After discovering a cockroach inside of your home, your first emotion is likely to be disgust. They’re not exactly pests you look forward to finding inside your home, and the stigma surrounding them is enough to make anyone feel uneasy. Many people think that cockroaches are as disgusting as it gets. But you may also find yourself curious. How did these insects manage to find a way inside your home, to begin with? And what can pest control experts do to keep them out?

So did they sneak under a door? Was there a crack or crevice they managed to find their way through? And if one of them found a way inside, why are there now hundreds inside your home? We’re looking at the techniques cockroaches use to gain access to your home, and how our Truly Nolen experts can help take care of them.

How Do Cockroaches Get Inside Your Home?

When it comes to sneaking inside your home, cockroaches are very clever insects. Some of the methods they use are obvious, but others are surprisingly inventive and even ingenious.

Firstly, cockroaches can transport themselves inside paper and cardboard. If food supplies are extremely scarce, cockroaches can survive by eating paper. If they build a nest inside a paper or cardboard stash, it could be moved and they’ll be moved along with it. They’ll also secrete their chemical pheromones onto paper which will signal more cockroaches to the area.

The next thing to think about is the cracks and gaps in the walls and windows of your home. You may think that you’ve sealed up every crack, but cockroaches can still squirm through even the tiniest hole. Some species are known to penetrate cracks as small as 1/16th of an inch. To make things worse, they’ll normally deposit some of their chemical pheromones where they get access to your home: this lets other roaches know that they’ve found an entry point.

Other obvious entry points into your home are under doors and through drains or pipes. Similar to small cracks and gaps, cockroaches will not hesitate to squeeze their way under small gaps below your door. They’re also great climbers and can navigate their way through drain systems easily. This is especially useful for them when one drain system connects several different properties.

Finally, cockroaches lay tiny eggs in hard-to-find nests. Those nests could be deep within a pile of firewood, or even at the bottom of a mound of clothing. Move either of those things without treating them properly, and you’ll be moving a whole new nest of cockroaches to a new site. Ironically, you’ve just done the hard work for them.

Why Are They Trying to Get Inside?

First of all, cockroaches are trying to get inside your home for a reliable food source. They’ll survive by feeding from just about everything, but the tasty goods and foods on your kitchen surface are their favourite. If you keep that from them, then crumbs and even pet food can work too.

When the temperatures start to drop, cockroaches will also be seeking warmth and shelter inside your home. They know they can’t survive the harsh winter ahead – hiding inside your home gives them the best chance to do that.

Professionals Know Best

At Truly Nolen, our experienced technicians know cockroaches better than anybody else – that’s why we’re the cockroach pest control experts. We know the strategies they use to penetrate your home and guarantee to remove your infestation. What’s more, we’ll future proof your home so that you won’t have to worry about them getting access again. No matter how many pheromones they leave behind.