Behold the Mighty Cockroach

Of the 4,000+ species of cockroach around the planet, just a handful end up in Americans’ homes. One species — the German cockroach — runs away with the distinction of not only being responsible for the largest number of service calls but also being the most difficult species to control. Anyone who has ever treated German cockroaches understands why: These domestic pests will take up residence in virtually any home or business they have the opportunity to visit, and they reproduce so quickly that infestations in the tens or even hundreds of thousands are not unusual.

“I went into a hotel unit where the tenant was sitting at his kitchen table eating cereal, and there were German cockroaches crawling in his bowl. I pointed it out to him, but he just waved me off. He had lived with them for so long, he didn’t give them much thought anymore,” said David Joles, east market vice president, PURCOR Pest Solutions, which operates in six states. “When I pulled the cardboard backing off the refrigerator, the wall went black with the thousands of cockroaches that were unleashed.”

Getting large numbers like that under control is definitely not for the faint of heart. It’s difficult, challenging work that takes a high degree of perseverance and know-how. In fact, when PCT asked PMPs through our 2023 State of the Cockroach Control Market survey, which is sponsored by Syngenta, which are the most difficult species to control, fully 92 percent named German cockroaches among their top five. The distant second, American cockroaches, was named by 65 percent, followed by Oriental cockroaches, at 43 percent, and brown-banded cockroaches, at 34 percent.

The following pages feature more findings from PCT’s annual cockroach research report, along with ideas and insights shared by your peers across the nation.