Cockroaches - small, unpleasant apartment dwellers - always cause a feeling of disgust, rejection and hostility, since their appearance causes a lot of problems for the owner of the living space. For a long time, the mustachioed insect manages to remain unnoticed (since it is nocturnal), lives quietly in comfortable conditions and slowly reproduces. If the mustachioed creature had the temerity to catch the eye of the apartment owner, it means that there are quite a lot of insects, so you need to get rid of them urgently. Why is it not recommended for a person to calmly, so to speak, coexist like a neighbor with cockroaches?
What do small cockroaches look like?
A well-known saying says: “You need to know your enemy by sight.” What do small cockroaches look like? Such insects are characterized by a wide abdomen, short wings and a flat body shape. The most important organ of the body is the tactile antennae, which provide the insect with orientation in space. Three pairs of legs are equipped with suction cups and claws that help them move on any surface. The high speed and agility inherent in small cockroaches determine their penetration into the narrowest cracks, moving not only in the space of the apartment, but also in basements, sewers, attics, and garbage chutes.
Why are cockroaches so tenacious?
How did these arthropods from the class of insects known to us simply as cockroaches spread so widely? Cockroach species are distinguished by their diversity, ability to adapt to the environment, and are unpretentious in food. Also, all types of cockroaches reproduce quite quickly. There are a number of other factors that contribute to survival:
- They quickly hide, thanks to their ability to crawl into any cracks.
- The structure of the legs is equipped with suction cups, with the help of which the insect quickly moves over different surfaces.
- Activity at night, which allows you to rarely meet a person.
Cockroaches are carriers of disease
From walks on their chitinous coverings, cockroaches bring a lot of different pathogenic bacteria, helminth eggs and fungal spores that come across along their intricate route. In just a few hours, this entire set can end up on the kitchen table, food and dishes. In addition, cockroaches - small pests - are omnivores and are equipped with mouthparts that can grind any food. A considerable range of pathogenic microorganisms is also present in the digestive system of cockroaches and can cause diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, gastroenteritis, dysentery, salmonellosis, and mycobacteriosis.
The danger comes from the chitinous coverings remaining after molting, the remains of dead individuals, and dry excrement. When mixed with house dust, such substances enter the human skin, digestive tract, and respiratory tract and can cause a number of serious diseases, including allergic rhinitis, bronchial asthma, and dermatitis.
The presence of mustachioed insects can be determined by the unpleasant odor in the apartment, which most often comes from black cockroaches. This is especially noticeable when there is a significant accumulation of them. How to get rid of domestic cockroaches in an apartment?
The danger hidden under the infestation of an apartment with small domestic insects
At the initial stage of development, “babies” (children of mustachioed pests) cannot yet reproduce; the body is not yet ready to perform this function. But after a few weeks/months (depending on which species they belong to), the small cockroaches in the kitchen turn into sexually mature individuals. Only then do they become truly dangerous. Moreover, each individual can produce several dozen cubs, which will also begin to reproduce in the future. As a result, the apartment quickly turns into a gathering place for insects. Other consequences follow from this:
- deterioration of the sanitary condition of housing: insects crawl in clouds, gnaw on everything, leave traces of vital activity (shells, excrement); if it is heavily infested, the apartment will look very unpleasant - black spots of feces, brown husks everywhere;
- the risk of developing infections in people and animals: insects carry many harmful microorganisms on their chitinous shell; proximity to domestic longhorned beetles quite often brings diseases (streptococcal, staphylococcal, meningococcal infections, etc.).
If small cockroaches appear, they can cause no less harm than adults. Young individuals crawl in the same places: landfills, garbage chutes, basements as adults, although not as actively, because part of the time they hide in shelters when they are molting. But harmful microorganisms still linger on their outer covers.
Be aware of the possible consequences of cockroach infestations
About little black cockroaches
The black cockroach is a prominent representative of its compatriots; it enters apartments mainly from sewers, basements and garbage cans. It has been observed that this individual does not rise above the 5th floor, so it causes the greatest trouble to residents of the lower levels. Small black cockroaches in an apartment, the presence of which indicates poor sanitary conditions in the room, do not disdain any food; in its absence, they feed on scraps from the trash can.
