Residential Cockroach Services

How to Prepare for Cockroach Treatments

If you’ve recently set up a cockroach treatment plan with us, there are a few tasks you can perform that will speed up the process of exterminating your roach infestation. Even with the best products around, and a proven track-record of ridding homes of roaches, cockroach treatment takes time, and usually involves multiple visits. Complete cockroach extermination seldom ends after only one or two visits, but by completing the following steps, you’ll soon be living roach free. Before your treatment series begins, it’s important to prepare the rooms (and especially the kitchen area) for our treatment tactics. Please follow these simple home preparation steps prior to our first treatment:

• Empty infested cupboard areas. This is important and will help to complete the step below. The treatments and products we’ll be using work best if they can be applied cleanly and completely, and having items in the cupboards to be treated can hamper the process, making treatment less effective.
• Clean the areas to be treated and remove clutter. In the kitchen, sweeping and mopping is quite useful, as well as cleaning the inside of cupboards. In all rooms with a roach presence, removing piles of clothes, unnecessary debris and sorting through items such as stacks of books or movies is essential for our detailed treatment. Cleanliness and order are the best ways to prevent reinfestation.
• Seal up holes in walls or doors. Roaches are experts at sneaking in and out of wall trim and other small openings. Use caulk, silicone, or even a drywall repair kit to eliminate hiding places for roaches. When forced out into the open, roaches will cross through Bug Zapper’s treatment barriers.
• Carefully examine and lightly jostle any electronic devices you can safely pick up and move. Examine if any roaches crawl out. This information will be very useful for your technician, and will not only save time, but will make treatments focused and effective. Common electronic devices favored by roaches are cable boxes, old-style speaker systems, the underside of coffee machines, and especially refrigerator compressors. Granted, you shouldn’t jostle your refrigerator, but anything small and easy to lift should be examined for roach activity.
• Remove any exposed foods or edibles. If you have pet food in dishes on the kitchen floor, remove the food before each treatment and consider removing food dishes whenever not in immediate use. If there is exposed food on the countertops or living room tables, move these items to the refrigerator or toss them out. Try to cut off as many food sources from the roaches as possible. Food that can sometimes be found in kids’ rooms, inside cabinets, or out on counters should be eliminated wherever possible. Plastic containers or totes work wonders for storing potential food sources away from roaches, but will also protect your foods from contact with our products.
• Cut off the water supply for the roaches. While roaches can last for some time without food (about a month), water is far more crucial to them. Roaches can’t live longer than a week without water. They often visit the kitchen sink at night, or other areas in which they can get a quick drink. Empty out the drip pan beneath your refrigerator, keep standing water out of your sinks, and don’t leave out cups of water any longer than necessary — especially overnight. Drip trays under potted plants should be actively drained and kept dry during the treatment cycle. Empty the excess water out of irons, steam-cleaners, vases, or any catch-basins. If you have leaking pipes in the house, have them repaired as soon as possible. A thirsty roach is a roach you won’t have to worry about for long once treatments begin.
• Gather up small items you’d like treated and place them in large totes or in thick plastic garbage bags. We’ll install fumigant strips within these that will kill any roaches or eggs hiding inside these items. Relevant items to seal up in this way would be small electronics you’re not actively using and items you’ve seen roaches frequenting (an iron, a particular child’s toy, etc.).

Note: During treatments it is important to make sure you sweep or vacuum up any dead roaches you encounter. If you have a heavy infestation, there are going to be a sizable amount of roaches to dispose of. There is a known connection between dead cockroaches and asthma (which can affect you, your children, and even your pets). This happens when dead roaches begin to decompose. These particles can cause allergic reactions in humans, and they’re smaller than the naked eye can see. The more dead roaches you can see in your home, the higher the chance you’ll experience health problems. Clean dead roaches up and dispose of them frequently. This will also help your pest control technician focus treatments on areas with current activity.

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