Cockroaches are sewer-dwelling insects. They can swim and can even stand on the water so cockroaches can come into your kitchen through the drains. This is not a tall tail, cockroaches can enter your home through the drainage system but they can also get in through many other entryways. When a cockroach enters your home it’s usually because it’s already pregnant so there will be more to come. They also attract other cockroaches through the smell they give off. This is not a hormone of the like that wasps use to attract other wasps but simply the smell of an infestation that will bring more to your home. The solution is not sealing off your drain or stuffing towels under doors but is to treat the infestation and ensure it does not return. To do this you need to keep the sink free of food, clean and dry and make sure to take out the garbage every day. Seal all your food in containers with tight-fitting lids and whatever you do, do not give them a reason to come to your home or apartment. However, once you have them there is no preparation or action you can take that will make them leave. You will have to do a treatment to kill them. This can be a domestic treatment with products you buy over the counter at a grocery store or convenience store or it can be a commercial treatment with a licensed exterminator. The difference depends on how long the infestation has been going on and more specifically what kind of cockroach you have.
This is because different species of cockroach live for a different amounts of time and have different numbers of eggs in their egg sacks. The egg sack is called an ootheca and you can search your home for them. They look like a small leathery purse or package and can contain, depending on the species anywhere from five to sixty eggs. Larger cockroaches like the American and Brown-banded cockroach, both of which are native to North America have the least number of eggs in their egg sacks due to the actual size of the insect when it is born. Oriental cockroaches which are not native to this continent can have a couple more but the real danger is the German cockroach. This cockroach is very small, a third of the size of other adult cockroaches and because of that small size, they can have forty to sixty eggs in a single egg sack. This species is a much more serious infestation than other cockroaches and requires much more advanced treatment. Domestic treatments that can take on an American cockroach or an oriental cockroach infestation and end it will not end a German cockroach infestation. For that, you will have to get proper commercial-grade treatment from a licensed and experienced pest control technician. Wasting time with dust and gel bait will only worsen the infestation and leave you vulnerable to an infestation so large even a commercial treatment will have trouble killing them off. So if you have cockroaches do your research and find out the species. It could mean the difference between having cockroaches forever and getting rid of them.