Cockroach is a prehistoric pest known to adapt very well to fit its environment. Present day, they are one of the toughest pests to eradicate. They can live anywhere, in any condition, and can feed on variety of food. They can lay eggs throughout their lives. Cockroaches are not social insects, but do live in large groups. Cockroaches feed on anything that may give them nutrients.
Cockroaches not only cause nuisance, they also are vectors of several diseases and are known to cause allergies. There are over 4,000 species of cockroaches, but only several are frequently found in Thai homes.
American Cockroach can be found all over the world. They are red-brown in color, with flat body, and long antenna. American Cockroach often roam around places with plenty of food and water including, basement and sewer areas. American Cockroach feed on garbage and food trash, often enter homes through drainage pipes or maybe picked up through paper boxes and container. American Cockroach’s favorite is decaying organic matter.
On average, an American Cockroach can lay up 9-10 egg cases each time; each case containing around 14-16 eggs. American Cockroach prefer a place that has good humidity to hatch which include cracks and crevices that are close to food source. American Cockroach’s egg to adulthood depends on surrounding condition and temperature. A mature American Cockroach can live from 90 to 913 days.
German Cockroach can be found in various places. German Cockroaches are light-brown or golden-brown in color, having black parallel lines along their pronotum. They are the species that hardly ‘fly’ around.
German Cockroach’s egg case is brown-yellow in color, and the tip of the case is slightly pale. The case is attached to the female German cockroach, which will carry the case until they are almost hatched. When the case is about to break, the female German Cockroach will deposit the case in a safe place.
On average, German Cockroach’s egg case may contain up to 50 eggs. From egg to matured German Cockroaches takes between 54-215 days. This means that within a year, a female German Cockroach may produce 3-4 generations; in some cases, 6 generations of cockroaches are produced by a single female. A mature German Cockroach can live up to 303 days.
German Cockroaches love warm and humid area. They can be found in places like kitchen and bathroom. German Cockroaches also love anywhere with abundant food such as living room, entertainment room, or bedroom. Cracks and crevices near food source are usually their hiding places.
German Cockroaches may be ‘carried’ over through hiding in paper bags, cardboard boxes, egg container; even from second-hand products or appliances. German Cockroaches can eat anything that gives them nutrients, even unusual things like soap, glue, and toothpaste.
Brown-Banded Cockroach is brown or light brown in color, with a brown color bell-shape mark on their pronotum. The male Brown-Banded Cockroach roach loves to fly, but female Brown-Banded Cockroach does not. Brown-Banded Cockroach egg case is of light brown color, and contains about 10-18 eggs per case. It can take up to 161 days for the brown-banded cockroach to reach maturity. Brown-Banded Cockroach can live up to 131-315 days once they are fully matured.
Brown-Banded Cockroach likes warm places. They hide along the roof and furniture that are placed ‘up’ high such as shelves, picture frames. Brown-Banded Cockroach also hide in home appliance, electrical board, closet, and other home fixtures.
Brown-Banded Cockroach can eat anything; hair, scurf, or even fabric. They do not required water source to survive, which means they can live anywhere.
Cockroach traps do not help eliminate cockroach permanently. However, it does help limit the existing cockroaches from running around to other areas of the house. Trap’s main purpose is for monitoring cockroach population in certain area. Trap is often used when pest control company carries out treatment service. However, an individual may place cockroach trap in infested area to reduce the spread from one area to another.
A franchise restaurant called Virocare, inquiring about cockroach service. They had been dealing with cockroach infestations for some time; they received a recommendation to call Virocare. We agree to be put under a three-months trial period. We received information that, in the past, the client had been placing cockroach traps. The client constantly checks installed traps and found that cockroach population did not decrease, they were concerned. Virocare did a deep eradication for the restaurant. The following month, we check the cockroach trap and found that the cockroach population decreased by 70%; the client was very happy. After the three-months trial period had ended, the cockroaches were reduced by 95%. The client agrees to sign an annual contract with Virocare, trusting us with other restaurant branches.
A client had a termite and cockroach contract with Virocare. We noticed that she often called in to report cockroach activities in her house. Many times, she would call even before the treatment schedule was due. Each time, she would find just one cockroach around ceiling corner, air-conditioner ventilation, etc.
Virocare tried to recheck the area that were reported, adjust and change products, and even treatment method – our client still found cockroach.
Eventually we shift our focus not just in the house, but outside.
Finally, the team found a cavity under the house caused by soil erosion. This cavity suddenly became a suspected risk area
One of our clients, at the beginning of his contract, told us that he often found many cockroaches climb up in the evening – up to hundreds of them. They would climb on the house wall, outside the house, some even fly around.
When the team went to the work- site, they found that the house was adjacent to an unoccupied land. After the investigation, our team started a deep elimination treatment. From numerous of cockroaches, the client is now happy with none in his home.
"I used to have small cockroaches in the apartment. They lived in drawers and cupboard. The juristic offers pest control service, too, and they come into solve our cockroach problems. The problem still exists. My girlfriend called Virocare. The team arrived and inspected our place. They told us the problems we were experiencing. They found eggs; cockroaches’ egg and the younger generation cockroaches that probably just hatched. After the first service treatment, the number of cockroaches reduced significantly. The service team puts several cockroaches traps in our apartment to check the pest population. These traps, we also used before they carried out service. They were always full with roaches. After the treatment, we saw the difference this time. We found the number was far less than what we had encounter. The big ones still existed, but in a much less number, less than 5 (from more than 20). The team came in once more for a follow up session. After that our apartment was roaches-free. Since we chose one-time service, after the follow up session, we still use the roaches trap to keep our eyes on them. Surprisingly, they didn’t come back. We were very happy with the outcome."
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