SolveYourProblem Article Series: Pest & Bug Removal
How Do I Get Rid of Bugs & Pests?

Pest Control: Cockroaches

Cockroaches are disgusting, frightening pests, but they may be able to help get rid of other disgusting, frightening pests. The fear of the domestic cockroach is warranted, because they are associated with the development of childhood asthma, and may contaminate food in homes, bringing germs and diseases to humans. However, these insects are omnivore scavengers, who clean up our environment and help recycle the organic litter that accumulates when it is not decomposed by certain organisms like cockroaches. They eat the glue off the backs of postage stamps, the bindings off the backs of books, paper, cloth, leather, and electrical wire insulation, but especially bedbugs. Cockroaches infest millions of homes around the world, and there are more than 4,000 different species of cockroaches worldwide. The relentless insects have lived for more than 250 million years, and are able to survive almost every situation. The cockroach is a nocturnal insect that needs a supply of foods with high water content, once inside the home they will seek out food scraps, unsealed food containers, sugar and greases deposits, pet food, and rancid meat.

Bedbugs may inhabit apartments, hotels, dormitories, and shelters. These insects feast solely on the blood of warm-blooded animals, especially humans, as they take shelter in pillows, clothing, furniture, and luggage. The cockroach is the known enemy of the irritating bedbug, which infests millions of homes. The bite of the bedbug can cause irritation and an allergic reaction, but cockroaches can help prevent these bites, by consuming the small nocturnal insects. Bedbugs are the cockroach’s midnight snack, and cockroaches will eat and kill a bedbug infestation. Cockroaches hide in dark warm corners of the human’s home, such as wall cavities, sub-floors, roof voids, cracks and crevices in the kitchen and bathroom, and in electrical appliances and foodstuffs.

Like bedbugs, cockroaches emerge at night, but the cockroaches will eat the bedbugs before they are able to feast on human blood. The acute sensory and survival instincts of the cockroach lead it to the parasitic bedbug. Cockroaches are commonly found in kitchens and garbage, but once in the home they will seek out the smaller bedbug, and consume them. Cockroaches provide a great service in ridding environments of organic litter and killing a bedbug colony, but cockroaches can cause much contamination themselves. They may be potential carriers of germs that cause disease in human, such as dysentery and gastro-enteritis. They are also known carriers of salmonella and other diseases that may cause stomach problems. These diseases are obtained by human beings, because cockroaches spread pathogenic organisms with their feces and defensive secretions.

Cockroaches also cause asthmatic reactions. Cockroaches molt regularly throughout their life-cycle, and the discarded skin becomes airborne and can cause severe asthmatic reactions, especially in children and the elderly. Cockroaches may eat organic material and bedbugs, but they are able to survive for a month without food. They are defined as the hardiest insects on the planet, and are capable of holding their breath for 45 minutes. The cockroach is even able to survive radiation caused by a nuclear reaction; they can remain alive in a vacuum for up to ten minutes, and they may survive for five to seven days with a severed head or longer with proper hydration. All cockroaches are not bad, and it is common for children to have the Madagascar Hissing cockroach as a pet; some zoos even advocate the adoption of the hissing cockroach as a childhood pet. Cockroaches may be disgusting, but they can help get rid of other disgusting dead organisms and can help control a bedbug infestation.

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SolveYourProblem.com : 2008

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