You’ve heard it many times—for every roach you see, there could be 100 you don’t see. How do you know whether you have just a few roaches or an infestation? Here are a few signs to look for.
You are much more likely to see roaches at night if you have an infestation. Roaches are nocturnal, so if you turn on the light at night, they’ll scatter. Even worse, if you see a roach during the day, it is a good indication that you’ve had an infestation for quite some time and that it has grown to epic proportions that need professional services like a pest inspection. Roaches definitely prefer to stay in dark crevices, but overcrowding and a lack of food actually drive roaches out during the day. Furthermore, just because you see dead roaches, doesn’t mean your infestation is gone. In fact, dead roaches lying around likely means that you have an ongoing infestation.
Casings and Droppings
Roaches have a very high metabolism, so they drop a considerable amount of feces. If you see tiny specs that resemble coffee grounds, it is likely feces from a roach infestation. More than likely, you will see droppings first thing in the morning in sinks, on stoves and on food preparation surfaces that have been visited overnight by roaches. If you do see droppings, roaches are using your home as a high traffic area. This is a sure sign of a large infestation, so it indicates that it is time to call a professional.
Roaches also produce many eggs, so if you see brown casings, this is another sure sign that they’re breeding in your home and making the infestation larger. Roaches will typically try to put the egg casings in places that pesticides don’t reach, and this is yet another important reason to hire a professional. An infestation can quickly get out of hand. One roach can lay an egg casing that contains up to 50 eggs, so you can see that it doesn’t take long for the roach colony in your home to grow to massive proportions.
If you smell a pungent, musty odor, this is a sure sign of an infestation. The scent is an oily smell that comes from large numbers of roaches congregating together, but also from dead roach decomposition. The odor can linger in the air over days and even weeks.
Hire A Professional
Seeing. Smelling. Casings. Droppings. These are four tell-tale signs that you have a roach infestation. Don’t wait. You really have only one option—call a professional. In fact, calling the professionals at Midwestern Pest Control before an infestation occurs is even better. We can deal with roaches or any other pest from the Midwest to keep your Missouri or Illinois home worry free. The faster we get there, the sooner we can begin attacking the problem so you can regain control over your home. Give us a call today.