In terms of reproduction speed, they are superior to their red counterparts, who also prefer to live close to humans.
The red cockroach (in common parlance “Prusak”), characterized by an elongated body and light red color, has become so firmly established in living quarters that getting rid of it and its brethren is a rather tedious and time-consuming task.
By the way, such insects regulate the number of their numerous colonies independently.
If small cockroaches appear: what to do?
An effective drug in the fight against cockroaches is the Dichlorvos aerosol, which ensures the rapid death of insects provided that they are outside their burrows at the time of treatment. The surviving individuals, after the chemical wears off, will calmly return to their previous way of life. The disadvantage of using this method is the risk of poisoning pets with toxic chemical vapors, for which such treatment can sometimes even lead to death.
Small cockroaches in the bathroom, kitchen and apartment in general can be destroyed with gels (“Dohlox”, “Liquidator”, “Killer”, “Raptor”), sold in large syringes and ready for immediate use. The product should be applied along the baseboard around the perimeter of the room in small drops at a distance of about 10 cm from each other. In just a week, cockroaches will not come to stay in the apartment they have lived in and will leave it forever.
Why are they dangerous?
A small cockroach, despite its small size, can cause a lot of trouble. It is important to know that small domestic cockroaches are carriers of dangerous diseases of infectious etiology, various helminthiases. Since they enter the apartment after traveling through the sewer or basement, the likelihood of infection with bacterial or viral diseases is high.
If only one parasite, which is a fertilized female, gets into the apartment, after some time many small cockroaches will appear in the apartment; these insects have the unique ability to multiply quickly and survive in extreme conditions.
Accordingly, it is necessary to take the necessary measures immediately after the appearance of parasites in the home.
Traps against cockroaches
Safer and more effective in the fight against cockroaches are traps (for example, Raid or Raptor), which are small round boxes with poison inside and several entrances.
Such devices are equipped with special Velcro, so they can be attached almost anywhere. A long period of exposure, safety, absence of fumes and harmful odor are the advantages of using such products. A red cockroach that has been trapped becomes infected and infects the rest of its relatives.
Insecticidal sprays and aerosols
Also a large group of insecticides. It has the form of a liquid placed in a can and is sprayed pointwise under pressure. Don't know what to do if you come across a nest of cockroaches and want to destroy them all en masse? That's right, use the aerosol before your wife sees the cockroaches before you, and it would be nice to have such a product on hand. For a serious fight against red colonizers, sprays are not suitable. In addition, they also have a serious drawback: high toxicity for people and animals. However, even a respirator does not guarantee complete protection from toxic fumes. Therefore, it is better to choose a more versatile and safe product. If for some reason you need a spray or aerosol, here are the most popular brands:
- Dichlorvos;
- Raptor;
- Combat;
- Baron;
- Raid;
- Clean house.
When using aerosols, remember safety precautions: use rubber gloves and a respirator, and thoroughly ventilate the room after treatment.
Insecticidal traps
Cockroach poison in the form of traps is perhaps the most versatile and safest remedy. It is designed as follows: poison with a food attractant that lures cockroaches is placed in a plastic container, which is attached to the surface using double-sided tape.
We are reading on the topic: Large cockroaches are very scary for me
Even if just one individual tries the deadly treat, the rest will die, as the cockroach becomes infectious. The resulting epidemic will wipe out the entire population in a couple of days, all you have to do is collect and throw away the dead insects. The undeniable advantages include the following:
- Efficiency.
Usually a couple of days is enough to completely rid a home of red-haired conquerors. This is the most important advantage, since it will not be possible to remove nasty insects using other methods as quickly as using traps.
- Safety for people and animals.
The product does not emit toxic fumes, and the design of the plastic trap makes it impossible for pets or children to extract and eat the poison.
- Long lasting effect.
The traps remain active for two to three months. This period is usually enough for your neighbors to also have time to poison their cockroaches, so you don’t have to worry about new mustachioed visitors. For those who do not want to put the health of family members at risk and resort to chemical insecticides, there is another way to combat insects. True, this method is not suitable for sensitive people - you will understand why later.
