Pest Types

All information in this section of our website is taken from the Pest Fact Sheets which are published on the Harrow County Council website. We would like to thank the Harrow County Council Web Team for their kind permission allowing us to reproduce these fact sheets.

Cockroaches

The Oriental Cockroach
The female produces 5 egg capsules at monthly intervals. The thick walled resistant capsules, 12mm in length, each contain up to 16 eggs and are deposited by the female in a dark sheltered place. After about 2 months it splits open and the small nymphs crawl out. These nymphs go through about 7-10 moults before reaching maturity, a process which takes about 10 months to 2 years depending upon temperature and food supply. With each successive moult, the wings and feelers develop and the nymph becomes progressively more like the adult, which will live approximately 6 months. The wings of the adults cover about ¾ of the body.

Habits Cockroaches are not fussy about what they eat and are often found in groups. Scent produced by their faeces and during mating are easily perceived by way of special sense organs on their antennae and serve to attract isolated companions. They spend much of the day hiding in cracks and crevices around such areas as sinks, drains, cookers, the backs of cupboards and in refrigerator motor compartments. They especially favour buildings with service ducts and complex plumbing installations. Infestations may be introduced as egg cases or adults in incoming laundry, on raw materials, in crates and packaging, or arise as the insects enter buildings via such routes as drains or refuse chutes.

Cockroaches are potential carriers of diseases such as dysentery, gastro-enteritis and typhoid. Their diet is very varied and can include soiled dressings, hair, leather, wallpaper and faeces. Germs from these materials can be transferred to food for human consumption either on the body of the cockroach or within the droppings it leaves behind. In addition, food may be tainted with the characteristic smell of the cockroach, which is produced by its droppings and secretions.

Control
As with the control of most indoor insects, good hygiene standards will go a long way towards eliminating the trouble. It not only denies the insects a source of food but will also make their discovery a lot easier. All cracks, crevices and other building defects which could provide a dark enclosure for cockroaches should be filled in and/or repaired. Pipe work if possible should not be boxed in as that provides an excellent hiding place. If the infestation is in adjoining properties, cockroaches may well be in cracks and other conduits that connect the two, in which case any remedial treatment must be applied to both properties.

Treatment
Proprietary or over the counter insecticides are largely ineffective against cockroaches. As soon as the insecticide has been destroyed by the effects of heat or moisture or removed by cleaning, survivors or their descendants once they leave their egg capsules, breed and increase in numbers once again. Treatments need to be repeated over a number of weeks or months, dependent on the severity of the infestation, to be sure of success. Treatments can include:-

Gel Baits - in most household situations and where the use of powders would be unsuitable, e.g. bathrooms. Always check with your neighbours whether their premises also need treatment to fully destroy the infestation.

Sprays - on rough surfaces such as concrete, brick and unpainted woodwork. Dusts - in heating ducks, pipe work, conduits, equipment, cracks, crevices and any other place in which cockroaches can hide and where the dust cannot be swept away.

Lacquer - insecticidal lacquer can be applied to non-porous dry surfaces. Once the coating has set hard, the insecticide dissolved in
it slowly comes to the surface where insects crossing it become contaminated and eventually die.

These lacquers can be effective for a year or more and are very effective around door frames, skirting boards, pipe work and other places where cockroaches enter the building.

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There are about 3,500 different species of cockroach in the world, of which the vast majority are tropical. The cockroaches found indoors in the United Kingdom have been introduced from the tropics during the last 200 years, and most of them can only survive in heated buildings.

The German Cockroach
This is the commonest species. Both sexes have well developed wings which cover the whole of their body, but these are not used for active flying, but for gliding when they jump, for instance, from the table to the floor. The female of the species produces 4-8 egg capsules at approximately 1 month intervals. Each thick walled brown capsule is about 6mm long and divided into 30-40 small compartments, each containing a single egg. In the German cockroach, the female carries the egg capsule behind her until the small, wingless young are ready to hatch out some 2-4 weeks later. Efforts are made to conceal the capsules near a food source, where the nymphs will hatch and pass through 5-7 moults before reaching maturity. At room temperature they are fully grown in about 4 months and the adults will have a life span of about 9 months.