Cockroach Control Manual

(A. Sheffield)

Figure 4-1. Cockroaches are easily transported from infested dwellings to new places

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 Locate Problem Areas

Chapter 4
Locate Problem Areas
How Did I Get Them? consuming. The first and most obvious way of
Cockroaches are easily transported from infested detecting live cockroaches is with a visual “night
dwellings to new places. The cockroaches you have watch”—observing live cockroaches when the
may have “come with the house or apartment,” or lights are turned on unexpectedly. Another method
you may have brought them with you from the is to examine suspected areas with a flashlight.
last place you lived. Maybe you brought a gravid In the course of your inspection, you will be
(pregnant) German or brownbanded cockroach (or looking for live cockroaches, dead cockroaches,
an egg case) home in a grocery bag or in a cardboard cast skins or cockroach parts. Also look for empty
box. If you work in a cockroach-infested building, or intact egg cases and roach specks or fecal smears
you could easily transport them home if you take (Figure 3-9 and Figure 4-2). The inspection will help
anything home with you. Oriental cockroaches can you identify the cockroach, where the infestation is
often crawl under the door or enter through cracks located, the size of the infestation and conditions
in the foundation. Repairs on the sewer system may favoring cockroach survival.
result in displaced American cockroaches coming
into buildings.
Cockroaches also move easily from one
apartment to another. It is common for apartment
tenants to blame their neighbors for their
cockroaches, and in some cases, they may be
justified. If a cockroach population in one unit gets
large, cockroaches will migrate into nearby units for
food and new places to live. Other factors can also
cause cockroaches to move. Insecticide treatments
may trigger movement to nearby apartments. If
the neighbor moves out and the unit is empty,
cockroaches will move to find water and food.

(B. Ogg)
Because cockroaches are so easily transported, it
is hard to NOT move them to your next residence if
you move. Cockroaches can live in the little spaces Figure 4-2. German cockroaches and fecal specks
of corrugated cardboard, so just moving boxes on the door frame, under a calendar.
can transport them with you. One suggestion is
to unpack boxes outdoors or in a garage. Or, use
plastic tubs instead of boxes to transport your
Inspection Equipment
belongings in. Proper equipment is essential for conducting an
inspection. For inspecting your home or apartment,
the following three items are recommended:
Where Are They Living? 1. A flashlight to illuminate dark areas where
The first step is to assess the situation. cockroaches like to hide.
Inspecting and monitoring are important parts 2. A mirror with extension arm (such as a dentist’s)
of any pest control strategy. By locating the to help see hidden areas, like behind sinks, under
cockroach infestation first, your controls can be refrigerators and appliances.
more economical, more effective and less time 3. Monitoring traps.

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 Cockroach Control Manual

The Inspection
Visual Examination. We will
use the inspection of a home or
apartment for German cockroaches
as an example of how to carry out any
cockroach inspection. The principles
will be similar for brown-banded,
oriental and American cockroaches.
It will be helpful to get answers for
the following questions. Where did
you first see cockroaches? Where do
you see them now? Ask others living
in the home the same questions.
Consider past or present
professional pest control efforts in
your home. If the previous pest control