So, the essence of the method is as follows. You need to take a jar, coat the inside of the walls with Vaseline or oil, put bait on the bottom, and wrap the outside of the jar with paper so that it is convenient for cockroaches to climb up. Attracted by the smell of the bait, the insects will be drawn into the jar, but they will no longer be able to get out - the slippery walls coated with Vaseline will not allow them to do this.
Of course, the method is safe and effective, but it’s too disgusting. Few people would want to see, much less touch, a jar infested with nasty insects. You can't do without allies in the war against cockroaches
As mentioned above, it rarely happens that cockroaches inhabit only one apartment in an apartment building. They almost always migrate and settle throughout the entire entrance. For this reason, it is pointless to fight them alone - sooner or later they will come again. The best solution would be to join forces with neighbors and carry out insecticidal measures across the entire entrance at once. In addition, it makes sense to leave traps or other means in common areas - near garbage chutes, on stairs, and so on.
Against cockroaches – boric acid
You can “treat” cockroaches with the most dangerous poison for them, causing death - boric acid. It is recommended to sprinkle this powder on the area where the trash can is, baseboards, sinks, ventilation holes, bathrooms, and toilets. For humans, such a drug, inexpensive in cost, is completely harmless, so you can safely sprinkle it on suspicious surfaces. It is worth considering that insects are very sensitive to powder that is harmful to them and most of them sense it a mile away. In this case, you can play on a specific feature of cockroaches: curiosity.
Whiskered insects are very curious. If, for example, you put a bright candy wrapper on the windowsill and watch it for a while, then a cockroach or even several will definitely appear in your field of vision and approach an unfamiliar object in order to examine it.
Therefore, boric acid can be disguised as an attractive ball. To prepare the poison, you need to mix 30-50 grams of the drug powder with raw egg yolk (or bread crumbs or grated potatoes) until it becomes mushy. Then you need to stick small balls (about 1 cm in diameter) and place them in places where a massive accumulation of cockroaches is expected to occur. It is advisable to perform this operation at night. Small cockroaches will not feel the disguised boric acid, but they will definitely begin to explore the ball itself and, touching it with their antennae, will doom themselves to death.
Since insects do not transmit a signal of danger to their relatives, new individuals will approach the cunning bait, become infected and crawl away mortally ill. Using this method, you can completely get rid of cockroaches in 3-4 weeks, depending on their number. There is a possibility of cockroaches reappearing; it may be the hatched offspring left in the eggs by the female insect. Therefore, it is recommended to repeat the method with boric acid, and the cockroaches - small and large - will disappear forever.
Stages of insect development
Prussians and their black relatives are very different from each other in appearance. Black insects are much larger than red ones. Their larvae are also larger in size than baby Prussians. The female insect lays her eggs in a special chitinous shell - the ooteca. In the black representative of cockroaches, up to 20 larvae are formed in one clutch. The life cycle of a large barbel consists of several stages:
- The ootheca remains for about 1.5 months in a warm, secluded place, after which nymphs emerge from it;
- the larva is formed within 7–8 months, shedding its chitinous shell and acquiring a new one;
- The adult is capable of reproduction and can lay more than 20 oothecae during its life of up to 5 years.
Red representatives of cockroaches develop in a similar way, but the duration of their cycles is shorter:
- The ootheca left by the female releases from 25 to 40 small cockroaches within 2 weeks;
- the larval stage lasts 2 – 4 months;
- On average, the imago lives a short life of 1 year, during which time it manages to give birth to offspring about 10 times.
If we compare the two most common types of pests, then the rate of development of the organism in red ones exceeds their counterparts. Therefore, they have a greater chance of surviving in unfavorable situations. Small and nimble Prussians displace their larger competitors from the territory, putting them to flight or completely destroying the entire colony.
Killer composition: flour + alabaster
An effective remedy for cockroaches - red, rather unpleasant insects - is a combination of alabaster and flour in equal proportions. The resulting mixture should be sprinkled on the areas where insects are most concentrated. When alabaster enters the body, it hardens and turns into plaster, which causes the death of mustachioed individuals.
