Getting Rid Of Cockroaches In Your Virginia Home For Good

Getting out of bed after a long night of, hopefully, deep sleep can be a challenge. It takes an act of the will to throw back the covers, swing your legs and feet around to the edge of the bed and make contact with the floor. Sometimes, you sit on the edge of the bed and try to get yourself motivated to face another day. Once you get moving, you slowly shuffle to the bathroom and turn on the light, but then it happens, and what occurs next kicks your system into high gear as you get flooded with adrenaline. 

When the bathroom light comes on, a group of cockroaches feverishly run across the floor! Some ran into the shower stall drain and others under the cabinets, but one ran in your direction! As the cockroach runs towards you, you jump out of the way and watch it run into the bedroom under the dresser. 

If you have experienced this scenario or a similar one, you need the best pest control in Virginia Beach from Hawk Mosquito & Pest. Our Better Business Bureau A+rated company has removed cockroaches from hundreds of homes since 2017. Our highly-trained technicians have the tools and experience to remove cockroaches, so you don't have those unexpected early-morning jolts of adrenaline from cockroaches in your house. This article provides helpful tips and information about this disgusting pest to assist in your fight against cockroaches.

How To Identify The Cockroaches In Your Home

Many people encounter cockroaches when they turn on the lights in the morning or middle of the night because cockroaches are nocturnal insects. You may wonder if one cockroach means you have an infestation, so these signs of a cockroach infestation will help you determine the extent of the problem:

• Droppings: Although some confuse the pepper-like cockroach fecal matter with mice droppings, you can distinguish the two by shape. Cockroach droppings have sharp ridges, while mice leave behind rod-shaped fecal matter with pointed ends. 
• Egg capsules: Female Cockroaches deposit dark-colored egg capsules, known as "ootheca," in dark areas in the laundry room, basement, behind kitchen appliances, and kitchen cabinets. The pill-shaped objects are glued to the surface and contain numerous eggs. 
• Smell: Male cockroaches communicate with female roaches using a pheromone. The chemical attracts and seduces female cockroaches to reproduce with the males. When a large infestation is present, you may notice a musty smell produced by this pheromone.
• Stains: Cockroaches constantly urinate and defecate as they travel over surfaces in your Virginia Beach home. The fecal matter creates dark spots and smears in corners, around wall cracks, and on the top of doors. 
• Skins: Cockroaches are insects, and all insects have their skeleton on the outside of their body. For an insect to grow, it must shed, known as "molt," its skin. As cockroaches go through numerous lifecycle growth phases, known as "instars," they molt and leave behind their old exoskeletons. Finding discarded skins underneath furniture, appliances, cabinets, and other dark areas indicates cockroaches are present.  
• In the kitchen area, examine inside the cabinets, drawers, garbage disposal, and pantry, and investigate underneath appliances and countertops for signs of cockroaches in your home. In the bathroom, investigate drains and the cabinets. In the living areas of your Virginia Beach home, look under furniture, between cushions, and behind pictures. If you have a basement, check dark corners and areas where food is stored. 

Call us at Hawk Mosquito & Pest to schedule an inspection.

Why Roaches In Your Home Is A Serious Risk To Your Health

There are several cockroach species in Virginia; the American cockroach, the German cockroach, the oriental cockroach, the brown-banded cockroach, and the wood cockroach, and all types of cockroaches are dangerous to have in your house. Cockroaches are disgusting insects that forage on rotting garbage, compost piles, and animal feces; they travel and feed in sewers and drains where the spines on their legs pick up disease-causing pathogens on the surface in those areas. As they crawl over these filthy areas, the spines on their legs attract bacteria, viruses, and parasitic worms. 

Later, as the cockroaches travel through your Virginia Beach home, the infectious organisms fall off and contaminate kitchen countertops, drawers, cabinets, cooking surfaces, and other surfaces. Fecal droppings, urination, and saliva are ways cockroaches contaminate surfaces in the house. Cockroaches chew on food packaging polluting the exterior with secretions from their mouthparts. 

Pathogens from cockroaches' bodies spread to occupants when they eat food in contact with the compromised surfaces. Salmonellosis, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and E. coli infection are some of the 33 diseases cockroaches spread to humans. Nausea, diarrhea, dehydration, cramps, vomiting, and even hospitalization are symptoms of the diseases cockroaches spread. 

