The Avoidable Mistake That's Attracting Cockroaches To Your Home

Cockroach. It sounds like a dirty word, and it's one of the most hated insects that infest homes. A common misconception about these pests is that they're only a problem in homes that are dirty, but even clean houses can harbor roaches, especially in the south. As long as there's an entry point in the form of a crack or hole, a roach can crawl through it and end up in your home, garage, or both.

Although cockroaches can make their way inside virtually any structure, they won't stick around for long unless they have three things: food, water, and shelter. While it's easy to make sure you don't have a leaky faucet or food lying out after dark, there's another thing you should be mindful of that may be keeping roaches in your home: clutter. Clutter is very common in many houses. It might be in the form of clothes on the floor in your bedroom or dark closet, or in the form of miscellaneous items scattered all over a dresser. The good news is clutter can be easily avoided or removed fast enough to prevent roaches from becoming your new roommates.

Roaches need shelter to survive, just like we do, and they're not picky about where they find it. That means if they end up in a room with piles of clothing, magazines, and other items cluttering the floor, they'll have plenty of options for hiding spots. Every article of clothing, every magazine, and every other item that covers a surface and creates a gap underneath it is like a mini shelter to a roach.

Moisture is another factor to be mindful of. If there's moisture under the clutter, such as a bathroom floor, that area can easily become a breeding ground for roaches. The eggs of a German cockroach, which is the most common cockroach in the United States, can lay about 30 to 40 eggs over the span of their lives. So, if you let the clutter sit there for long enough, you could discover an infestation when you finally decide to organize. To eliminate this risk, make a point to prevent clutter entirely or at least declutter your home regularly (at least once a week). The less clutter there is in a home, the fewer hiding spots there are for a roach. The fewer hiding spots there are, the less likely the roaches will be to stick around.