Everything Virginia and Maryland Homeowners Need to Know About Oriental Cockroaches

Cockroaches are some of the oldest species alive and have been very successful. In fact, they lived on earth at the same time as the dinosaurs. Some scientists even think they lived before the dinosaurs!

While most cockroaches are quite harmless, a few, including the oriental cockroach, are not. The oriental cockroach is one of the most likely species to enter your home, bringing contamination with it.

Read on to learn everything you need to know about reacting to oriental cockroaches in your home.

Features of the Oriental Cockroach

Oriental roaches only grow up to around an inch in length, which is neither large or small for a cockroach. You might experience them as either black cockroaches, or as dark brown.

They have shorter wings that aren’t as long as their whole bodies, but don’t actually use them to fly. You can also identify this species if you see a large black roach that doesn’t walk as quickly as many other roaches.

Where You Can Find the Oriental Cockroach

The oriental roach lives throughout many of the states in the United States, including Virginia and Maryland. While they are technically an outdoors bug, they are always in search of food and especially water.

Their scavenging can often lead them into your pipes or around other sources of water. They like cool areas, so you might also find them in your garage or basement.

Problems That Oriental Cockroaches Can Cause

Oriental roaches live off of animal waste and human garbage. They will inevitably bring bacteria and potentially disease when they enter your home. Not only that but just passing through your home, they can leave surfaces contaminated and unsafe to interact with for some time after.

They sometimes lay eggs in food as well. Both diarrhea and food poisoning can result from having oriental roaches around the home, as well as asthma attacks and allergic reactions.

Getting Rid of Oriental Cockroaches

Like most roaches, the oriental roach is hard to kill and hard to get rid of. You can often recognize larger infestations of the oriental roach by an unusual smell coming from any area of your house, or from contaminated food.

For large oriental cockroach infestations, a skilled pest control company will almost certainly be necessary. Even for smaller cases, you may need professional oriental cockroach control if you want quick or permanent results. 

Preventing Future Oriental Cockroaches

If you’ve already had a professional service rid your home of oriental roaches, or you just want to make sure you don’t end up with a future infestation, there are some preventative steps you can take on your own.

As with any insect or animal, oriental roaches need a way into your home. They often find crevices or holes in your walls or roof and sneak in. Closing up all entryways to your home can help keep roaches of all kinds out.

Even then, roaches often get into your home when you bring things from outside into your house. This could include boxes you’ve stored outside or in a garage, or firewood. Try to make sure anything you bring inside is clean before doing so.

In general, keeping your home clean both of crumbs and sitting water can help make sure oriental roaches have no reason to enter your home.

Keep the Oriental Cockroach Away

We hope you found something helpful in this review of the Oriental cockroach. To learn more about finding quality services to help you deal with an infestation, check out our other pages.