Cockroach identification and control

Cockroaches are not a single problem. A German cockroach infestation is a kitchen and appliance story. An American cockroach infestation is often a sewer, steam tunnel, or boiler-room story. Brown-banded cockroaches live higher in rooms and electronics. Smokybrown (smoky brown) cockroaches commute from trees and gutters in the humid South. Treating the wrong species with a consumer fogger usually spreads the population and contaminates air without touching harborages.

If you searched “how to get rid of cockroaches,” start with the cockroach guide, then open the species page. University IPM programs still win with sanitation, gel baits in cracks, and insect growth regulators — not weekly baseboard spraying.