Are you familiar with the late, great Harry Houdini? He is considered by many to be the greatest escape artist who has ever lived. To many, his amazing feats had them believing that magic was possible. But if they could have stripped away the showmanship and looked behind the curtain, they would have seen that it wasn't magic at all.
Sometimes it can feel like magic when you find a cockroach in your kitchen or pantry, especially if you've spent any time trying to seal up your exterior walls to keep them out. But, just like Harry Houdini, those cockroaches aren't employing magic. They are just really really good at getting into our houses.
Let's strip away the mystery and see if we can figure out how those cockroaches do it. Here are some not-so-magical ways cockroaches slip past your impenetrable defenses.
Cockroaches have the ability to compact their bodies. This allows them to squeeze under doors and past door sweeps that are not properly installed, much in the same way Houdini was able to contort his body to break out of straitjackets. Make sure your door sweeps make good contact all the way across to keep cockroaches out.
Cockroaches can do something Houdini couldn't; they can climb walls and crawl across the ceiling. When you're looking to exclude cockroaches, you have to seal high places as well as those low places. Chimneys, rooflines, and vents are easy entry points for these versatile insects.
Just like with any good magic trick, sometimes it is happening right in front of your nose. The magician might even be using YOU to accomplish the trick. Cockroaches do this too. By slipping into a bag of groceries or an old storage box, they can make you "think" they got in through your walls, when in fact, you brought them in yourself.
Cockroaches have another, even more amazing trick. They can ride past your heavily fortified exterior walls even when you aren't carrying a bag or a box. We know! Astounding! But, if you peel away the shroud of mystery, you realize that they are able to do this for quite a mundane reason. Cockroach eggs do not require the mother to hatch. If you step on a female cockroach, you could bring roaches into your house in the treads of your sneakers.
See. Cockroaches aren't so mysterious when you see how those tricks are done. Now you don't have to wonder why there is a roach on your kitchen wall.
Here is another trade secret for you: If you live in New York and want to keep cockroaches out of your house, all you have to do is call Thomas Pest Services. We know ALL the tricks those cockroaches have and have the experience to safely and effectively eliminate them from your home.