Step by Step Instructions For Exterminating Roaches Safely In Your Fort Worth Home

Have you purchased a self-assembly desk from the local office supply store to save money? If so, you know the excitement soon gives way when you unpack the items in the box — especially the plastic bag filled with pockets of hardware. When you finally locate the instruction guide, anxiety settles in as you read the instructions, but you are determined to build your desk. So, you take a deep breath, lay out the pieces, carefully read the instructions one step at a time, and eventually assemble the product..

Walking into the living room and sitting on the couch only to see cockroaches run beneath your legs from under the furniture is upsetting. A sense of dread fills the air when you realize cockroaches have invaded your house. You try to eliminate them with store-bought products, but they keep returning, and soon you feel overwhelmed by their presence.

You probably found this article because cockroaches are in the kitchen, bathroom, or basement, and you want them gone, but you don't know what to do. The first step is to secure pest control in Fort Worth from All-Safe Pest & Termite. One reason to partner with us is that we have removed cockroaches in the Fort Worth area since 1984. We are recipients of numerous pest control awards and an independent survey of 10,000 metroplex owners in which they ranked us as the "Top Pick" in the pest control category.

Partnering with our experienced, award-winning company is necessary to stop the cockroaches in your home; another crucial step is educating yourself to make informed decisions. This article provides the information you need to start the cockroach extermination process in your Fort Worth home.\

Step One: How To Identify A Cockroach Infestation

How do you know if the cockroach you found behind the cabinet wandered into the home or if you have an infestation? Are you sure what you saw behind the item was a cockroach? Before we list the signs of a cockroach infestation, let's get a description of cockroaches.

Cockroaches are cold-blooded insects with six jointed legs and a three-part body consisting of a head, thorax, and abdomen. One defining characteristic is the two long, thin antennae that are as long or longer than their bodies. Cockroaches have wings or wing pads, but not all fly. Now that we know the general features, these are signs of a cockroach infestation:

• Fecal droppings
• Waste stains
• Discarded shells
• Eggs
• Odor
• Cockroaches

The size and shape of fecal droppings vary according to the cockroach species. In the Fort Worth area, we have German, American, brown-banded, and oriental cockroaches. The smallest, German and brown-banded, produce pepper-like feces resembling coffee grounds. The American and oriental roaches leave rod-shaped ridged droppings with blunt ends. Look for fecal matter in the recesses of the kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, basement, and garage; also check underneath furniture and closet corners. Fecal stains are another indicator of cockroaches. Look for these smears in the corners, around small cracks, gaps, and on the top of doors.

All insects have an external skeleton (exoskeleton) that they must shed to progress through their growth stages. As the roach grows, the discarded shells become easier to find. As previously stated, female cockroaches produce egg capsules that contain several individual eggs. They often glue the ootheca using saliva to surfaces near their food sources. Check underneath cabinets and behind appliances for these dark-colored egg purses.

Cockroaches communicate with each other through pheromones. They produce these chemicals to create a trail to food and water sources and for mating purposes. Some people notice a musty smell when a large infestation is in a small space.

Noticing several live cockroaches indicates they are inside your Fort Worth home. German cockroaches have light brown to tan 1/2 to 5/8 inches bodies with parallel stripes running down their back. These cockroaches live in humid areas near the floor. Oriental cockroaches have shiny black 1-inch bodies and often reside in the crawl space where it is moist and cool. American cockroaches dominate with their 1 1/4 to 2 1/8 inch reddish brown bodies. In addition to their size, the figure eight pattern on the back of the head is another distinguishing feature. Although American cockroaches typically live outdoors, they live near the floor in humid areas when they invade a home. Brown-banded cockroaches are similar in size to the German ones but have brown bodies with bands across their wings. Another way to tell the difference between the two similar-sized species is that brown-banded cockroaches live on the top of cabinets and near the ceiling, whereas German cockroaches live near the floor..

