Four Sure Signs Your Jacksonville Home Has A Cockroach Problem

When you lift a pillow from your couch, and several roaches scramble to disappear from view, it leaves little doubt that you have a cockroach problem. But this is not a great way to find out you have an infestation. Sightings like this are a sign of a severe infestation. Seeing even just one roach can mean you have hundreds or even thousands because roaches tend to stay hidden in places that are a lot more difficult to expose.

If you want to catch roaches early and prevent them from making you sick or damaging your property, you'll have to go looking for signs. Today, we're going to offer up four sure signs that your Jacksonville home has a cockroach problem. Here's what to look for and where to look.

1. Cockroach Droppings

The droppings left by cockroaches are black, sticky, and pepper-like. You're likely to find roach droppings in damp, dark areas of your home and gaps, cracks, and tight spaces. 

2. Cockroach Egg Cases

The egg case of a cockroach (called the ootheca) is a small, rectangular pouch. Most egg cases are dark brown or dark brownish-red. A German cockroach creates an egg case that is a gradient from dark orange to yellowish-orange. But they don't leave their ootheca lying around for you to find. They carry them with them. But you may find the husk of a German cockroach ootheca after the eggs have hatched.

3. Shed Cockroach Skins

Cockroaches shed their skins several times as they develop. These skins can be found in any area of infestation. Look underneath appliances, under and around stored boxes, in piles of cardboard, and under mats or rugs. Hard objects and compressed spaces are attractive locations for cockroaches.

4. Cockroaches

If you move an appliance, you might see roaches scatter. If you lift insulation, you may find them crawling around underneath. Lifting objects and moving things around is an excellent way to uncover cockroach activity—along with their feces, cases, and shed skins.

Signs That May Be An Indication Of A Cockroach Problem

Many warning signs can alert you to a cockroach problem that won't give you conclusive evidence that cockroaches are the pest you're dealing with. But they're still important to know.

The sound of insect feet. When cockroaches run across hard surfaces at night, you may be able to hear the tapping of their little feet. 

The scent of cockroaches. If you have a lot of cockroaches in your home, you're likely to start smelling them. This smell can be described as oily and musty. You may detect it in areas of infestation or on objects that have been exposed to cockroaches, such as furniture taken out of storage.

A swollen eyelid. While cockroaches don't generally bite, they can bite you by accident while trying to eat the dead skin in your eyebrows or eyelashes. If you wake up with a welt or swollen eyelid, you could have a roach problem. Roaches tend to cause infection because they introduce bacteria as they bite.

Property damage. If you see wallpaper deteriorating, clothes with holes, documents that have been damaged, book bindings that are falling apart, these are all possible signs of a cockroach infestation. Roaches can eat cellulose like silverfish, carpet beetles, and other pests do.

Sickness. Roaches can cause respiratory issues and stomach illness when they inhabit a home. The longer they live with you, the greater your chances of ongoing infection. If you feel like you're getting sick all the time, you might have a roach infestation.

A rash on your skin. When roaches crawl on your skin, a rash can develop.

What If You Have Roaches?

At the first sign of cockroach activity in your Jacksonville home, contact us. Cockroaches are notoriously difficult to exterminate because they have a natural resistance to chemicals, and they have behavior patterns that allow them to resist many conventional treatments. Save yourself time, energy, and money by letting one of our experienced and highly-trained pest professionals address the cockroach infestation in your Jacksonville home. Our service team uses industry-leading strategies and products to locate areas of infestation, monitor activity, cull populations, and exclude roaches from structures.

If you have questions or you'd like to request service, reach out to us today. We've been protecting Jacksonville residents from pests since 1957, and we have industry experts on staff to ensure your pest control is the best it can be.