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A Roach?!...Where?!
by Aiyana Rayne
Description: Practical tips for discouraging roaches from taking up residence in your home.
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Having roaches in your home can be extremely embarrassing and
many people will go great lengths to deny that they have them.
Roaches seem to be the least tolerable of all pests, and to make
it worse, they've been in existence for more than 350 million
years despite our attempt to get rid of them. In our society,
Roaches are said to be associated with poor sanitation, but this
is not necessarily true. Roaches are adaptable to almost any
environment, regardless of how clean or filthy a person's living
conditions may be. No place is exempt. Found in every part of the
United States; they take a liking to nearly any area humans like
- as long as food, moisture and warmth are abundant.
Most of them carry disease pathogens such as salmonella, cholera,
hepatitis B, streptococcus, E coli, and dysentery. Allergies and
acute repertory disease have been observed to come from decaying
roach corpses. Roaches prefer darkness and crawl into amazingly
small crevices. Most female cockroaches mate once and are
pregnant for the rest of their lives. They can live for a months
without food as long as water or moisture is present.
Some of the bigger roaches such as the Oriental and American
roaches usually infest the lower regions of kitchens and
bathrooms. Many of them are unable to climb high enough to reach
higher cabinets, so they seek shelter in places such as under
sinks and along baseboards. These little critters are dark in
color and illustrate shiny wings on their backs. The smaller
roaches; German and Brown-banded roaches are more common in
America. They operate mostly at night and are light brown or tan
in color. Their average life span is only about 100 to 200 days
but possess the ability to reproduce up to one million roaches
per year. They can survive on all kind of food, and can survive
for months on starches found in furniture glue and book bindings.
Brown-banned roaches are not as common but are easily identified
by the brown bands down the wings of the adults. None of these
breeds are known to bite or sting.
Preventing roaches is almost impossible, but there are things one
can do to discourage their travel. Something as small as crumbs
that fall between a stove is enough food for a family of roaches
to feast on for days. Roaches, unlike insects have a greasy
coating on their backs which allows them to squeeze into tight
places almost impossible to reach them. They are very difficult
to catch because they are extremely sensitive to light and
movement. They have the ability to sense something or someone
approaching through vibration in the floor or slight air
movements, ever before the intruder is close by.
It doesn't take much to satisfy their appetite. They have the
ability to survive on a wide range of foods, such as sweets,
bread, fruits, grease, vegetables, cereal, pet food, garbage,
tobacco, paper, books, or glue. Anything that humans eat, so will
they. This remains one of the reasons that they are so hard to
get rid of; their ability to find food almost anywhere. Another
reason, as already mentioned is their ability to survive without
meals for extended periods of time.
Cleaning thoroughly; under surfaces in kitchens, bathrooms, and
storing food in tightly sealed containers, including pet food can
help in roach prevention and infestation. Try to make the
facility meticulously clean. Clean spills and food residue as
quickly as it gets there, remove garbage daily before dusk when
roaches begin foraging, and clean garbage and trash receptacles
frequently. Eliminate all clutter.
It is important not to store boxes or materials on the floor.
Cardboard attracts roaches, so it is wise to replace it with
plastic or metal containers. Eliminating moisture is essential;
so leaky or dripping faucets and pipes should be fixed. Place
garbage receptacles in dry areas to prevent easy access to food
and water in the same vicinity. Fill cracks in walls, floors, and
cabinets with putty or caulk to prevent roaches from creating new
homes. Caulk around pipes which run through walls, floors, or
ceilings. Steel wool can be used in place of caulk in wide
openings.
Some amazingly brave souls actually keep tropical Cockroaches as
pets. The Madagascan hissing cockroaches is actually the most
commonly kept cockroach in the United States. Most pet shops
carry them. The horns on the males protonum are used in fights
for the breeding right of the females. Unless constantly watched,
it is rare to see them fight. I guess it can be said that not
everyone thinks that roaches are creepy, disgusting creatures. If
you were to collect one of every species of cockroach found in
the world, you would need a lot of jars to put them in. There are
more than 5,000 species of cockroaches in the world.
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