Not only do cockroaches transmit diseases, but they can cause allergic reactions in children. Cockroaches have a protein in their saliva, waste, and body that triggers a runny nose, sneezing, itching mouth, nose. and throat, post nasal drip, and more. Sometimes, cockroaches cause occupants to have an asthma attack producing shortness of breath, pain, and chest tightness. 

Cockroaches affect your physical health, and they impact your mental well-being. The unexpected shock of witnessing a cockroach in the bathroom in the middle of the night can trigger a debilitating fear known as katsaridaphobia. Those who struggle with this phobia may resort to using dangerous chemicals in the house to alleviate the problem, but those products may endanger household members and pets.

Regular pest control in Virginia Beach from Hawk Mosquito & Pest uses eco-friendly treatments to keep you and those you love safe.

The Best Way To Get Rid Of Roaches In Your House Fast!

Professional cockroach pest control in Virginia Beach is necessary to remove cockroaches from your house. When you call Hawk Mosquito & Pest and schedule an inspection, our technicians will conduct a complete investigation of your home and search for cockroach eggs, droppings, skins, and live cockroaches. 

Our thorough inspection will enable us to determine the cockroach species infesting your house. Once we have the information, we strategically place gel baits to catch active roaches; we use other techniques like foam and dusting to eliminate the eggs and nests. In addition to safely treating your home, we will work with you to prevent a future cockroach infestation. 

Using the professional cockroach remedy from Hawk Mosquito & Pest is superior to a store-bought product. While those products may kill the cockroaches on contact, they do not eliminate the eggs and prevent reproduction. Do-it-yourself products can be dangerous to pets and children, and incorrect application may put your family at risk. There are different cockroach species with unique habits; if you don't know which species is in your Virginia Beach house, you may be treating the wrong areas or using a product that doesn't target the species in your home. 

Five No-Sweat Tips To Prevent Future Cockroach Infestations

Once our technicians from Hawk Mosquito & Pest eliminate the cockroaches from your Virginia Beach home, you need to take steps to avoid a reoccurring infestation. Preventing a future invasion of cockroaches does not require much work. Here are five easy ideas to stave off a future cockroach problem:

1. Seal entry points into the house: Cockroaches can squeeze through tiny cracks, gaps, and holes. Cover openings in the foundation, along the roof line, and gaps between incoming wires and pipes with caulk; place screens over the crawl space and attic vents; repair holes in door and window screens. Install door sweeps under exterior doors to prevent cockroaches from crawling underneath into the home. 
2. Keep all trash containers closed and store compost in a sealed container to help eliminate an attraction to your property.
3. Remove attractions from the yard: Pick up animal feces and rotting fruit, and remove outdoor pet food at night. Keep the yard free from debris like wood and leaf piles, junk, and other areas where cockroaches can find food, water, and shelter. 
4. Eliminate high-moisture areas: Cockroaches enjoy living in warm and moist locations like crawlspaces, laundry rooms, basements, and bathrooms; outdoors, the cockroaches stay under leaf and wood piles in shaded places or spots with poor drainage. Provide ventilation to these areas by pruning trees and shrubs or by opening vents (if indoors). 
5. Clean the house: Vacuum the home regularly; use a wand attachment to suction corners, baseboard cracks, and underneath furniture. Wipe down eating and cooking surfaces after each meal. Remove pet food from bowls, fruit, and exposed foods and keep them in airtight storage containers. 

Prevention is key to preventing a future infestation of cockroaches because they quickly multiply. For example, a female German cockroach, the most prevalent roach in homes, will produce six to eight egg capsules containing 48 eggs during its short lifetime. Two months after the female cockroaches hatch, they begin reproducing, and within one year, you may have up to 10,000 cockroaches in your Virginia Beach house! 

The second most common cockroach in homes is the American cockroach. An American cockroach female produces 150 offspring, and when all her females create children, you have an infestation in a short time. All cockroach species are prolific reproducers, so it is best to implement these prevention steps to keep them out of your house.

If you find a cockroach in your house, you need to quickly secure Hawk Mosquito & Pest to treat your home to prevent being overrun by those filthy insects. Call us today and request a quote.