How To Keep Your Longview Home Cockroach-Free: Expert Advice

Can you recall an embarrassing experience? You probably feel the emotions attached to that moment as you mentally replay the moment. If you could return to that moment, you'd presumably make adjustments to avoid the situation. Another emotion we want to avoid is fear. Can you recall an occurrence that created anxiety? 

We'd rather not experience fear and embarrassment, particularly from living inside our homes. For example, no one wants to endure the shame of witnessing cockroachesdart from underneath the couch when a visiting guest sits down for a conversation. You certainly don't need your heart to skip a beat when you turn on the light at night only to witness a cockroach running across your feet as it scampers to disappear down the shower drain. 

Avoid fear and embarrassment by securing the award-winning Longview pest control experts from Gecko Pest Control. For over two decades, we have removed cockroaches from local homes. A staff-certified entomologist trains our technicians to ensure we have the best-qualified pest control technicians. In addition to partnering with us, please keep reading to learn how to avoid fear and embarrassment from cockroaches. 

How To Identify Common Types Of Cockroaches

Before we look at the types of cockroaches that infest Longview homes, let's define these creepy creatures. Cockroaches are insects with an exterior shell (exoskeleton), two long, thin antennae about the length of their body, two compound eyes, and six jointed legs covered with spines. Although they have wings or wing pads, not all cockroaches fly, but most prefer to run to locations throughout your home or yard.

Cockroaches prefer warm, humid climates above 70?. Because they prefer moist locations, they hid inside walls near leaking pipes, underneath sinks in kitchen and bathroom cabinets, laundry rooms, the crawl space, and the basement. Sometimes, they find shelter underneath furniture and in closets if those areas are dark and relatively undisturbed. Most cockroaches in Longview prefer to live outdoors underneath wood and leaf piles, stones, rotting logs, and moisture-retaining heavy vegetation.

Cockroaches forage for food at night. The cockroaches that live outside search for decaying plants and insects in sewers, drains, compost piles, and animal feces. When in Longview homes, they feast on dead, rotting insects and fermenting plant matter in homes underneath appliances, behind kitchen counters, pantry corners, and other areas.

Now that we know the general characteristics of these disease-attracting pests, we will look at the ones that invade Longview homes. If you saw a cockroach running across your floor in the middle of the night when you went to get a late-night snack, it was likely one of the following: 

• German cockroach
• American cockroach
• Oriental cockroach
• Smokybrown cockroach

Let's briefly examine each one so you can identify what is scurrying around in the house.

The most common cockroach in the country is the German cockroach. These cockroaches cannot survive outdoors very long. Instead, it relies on human hospitality for survival. These tannish, light-brown 1/2 to 5/8-inch bugs have two parallel stripes running from the back of their heads to the end of their abdomen. They prefer to live in moist areas above 70? in the home. 

The Americans dominate in the size category. These reddish-brown 1 1/4 to 2 1/8 inch bugs are easily identifiable because of their body length and a yellowish figure-eight pattern on their heads. Unlike the German cockroaches, who do not fly, American cockroaches fly short distances. American cockroaches prefer to live outdoors in moist areas but enter homes during dry seasons and extreme temperature swings. 

Smokybrown cockroaches are relatives of American cockroaches, and like their cousins, they too can and do fly. However, you can tell the difference between the two pests by their darker, shiny brown, or mahogany 1 1/2-inch slender bodies. They don't prefer sewers as much as their American counterparts but enjoy living around shrubs, flowers, and trees; however, they also live in clogged gutters, where they enjoy feeding on bird droppings.

Starting from the lightest colored (German) and smallest cockroach on our list, we end with the darkest-colored cockroach: the oriental cockroach. More likely to be African and not oriental, these one-inch cockroaches have shiny black bodies. Unlike the American and smokybrown cockroaches, they cannot fly because they have no wings. Known as "waterbugs" and "black beetle cockroaches," oriental cockroaches like to live in cool, moist areas in crawl spaces and basements. Outside, they live under leaves, stones, firewood piles, and sewers.   

No matter what cockroach species infests your Longview home, secure roach pest controlfrom Gecko Pest Control. Our trained technicians can identify the species invading your house from the signs they find and the information you give us. Once we know which cockroach type is in your home, we will create a treatment targeting that species. 

