How Pest Control Companies Identify Cockroach Eggs

Spotting that cockroach moving across your kitchen floor is enough to give most of us a fright. If you’re one of the braver ones among us, you’ve probably killed it and disposed of it. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning of potentially very bad news. It’s highly unlikely that your recently deceased pest was travelling solo: there’s a good chance there are more cockroaches hiding in your home. If upon further inspection you happen to find cockroach eggs, then you’ve got a serious cockroach pest control problem on your hands. This needs to be dealt with immediately. We’ll talk you through the tell-tale signs you should be looking for.

What Do Cockroach Eggs Look Like?

Like many pests, cockroaches won’t lay just one egg at a time. If they find a suitable nest, they’re going to lay multiple eggs. A casing, called oothecae, protects multiple eggs in a single compact layer. Its relatively tough exterior shell, which naturally hardens just a few hours after being made, protects the precious eggs from predators. The number of eggs and even the appearance of the oothecae differs with different cockroach species. Some roaches carry it until the eggs are ready to hatch, others lay their eggs much earlier in clever hiding places. This is why some eggs can be more difficult to find than others. The most common cockroach – the German cockroach – can produce between 20 and 40 eggs in a single oothecae. The mother carries these eggs until 24 hours before they’re due to hatch, then hides them in a strategic location. These eggs tend to be incredibly difficult to find, and further cockroach infestation is difficult to combat. You’ll know an oothecae when you see one. In general they’re small (around 1/5th of an inch), dark brown in color, and can have ridges on the surface.

Cockroach Eggs in Your Home

Many species of cockroach have one thing in common: their reproduction cycle is incredibly quick, and they can infest your home dangerously fast. Let’s look at the German cockroach again, the average life span is 12 months. In that time and in optimum conditions, a female German cockroach can lay between 200 and 300 eggs. These eggs, and the new juvenile roaches that hatch from them develop into adults within four months. The females in that nest will go on to reproduce and the pattern will continue for generations. In a single year, one female German cockroach and her offspring have been known to produce 300,000 eggs: that’s a big problem.

So Where Do Cockroaches Lay Eggs?

Now that we’ve explained why cockroach eggs are a serious problem, you’re probably going to want to have a thorough search for them. So where should you be looking? It varies by cockroach species, but there are well-hidden locations they’ll use in general. A good place to start is wherever you found the cockroach in the first place. It’s also good to check near potential food sources. A female roach will tend to leave the eggs close to food for ease of access once the eggs have hatched. Warm, damp spaces are also ideal. Your kitchen is a particular favourite; check-in pantries, drawers, and other dark spaces. Around Pipes, stairs and closets will also need to be checked, as well as floor tiles and behind furniture in the bathroom. As you can see, female roaches will hide their eggs in any number of hard-to-find locations. Our highly trained technicians have years of experience and know exactly where to look. We guarantee that we’ll remove any pests like the cockroach before they become an even bigger problem. We can also provide a complete pest control prevention plan to provide peace of mind in the years to come.