Portland's Guide To Effective Oriental Cockroach Control

Portland's Guide To Effective Oriental Cockroach Control

Are you finding shiny, black roaches in your Portland home? If so, those are Oriental cockroaches. The first thing you should immediately understand about Oriental cockroaches is that they need moisture to survive. As cockroach pests go, you can have some real success keeping these roaches out of your home, even if they've already gotten inside. Why? Because Oriental cockroaches (which are often called water bugs) require high levels of moisture and humidity in order to survive. When you make a strong effort to address moisture, it can drive these roaches out of your Portland home.

Step 1: Moisture Control

There are many conditions that can lead to high humidity or the availability of drinking water for Oriental cockroaches. This is far from an exhaustive list, but it's a start.

• Repair any leaking faucets, showerheads, garbage disposals, and plumbing.

• Install ventilation, fans, and dehumidifiers in humid spaces.

• Use the fan in your bathroom when you take a shower or bath.

• Take showers and baths early enough to allow condensation and water droplets to dry up before nighttime when cockroaches are active.

• Consider wiping down your showers, tubs, or sinks after use. Do this for the highest level of moisture control.

• Clean your gutter system and repair any breaks. This will reduce ground saturation near your exterior walls and help to reduce Oriental cockroach activity near your home.

• Remove heavy vegetation, grass, and weeds in your landscaping.

• Water your landscaping in the early morning.

• Remove leaf litter, sticks, and woodpiles near your home.   

Step 2: Food Sources

You would be amazed at the list of foods Oriental cockroaches can eat. They eat human food. They eat pet food. They eat food that is rotting (actually, they prefer it). They eat paper products. They eat dead skin, hair, and dead insects. Worst of all, they feed on feces. When you address food sources, not only do you work to drive Oriental cockroaches out of your home, you reduce breeding options and limit the ability for these roaches to make you and your family sick.

• Trash management is key. Put trash in plastic bags. Store bagged trash in covered receptacles. Remove the trash routinely to avoid odors. Keep your trash receptacles as clean as possible. Do this for interior and exterior trash sources. Oriental cockroaches are strongly attracted to rotting things. For the best control possible, remove all trash from your home before nightfall.

• Clean and deep clean your pantry, kitchen, living room, and bathroom. Impeccable sanitation is a powerful weapon in the battle against Oriental cockroaches.

• Store pantry products in sealed plastic or glass containers.

• Consider only eating in your kitchen or dining room, at least until your roach problem has been corrected.

• Remove cardboard stacks in storage rooms and garage spaces. It is best to store cardboard in an exterior storage space away from your home. These roaches thrive on it. Damp cardboard is preferable, so dry boxes can be somewhat more resistant. 

Step 3: Mechanical Control

Oriental cockroaches get into your home because they can. After you've taken steps to drive them out, perform an inspection of your exterior and address potential entry points, such as:

• Gaps around exterior doors and windows. Replace weatherstripping and door sweeps that aren't doing their job.

• Cracks in your foundation walls or damaged mortar around bricks.

• Gaps around water mains, electrical wires, or conduits used for wiring.

• Holes in rotting wood, particularly where wood-destroying pests have caused damage. 

Step 4: Monitor Your Success

Routine inspections of your interior and exterior can help you determine whether or not your control strategy is working. Look for these signs.

• Black cockroach droppings in hidden places, dark voids, and tight spaces.

• Tiny reddish-brown eggs cases hidden in, behind, and under objects in your home.

• The unpleasant aroma of Oriental cockroach pheromones in your basement, cellar or crawl space.

• The presence of Oriental cockroaches or their nymphs. Move objects around and look under them, particularly in damp places, and particularly under leaves and wood. This is where Oriental cockroaches are often found hiding.

• Another place to look is under trash cans and inside dumpsters.

If You Need Help

There are many reasons you might want help getting rid of Oriental cockroaches. It can be a lot of work. You may have conducive conditions that are difficult to address. There may be higher than normal Oriental cockroach pressures in your yard. Whatever your reasons, remember that Big Blue Bug Solutions is always available to assist you. Our licensed pest professionals use a strategy of inspections, treatments, and monitoring to get control of cockroaches. This strategy includes the use of smart technologies, such as insect growth regulators (IGRs), which arrest cockroach development and prevent them from growing, maturing, and reproducing. Connect with us today and ask us about our cockroach control options. We have the answers you're looking for.