If you are looking for an answer to the question: Can Cockroaches travel on a person? So, you have found the right blog.
You have often seen cockroaches in your kitchens, bathrooms, trash boxes, basements, holes, and spaces between ceilings and walls.
In this essay, I will discuss whether these tiny insects travel on a person. I assure you to provide valid information as I have been working on roaches for a long time and know much about them.
So let’s get started without further delay, as there is much more to discover!
Can Cockroaches Travel on a Person?
Yes, roaches can travel on a person as they can stick to your clothes. The smallest one can do this job well as it can hide in a person’s clothing. Moreover, the eggs of roaches can also travel on a person by attaching to shoes, so you can also become a source of cockroach infestation in this way.
Moreover, cockroaches can also hide in your luggage and travel with you, so always check your belongings before traveling, especially if you are already dealing with an infestation.
Cockroaches also love to hide in the pockets of coats as they are warm and dark; besides, If you have food stains on your clothes, you are at higher risk of carrying cockroaches with you.
Can Cockroaches Travel in Luggage?
The short answer to this question is yes, they do. If you are packing your luggage at a place where there are a large number of cockroaches, it is possible.
One or more than one cockroach can move toward your luggage in search of food. But, of course, this also depends on what your luggage contains.
A luggage with food items in it is at greater risk as cockroaches are attracted to food, and because they can eat anything, it doesn’t matter which type of food is in your luggage.
Moreover, clothes that are either correctly washed or not can be a food source for roaches. Even the smallest food particle on our clothes can entertain roaches with the food they want.
Moreover, if you have washed your clothes with starch-based soap or detergent and kept them in your suitcase, it is more likely that cockroaches will find the odor of your clothes quite appealing.
Once the roaches enter your luggage, they find the environment suitable and comfortable due to the presence of clothes. Clothes make the entire environment of the suitcase warm.
Cockroaches choose their habitat on the basis of light exposure, temperature, and availability of food and water. All these conditions are satisfied in a closed suitcase containing clothes and food items.
Furthermore, packing your suitcase near the habitat of roaches can enhance the risk factors. So roaches can enter your suitcase, hide behind your clothes, and can travel in your luggage.
Can Cockroaches Travel on Clothes?
Cockroaches can travel on clothes but in the form of eggs because they are small in size. Cockroaches can hide in clothes packed in a suitcase or closed in a wardrobe.
They can lay eggs on these clothes, which are so small to notice, so in this way, they can travel on clothes. Moreover, clothes containing pockets are at greater risk.
The pockets provide suitable warm temperatures for the development of roach eggs. Moreover, the inner side of the pockets is not exposed to light which is also a suitable condition for cockroaches.
So if you don’t want cockroach eggs to travel in your clothes, I advise you to sweep your clothes before wearing them. This will discard any cockroach egg on your clothes.
Can Someone Bring Cockroaches into Your House?
Yes, it is possible, but no one can do this at their will. So how can someone bring cockroaches into your house? As I have discussed above, cockroaches can travel on a person.
They can travel with people by hiding in their luggage and clothes. Cockroaches are small in size, but their eggs are even more.
An average cockroach can hide in a person’s luggage, but due to its size, it cannot use clothes or shoes for hiding, so how can someone bring it into your house without a suitcase?
According to research, a German cockroach egg is 7 to 9 mm in length, which means that a person can carry cockroach eggs without being aware.
Carrying a cockroach egg technically means carrying an egg mass developed by a roach which is called an ootheca.
This egg pouch ootheca can contain up to 16 individual eggs in it. So if a person carrying an ootheca with him enters your house, you can get a severe cockroach infestation.
Moreover, once a cockroach enters your house, it can easily find a suitable shelter and hide in dark places where you cannot detect it.
Can Cockroaches Switch Homes?
Cockroaches live a competing life where the only goal of their life is to get food, water, shelter, and reproduce.
The first step for roaches is to find a suitable place to live, so they start searching for their home. They prefer a place where there is minimum light exposure and disturbance.
They also require a peaceful life, just like humans; they want to live without being afraid of their enemies. So they consider hiding in dark places such as basements, corners of furniture e.t.c
After finding a suitable place to live, the next step is to find food and water. So they come out of their hiding places at night to get food.
What if they don’t get food and suitable shelter? Yes, you have guessed right; they will migrate to get a suitable place and enough food.
To test whether cockroaches leave home or migrate, I experimented. I limit the availability of food and water. Moreover, I apply all the possible methods to keep them away.
I used peppermint oil, bay leaves, crushed coffee beans, and boric acid for this. After one week, I observed that some of the roaches left my home and migrated to the apartment next to mine.
So if your house does not contain even a single roach, you don’t need to relax, as they can enter your house by traveling with someone or they can also come by themselves.
