Roaches get inside your home because they seek dryness, shelter, and safety when it's raining. It's also one of the reasons why spiders get inside your home when it rains. Rains also cause an overflow of water in the sewer pipes and gutter, causing the roaches living there to look for any dry place to sneak into.
Millions of cockroaches live in sewers, gutters, or drain pipes. When we get heavy rainfall in the spring, these places flood. Flooding forces cockroaches out of their homes and into new places – like your home! After periods of heavy rain, it's common to find cockroaches in your kitchen, bathroom, or basement.
Roaches come into your home in search of three things: food, shelter, and water. They have also developed the ability to use even the smallest of openings as an entryway into your house. They can come in through cracks in the exterior walls, dryer vents, or even the gaps between walls and floors.
Roach Repellents
Peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, and cypress oil are essential oils that effectively keep cockroaches at bay. Additionally, these insects hate the smell of crushed bay leaves and steer clear of coffee grounds. If you want to try a natural way to kill them, combine powdered sugar and boric acid.
Yes, roaches do sneak into your homes when it's raining outside. When it rains, your house and garage are the safest places for the roaches to live. That's why there's an increased rate of cockroach infestation during the rainy season. During the rainy season, roaches enter your home from wherever they can.
The reason that roaches show up in your house when it rains is simple: They don't want to drown. There are millions of cockroaches living in sewer systems throughout the country. When these sewer systems become flooded after a heavy rain, the cockroaches can get flushed out.
Raining Roaches
Well, they still love to be near water, so they will find dark, musty places in your homes to stay.” He said cockroach nests disturbed by rain explode, leaving the insects to find new homes in cupboards and musty kitchen areas, even hiding within ceilings so they can be near food sources.
While Americans are mostly dormant when it's cold and rainy, summer is roach season and the critters can appear in droves. While it's sound practice all year long, in the summer it is particularly important to keep your kitchen clean, store food in airtight containers, and take out the trash on a regular basis.
There are many reasons you could have roaches in an apartment that is clean, but it usually comes down to small things you're missing (i.e. food crumbs in kitchen cabinets) damp conditions, or unclean neighbors who are attracting roaches into the building.
After heavy rain, it is not unusual to see heavy infestations of the American Cockroaches in basements. The cockroaches prefers dark, humid and undisturbed areas and can be found also in sub-floors, basements, kitchens, roof voids and bathrooms of homes.
They'll be scared of rain like any cockroach and will quickly flee from a heavy downpour. They cannot swim or breathe underwater. However, they do make their homes near areas with standing water. Because of this, they're the most likely to be affected by flooding.
During excessive rain, many insects invade homes looking for shelter, includingspiders,ants, androaches. Flood conditions can force some bugs, includingantsandyellow jackets, out of their nests in the ground. When this happens, ant colonies can quickly invade homes looking for food and dry ground.
Bugs Go to Higher Ground
When it rains, the holes and cracks in the ground in which they live fill up with rainwater. This does not kill the bugs; instead, it forces them to climb up out of the ground and to spend some time on the surface areas near your house.
Knowing the reasons why they are taking up residence in your home is vital to keeping them out. The biggest attractant for cockroaches is food. This can be human food, pet food, bird feed, even cardboard. Ensuring that these items are tightly sealed is imperative in keeping the roaches out.
Finding a cockroach nest means finding several (or several dozen) cockroaches and, probably, a few dead ones. You'll also see plenty of roach droppings and old egg cases lying around. Cockroach droppings are tiny and look like coffee grounds or black pepper. Droppings start to collect in areas with high activity.
Roaches tend to go out during the night because they are cautious of humans. But, when the night falls, it is also the time for them to bite humans because their targets are asleep. Because of this, it will be harder for you to monitor the pest and might as well wake up with bites on your body.
If you touch a cockroach, you risk becoming infected with some serious diseases, including bacteria that cause dysentery. According to the World Health Organization, cockroaches commonly transmit these diseases to humans: Salmonellosis. Typhoid Fever.
So, why do cockroaches come out at night? The short answer is that, like other nocturnal animals, roaches have evolved to forage for food and water in low-light environments, since these conditions help them avoid predators.
While the presence of one cockroach in your home can be enough to send you into a panic, one roach doesn't necessarily mean you have a full blown infestation. Roaches are social pests, however, and reproduce quickly.
Roaches won't leave a vacant home unless the food supply completely runs out. As roaches will feed on nymphs or dead and dying roaches, they're unlikely to starve. What's more likely than a roach colony leaving a home is that they will widen their food search, using your vacated home as a base for warmth and shelter.
Do Cockroaches Like the Cold? Generally, cockroaches don't like the cold one bit. They are cold-blooded arthropods that don't survive very well in either extremely cold or hot circumstances. They're always at whatever temperature their environment is and generally slow down with cooler temperatures.
The refrigerator houses all of your favorite foods and drinks, but they also house one thing you never want to see in your home — cockroaches! Between the humidity near the fans and motor, and the food crumbs that drop to the floor, your refrigerator is the perfect place to house a cockroach infestation.
Roaches are resilient and extremely hard to get rid of once they have established themselves in your home. As long as the temperature indoors is above 50 degrees, roaches can remain active year-round, although they are more prevalent in the spring and summer months.
Cockroaches do sleep and just like other animals and insects, they also follow a specific circadian rhythm. They are nocturnal insects, which means that they rest or sleep during the day. Cockroaches are usually active for four hours after dark and then go into a period of immobility.