One of the most difficult pests to eradicate is the German cockroach. These small brown roaches tend to take up residence in kitchens and bathrooms. Since they reproduce quickly, they can rapidly overrun your home. Here are a few reasons that German cockroaches are difficult to control and what you can do to eliminate them:

German cockroaches can live a couple of weeks without food.

German cockroaches can live on water alone for a prolonged span of time. This can make it difficult to get rid of the pests. Although you may be cleaning your kitchen regularly, you are bound to drop a few crumbs at some point. As the bugs wait for their next meal, they can use available moisture to survive.

To help decrease the availability of food, vacuum and mop your kitchen floor nightly. In addition, make sure that all garbage is taken outside and all dripping faucets are turned off before bedtime. The bugs tend to be most active at night, and leaving as little as possible for them to consume can help control the infestation. 

German cockroaches tend to build nests deep within your home.

German cockroaches tend to build nests that are hidden deep withing the walls of your home or in other areas that are well hidden and beyond your reach. As a result, the bugs that you do see are only a fraction of the insects that make up the hidden colony. 

To help ensure that you kill all of the nests that may be present in your home, you can use insect gel baits that include poisons such as fipronil. Gel baits are eaten by the roaches and taken back to their nest. When the roaches die, they are eaten by the other roaches in the colony. The bugs that cannibalize the poisoned roaches or eat their feces also die. 

This approach is especially important because the baby roaches often consume the feces of the adult roaches as food.

German cockroaches breed quickly.

One German cockroach egg sac usually contains 30 to 40 individual eggs. Thus, a German cockroach infestation can quickly become out of control. 

To help disrupt the growth and reproductive cycle of the roaches, you can use insect growth regulators. These chemicals, which are sometimes available in liquid form or enclosed in an insecticide station, can help lessen the number of eggs that are produced. As a result, the infestation is more easily eradicated.

For more information, contact Frontier Exterminating Company or a similar organization.