Help! I Am Struggling With Cockroach Control In Tampa

Types Of Cockroaches Found In Tampa

There are several pest cockroach species in Tampa. The species we see most often are German cockroaches, brown-banded cockroaches, and American cockroaches. It is helpful to know which of these cockroaches you're dealing with in your home.

German Cockroach: A German roach is between ½ and ⅝ of an inch in length. It is shaped like an almond and has six spiny legs and two long antennae. It is tan and has two black stripes running down each side of its body. These strips are more noticeable on nymphs (baby roaches) because they don't have wings to cover the black stripes. On an adult, these black lines look like a small equal sign between the head and the top of the wings. The wings of a German cockroach stack on top of each other and hang past the abdomen slightly. While the wings of German cockroaches do function, they rarely use them. These insects mostly have no use for wings because they hide in tight cracks and crevices. Keep this in mind as you go looking for roaches in your home. Seeing a German cockroach is a warning sign that there are hundreds more that you aren't seeing. Two ways to deal with German roaches are to keep things clean, so these pests don't accidentally spread germs to your food, dishes, and silverware; and to seal the gaps they use to go from wall voids into areas you don't want them to be. There is no easy solution to arrest a German cockroach infestation; we strongly recommend a professional German cockroach treatment.      

Brown-Banded Cockroach: A brown-banded cockroach is about ½ of an inch long and a teardrop shape. You may also look at the shape as an exclamation point without the point. As with all cockroaches, it has six spiny legs, two long antennae, and two small appendages on the abdomen called cerci. What you'll notice most about these roaches is that the females have short wings that only stretch about ¾ of the length of the abdomen. They are distinct. The males have wings that hang past the abdomen like many other roaches, and you may mistake them for German cockroaches. They are similar, except that brown-banded cockroaches don't have a black equal sign. If you see a small roach with no black equal sign on its back, it is likely a male brown-banded cockroach. Nymphs have noticeable brown, pale, and orange banding, which is how these roaches got their name. You'll find these roaches hiding in warm and humid spaces in your home. Keeping your home cool and dry may drive these pests out. Add sanitation and exclusion work, and you may get control of these roaches.    

American Cockroaches: These are notorious Florida roaches. They're often called water bugs or Palmetto bugs. An American cockroach can grow to be 2 ⅛ inches long. They're huge! So, you won't have any trouble telling adults from the other two cockroaches mentioned here. But, if you need more help with your identification, look for the yellow mark on the back, between the head and wings. It looks a little bit like a yellow (or pale) figure-eight. American cockroaches have a high moisture requirement but can survive in a dry home. Sanitation can remove food sources and help to entice these tricky roaches to take cockroach bait. If an infestation persists, contact a licensed professional for treatment. 

Once you know your foe, it is time to consider what roaches do inside your Tampa home. They are unsanitary pests that can make you sick. They also have the ability to damage your stuff. 

The Diseases Cockroaches Can Spread

Cockroaches are attracted to unsanitary locations and should not be allowed to roam around in your home. Cockroaches move about in unsanitary environments, feed on unsanitary things, and get into places you wouldn't expect.

• Cockroaches crawl in dumpsters, sewers, trash piles, and on compost, dead animals, and other things. They pick up bacteria, parasitic worms, and pathogens when they do this. On the interior of man-made structures, roaches spread invisible organisms that are associated with diseases such as cholera, dysentery, campylobacteriosis, listeriosis, leprosy giardia, salmonellosis, and more.
• Cockroaches consume rotting organic matter, feces, and other dirty things. As they move about inside man-made structures, their feet, bodies, and waste materials are a source of contamination. Touching a surface, eating off a plate, or ingesting food contaminated by cockroaches can cause stomach illness.
• Recent studies link cockroaches to increased hospitalizations for asthma-related symptoms, with children being in the highest risk group. The materials left by roaches can also cause an allergic respiratory response in those who do not have asthma.
• Cockroaches can cause rashes when they crawl on human skin.
• While cockroaches don't eat living tissue, they sometimes bite when feeding on dead skin caught in eyelashes. Waking up with a swollen eye or allergic conjunctivitis is a warning sign of a cockroach infestation.

Sanitation is essential when addressing cockroaches. Not only does it remove food options and increase the success of baits, but cockroaches in a clean home won't be as dirty. You should know, however, that roaches can access dirty things outside and come into your home after doing so.      

How And Why Cockroaches Find Their Way Into Your Home

Now we get to the meat and potatoes of this article. If you're struggling with cockroach control around your Tampa home, these tips will help you drive cockroaches away and keep them from getting inside. They'll also help to deter roaches from bringing invisible organisms into your home from dirty environments found outside.

• Before cockroaches get into your home, they're attracted to stinky things near your home, like trash receptacles. Wash your receptacles with soapy water to remove strong odors.
• Cockroaches are attracted to dog, cat, and wildlife waste. Keeping waste cleaned up and deterring wild animals can reduce roach problems.
• Cockroaches hide under objects to protect themselves from the sun. Removing objects that sit on the ground will deter roaches.
• Cockroaches need moisture. They're drawn to saturated ground caused by damaged or clogged gutters. They'll also hide under leaf litter, dead branches, and overgrowth in your landscaping. Yard work deters roaches.
• Cockroaches get in through gaps under and around exterior doors. Align your doors, fix damaged window panes, repair screens, replace weatherstripping, replace door sweeps, and seal gaps around your frames with silicone caulk. 
• Cockroaches are particularly drawn to pipes. Use expanding foam to seal gaps around pipes that penetrate your foundation or exterior walls.

When you address the conditions that lead to an infestation and seal routes cockroaches use to get into your home, you have protection against an infestation and critical control needed when arresting an infestation. It pays to know how to get rid of cockroaches naturally, but as you can imagine, there is no replacement for the targeted use of cockroach control products.