(A. Sheffield)
tactics included the use of insecticides
with a strong repellent effect (this
includes most of those currently used
today), the cockroach infestation may Figure 4-3. A single slice of pizza, left on the counter overnight
have moved from its original location. is a feast for cockraches.
In this case, you should spend some
time exploring locations where insecticides were steam supply pipes, conduits for electricity or
not used, like false ceilings and other areas above crevices in walls connecting with other infested
your head. areas. Identifying the origin of the cockroaches is
Before beginning a detailed examination of the valuable from the long-term viewpoint to prevent
area, take an overall look at the premises, inside reinfestation.
and outside. Build a picture of traffic patterns German cockroaches like warm, dark locations
for people. In particular, where is food brought near food and water.
in? Where is it prepared? Where is it eaten? How It is helpful to note all those factors favoring
are leftovers and other garbage disposed of? Is German cockroach survival once they have gotten
the trash emptied in a timely manner? Perhaps into your home. Since cockroaches need food, look
the cockroaches hitchhiked into the kitchen with for food sources, such as fresh fruits or vegetables
food supplies. Consider food storage and related and pet foods. Also, look for food spills or buildup
activities, such as recycling bins and cardboard of food material in or under counter tops, stoves
boxes. Could these be encouraging the problem? If and refrigerators. Look in mops and brooms, inside
introduction with food is confirmed, try to identify the rims of the floor drain, around the wheels of
where the cockroaches originally came from. mobile carts and other similar places. You should
Could cockroaches have been brought into also check less obvious food sources, like rodent
the residence by someone who works in infested bait stations, for signs of cockroach activity.
buildings? Are there college kids who frequently Cockroaches aren’t killed by rodent baits.
move between apartments and home? These are Cockroaches need water as well as food, so
easy ways to move cockroaches into residences check for condensation or leaks providing a water
from infested buildings. source. Don’t forget to consider less obvious sources
In apartments, the cockroaches may have first of water such as planters, pet water dishes and fish
entered from outside or from adjoining units. You tanks.
should check possible entry points such as around In addition to food and water, cockroaches need
water and drain pipes under the sinks, sewer pipes, daytime hiding places in which to rest and breed,

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 Locate Problem Areas

(V. Jedlicka)
(B. Ogg)

Figure 4-5. Cockroaches in the tight space of

Figure 4-4. Cockroach droppings in stacks of a door jam.
mail in letter holder.
and these harborages must be identified during Trap Placement. It is now time to use traps to
the inspection. Once again, use your knowledge give you a better picture of the size and location of
of the target pest to focus your efforts. German the cockroach infestation. We suggest sticky traps
cockroaches prefer dark crevices close to moisture. because they are easy to buy and use. Both baited
They like bare wooden surfaces, cardboard or and unbaited sticky traps are available. Baited
paper because these surfaces are easier to climb and sticky traps are impregnated with aggregation
because porous surfaces retains their aggregation pheromone and may catch more cockroaches, but
pheromone. They will also be found in stacks of
paper, grocery bags, letters and other paper items
(Figure 4-4). Pay particular attention to fixtures
made of wood, such as storage shelves, wooden
tables and cabinets. Also check behind and under
appliances, in the corners of rooms at floor or
ceiling level, behind pictures and around the legs or
wheels of carts as well as in appliance voids. Don’t
forget to inspect suspended ceilings.
Sometimes cockroaches become trapped in such
things as spider webs, light fittings and partially
empty beverage bottles. Look for every clue you can
(C. Ogg)

when identifying the problems.

In general, the harder it is to gain access to a
potential harborage, the more likely it is to be Figure 4-6. Place sticky traps near where you
infested. have seen cockroaches or near moisture or food
sources.

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 Cockroach Control Manual

unbaited ones will work well to locate infestations.

Banana extract is another substance attractive to
cockroaches. To make your own baited traps, add
a few drops of banana extract to the center of the
trap.
Make sure to use the same type of traps to make
your comparisons valid. Before you position each
trap, label the trap so later you will be able to tell
where and when it was placed. Place traps near
cracks and crevices, moisture or food sources or
where you’ve seen evidence of cockroaches. Dark
corners are good locations.
The number of traps you’ll need depends upon
the extent of the infestation. The more infested
locations, the more traps will be needed. Keep in
mind you will only catch cockroaches when traps
are placed within five to six feet of infested areas, and
the closer the trap is to the infested area, the more
cockroaches you will catch. When placing traps,
consider all possible areas from floor to ceiling. If
traps don’t catch any cockroaches, move them.

