Preventing Common Cockroaches in Austin Homes: All the Steps You Should Take
Cockroaches are resilient insects that crawl, fly, and float, and populations have grown resistant to many over-the-counter products. Keeping them out is far easier than getting them out. Here are the species you are up against in Austin and every step that helps.
Once roaches move in, they are hard to move out.
Cockroaches damage household items and carry a real health risk, especially once they settle in, reach adulthood, and start laying eggs. A single egg case holds dozens of young, and a kitchen with food, water, and warmth lets a handful of roaches become a population in a few months.
Preventing an infestation spares you all of that. Most of the steps below cost nothing but an hour on a weekend, and they work against every roach species found in Austin.
The three species you are most likely to see
Of the roughly 4,500 cockroach species worldwide, only a few dozen live in the United States, and three account for nearly every call we take in Austin.
American cockroach
Up to 3 inches
The largest roach you will meet in Austin, and the one many people call a palmetto bug. American cockroaches are reddish to dark brown with a yellow band behind the head. They live in sewers, storm drains, and other damp, dirty places, which is why what they track indoors matters. They can fly, but you will not see them do it often.
German cockroach
About half an inch
A much smaller species, easy to pick out by the two dark stripes running down the back. German roaches have wings but run rather than fly. They like warmth and humidity and feed on starchy things, including glue, wood, and book bindings. This is the species that builds up fastest in a kitchen; see our German cockroach page for the full profile.
Brown-banded cockroach
Slightly smaller than a German
Light brown with darker bands across the wings. Unlike the other two, brown-banded roaches prefer dry, warm spaces, so you find them in cupboards, closets, and high on walls rather than under the sink. They are most active at night.
What roaches actually do to a home
Cockroaches do not attack or bite people. The problem is what they carry and what they ruin. As they walk through sewage, drains, and garbage they pick up bacteria, including Salmonella, and then walk it across counters, cutting boards, and open food. Food prepared on a contaminated surface can cause gastrointestinal illness.
Their shed skins and droppings are also a well-documented allergen. In homes with an established infestation, cockroach allergen is a common trigger for asthma attacks and allergy symptoms, and children are the most affected.
Beyond health, roaches ruin household items made of paper, fabric, and glue. They chew on book bindings, wallpaper, and stored boxes and stain what they walk across with droppings.
How cockroaches get into Austin homes, and where they hide
Like every household pest, roaches come in looking for shelter, water, and food. They slip under doors, through torn window screens, and through cracks in the foundation. Gaps around electrical lines and utility pipes are a favorite route. Homeowners also carry them in without knowing it, on cardboard boxes, used furniture, grocery bags, and second-hand clothing.
Outdoors, most cockroaches live in humid, secluded spots: in trees, compost piles, under rocks and mulch, and around trash bins. Brown-banded roaches are the exception and prefer dry heat. Once inside, they nest in cluttered storage areas, especially under piles of newspaper or old boxes, and move into cupboards and cabinets. You may also find them in laundry rooms and under kitchen appliances, where there is warmth and a little moisture.
The Austin roach calendar
American cockroaches live outdoors most of the year and come inside in two situations: heavy rain, which floods the drains and sewer lines they live in, and the peak of summer, when heat and drought send them looking for water. A big roach in the bathtub after a storm is almost always one of these, and one or two a season does not mean an infestation. A steady stream of them means there is a gap around a drain or a foundation crack worth finding.
German cockroaches do not follow the weather because they live indoors year-round. They arrive on a grocery bag, a delivery box, or a piece of used furniture, and from there the kitchen does the rest. Finding small, striped roaches in a cabinet in January is a German roach problem, not a seasonal one, and it will not go away on its own.
Brown-banded roaches also live indoors all year, but in warm, dry spots: high cabinets, behind picture frames, inside electronics and appliance motors. If the roaches you see are small, light brown, and far from the kitchen sink, that is the likely species.
Every step worth taking
Roaches need water, food, a way in, and somewhere to hide. Take away all four and a home becomes a poor place to settle.
Cut off water
- Remove standing water from sidewalks, garages, and potted plant saucers.
- Run a dehumidifier in damp rooms to bring indoor moisture down.
- Clean your gutters so water drains away from the foundation.
- Lay thin polyethylene sheeting in the crawl space to reduce moisture under the house.
Close the gaps
- Seal cracks and crevices around the foundation with caulk or sealant.
- Install weather-stripping and door sweeps on exterior doors.
- Check where utility pipes and electrical lines enter the house and seal around them.
Starve them
- Keep pet food in airtight containers and wash pet bowls every day.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator, not on the counter.
- Clean grease from indoor and outdoor food-prep areas.
- Clean under and behind appliances, where crumbs and grease collect.
Take away the hiding places
- Do not store cardboard boxes or stacks of newspaper in the house.
- Keep exterior trash bins out of the garage and away from entryways.
- Declutter and vacuum weekly.
None of these steps works on its own. A sealed foundation does little if there is grease behind the stove, and a spotless kitchen still draws roaches if the crawl space stays damp. Work through the whole list, then keep up the weekly habits. If you are already seeing roaches, prevention slows the problem but will not end it, and a kitchen infestation is worth a professional cockroach treatment in Austin.
Prevention is for before they arrive
If roaches are already in the kitchen, our technicians can identify the species, treat the harborage, and set you up on a plan that keeps them out. Austin general pest service covers roaches along with the rest of the usual suspects.
Keep reading
The German Cockroach
The most common indoor roach in Texas. Why German cockroaches are so hard to eliminate and how the pros do it.
Read articleCockroachesWhat To Do After Pest Control Sprays For Roaches
Why you see more roaches in the first two weeks, how long to wait before cleaning, and where the holdouts survive a first treatment.
Read articleCockroaches5 Major Signs That You Have Cockroaches in Your Houston Home
Egg casings, droppings, a musky smell, neighbors with roaches, and live sightings. The five signs of an infestation and where to look first.
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