Cockroaches In The Home Is A Major Health Hazard

Many insects do not create a health hazard from humans, but cockroaches differ because of their foraging habits, body construction, and body composition. As you've probably noticed, cockroaches feed on dead, decaying, or fermenting plant and animal matter in unsanitary locations. Sewers, drains, animal feces, and trash containers are incubators for a host of viruses, bacteria, and parasitic worms. When they consume food from these tainted locations, disease-causing pathogens enter their bodies.

When cockroaches enter a home and chew on paper products, exposed foods, and other items, they leave infected saliva that can transfer to an unsuspecting human. Furthermore, cockroaches defecate constantly and produce pepper-like droppings (German cockroaches) to blunt, rod-shaped droppings with ridges (American). When the fecal matter lands on utensils, cooking and eating surfaces, etc., it taints them by transferring the pathogens to the areas, which can then attach to food products placed on those surfaces.

Other insects forage in similar locations, and when they land (e.g., flies) or walk (i.e., ants) on surfaces, they contaminate them, but most do not spread disease. So, how are cockroaches different? Why do they pose a much more serious health risk? The difference is the spines on their legs. Whereas bacteria may stick to the bottom of a fly's foot, the numerous spines on the cockroach legs sweep up disease-causing organisms as they travel and forage in these polluted areas. So, cockroaches spread more of these organisms throughout homes, increasing the likelihood of contracting a disease.

Researchers link over two dozen bacterial infections, numerous parasitic worms, and several human pathogens to cockroaches. Examples of diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasitic worms spread by cockroaches include salmonellosis, typhoid fever, cholera, gastroenteritis, dysentery, listeriosis, giardia, and E.coli infection. These illnesses cause flu-like symptoms to life-threatening conditions.

The final threat from cockroaches comes courtesy of their body composition. Cockroaches produce a protein that triggers allergic reactions and asthma attacks. Physical contact with the bugs causes rashes in some people, but airborne dried fecal particles are the primary cause of reactions. As their feces dries, particles become airborne and inhalable by occupants in a home. The elderly and small children are particularly susceptible to reacting to these floating proteins. 

Gecko Pest Control provides cockroach pest control in Longview to protect you from diseases and allergic reactions caused by a cockroach infestation in your home. Our certified technicians will remove these problematic pests from your house so you can breathe easier and relax at night, knowing these creatures are no longer lurking in the darkness.

Five Naturally Effective Cockroach Prevention Tips

Once we eradicate cockroaches from your Longview home, you want to ensure they never return. To keep cockroaches away for good, here are five house cockroach prevention tips:

1. Remove debris from the yard
2. Seal cracks and gaps leading into the house
3. Install door sweeps
4. Repair holes in screens
5. Keep garbage containers closed

Since all cockroaches, except the German ones, enter houses from the outside, deter their presence on your Longview property by removing leaf piles, excess stones, logs, and wood piles. If you have firewood, elevate it and store it 20 feet from the structure. 

Prevent roaches from entering by sealing cracks in the foundation and along the roofline. Cockroaches need only a gap of 3/16 of an inch to access a house. Pay attention to gaps around utility boxes and incoming pipes and wires. Oriental cockroaches do not fly, so they access homes by scurrying under exterior doors, so install door sweeps to keep them out.

Cockroaches can crawl on masonry or use tree and shrub branches touching the house as highways to your home. Keep them out by repairing holes in window and door screens. 

Once you remove sheltering locations, you also need to remove food sources. Open garbage containers inside and outside the house are attractants for cockroaches. Therefore, always keep all trash receptacles closed.

When the best cockroach exterminator in Longview, Gecko Pest Control, inspects your property, we can offer additional ideas for your location. 

The Call To Make For Total Cockroach Control For Your Home

When you call Gecko Pest Control to schedule a free, no-obligation inspection, we will send a certified, trained technician to visit your Longview home. During our visit, we will investigate the interior and exterior to determine cockroach attractants, entry points, and hot spots in your house. Once we gather our data, we present customized treatment plans for your location to eradicate cockroaches from your property. Get started today and protect your family from cockroaches by calling Gecko Pest Control.