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Cockroaches are one of the most annoying pests to get rid of and their presence seems to be growing larger in Saskatchewan.
Shawn Sherwood with Poulin’s Pest Control said seven out of every 10 calls he receives are about cockroaches.
On the Greg Morgan Morning Show, Sherwood said the most common type of cockroach is the German cockroach.
“They are the most successful life form on the face of the Earth. They live everywhere,” he said.
“In Saskatchewan, they don’t live outdoors, they live exclusively indoors. So they are brought into your house or your business in a bag (or) a backpack — just about anything.
“They’re wonderful little hitchhikers, and you usually don’t find out that you have them until they are very well-established because they’re phototoxic – they don’t like light.”
Sherwood said it’s unlikely for people to encounter cockroaches in the middle of the day.
“The story that we most commonly hear is ‘I got up last night because I needed to go to the washroom, decided to go out into the kitchen to have a drink of water, snapped on the light and (said) Oh my god!’ ” he said.
Sherwood said it’s very easy for cockroaches to spread and they can become health risks.
“There’s a common myth out there that they only live in dirty places and that’s not the case at all,” Sherwood said. “I’ve taken care of them in houses that are less than where I would want to live, and I’ve taken care of them in houses where I would love to be able to afford to live.”
He also said it’s becoming more expensive and time-consuming to treat cockroach infestations – especially as roaches become more resistant to several forms of treatment.
“(It) used to be that we could take care of them with two treatments. That’s not the case anymore,” Sherwood said.
“We’re talking about multiple, multiple treatments, because we’re down to two chemicals to take care of them.”
Sherwood said Poulin’s has noticed that the time of exposure needed to kill cockroaches has increased.
Sherwood also said cockroaches have gotten wise to avoiding some forms of bait.
“They have learned over the last couple or three years that that’s not good for them. They simply won’t touch it …,” he said. “If the bait doesn’t work, don’t even bother with it, it’s a waste of your money.”
Sherwood said it takes anywhere from three to seven treatments of a home or business to eliminate the problem.
“It’s just gotten that hard,” he said. “And the amount of prep work you have to do – cleaning out cupboards and drawers, pulling stuff away from the walls – it is a huge undertaking and it’s not going to get easier.”
Sherwood said the treatments are usually spaced seven to 14 days apart and that people should be outside of the home for four to six hours.
980 CJME reached out to the Saskatchewan Health Authority for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.