Alabama's Total Guide To Complete American Cockroach Control

Step One: Understand Your Enemy

American cockroaches are one of four species of roaches native to Alabama. Adults grow to be between 1 ¼ to 2 ⅛” long, are reddish-brown, and have a yellow figure-eight pattern located behind their head. Like other roaches, they have oval-shaped bodies, six legs, and two long, straight antennas.

Inside homes, American cockroaches congregate around dark, moist, and secluded areas. These pests regularly hide inside cracks and gaps where their bellies and backsides touch surfaces at the same time, such as beneath furniture, around appliances, and throughout storage boxes.

Step Two: Clean, Clean, And Clean Some More

The importance of maintaining a clean and tidy environment inside your home cannot be understated when it comes to cockroaches. These pests will eat just about anything, and they love crawling through grimy and oily areas. Some things we recommend you do, along with basic cleaning, is to wash beneath appliances regularly, tidy up your storage areas, and address food messes and drink spills as they occur around your home.

Step Three: Seal Up Your Home

Sealing your home’s exterior is not just good for deterring pests like cockroaches, it also helps reduce heating and cooling costs. To make sure your living areas are sealed off from the outside, use these exclusion tips.

• Buy a caulking gun and use it to seal off gaps, cracks, and holes in your home’s exterior foundation.
• Make sure all of your home’s doors and windows are protected with weatherstripping.
• Address damage to screening around your home.
• Install high-quality door sweeps under exterior doors.
• Have more serious damage to your home’s exterior repaired.
• Close unscreened doors and windows if they are not in use.

Step Four: Store Food Properly

Cockroaches do not just consume trash and scraps dropped onto floors. They will also eat pet food, fruit left on counters, candy, and any other snacks they can find. To prevent them from gaining access to food around your home, store pantry items and pet food inside tough, sealed containers. Do the same for leftovers after meals.

Step Five: Address Moisture Issues

American cockroaches love and need moisture. To make sure your home isn’t offering these pests this necessity, repair leaky piping, fix broken gutters and use a dehumidifier indoors. It also helps to eliminate sources of water build-up by wiping down sinks, bathtubs and pouring out water that collects inside items in your yard after it rains.

Step Six: Call A Professional

There are many things a professional does that will help you with your cockroach problems. At Havard Pest Control, we offer three unique home pest control services to aid you in this. We recommend starting with a thorough inspection of your home. This will identify pest pressures and give you a good idea of how serious your problems are. If cockroaches are found, our team will recommend options to get them out quickly. Once they are done, you then get the option to invest in affordable, long-term options to make sure pests stay out of your living areas.

Give out team a call today to learn more and to get a quote for your Alabama home.