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Recent drought has driven bugs inside
Published September 7, 2009
It’s not your imagination. There are more cockroaches this year, and the scuttling across floors of area businesses and homes has little to do with nearby construction or even the length of time since the last good scrub.
The field cockroach has made an entrance into many Brazoria County homes because of the drought, area pest control experts said. And they are hearing about it as more residents call exterminators for help.
“It literally created some hysteria,” said Eric Melass, vice president of Killum Pest Control in Lake Jackson. “I can’t tell you how much our phone has rang.”
The phone is ringing at city offices too, Lake Jackson City Manager Bill Yenne said.
Some residents initially believed construction along Highway 332 was causing the cockroach increase, he said.
“There’s been a fairly decent number of calls,” Yenne said.
Thanks to the drought, the small cockroaches, commonly called field cockroaches, have reproduced in record number and they are heading inside.
“These guys have been out in droves,” Melass said.
Though similar in size and looks to the German cockroach notorious for spreading disease and being attracted to filth, the field cockroach is very different, Melass said.
City facilities were not immune to the infestation, Yenne said. The Recreation Center Lake Jackson and the Lake Jackson Civic Center saw cockroaches that prompted a call to the exterminator.
Bradley Chaney, owner of A&S Pest Control, also has received more calls recently regarding these small roaches in Brazoria, he said.
Chaney suspects these pests are heading inside to get water, he said.
In addition, there are more of them this year because eggs hatch faster in the heat, Chaney said.
“I’ve even seen them at my house,” he said. The roaches are all over the county, he said.
Though this cockroach will not spread disease and likely soon will die when indoors, to many people a roach is a roach and must be killed, Melass said.
The field cockroach is seasonal. It matures sometime in July and will die by the end of September, Melass said. The field cockroach also can fly and is not nocturnal like the German cockroach, he said.
To tell the difference between the two similar cockroaches, pick them up and look at their face, Melass said. The field roach will have a black stripe between its eyes, he said.
However, Melass doubts many residents will be interested in doing that.
Esther Jamack sure won’t be inspecting cockroaches up close and personal. The roaches have entered her Alvin home in the past couple of weeks. Though they since have been exterminated, the entrance of the small roaches surprised the Virginia native, she said. The thought of the insects in her home still disgusts her.
“It creeps me out just thinking about it,” Jamack said.
If residents can’t handle the invasion, pest control specialists can spray outside the home or business to kill the roaches outside, Melass said.
“They’re not unstoppable,” Chaney said. These roaches die easily with pesticide.
Katlynn Lanham is a reporter for The Facts. Contact her at 979-237-0150.
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