“I saw a single cockroach last week and now they seem to be all over the place. Should I be concerned?”

In our Kansas service area, we get a lot of correspondence about cockroaches, and much of it looks like the question above. These are resourceful and resilient pests that can produce quite a bit of alarm when they begin to appear. In this article we’re going to lay out the facts, and leave it up to you to determine whether or not you should be concerned about cockroaches inside your Kansas home.

• Silent Invaders. If you’ve seen one cockroach, there are likely hundreds you aren’t seeing. There are two primary reasons for this. Only a small portion of cockroaches are bold enough to adventure into open spaces where you can see them, and those that do are exceptionally quiet. It is only a large, adult cockroach traveling across a hard kitchen surface that will usually give you a warning of their presence in your home. Seeing a cockroach is usually a sign that there are large numbers in your home, and that food resources are becoming scarce for their population. This is why seeing a single cockroach can turn into multiple sightings disturbingly fast.

• Breeders. Although cockroaches won’t go from one cockroach to dozens in a week, like the question above seems to indicate, they are still prolific breeders. Different species of cockroaches reproduce at different rates, but all cockroaches can have over several dozen eggs at a time and the babies that hatch will mature to a breeding age in as little as 20 days.

• Wild creatures. Like all wild creatures, cockroaches do not discriminate on where they leave their feces and urine. Nor are they concerned when they travel through areas where they have left their waste products. This can cause them to smear excrement on their exoskeleton and deposit this onto dishes and silverware.

• Illness spreaders. Cockroaches travel in areas that have harmful bacteria, like trash cans, sewers, and toilets. They spread these bacteria to food prep surfaces, dishes, and stored foods. This can lead to flu-like symptoms including fever, diarrhea, and vomiting.

• Disease carriers. The World Health Organization links cockroaches to diseases such as dysentery, cholera, leprosy, plague, typhoid fever, and viral disease.

• Allergy Exacerbates. Besides the fact that cockroach saliva secretions and body parts contain hundreds of allergens that can trigger undesirable allergic reaction, cohabitation with cockroaches is known to cause increased issues for those who suffer from Asthma, especially children. This can lead to increased hospital visits and dangerous complications.

If you are concerned about cockroaches living in your home, Schendel Pest Services has comprehensive pest plans that work to seal these and other potentially harmful pests out. Take 30 seconds and get a free quote. What do you have to lose, except a few hundred cockroaches, and an unnecessary health risk?