Do you know that the US loses approximately 17.7 Billion dollars annually to the economy by insects, including roaches? Cockroaches not only destroy properties, spread diseases but exterminating them also requires a lot of effort, time, and resources.
How to find a cockroach nest and how it looks like? First, search for plenty of roach droppings, desquamated skin, egg cases, live or dead roaches mainly behind the fridge, under the furniture, kitchen and bathroom cabinets, and warm and humid basements corners. A Colony of live and dead roaches with a peck of their eggs, droppings, and desquamated skin is a nest.
A DIY method of finding a cockroach nest and eradicating them will save you money and avoid the hassle of asking for professional help. I have a personal interest in exterminating roaches and have a few fantastic hacks down the sleeve that I will be sharing with you in the blog below.
Tired of cockroaches? Invest in only these products and follow the guide to eliminate roaches!
Use these products, and you will be roach free in less than a week.
1. Advion Cockroach Gel Bait (Review)
2. Gentrol IGR Point Source (Review)
Other Products to try:
1. Combat Roach Traps (Easy than gel baits)
2. Hot Shot Foggers (To kill in masses – 95%)
3. Pet Safe Killers (Uses Essential Oils)
4. Ortho Defence Outdoor Roach Killer (Prevent Roaches)
What Does a Cockroach Nest Look Like
Cockroaches are timid creatures and are rarely sighted during the day. However, they are most active at night and move around the place searching for food and water. A baby roach sheds its exoskeleton approximately eight times during the molting phase to transform into an adult roach.
The feces or droppings of cockroaches look like crushed black pepper or small pieces of burned coal or ground coffee spread over an area. A nest of cockroaches has a mildly intense musty, foul smell that is easily distinguishable from other foul odors. Want to hear what a colony sounds like? Read do palmetto bugs make noises? and listen to the audio recordings.
Many cockroaches living in a confined space with multiple eggshells, desquamated exoskeleton, dead roaches, and their feces are called cockroach nests. It is not like a typical bird’s nest but instead looks like a messy peck.
Finding a cockroach nest means that your space is heavily infested with roaches. It will be best to start with extermination right away, or your place will transform into a messy roach breeding colony. The cockroaches will move onto infest every possible space from your refrigerator to ovens.
I have written a comprehensive article about cockroaches in a Fridge. Read it to know what exactly an infested refrigerator looks like.
Where do Roaches Nest Outside?
Not all roaches love to live inside the houses. Many prefer to stay in the open and rarely infest homes. Still, they may periodically visit your home searching for food or rarely to hide from harsh weather.
Roaches nest outside near the trash bins, around sewerage and waste pipelines, in the sewerage holes, inside the garage, and in ventilation ducts. All these places provide roaches with ample food and water without the danger of predators.
If you have found a roach nest outside your house, do not take it lightly because sooner or later, they will start to visit you once the weather turns worst for them.
You can use natural palmetto bug repellents to keep them at bay.
How to Find and Destroy a Cockroach Nest
If you successfully find cockroach nests, you have possibly done half the way with extermination. The cockroach nest is a mating and breeding ground for roaches; they multiply and move forward with infesting other house areas.
To find a cockroach nest, first, look around the house and try to spot roach droppings, desquamated exoskeleton, multiple dead or living roaches. Next, try to use your nose for smelling the nest. The cockroach nest has a musty smell.
The nest are primarily located in hidden places. The places where you are most likely to find cockroach nests include
- Back of the fridge.
- Under the furniture.
- Under the carpets or rugs near the corner.
- Behind the curtains.
- Inside the bathroom or kitchen cabinets
- Inside shoe boxes or unused utensils.
- Around the ventilation ducts or motors.
Once you find the cockroach nest now, it’s easy to destroy it. You can use several methods to destroy it,
Method 1: Use Insecticide Spray or Traps
Insecticide spray and traps are possibly the fastest, easiest, and most effective methods to destroy cockroach nests.
- All you have to do is select an appropriate insecticide spray or trap from the best insecticides & traps to kill a cockroach that suits you.
- Once you have selected your weapon, aim right at the nest and keep spraying for 20 seconds.
- Or place traps near the nest and wait for 3 to 4 days.
- You can alternatively use boric acid, Lysol or hair spray to destroy the nest.
Method 2: Use Steam to Destroy Cockroach Nest
Do you know what temperatures kill a cockroach? A temperature above 115 degrees Fahrenheit is lethal for roaches. That is why you can use steam for destroying cockroach colonies. You need a steam gun for this method to work. All you have to do is,
- Remove any electronic or heat sensitive device.
- Set the steam temprature on the gun to max.
- Aim and fire at the cockroach nest for 5 minutes.
If you do not have a steam gun, you can use boiling water to destroy the roach nest. All you have to do is flush a pot of boiling water over the nest.
Where do Cockroaches lay Eggs?
After the cockroach lays eggs, it takes approximately 45 to 50 days before the eggs hatch. The eggs emit a peculiar smell that can attract certain predators like lizards or house geicko. The eggs are also sensitive to drastic changes in environmental temperature.
Therefore cockroaches lay eggs in protected and hidden areas like closed cabinets, crevices and corners, under the old worn-out pieces of clothes, and unused shoe boxes. These areas are safe from environmental insults and can absorb the smell emitted by the eggs.
