Think of what horrifies you the most inside your own household. And no, we’re not talking about the bills being delivered to your doorstep. Instead, let’s paint a quick picture. During the middle of the night, you decide to have a midnight snack. You walk into the kitchen, turn on the light, and bam – you see cockroaches swarming all over the kitchen floor. They start scurrying around as they frantically try to move as far away from you as possible.

Chances are that you’ll have lost your newfound appetite by then. So, is there a solution for this? Don’t worry, we’ll give you a quick rundown of what attracts cockroaches, so you know what to lookout for to keep them out of your home. Let’s dig in!

Cockroach Basics

If you have a problem with cockroaches in your home; undoubtedly, you’ll be looking for a solution soon enough. And once you do some browsing, you’ll see that there are literally hundreds of products for cockroach repelling; throughout all of the stages of their lifecycle.

Also, you’ll find somewhat conflicting reports on what actually attracts these pests to your home. Having the right information is important if you want to achieve the very best results in regard to repelling roaches; plus, you’ll save a ton of money on otherwise useless products that you may buy if you were uninformed.

Don’t get us wrong; most of these cockroach-repelling products will actually kill the pests upon contact. However, even if that’s true momentarily, that’s not actually a permanent solution; not unless you conclusively fix the root of the problem. And what is the root of your roach issue that is actually attracting them to your home?

It doesn’t take much to go from just a single roach to an entire infestation. All it takes is for one cockroach to find its way into your home – and it’ll attract its mates soon enough. Once there, they’ll reproduce at their famously alarming rate; becoming far harder to get rid of. So, you need to think about what you’re doing to potentially invite them to come in the first place.

What Attracts Them?

Keeping all of the above in mind; what will actually draw the roaches to your doorstep? Well, for one – food. Or in other words, the smell that comes from food. And that goes both for the meals you prepare, and the groceries you ultimately end up throwing out. Trust us, roaches don’t mind if you’ve tossed something into the garbage, or if something is dirty. So, what should you do?

First, make sure to always put your food away once you finish your meal. Don’t just let your leftovers stay on the kitchen counter. If you want to eat more of it later, put it in the fridge and cover it up. Believe us on this – if food goes bad, it will attract cockroaches even quicker, because it has a very strong smell which they can sense.

Secondly, don’t forget to take your trash out on a regular basis. And if you’ve got a trashcan, make sure it has a lid and that it’s covered all the time. But once again – do not let the garbage in your home start spreading its smell all around the place, as that is sure to attract all kinds of pests, including roaches.

Finally, above all else, keep your kitchen area clean, and don’t let dropped pieces and bits of food lay around. Make sure to always pick all of them up and throw them away. Also, sweep your floors and regularly clean your counters to make sure no remains of your meal are lying around to attract the unwanted visitors.

Water Attracts Roaches

Food isn’t the only thing that attracts cockroaches to your home. Besides that, they will also look for areas with water damage. So, you can expect them to converge to particularly moist areas and they don’t need a whole lot of water. All they require is a couple of drops in the same places that come regularly. So, that means you should watch out for any leaky pipes within your household; these provide ample water sources for the nasty pests.

There are a number of common areas to find water leaks, including your kitchen, bathroom, and attic. Be sure to find them all and have them repaired. Also ensure to conduct regular checks so that there is no chance of further cockroach shelters developing. For example, if you’re keeping any pets, you want to empty their water and food bowls before nightfall.

All in all, you need to keep your household as clean and neat as possible. If you don’t allow any clutter to develop, they won’t have any easy places to hide. And that goes double for your cabinets and other kitchen storage areas. Remember; they’ll want to remain close to simple food sources.

Summary

To summarize – cockroaches are attracted to a couple of things – mainly shelter, water, and food; not necessarily in that order. In most cases, they first get attracted to food. Then, they start looking for a suitable water source and a place where they can easily settle. Once that is done, they’re sure to bring in more of their kind, and further multiply as much as you let them. If you don’t react on time, you may end up facing a serious infestation, where they pretty much own the place that you call home.

But now you’ve got a good idea of what most easily attracts roaches to an average household. So, you know what actions you should take to stop them from even thinking about finding their way into your household at all. And when you’ve made all the needed precautions, you can move onto killing the existing roaches, and ridding yourself of this nuisance once and for all! We hope you found this guide useful. Stay safe and pest-free, folks!

Preventing Roaches with Water Damage Restoration

If your home is affected by water damage, even if it is just a small leak, you need to have the issue repaired and water removed. Excess water will not only attract cockroaches into your home, but also result in serious damage and mold growth. Water damage restoration specialists can effectively remove excess water and moisture from your home to prevent damage and make it less attractive to cockroaches.

About Vince Sandri

Vince Sandri is a content writer and blogger with more than 12 years of experience. His expertise is in creating content related to disaster restoration, including information about preventing and reacting to natural disasters like flooding, water damage, fire and smoke damage, mold growth, storm damage and more.
Vince has been the main contributor to RestorationMasterFinder.com since 2014. Over that time, he has written numerous service pages and blogs for disaster restoration providers featured on RestorationMasterFinder.com. Vince has done extensive research and covered a wide range of topics relating to disaster restoration to help homeowners, business owners, and property managers better protect their property. He understands the problems that disasters like flooding, fire, smoke, and mold can cause as well as the best ways to respond to these issues to limit the damage.
Vince completed his Bachelor of Arts degree at Aurora University and his master’s degree at DePaul University. He has been writing SEO website pages, blogs, and press releases since 2012. Vince is also a musician and can be seen playing in the Chicago, IL area.