The world has thousands of different kinds of cockroach species creeping and crawling through just about every crevice, sewer, and cranny across the planet. While California is home to a few dozen species, not all of them will be found skittering across your Monterey home. Not all cockroaches are after a tasty bite from yesterday’s trash. Some prefer life outside in crops, among dead leaves, or in potted plants. But for the dreaded species that want to share your home, cockroaches can become quite the nuisance. It is not uncommon to find cockroaches in your kitchen and food items or slinking around your basement or bathroom of your Monterey home.
Risks
Because humans and cockroaches live so closely to one another, it is no surprise that cockroaches are notorious for passing bacteria ridden illnesses on to people if they are able to contaminate food found in pantries or left on the counter. Cockroaches can cause diseases and symptoms such as:
- E. Coli: If a cockroach runs through food or sheds its exoskeleton in the pantry, E. Coli is a food contamination that cockroaches can transfer to humans. Chills, nausea, fever, and cramping can all be symptoms of the E. Coli the cockroaches left in your food.
- Dysentery: A disease associated with nausea, vomiting, high fever, and abdominal cramps. It is most commonly transferred to humans through contaminated food or water. Cockroaches are known to transmit this bacteria to people’s food.
- Listeria: Another disease spread by cockroaches that also comes from contaminated food. Muscle aches, fever, stiff neck, and diarrhea are all symptoms of listeria.
- Salmonella: As few as 12 hours after eating food contaminated by cockroaches with Salmonella, symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and fever can ruin your day. Salmonella can transfer to your food through cockroaches’ fecal matter and even their vomit.
Call a professional
When it comes to taking over your home, cockroaches are not here to play. Female cockroaches can lay 50 eggs at one time and some can be full grown in about a month’s time, ready to continue the population boom. A pest professional can stop cockroaches in their tracks by not only eliminating the adults, but the eggs as well. If you do not know where to begin, one phone call can get you on your way to having a cockroach free home. Setting up a regular inspection after treatment will ensure that if any cockroach decides to wander back into your home, they will not feel welcome.
For Monterey homeowners, the best way to stop a common cockroach problem before your family gets sick is to give Target Pest Control a call. We will be laser focused on eliminating every cockroach from your home so you won’t have to wonder if your food is good to eat. Give us a call today.