Cockroaches are among the filthiest and nastiest pests that can invade your home or business. This is simply because you can find them crawling anywhere—from garbage cans, drains, bathroom, and kitchen to septic tanks, basements, and laundry room. It is no wonder that these disgusting critters carry with them unimaginable number of bacteria and viruses. In other words, roaches cause harm not only to our property but also to our health.

Realizing that your home is infested by these insects can be embarrassing especially if we have visitors coming over. Of course, letting your guests spot roaches would be the last thing you’d ever want to happen. However, a roach problem is not always associated with having a dirty surrounding. In fact, it does not matter how clean your house is. As long as there is food that attracts their attention, roaches will always have their way of infiltrating your home.

To help you determine if you have cockroaches at home, you need to take note of the following signs:

Black grainy droppings

Roaches leave their droppings anywhere. Once you spot tiny black specks that look similar to black pepper as small as coffee grounds or as big as a rice grain, you are definitely dealing with a roach problem. Cockroach droppings can be usually found on cabinet tops, under the sink, beneath or behind the stove or fridge, along floor corners, and on dark areas like drawers or cabinets. If you intend to remove these droppings, wearing gloves is advised to avoid having contact with pathogens or bacteria present in their feces.

Unpleasant musky odor

This intense musky odor actually originates from cockroaches’ droppings, which produce pheromones responsible for drawing the attention of rest of the cockroaches. A large number of cockroaches make this distinct unpleasant odor more and more perceptible. As this intense smell lingers in the atmosphere, it taints or contaminates the surfaces and items therein.

Smear marks

Roaches are also drawn to moisture. Thus, they are more active in wet or humid environments. You can tell if cockroaches do exist in your home once you can see dark brown smear marks on horizontal surfaces. These irregular shaped marks are produced by roaches as they crawl along the walls.

Shed skin

Roaches shed skin about 5 to 8 times prior to reaching full maturity. You can easily spot their molted brownish skins in areas of your home where they are breeding.

Cockroach eggs/egg casings

Another indication that you have roaches at home is the presence of brownish oval-shaped egg casings near dark and moist areas where the pests typically dwell on such as food cabinets, the base of fridge, and around leaky pipes. Each egg casing normally holds more or less 30 eggs. Cockroaches in general would leave their casings behind once the eggs hatched.

Property damage

Besides food, cockroaches also chew on materials like paper and leather. Therefore, you will know that you have roaches around your home if you spot damages on your food packaging or book pages.

Cockroach infestation in the neighborhood

You should also be mindful if you find out that your neighbor is encountering a cockroach problem. There is high tendency that your home or property will also be infested by roaches sooner or later. Hence, you better take preventive measures in advance to discourage or block the entry of these annoying pests to your home.

Sometimes, homeowners fail to notice these signs of cockroach problem until they finally spy a cockroach. Thus, it is possible that roaches could already be living inside your home for quite some time without your knowledge. Cockroaches are resourceful pests. They can easily obtain access to your household through any narrow cracks or holes they can find. They will also hitchhike on items such as containers, suitcases, backpacks, shoes, bags, etc.

Basically, these nuisances thrive in various environments where food and moisture are present. Since roaches are nocturnal insects, we can usually spot them during the night crawling about the kitchen or staying near their food source. Tip: Cockroaches are not loners, so do not ignore even if you only see one roach. If you have confirmed that your home definitely has cockroaches, call a pest control expert for advice or avail of their cockroach removal services. You may also use cockroach removal products available in stores to kill the pests. In cases of heavy infestation, getting help from a pest control professional is your best option.