How to Get Rid of Roaches in Portland
Are roaches invading your home? Portland’s Pacific-borne humidity makes our area an ideal habitat for the social, moisture-craving cockroach. And your home might provide the perfect environment for roaches to thrive.
Cockroach control is a longstanding concern of the most meticulous Portland resident.
Croach® provides licensed, experienced cockroach control services in Albany, Beaverton, Corvallis, Estacada, Gresham, Hillsboro, Longview, McMinnville, Portland, Ridgefield, Salem, and Vancouver.
How to Get Rid of Roaches Infesting Your Portland Area Home
Clean House
Roaches enjoy an unkempt home for a simple, practical reason: That’s where they find food and nutrients. However, cockroaches infest even the cleanest homes. It’s difficult to follow these guidelines consistently, but the better you do, the worse invading roaches do.
- Wash and store all dishes and cookware after every meal.
- Remove crumbs and clean up spills immediately.
- Take out the garbage every night before retiring to bed.
- Clean all cooking appliances including stovetops, ovens, microwaves, toaster ovens, air fryers, blenders, juicers, etc.
- Store food in tightly sealed containers and packages.
- Mop floors regularly.
Remove Clutter, Cardboard, and Paper
Keep things neat and tidy, and remove clutter that creates small spaces for insect infestation and breeding.
Roaches especially enjoy paper products like cardboard boxes, magazines, and newspapers. Think beyond the obvious to items such as paper-based air and oil filters or piles of filing untouched in a corner.
To get rid of roaches, understand they are scavengers. Remove their access to a consistent food supply. They will eat almost anything including glue, grease, soap, wallpaper paste, leather, book bindings, and even hair.
Frequently Disturb Dark Nooks and Crannies
Cockroaches prefer dark, undisturbed hiding places, particularly those that retain moisture. Frequent human interference or activity is not a cockroach-friendly spot.
Routinely unsettle areas under your furniture, beneath appliances (refrigerator, stove, washing machine), in storage closets, and inside rarely used drawers and cabinets.
Roaches like squeezing into tight spaces. The small German cockroach (Blattella Germanicus) can fit into a crack as thin as a dime, while the larger American cockroach (Periplaneta Americana) will squeeze into a space no thicker than a quarter.
Tour each room in your home with a keen eye on a seek and destroy mission to disrupt cockroach habitat.
Get Help from Portland’s Pest Control Pros
The strategies listed above can be effective in controlling cockroach infestations to a certain extent. But cockroaches have a millennium of survival training and a well-deserved reputation for being tough to kill.
Roaches can survive without a head until they succumb to dehydration. They can survive levels of radiation that would kill a human within minutes. A cockroach can live without eating for up to 6 weeks and can hold its breath for up to 7 minutes.
Croach pest control professionals, however, are equal to the task. We know how to get rid of roaches in Portland, and all the other pests on your property.
Prevent a small pest problem from becoming a large one by using a pest control service. Contact Croach for a free inspection.
