Which cockroach is it? American, German, and oriental roaches in Austin

The first question we ask about roaches: are they about the size of your thumb, or the size of your thumbnail? The answer decides almost everything about how we treat them.

Thumb-sized: American and smokybrown cockroaches

American cockroaches (often called palmetto bugs or waterbugs) are large, reddish-brown, and have a yellowish band behind the head. Smokybrown roaches are dark mahogany all over and fly to porch lights. Both live outdoors, in drains, sewers, and attics, and wander inside. A regular inside and outside treatment handles them, and American cockroaches are covered between quarterly visits.

Thumbnail-sized: German and brown-banded cockroaches

German cockroaches are small and light brown with two dark stripes behind the head. They live and breed indoors, usually in kitchens and bathrooms, and a few can become thousands in a couple of months. Store-bought sprays make them worse by scattering them. They need a bait program with a follow-up visit two to three weeks later.

Shiny and black: oriental cockroaches

Oriental cockroaches are dark and glossy, move slowly, and can't fly. They like cool, damp places: crawl spaces, drains, and water meter boxes. Fixing moisture and sealing ground-level gaps makes a big difference.

In your houseplants: Surinam cockroaches

Surinam cockroaches burrow in potting soil and mulch, and often come in with houseplants. We treat the beds and planters where they breed.

Not sure which one you have?

Snap a photo next to a coin and send it to us. Seeing more roaches for a few weeks after treatment is normal as they move out of treated walls.