(J. Kalisch 1995)

In addition to putting traps in known
infestation areas, you must also place enough traps
to “cover” the areas of suspected infestation (with
German cockroaches this means the kitchen and
bathrooms). To accomplish this, first put at least Figure 4-7. Diagram of trap placements for a
one trap in each of the following locations: hypothetical cockroach infestation.
1) beside or behind the toilet,
2) under the sink in the bathroom, Calculating Cockroach Densities. The
3) beside the shower or bathtub, length of time you should leave the traps depends
4) under the kitchen sink, on the infestation level. With high infestations,
5) behind, under or beside the refrigerator, traps may be completely filled overnight. Smaller
6) beside, under or behind the stove, infestations may require several days to a week or
7) in the back of each kitchen cabinet, more to catch a significant number of cockroaches.
8) beside or under the water heater (if available), If the sticky trap surface becomes completely
9) behind or beside the washing machine, covered with roaches, the trap should be removed
10) behind or beside the automatic dishwasher. and replaced because it is no longer effective.
Placing Traps in A Hypothetical Kitchen. After you get a significant trap catch, record
This diagram of a kitchen shows suggested places the dates the traps were set out and the collection
for traps. In this kitchen, we placed more traps than date on the trap worksheet. Next, check each trap,
the essential trap placements already discussed. You record the type of cockroaches you have caught
can never go wrong by using more traps which may and count the total number of cockroaches on each
give you more information about the infestation to trap. Add counts from each trap to give a grand
help in your control efforts. total. Divide the grand total by the number of
traps you used. Divide this number by the number
of nights the traps were out. This number is the
average number of cockroaches caught per trap per

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 Locate Problem Areas

night. This number can be used to provide a rough Second, comparing trap catches will tell you where
estimate of the size of your cockroach population. infestations are located. You can also get an idea of
Refer to Table 1 to determine what your trap count the size of the cockroach population.
represents. These numbers are relative. For some
people, high number of German cockroaches may Continue Monitoring. Even after you have
only be two or three per trap per night. For others, begun control efforts, continue to use sticky traps in
10-20 cockroaches per trap per night would be the same locations so you can compare populations
considered low. over time. As before, calculate the number of
What can you learn from sticky trap data? First, roaches/trap/night. Doing this will let you evaluate
you should be able to identify the cockroach species. your success.

Table 1. Relative numbers of the four domestic cockroaches placed into low, moderate, high and
extremely high categories. These numbers are cockroaches captured per trap each night.
Infestation German Brown-banded Oriental American
Low 0-5 0-3 0-1 0-1
Moderate 5-20 3-10 1-10 1-10
High 20-100 10-50 10-25 10-25
Very High 100+ 50+ 25+ 25+

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 Cockroach Control Manual

Hypothetical Cockroach Trap Worksheet

Cockroach Species: German
Date Installed: September 10
Date removed: September 11
Trap Nights: 1

Trap Location Total

No. Cockroaches
Captures
1 beside refrigerator, against back wall, beside trash can 20
2 pantry shelf, against back wall 21
3 upper cupboard (above dishwasher), against back wall 12
4 front of dishwasher, next to toe-plate 6
5 lower cupboard, against side wall next to dishwasher 9
6 under sink, against back wall, centered under pipes 35
7 against side wall beside stove 6
8 under and behind stove, against back wall 26
9 against wall near heater penetration 4
10 under bathroom sink in vanity, against back wall, centered under pipes 7
11 behind toilet, near water pipe penetration, against wall 2
12 beside shower in bathroom, against wall 0
13 under water heater in basement 0*
14 against wall, near floor drain in basement 0

Notes: Grand Total: 148

* Trap #13 had a wolf spider in it.
Total #/trap/night: 10.6

In our hypothetical example, you should note several things. First, the cockroach population is centered
in the kitchen, in the areas under the sink, refrigerator/trash can, pantry area and near the stove. There is
also a smaller infestation in the bathroom, but no infestation is found in the basement. If the traps in
the basement continue to be empty after about a week, they can probably be ignored and need not be
replaced.

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 Locate Problem Areas

Cockroach Trap Worksheet

Cockroach Species:
Date Installed:
Date removed:
Trap Nights:

Trap Location Total

No. Cockroaches
Captures
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

Notes: Grand Total:

Total #/trap/night:

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