German cockroaches are the small fast ones that live inside, breeding behind the fridge, inside the dishwasher door, in the microwave hinge and along the kickboards. They arrive with cardboard boxes and second-hand appliances and move between townhouses and units through shared walls. The big Australian and American cockroaches live in the subfloor, the compost, the woodpile and the garden and come inside when it is hot or wet, and the older timber homes with open subfloors see more of them.
Inside we place gel bait where the roaches actually hide, which they eat and carry back to the harbourage, and we treat the voids and hinges where the egg cases sit so the job is not repeating in six weeks. No spraying the benchtops and no clearing the cupboards. For the outdoor species we treat the subfloor, drains, the compost area and the base of the house.
