If you’ve discovered cockroaches in your kitchen you’ll have put measures in to eliminate them as quickly as possible. You want them gone for good not just relocated so it’s worth making sure that no other room in your home will offer an alternative residence.
Cockroaches are most commonly associated with kitchens but can be equally at home in bathrooms, their needs are fairly basic and all of them can be met in either room. Cockroaches need water, a place to hide away in the daylight hours and food. However, they can do without food for up to a month, and will eat pretty much anything, including soap and human skin cells.
When you are dealing with these bugs you should first find out where they are coming from and then proceed on to doing the actual work.
Preventing cockroach infestations in your bathroom means ensuring that it doesn’t supply their needs:
Check every pipe in your bathroom, if there are holes in pipes or dripping joints fix or tighten them. This will eliminate dripping water but you also need to make sure that the humidity levels are as low as possible. If you have poor ventilation, consider fitting an extractor fan and running it after every bath or shower. Make sure your family is well disciplined not to allow puddles of water to remain in the bathroom. If you keep plants in the bathroom make sure there’s no surface water on the soil, or puddles in the drip tray after watering.
Try to drive cockroaches away from the drains by pouring boiling water into them. The high temperature of the water might be enough to kill eggs or adult insects that are in the drains while the water flows. Do this often and it should have an effect.
The next thing to turn your attention to is possible food supplies. If you feed pets in the bathroom, consider moving their food to another part of the house. Keep the soap in a covered soap dish, empty rubbish bins daily. Keep baths, sink and floor clean and dry. Wiping the bath or sink dry after use may seem old-fashioned or obsessive but this will prevent both water or potential cockroach food being left behind. Use a suitable detergent to wash down every surface at least once a week.
Next turn your attention to any cracks or crevices, you may find these around pipework or skirting boards. Seal everything. In extreme cases, you may also need to lay traps or a roach killer to eliminate a severe infestation. If you need to use chemical solutions to the problem ask your Panther Pest Control officer to find the most suitable for your needs. Roaches are adaptable and can become resistant to over-the-counter insecticides so it’s worth making sure that the roach killer you’re using will be effective.
If you have heard your neighbours complaining about cockroaches, it will not be long before they find their way into your home. Or they already have, you just haven’t seen them yet. Cockroaches infestation spread like wildfire in blocks of flats and in terraced and semi-detached houses. Act quickly if you hear the whispers, and place some cockroach baits/poison in strategic places, including your bathroom.
Panther Pest Control advises you to not wait too much if you notice a problem with cockroaches. The more their population grows, the harder it will be to get rid of them. Act on time!
