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HELP I have roaches and I’m moving!
If you have roaches and you’re moving there are a few things you can do that will help prevent these pests from entering your new residence. Whenever possible replace cardboard boxes with crates or plastic bins for storage. The most important tip involves getting both your current residence and new property professionally treated before moving out and moving in.
“Help! I have roaches and I’m moving!”
That’s a sentence you never want to find yourself saying. There are few pests more scary and disgusting than the dreaded roach! Roaches are nasty, little resilient creatures that are seemingly impossible to kill. Not to mention they breed faster than the speed of light and if you see one—chances are there are at least 100 more you can’t see. Oftentimes roach infestations are the reason a person decides to move.
Living in a building or a neighborhood with a roach problem makes it very difficult to ever truly be free of them. If you see roaches and you’re moving, how can you be sure you’re not bringing any of these disease-carrying, atomic bomb-proof, insects with you to your new home? We’ve gotten these questions with some amount of regularity so in case you’re curious as well, let’s break it down.
What Are Roaches Anyway?
Roaches are notorious in New Jersey with about five common species crawling around.
The German Cockroach, American Cockroach, Oriental Cockroach, Brown Banded Cockroach, and the Pennsylvania Wood Cockroach plague the area and bring nothing but trouble.
If your current living situation has roaches and you’re moving, be on the lookout for a flat-looking bug that is brown or black in color. Roaches gravitate toward humidity and moist areas so it is likely that a water problem is present nearby. Once roaches establish a place to settle in, they reproduce rapidly creating more roaches and they are not picky on their food sources. Roaches will eat anything and thrive in filth. They will eat decaying food along with many other types of waste. In doing so, roaches pick up and carry around all kinds of nasty bacteria and viruses. If they come across your food or surface you prepare food on, it can become contaminated with whatever they are carrying leaving you or a loved one sick.
I found Roaches and I’m moving. Should I Worry?
Sometimes people think, “I have roaches and I’m moving to a nicer building so problem solved,” believing the issue could not possibly be wherever they move. But this is almost never the case. If you have roaches or even have just seen a few roaches and you’re moving from your current residence, you should absolutely be worried about them tagging along for the ride.
Roaches can and often do move with people from home to home. As you pack and move stuff around, roaches will look for a new hiding spot. Being in a situation where you may not be allowed to treat properly for roaches will put you at a bigger risk for taking some with you as you go. If you aren’t careful you could be responsible for bringing the roaches to the nicer building and nobody wants to be that person.
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Roaches are very fast and their leathery body makes it easy for them to slip into places unnoticed. They are attracted to moisture and have cravings for many different types of food sources. Roaches love the dark and will come out at night in search of food. This is important information to know if you have roaches and you’re moving because chances are, as you are packing up things, the roaches will move around and hide in other spots or crawl in opened boxes.
What if I’m careful and I check all my boxes?
The thing is if you’re using cardboard boxes you can’t check them thoroughly enough to prevent bringing roaches along. Roaches love cardboard boxes. They will crawl up inside the walls of the cardboard box where they feel safe, and a little smashed and there they will happily hide and lay their eggs. You simply cannot check the inside of your cardboard box walls—that would destroy the boxes and render them useless. Roaches love cardboard boxes. Your best bet, if you have roaches and you’re moving but don’t want them coming with you on your move, is to NOT use any cardboard boxes.
If roaches love cardboard boxes, what don’t they love? What can I store my stuff in?
We get it, there is nothing easier or more intuitive than using boxes for your move. However, these are far from the only options. You can try using some large plastic storage containers or crates, or get creative and pack things inside of things you already own like laundry baskets and duffle bags.