Why slower roach bait control is better than the fast kill sprays.
You all have seen the commercials of roach control sprays offering to kill you roaches fast but they still come out night after night, but in the real world this is why slower roach bait control is better than the fast kill sprays.
Most roach sprays work by killing the roach or insect on contact, but do very little in the area of control or eliminating the nesting issue, for every roach you kill there is a dozen more being born, spraying is a no win game.
Most over the counter aerosol sprays are of a class of insecticides known as pyrethroids which are synthetic or manmade chemical that excites the nervous system of the insect causing paralysis and eventually death.
The problem is that though you may have killed one roach directly, pyrethrids by nature have a repellency component causing the insects to detect the chemical and hide, so although you may feel the rush of killing one insect you can cause an army to retreat for a while, you have won an insignificant battle and you will loose the war.
Baits offer a more reliable up to 100% control with IPM, but baits are slow and in an instant download, microwave, drive thru society this is a torturous proposition. This is why in spite of all the science people fall for the false promises of quick results.
Why are baits more effective at controlling insects than sprays?
Baits work two ways, a primary kill and a secondary kill and it is the latter that is most important. A primary kill is when the insect eats the bait and dies from direct ingestion of the bait similar to the experience with the sprays, but it’s the secondary kill effect that really gets you the control.
The first of secondary kill effects ants is trophallaxis
Trophallaxis is when bait is transferred from mouth to mouth by the insect. This vitally important for the control of ants but not with cockroaches. Ants and Cockroaches have different biological traits or behaviors and it is in understanding those differences that you achive control. When ants feed on the baist and then regurgitate it for other ants this produces a secondary kill.
The secondary kill effect for cockroaches is coprophagy
Coprophagy is when a roach deeds on a roach feces and is probably the most important secondary kill effect for the control of cockroachs. When the cockroach eat the bait it will pass it through the gut in 8 to 12 hours and between 80% and 90% of the active ingredient in the bait is in the feces. Enter in the secondary kill effect, New born cockroach nymphs will feed on cockroach feces and will die from eating contaminated feces with the bait in it.
The third secondary kill effect for cockroaches is cannibalism,
Or as known in entomology as necrophagy which is the third secondary kill effect. This is a disgusting fact but cockroaches will eat other cockroaches die near them. The live roaches will open up the stomach of the recently departed and eat the stomachs content that contains the undigested active ingredient.
The fourth secondary kill effect for cockroaches is emitophagy
Another disgusting but vital fact is cockroaches is emitophagy, cockroaches will eat other cockroaches vomit. When the cockroach is affected by the active ingredient in the bait affected the will often hurl. Apparently regurgitated bait is very delightful to roaches.
This is the same process we use in our affordable roach control program for home, apartments and business
For more information on secondary kill of German cockroaches see http://entomology.rutgers.edu/personnel/changlu-wang/pdfs/2-Secondarykill.pdf
