Here's the scene: You wake in the middle of the night hungry, bleary-eyed, and with visions of leftover chocolate cake dancing in your head. You shuffle to the kitchen and, flicking on the light, you see your beloved cake sitting, uncovered, on the counter--probably left out by your teenager--and there are cockroaches on it. A bunch of them! You're awake now, and perhaps not so hungry, as the roaches scurry at an alarming speed to disappear into nearby cracks.
Cockroaches Problems
Aside from ruining your appetite at midnight, German cockroaches are a problem in many ways. These filthy insects taint food preparation surfaces with bacteria that can cause illness and disease. They contaminate food, leaving their urine and feces everywhere they roam. They spread allergens that can cause asthma symptoms to become much worse. And, if populations are allowed to grow large enough, they will even come out of hiding to bite humans.
5 Interesting Facts About German Cockroaches
- Being cold-blooded insects, cockroaches can live for a month without food, but can only go about a week without water. So even the cleanest, crumb-free home can have hundreds, or thousands, of hungry roaches waiting in the walls.
- A cockroach can live for a whole week without a head! Because they have an open circulatory system, and breathe through tiny holes in each of their body segments, they are not dependent on their mouth or head in order to breath. A headless cockroach will only die after a week because it can no longer drink.
- A cockroach is able to hold its breath for 40 minutes and can even live through being submerged underwater for half an hour. This fact makes them extremely hard to drown. Another noteworthy fact is that they often hold their breath to regulate their loss of moisture.
- Roaches can run as fast as 3 miles per hour! This means they are capable of spreading bacteria and other filth throughout your home very quickly.
- A 1-day-old baby cockroach, which is approximately the size of a speck of dust, can run almost as fast as an adult cockroach. That speck of dust you see scurrying across the counter may just be a baby cockroach.
German cockroaches are extremely difficult to completely eradicate using DIY methods. While it may seem like progress is being made, and cockroaches are gone, it is likely those roaches are simply hiding out deep within wall voids, only to reappear time and time again. If you need assistance in completely ridding your home of these horrifying creatures, reach out to Adams Exterminating Company. Don't let German cockroaches ruin your appetite, see how a residential pest control plan can help keeps these disease-carrying pests out of your home.