Humans have been fighting cockroaches for centuries, but so far no victory has been achieved. It is paradoxical that people spend colossal sums on buying an apartment, repairs and utility bills, yet still have to spend huge sums to fight pests. There is no question of abandoning this, as cockroaches are capable of starving us and infecting us with countless viruses. In short, those who try to save money in the fight against cockroaches will lose their health and living comfort because they will have to share their living space with annoying sprawling companions.

Locations of nests: in high abundance, the larvae are distributed throughout the building, in low abundance – in a few rooms. The uneven distribution of insects in a building is linked to the existence of favourable conditions for them. The more shelters there are suitable for cockroaches, the higher the number of insects in each room and building. They particularly like the backs of skirting boards, backs of fork plates, backs and hinges of kitchen cupboards, around radiators and curtain rails.

Life cycle: depending on the temperature, the female reptile can live for up to 10 months, the males usually have a shorter lifespan.

Damage caused: cockroach mites spread Salmonella, which can cause food poisoning, diarrhoea and other stomach and intestinal diseases. Bed bugs are a major cause of allergies and allergic asthma in children. Allergic reactions to cockroaches include skin irritation, watery eyes, sneezing and asthma.

Frequency of eradication: 80% of cases can be treated with a single eradication. 20% also need to do a replication. The interval between the two rounds of control should be at least 20 days, preferably 30 days, otherwise the new generation will not hatch. Once the collectors have been eradicated, there is usually peace for several years, unless new ones come from neighbours.

Conditions required for control: the more effective the control of cockroaches, the more of the habitat can be controlled at the same time and the more the same tools are used.

Mistakes that are made: All too often, housing associations claim that pest control is the responsibility of each apartment owner. There are some very big dangers in such thinking:

1. In most cases, the flats where the infestation starts do nothing to eradicate them.
2. If control is carried out at different times and by different means, it is very easy for the cockroach to develop multi-drug resistance.
3. If you only do a cockroach control in one apartment, it will make the cockroaches more active at first, so they can easily spread to apartments that were otherwise clean.
4. The biggest threat is from ultrasonic cleaners. They do have some effect at first, as they scare the cockroaches away, but they don’t kill them. But where can the cockroaches go in an apartment building – only next door. Secondly, the cockroaches get used to this ultrasound quite quickly and come back happily. In many cases, the cockroaches have nested directly underneath the ultrasonic scrubber, showing the total inefficiency of this device.

The tools we use: I mostly use long-acting aqueous solutions. Sometimes I use gel remover, but mostly as an aftercare. Immediately after spraying and for up to 1 week, an increase in the movement of cockroaches can be observed. This actually shows that the repellent works, as the cockroach mites are generally covert, so we don’t see them most of the time, but the repellent makes their lives uncomfortable and they crawl out of their nesting places. In most cases, the majority of the larvae will be destroyed within 1 week, but no poison will destroy the eggs, so a new generation may hatch within a month. This is why we need to carry out a replay.