What are cockroaches? Cockroaches are insects of the Dictyoptera family and are related to the praying mantis. There are many and varied species of cockroach throughout the world but here in the UK, you are most likely to see one of two: the Oriental cockroach and the German cockroach.
Oriental Cockroach
The Oriental cockroach is dark reddish-brown in colour and about 30mm long and the immature cockroaches (nymphs) resemble adults except that they are wingless and smaller. While other pest cockroaches can climb smooth vertical surfaces with ease, the Oriental Cockroach is unable to. They usually live in moist areas, but can live in dry areas if they have access to a source of water. The Oriental cockroach breeds well in unventilated crawl spaces or cellars where humidity is high. They tend to prefer cooler areas in which to live and are thus commonly found in boiler houses, basements and walkways adjacent to buildings. Adult Oriental cockroaches can live for up to a year, during which time the females produce an average of 150 young. The Oriental has a taste of starchy food but can adapt to survive on almost any source of nutrients.
German Cockroach
The German cockroach is light yellowish-brown in colour and bout 17mm in length. They have a shield behind the head with two dark stripes which run lengthwise along the body. The nymphs are wingless and almost black with one light stripe running down the middle of the back. Egg capsules are light tan in colour and are carried by the female until just before hatching. Each female may produce four to six capsules during her lifetime, each containing 30-40 eggs. These eggs hatch in 28-30 days and nymphs develop in 40-125 days. Female German cockroaches live about 200 days (the males live for slightly less) and produce more eggs and have more generations per year (three or four) than any other cockroach, and only a few individuals are needed to develop into problematic infestations.
Treatments and Control
At Pest-a-Lance, every treatment is bespoke because no two infestations are the same. After a free survey, we will outline what needs to be done to eradicate the infestation and make all the costs clear and upfront before we perform any work. We perform a thorough risk assessment before using pesticides and all our technicians are fully qualified in the safe use of pesticides.