No homeowner wants to find out they have a pest infestation, especially a pest as notorious as cockroaches. Cockroaches can cause unsanitary conditions in your home, spoil your food, and even disrupt your electrical wiring. These nocturnal invaders can be difficult and expensive to eliminate. Learning the signs of a cockroach infestation will help you nip this problem before it blossoms, saving you a lot of hassle and money. Look for these 4 signs of a cockroach infestation.
1. Cockroach Feces
Cockroach droppings are one of the earliest signs of an infestation. You can tell a lot about the cockroaches you are dealing with by their feces, both their size and a rough estimate of how many there are in your home. Small roaches will leave small, grainy waste that resembles black pepper. Larger roaches will leave bigger, cylindrical droppings.
2. Egg Casings
Cockroaches are birthed from brown egg casings called oothecae. You can identify them by their long rounded shape. Oothecae can hold anywhere from 10 to 50 eggs depending on the species. Cockroaches will leave these casings in dark, hard to reach places such as behind furniture.
3. Odors
A single cockroach won’t give off much of an aroma. In large numbers, their scent is hard to miss. If you detect a pungent oily or musty odor, you may have a serious infestation on your hands.
4. Spotting a Roach
Seeing a cockroach out in the open, dead or alive, is perhaps the most obvious and definite sign of a cockroach infestation. Cockroaches are nocturnal, meaning they are most active during the night when they will scavenge for food and water. Spotting a roach during the day means there are so many cockroaches that some are being forced out of the nest, which means the infestation is dire.
For more information about cockroach infestation, look over our Cockroach Control page. If you suspect that you may have an infestation, contact us immediately.