Pest Control Company & Exterminators in Leonardo, NJ

I was dispatched to take care of a roach infestation for a homeowner in Leonardo. She had inadvertently carried roaches from a dishpan to her fridge. I eliminated the colony using a combination of a bait and aerosol treatments. With a roach infestation in the kitchen, it is important to pull out the refrigerator to clean underneath and set bait traps. During the day, roaches hide in dark, warm spaces, waiting to forage for food and water at night. The space under the fridge near the warm refrigerator motor is a popular harborage area.

At Cowleys, we are often asked, “How did I get these nasty roaches in my home?” Roach problems are especially common in apartments and other multi-family dwellings. You may be the cleanest tenant in the world, keeping your kitchen spotless and avoiding household clutter. The problem is that others in the complex may not be as conscientious. You have no control over the behavior of other tenants. In multi-family dwellings, everyone can suffer because of the actions of a few, and once a building is infested, roaches easily spread from one unit to the next. Roach problems are compounded in high turnover buildings like college dormitories where people and their roach-infested belongings frequently move in and out.

Single-family homeowners can wind up with a roach infestation as well. Roaches, just like bedbugs and other insects, easily hitchhike their way into a home. To avoid a roach infestation, be careful about what you bring inside. If you buy a desk or dresser drawer secondhand at a yard sale, examine it carefully for roaches and egg cases. If you see dark specks, they may well be roach droppings.Also, corrugated cardboard containers with their little gaps and crevices are another way of bringing in roaches. And you don’t need to bring in a live roach. More often that not, you bring in a hidden roach egg case. Soon, you find yourself with up to 50 little roaches exploring your home, and you have the start of a major infestation.

Another important rule that we encourage our customers to follow is never store items on top of your kitchen appliances, especially your refrigerator. If those items happen to be infested, you are making it far too easy for roaches to find their way inside. We think of refrigerators as airtight safes that protect our food, but that’s not the reality. Roaches have no trouble finding their way inside, where they have a ready supply of food for the taking. Roaches will also find their way into other appliances as well. I’ve seen them infest dishwashers, stoves, and toasters, which accumulate all of those delicious burnt bread crumbs on the bottom.