SUMMER LIVIN’
It is not your imagination. Cockroaches DO increase in the Summer months. An adult female German Cockroach can produce 180 to 320 offspring during her 6 month lifespan. Eggs are laid in the winter, hatch in the Spring and develop into adult Roaches during December and January months when one is most likely to wander the house with bare feet. Eeuw!
COMFORTABLE IN COMMUNITY
Roaches are gregarious in nature. They HATE living alone! So even if it is just a single solitary critter you see scurrying across your Italian tiles; chanced are he has a nest of several hundred brothers, sisters and family cousins close by. Despite the proximity to so many of his kin, Roaches do NOT interbreed within family groups. Dr. Mathieu Lihoreau of the National Centre of Scientific Research in France argues that a solitary young cockroach would actually develop “Isolation Syndrome” if left to mature by himself. He would find it very difficult to be accepted into another Roach community and find a mate.
CHATTERBOXES BY NATURE
Cockroaches are also keen communicators. Using chemicals called cuticular hydrocarbons, they express these from their bodies and sometimes in faeces left behind by one roach to another to travel a certain path. So, rather like Hansel and Gretel making their way through the dark forest with pebbles to mark their way, roaches lead each other to safe places to hide during the day and forage food at night. These chemical messages also let them know who is brother or sister in a crowded nest of hundreds.
ADVENTUROUS TRAVELERS
How did they find your neat little home? Cockroaches are avid travelers, journeying the highways and byways of drainpipes, air ducts and wall crevices to find a hopeful home. So even if you left those dishes just ONE night, it could be enough to invite your neighbour’s crew over for a sample of your specialty dish. The midnight munchies you take to your pillow? Those discarded wrappers and empty ice cream bowl under your bed are a beacon for a Roach on Patrol and he’ll invite his entire colony over too!
DEADLY REALITY
Cockroaches are formidable carriers of deadly disease. Salmonella, Hepatitis and Polio are just some of the threats these invaders can bring into your home or place of business.