrounding area.
2. In the bathroom, under the bathtub, near the pipe joints in the pipe drawers, under the sink, at the junction of the sink and bathtub, in the cracks in the walls. The bathroom is an ideal place for cockroaches, as it is here that their constant need for water is satisfied.
3. In the crevices of kitchen cabinets, tiles, plastic panels, ceiling skirting boards.
4. In exfoliated wallpaper joints, swollen pieces of canvas.
5. In hollow interior panels, if they have access inside, for example, if there is a hole.
6. In door frames, door slots.
7. Behind the batteries, at the joints of radiators, in cracks near the pipes. Unlike most insects, cockroaches perfectly tolerate fever.

It is noteworthy that cockroaches practically do not settle in window frames, since they do not tolerate cold.

If you got cockroaches in one place of the apartment, very soon their nest may be in another room if access to food, for example, in the kitchen, is limited. Cockroaches are nomadic creatures and are always looking for something to profit from.

A large number of small cockroaches indicates the proximity of the nest, since in the first stages of development insects cannot travel long distances.

Where and why do cockroaches appear in the apartment?

This question interests almost all apartment owners.After all, sometimes these inhabitants can appear for no reason. And it is not necessary that their appearance is affected by dirt, various crumbs and other debris.

Why did cockroaches appear in the apartment? Let's find out the ways of appearance of these insects:

Knowing these paths will help to be more careful in the future. Therefore, it is necessary to check the purchased things and products for the presence of these creatures. Also, if you are traveling somewhere to relax, be sure to check your things, several of these insects can safely sit in them and thus move to your apartment.

Reasons for the appearance

The ways of the appearance of cockroaches, we found out, now it is worthwhile to determine the causes of the appearance of cockroaches in the apartment.

What causes cockroaches? Or rather, why they decided to stay there, a number of reasons can contribute to this.

A large amount of food. Cockroaches can eat absolutely any food. They can eat not only fresh food, but also waste. Therefore, cockroaches often appear in the kitchen, where there is a lot of food for their food. Often they can live in bins, bags of waste products. However, without food, these creatures can live for 2-3 weeks.

The presence of water. Without food, these insects can live for a long time, but without food they can not survive a day. Therefore, many often notice that there are cockroaches from the sink, where there is always water.

The level of humidity and temperature in the room. The ideal habitat for cockroaches is the relative humidity and warm atmosphere. Therefore, any room in the apartment will be an ideal place for these parasites to stay.

Many are interested in the question, where do cockroaches live in an apartment? After all, they can live not only in the kitchen. Especially at night, they can crawl around the room, but the most favorite places for these parasites are the kitchen, toilet and bathroom.

What if they appeared

What if cockroaches appeared? When cockroaches appeared, you must immediately take the necessary measures to eliminate them. If you delay, then these parasites will not disappear, on the contrary they will become even larger and even then their elimination will be difficult, and sometimes impossible.

Therefore, do not be surprised that after processing the premises after a certain period, cockroaches reappeared and continue to engage in wrecking. Therefore, it is important to know the basic methods for eliminating cockroaches from an apartment.

The use of insecticides

As soon as these pests appeared in the apartment, it is necessary to immediately take the necessary measures to eliminate them. Do not hesitate, because delay can only lead to an increase in the number of these inhabitants.

Effective insecticides are the following:

The use of folk remedies

Since cockroaches appeared a long time ago, therefore, over the entire period of their existence, folk methods for their elimination were developed. The most effective are the following popular methods of destruction:

1. The use of boric acid powder. This tool can be added to the dough or to potatoes. Lures are laid out in different parts of the room. However, cockroaches do not always die when using this bait, while it does not destroy the larvae;
2. Freezing. These insects do not tolerate frost. However, in apartment conditions this method is difficult to apply. You can open all the rooms in the apartment for a while in the winter, but this will only bring a temporary effect;
3. You can rinse the floors with ammonia. The smell of ammonia scares away these insects. However, during processing you will have to breathe the vapor of this tool;
4. Cockroaches can not stand the smell of eucalyptus, cedar oil, red elderberry, mint. But this will only scare away the parasites, but it will not exterminate.

Prevention of occurrence

In order for dream cockroaches not to appear, it is important to follow certain prevention rules:

• Compliance with the frequency, especially in the kitchen. All food, crumbs and other leftovers from food should be cleaned in bags;
• All bags and buckets with garbage should be tightly closed;
• Cracks, cracks in the walls must be covered;
• Regularly clean the kitchen and other rooms;
• The sink should be clean and dry;
• All plumbing must always be in good condition;
• It is advisable to treat the premises every 3 months with means against cockroaches with crayons, powders or gels.

Cockroaches in apartments are frequent residents who always harm residents. The extermination of these creatures should begin immediately from the first day of their appearance.

The slightest extension can lead to the rapid reproduction of these insects, which will live in all corners of your apartment and other inaccessible places. The use of drugs against cockroaches will help to completely remove them from the apartment forever.