Cockroaches are small, brown and black insects that cannot stand the smell of ammonia, so a washed floor with the addition of this substance will repel them for a while.
Spectacular pets
Not everyone may like decorative cockroaches, but meeting them will definitely be unforgettable. Exotic cockroaches come in different varieties; one of the most popular species is the six-spotted cockroach, also native to the Americas. It is considered very impressive because the back of this representative of the cockroach fraternity is of an unusual orange hue. The name in this case is also dictated by the appearance features. The front back is decorated with two large and four small spots; they form a symmetrical pattern, which immediately allows the insect to be identified as Eublaberus distanti.
Although these representatives of the class of insects are not able to climb on slippery surfaces, their cage should be securely covered with a lid. The fact is that six-pointed cockroaches jump perfectly. They also need:
- Shavings.
- Branches (so cockroaches can climb).
- Bark for shelter during the day.
- High humidity.
More similar to the original colors of the car beetle (Lucihormetica subcincta). In appearance, it really does resemble a small ladies' car: two large yellow spots look like a headlight, and a small border along the back completes the impression, giving the image even some beauty.
But only males are the carriers of spots. This species is native to Colombia, so they feel good only at high temperatures. “Cars” do not grow very quickly - they can reproduce only a year after birth, and in total they live for about 4 years.
Beer against cockroaches
You can insidiously take advantage of the love of cockroaches for beer by pouring a small amount into the bottom of a jar, greasing the inner edges of the glass container with Vaseline and leaving it in the place where the insects are supposed to live. The next morning the jar will be filled with cockroaches. With this method, only those specimens that crawl out of their holes will die. Females involved in laying eggs and packing them into the ooteca, a special chamber at the end of the abdomen, will remain inside and are guaranteed to ensure the appearance of new offspring instead of the destroyed ones.
Curious facts
Those who like to kill cockroaches in a sudden way should be aware of the extreme resistance of such insects to physical damage. Therefore, swatting it down is not enough; you also need to either grind it thoroughly, or sprinkle it with boric acid while still half-dead and release it to its relatives.
Interesting information: thanks to a specific gene, called “knockdown” by scientists, cockroaches can imitate their own death. Smelling the smell of poison, the insect loses consciousness, falls with its paws up and stops breathing.
After lying down for a certain period, he comes to his senses and calmly continues his sabotage activities.
Preventive measures
As preventive measures against the spread of cockroaches in the home, it is recommended to use the following recommendations:
- Maintain perfect cleanliness in the kitchen and in the apartment as a whole. There should be no crumbs on the tables and floors, and greasy deposits on the walls. The trash can should be taken out in a timely manner, without putting it off until tomorrow.
- Store seasonings in glass, hermetically sealed containers.
- Wash dishes and sinks promptly.
- Do not leave containers with prepared food or grocery bags open.
- Cover the air vents with a grill or fine mesh.
- Cockroaches can live for several weeks without a head, which has been confirmed by repeated experiments.
- Many species can fly (the synanthropic American or Lapland cockroach).
- Whiskered insects may not breathe for 40 minutes. This property contributes to the retention of water available in the body when it is impossible to replenish it.
Signs of appearance in the house
- Signs of the appearance of cockroaches can be black dots - traces of vital activity, on baseboards, near the trash can, sink, in the bathroom.
- Specific smell. Cockroaches have a highly developed sense of smell. By smell they find food, water, and their own kind. In the same way they give signs to other relatives that food has been found. During the breeding season, the smell intensifies.
There is no need to delay killing insects. Cockroaches reproduce quickly. During one fertilization, the female produces about 40 larvae. During its entire life it produces 3-4 offspring. In a month, a whole crowd will be running around your apartment. Insects damage food, furniture, book bindings, and plants.
There are a huge number of fighting methods. Effective folk remedies, professional chemicals, traps, repellers. It is necessary to follow basic rules: remove crumbs from the table after eating, clean cupboards more often, wipe surfaces dry, repair taps on time. The absence of suitable conditions for cockroaches is the best method of control and prevention!
