Closing Down the Roach Motel

Living anywhere in or around New York City, cockroaches are a reality that renters and homeowners alike can’t ignore. Some might even consider it a sort of New Yorker right of passage. They’re ugly and scurry everywhere, but they can also cause health problems. For children and young adults with asthma or particular allergies, the bacteria that cockroaches produce or shed can cause some serious issues, and they are connected to some serious health issues, including salmonella.

So, how do you keep them out on the street and not scurrying into the corners of your home? Sure, an exterminator is always a quick fix for such situation, but it can also be a bit of a nuisance. It’s better to take preventative measures, ensuring that your home is the farthest thing from a welcome space for roaches. This begins with ensuring you don’t have any major leaks in your home, which are often a favored source of water for roaches; a dripping faucet is also a tempting oasis for cockroaches. As for eliminating their food source, it’s really just a matter of keeping your home organized and clean: sweeping up and mopping up crumbs and spills properly, taking out the trash and washing dishes regularly, using airtight containers for food storage.

Another important and popular tactic is closing down any entryways for roaches in your home by caulking, spackling and weather-stripping; if you live in an apartment, it’s a matter your landlord will likely be concerned with in terms of resale value. Sadly, however, many times these tactics must be employed to help eliminate a current infestation from the laziness of a former tenant/owner or nearby construction sending colonies looking for a new home. In this case, keeping things clean and patching up any cracks or major holes are still going to be key tactics to eliminating the roaches you see, not to mention the broods that likely are lurking elsewhere. On top of these actions, however, it is now necessary to lay out a few traps and its suggested to use those that include bait, though the sticky traps will allow you to see the extent of the infestation and the areas of greatest concern.

Don’t expect quick results in either situation, as cockroaches can go for up to six weeks without food often enough, but the aforementioned actions should eventually shut the door on the roaches. In the rare cases that taking these actions doesn’t do the job and you have to get an exterminator to chemically treat the issue, make sure the chemicals aren’t used around the areas where you use water or prepare and eat food, as these chemicals are known for doing way more damage to your health than the cockroaches, ultimately. And make sure you have a trusted exterminator who will talk to you about your issue and keep you informed of the entire process. In any case, these tactics will help you shut down the roach motel for good.