What attracts cockroaches to a clean house?
The short answer
Moisture and warmth more than food, and for German cockroaches, arrival rather than attraction. They are commonly carried in — in cardboard, in second-hand appliances, in deliveries — and they spread through shared walls and utility chases in multi-unit buildings, regardless of how clean the kitchen is.
What to change
- Fix leaks and standing water: under sinks, behind the dishwasher, at the base of the toilet. Cockroaches need water more urgently than food.
- Get cardboard out of the kitchen and the pantry. Corrugated cardboard is harbourage and a common way German cockroaches arrive.
- Check second-hand appliances and furniture before they come in, especially microwaves, kettles and toasters, which are warm and hollow.
- Seal gaps around pipes under sinks and behind appliances, which are the routes between units in an apartment building.
- Clean under and behind appliances, which is where the grease and the harbourage actually are.
In an apartment building, a cockroach problem is rarely confined to one unit. If yours is treated and the adjoining units are not, you are buying a pause. Raise it with the building manager as well as the technician.
Also asked
- Do cockroaches mean the house is dirty?
- No, and the assumption stops people asking for help. German cockroaches are transported in and need very little to establish. Cleanliness reduces the food supply and makes treatment more effective; it is not what caused the problem and it will not, on its own, end it.
Companies whose reviewers name cockroaches
803 pest control businesses in the United States and Canada have reviewers who write about cockroaches. Every listing shows the full rating distribution rather than the average, the share that is one or two star, and whether the owner replies.
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General information about pest problems and about hiring, not advice about your specific property. Pest control licensing, wildlife protection and landlord and tenant law are all set state by state and province by province across the United States and Canada, so your own regulator is the current answer. How we read the data.