The Lifespan of Different Cockroaches in Unfavorable Conditions
Here I have listed the lifespan of different cockroaches under unfavorable conditions like unavailability of food, moisture, or with a dissected head.
No | Cockroach | Lifespan |
1 | Oriental | 59.5 days |
2 | American | 2 months and 30 days |
3 | German | 60. 5 days |
Precautionary Measures to Follow While Traveling
As you have seen, cockroaches can travel in luggage, travel on a person, and even migrate. Do you want to travel but are not interested in carrying roaches with you?
If it is so, then I can help you with some tips. All you need to do is read carefully and follow them correctly. I hope this will help you to keep yourself and others safe. So let’s find out!
- Don’t leave your luggage open for example, if you are carrying a handbag, consider closing its zip when you are not around.
- If you are staying in a hotel, don’t place your suitcase near kitchens and bathrooms.
- If you are visiting someone’s residence, stay in places that are not dark and closed. Don’t place your suitcase and other luggage in the storeroom or basements.
- Make sure to use a suitcase or bag made of solid quality material so that roaches can’t make holes.
- Make sure to use a suitcase or bag made of solid quality material so that roaches can’t make holes.
Tips to Protect Guests from Cockroach Infestation in Your House
If you have a severe cockroach infestation in your house, call a professional pest controller, but what if some guests are visiting and you don’t have enough time to carry out the removal process?
Don’t worry, as I have listed some tips for you. Following these points, you can protect your guests from carrying roaches or their eggs.
- If your guests are already dealing with diseases such as diarrhea, typhoid, dysentery, or respiratory problems, alert them so that they can manage.
- Ask your guests not to take boxes, suitcases, and bags with them, as cockroaches can move into their luggage and can travel along them.
- New people entering the house must clean their clothes and shoes in order to discard cockroach egg sticks to their clothing.
- Use cockroach baits, including some chemical solutions used to kill roaches and traps, such as one with adhesive material in it.
- Advise your guests not to leave their luggage open as the roaches may move into their luggage to find shelter and food.
What to Do if Cockroaches Have Traveled on You?
If you have carried roach eggs with you or some guest has carried them, and you are now afraid of getting roach infestation, then don’t worry, as I have listed some methods you can follow to avoid this.
1. Thorough Cleaning of the House
If you are afraid of developing a roach infestation, carry out a thorough process of cleaning your house or the suspected place. A cockroach egg takes 1 to 2 days to hatch, so you have some time.
Cleaning the house will ensure the removal of unhatched eggs, and the eggs will not get enough time to hatch. You can use roach sprays for cleaning purposes.
Start the cleaning process from the room of your guest who has just visited you. Clean the boxes and suitcases left by him.
2. Using Glue Traps and Baits
There are some traps available in markets for roaches. The most well-known is the glue trap. A glue trap is a trap that contains some adhesive or sticky material in it.
As soon as the cockroach gets trapped in it, it becomes motionless, and you can quickly kill a trapped roach because it cannot escape or hide now.
You can also trap cockroaches by placing roach baits. Roach baits act like food for cockroaches, but they are poisons.
I suggest you place traps and bait near your bathrooms, kitchen, trash boxes, corners of bed, and wardrobe. Introducing traps and baits to these places will help to kill and trap cockroaches if any.
3. Using Pesticides
You can also use pesticides to kill roaches. Pesticides contain strong chemicals. Spraying a pesticide can result in the death of a roach.
As soon as cockroaches come in contact with pesticides, they experience an adverse effect on their nerves and ultimately die.
Pesticides affect the connection between nerves and the brain. The cockroach affected by pesticides starts yearning at its back, its movements become slow, and it eventually dies.
Summarizing Lines:
If you have paid full attention to this blog, you must have got the answer to this question: Can cockroaches travel on a person?
Cockroach eggs can travel on a person by sticking to clothes and shoes. Besides, they can also hide in your luggage and can travel with you.
I have shared all the valuable tips which you can follow to clear the risk of developing cockroach infestation in case of visiting an affected place.
If you don’t want roaches to travel on you or with you, follow the methods and tips mentioned above. I hope that now there will be no such question left in your mind which has not been answered.
FAQs
Can Roaches Stay on Your Clothes?
Yes, roaches can stay on your clothes if your clothes have everything to provide cockroaches in terms of temperature, moisture, and food.
Can Cockroaches Ruin Your Washing Machine?
Roaches can contaminate other clothes in your washing machine and also cause damage to it. Applying centrifugal solid force and hot temperatures can help you.
How Do You Tell If Roaches are Dying?
If a roach is dying due to any poison, it starts yearning at its back or crawls rapidly. In some cases, the movement of cockroaches becomes slow. Moreover, it releases secretory material at the time of death.