Without food or water, adults may die in two weeks, but can live a month with only water. It is not the total elimination of pesticides but an alternate approach to traditional pest control measures. Complete reliance, in the past, on pesticides alone for pest control allowed certain pests to develop resistance, created potential human exposure to harmful chemicals, produced unsound environmental contamination, and created a threat to nontarget species and pesticide waste. By following a cockroach IPM plan, cockroach activity is monitored using sticky traps or glue boards. These monitoring stations are placed throughout a structure where roaches are likely to be found such as in dark places along cabinets, walls, under appliances, on pipes, etc., in bathrooms and kitchens.
Monitoring indicates whether roaches are present and if control practices are working.
Detection German cockroaches can be detected by examining the premises after dark with a flashlight. During the day, probing hiding places with a wire or thin wood strip will expose roaches. Adults and nymphs usually hide clustered together. Household sprays of pyrethrins applied to hiding places will flush out roaches, sometimes killing them if they contact the spray. Prevention and Sanitation German roaches can move from one building to the next during the summer, entering through cracks in foundations, around loose-fitting doors or windows, and along water and gas pipes.