When you see these signs of cockroaches in your home, you need solutions from All-Safe Pest & Termite. Our trained technicians can determine if cockroaches are inside the house and what species is the culprit. 

Step Two: Understand The Health Risks Related To Roach Infestations

All insects can contaminate surfaces due to bacteria stuck to their feet, but the spines on cockroach legs increase the number of pathogens they leave and cause significantly more risk. Another reason cockroaches threaten the health and well-being of people is the types of disease-causing organisms on their feet and body which they transfer to items in a home. Cockroaches forage in sewers, drains, trash, compost piles, and on animal feces for organic and plant material. Because these areas have decaying and fermenting organic materials, they produce bacteria, viruses, and parasitic worms. When cockroaches move through these areas, the pathogens stick to their bodies and the spines on their legs. As they travel through a house, the disease-causing organisms transfer to cooking and eating surfaces, utensils, and other items.

Another way cockroaches spread disease is through saliva and droppings. Cockroaches ingest pathogens when they forage in unsanitary areas that they transfer to food packaging and other items when they chew on them. Furthermore, they distribute bacteria, viruses, and parasitic worms through the droppings they deposit. Salmonellosis, typhoid fever, cholera, gastroenteritis, dysentery, listeriosis, giardia, and E. coli infections are a sample of the 33 kinds of bacteria, parasitic worms, and viruses cockroaches spread.

Another way a cockroach infestation affects home occupants is they trigger allergic reactions and asthma attacks. When their feces dries, particles flake off and circulate throughout the house, where occupants unknowingly inhale them. Cockroaches have a protein in their skin that causes an allergic reaction in many people. When pieces from discarded cockroach exoskeletons dislodge and float through the air, they trigger a runny nose, itchy, watery eyes, coughing, and other reactions. Additionally, some people experience a rash when a cockroach travels across exposed skin.

All-Safe Pest & Termite provides cockroach pest control in Fort Worth to protect your family from the health hazards created by a cockroach infestation. 

Step Three: Call In The Experts For Total Cockroach Elimination

If you have been looking for pest control near you for roaches, All-Safe Pest & Termite is your answer. When you contact us, our award-winning customer service team will listen to your concerns and dispatch a highly-trained, certified technician to your location. We will thoroughly investigate the interior and exterior for signs of a cockroach infestation. If we find indicators, we will determine entry points, attractants, hot spots, and the species causing the problem. Using data from our inspection, we will create a plan that applies safe low-toxicity products in strategic places throughout your home.

When you use All-Safe Pest & Termite for roach control, you partner with a family-owned company with decades of experience and an A+ Better Business Bureau rating. Rest assured that we will remove the cockroaches in your Fort Worth home. 

Step Four: Tips To Prevent Roaches From Coming Back

Once All-Safe Pest & Termite stops the cockroach infestation in your Fort Worth home, you will want to do your part to deter them from returning by implementing these tips for house cockroach prevention: 

• Remove animal feces and excess stones and timbers from the yard
• Provide proper drainage to gutters, ditches, and puddles
• Close outdoor and indoor garbage containers
• Seal cracks in the foundation and roofline with caulk
• Prune tree branches and shrubs away from the structure
• Elevate firewood and store it  20 feet from the house
• Place wire mesh over the vents in the crawl space and attic
• Dehumidify the crawl space, bathrooms, attic, and basement
• Repair holes in window and door screens
• Install door sweeps on exterior doors
• Vacuum the house regularly
• Suction corners and cracks
• Remove debris from the house

This list may appear overwhelming, so let us summarize it; maintain a clean, dry interior and exterior. Except for German cockroaches who access homes through used furniture, appliances, luggage, and bags, most cockroach species enter the house from the yard. They come into homes due to significant weather changes searching for food, water, and shelter. When you remove these opportunities from the property around your house, make access into your home difficult, and create an inviting environment inside the house, you won't have a future problem.

Contact All-Safe Pest & Termite to learn about our pest control options and to request your free estimate.