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.

Written by: Aiyana Rayne. SuccessfulOffice.com is a one-stop virtual assistant for businesses of all sizes, from the one- person operation to the global conglomerate. They provide mailing address services and exclusive toll free 1-800 or local numbers. Their next-generation call center provides a dedicated team of service professionals to answer your calls, giving your business a familar and consistent voice. They will serve as a telephone answering service or a full- service sales team for your business, according to your special needs: http://www.SuccessfulOffice.com

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