It’s safe to say that any roach species are unwanted pests, especially inside your Bay Area home. But the smoky brown cockroach, which is large, winged, and measures about one-and-a-half inches long, is especially hard to overlook, particularly if there’s more than one.
The smoky brown roach is a problem for Bay Area homeowners, but it’s not supposed to be because these roaches are not native to the region. Instead, they’re more commonly found on the East Coast and in the South, though they sometimes migrate to other locations via shipping containers for fruit and nursery stock and other produce and products. Because they pose a problem to homeowners, it’s important to be able to identify them and also to know their risks.
Read on for more on smoky brown cockroaches, how they can endanger the health of you and your family members or housemates, how they may be entering your home, and tips on how to prevent their entry (and return).
How To Identify Smoky Brown Cockroaches
Smoky brown cockroaches are also known as palmetto bugs, and both males and females are winged. They are known fliers and are quick to scurry when they’re on the ground. These roaches are a uniform mahogany color, which is important to note. They’re often mistaken for American cockroaches; however, they have a lighter color around the edges of their bodies.
How Smoky Brown Cockroaches Can Endanger Your Health
Cockroaches have a reputation for being dirty because of the putrid sources of food they consume. They’re attracted to decaying organic matter, which in nature may include crumbling leaves and plants, and deceased animals, and fecal matter. In homes, this matter is found in contaminated areas, such as in trash and rotting food. In these places, cockroaches are exposed to bacteria, which they unknowingly pick up, carry with them, and contaminate their surroundings, which may include the surfaces in your home.
Smoky brown cockroaches have been linked to the spread of disease-causing bacteria that causes conditions, such as typhoid disease, tuberculosis, cholera, leprosy, dysentery, diarrhea, and gastroenteritis. Their presence can also trigger milder allergic reactions, such as asthma, in young children.
How Smoky Brown Cockroaches Enter Homes
Unlike some of the other species of cockroaches, all smoky brown roaches can fly, which also helps them find their ways indoors. These roaches commonly find their way into homes through crevices in the foundation and cracks in siding, roofing, or walls.
Smoky brown roaches need a considerable water source to survive, so they’re drawn to hide, nest, and breed in high-moisture areas. This may include underneath shingles and gutters, especially if they’re filled with debris such as leaves that they also feed on.
Tips On Protecting Your Home From Smoky Brown Cockroaches
The most effective way to remove smoky brown cockroaches from your home and property is by calling the professionals at Bay Pest. However, to prevent them from entering and reentering your home, you may consider applying these three tips:
- Seal All Points Of Entry: Roaches are entering your home through an available opening, such as a crack in a broken window frame, an open window, or an unlidded trash can left outdoors.
- Store Trash Properly: Exposed garbage that’s kept outdoors is a major attractor for smoky brown cockroaches. If the trash is stored indoors, like your garage, the cockroaches can find their way into your home and property. Keep the trash in the house and covered.
- Clean-Up Food Messes Promptly: Whether you’re eating indoors or dining out in the back, be sure to clean up all food waste and clean surfaces properly to refrain from attracting roaches and other pests.
Bay Pest offers specialized residential pest treatment for cockroach control specific to the cockroach that’s inhabiting your home or property. First, we’ll start with an inspection, and then we’ll move to treatment—and take care of it right away. Call Bay Pest today.