Two kinds of cockroach, two different methods
The small cockroach in your kitchen is the German cockroach, the one common in Cairo kitchens. It’s light brown with two dark stripes on the back just behind the head. It lives inside the home, wherever it’s warm and damp: behind the fridge near the motor, inside cupboard hinges, under the sink, and sometimes inside the microwave or the Wi-Fi router. This is the one that multiplies very fast, because the female protects the egg case by carrying it.
The large cockroach that climbs out of the drain is the American cockroach. It’s reddish brown and much bigger, and it lives in sewers, inspection chambers and basements. It enters flats through drains and light wells, and it doesn’t have to be living in your home at all. You’ll notice it more in summer, or when the street sewer overflows or gets cleared, because it leaves the pipe looking for somewhere else. It is common in older buildings in Downtown, Shubra and Heliopolis, and in any building with exposed pipes.
So our first question is always: which one are you seeing? Send us a photo on WhatsApp and we can usually tell without a visit.
Why gel works better than spray for the small cockroach
The German cockroach spends most of its time hidden in very narrow cracks. Ordinary spray lands on the surface and only hits the ones walking across it, and strong-smelling sprays push the rest deeper.
Gel works differently. We put a small drop inside the crack or right next to it, and the cockroach eats it as food. The active ingredient doesn’t kill it straight away, so it returns to its hiding place and dies there. Some gels also reach other cockroaches in the same hiding place through their droppings. You see fewer cockroaches day after day.
Because the eggs aren’t affected, we come back for a follow-up visit. The young that hatch feed on fresh gel before they’re old enough to breed. Without this step the cycle starts again.
The large cockroach: treatment starts at the drains
Gel alone isn’t enough here, because the source is outside your flat. We treat the drains in the bathroom, kitchen and balcony, and check the inspection chambers at the building entrance and in the light well. We also show you the gaps around pipes that need sealing and any drain that needs a tight cover.
If you live on the ground or first floor, or the building has a basement, you’ll get more visits from the large cockroach. The best fix is to treat the whole building’s drains at once, because treating one flat just means the cockroaches come up through your neighbour’s.
Restaurants, shops and cafés
In a commercial kitchen the small cockroach finds everything it needs: heat from the ovens, water and food scraps. One cockroach in front of a customer is enough to damage a restaurant’s reputation. We apply gel in the work areas without stopping the kitchen, treat the drains and set up regular follow-up visits.
The difficulty in restaurants is that daily cleaning with water and bleach removes gel placed in the wrong spot. So we choose places away from the daily wipe-down, such as inside joints, under fixed equipment and behind electrical panels, and agree with the chef or manager which spots must not be wiped. You get a record of every visit in case an inspector calls. We can come after closing or before opening if that suits you.
When to call us
If you see one small cockroach in the kitchen, there are probably many more hiding. It likes the dark and comes out at night, so the one you spot by chance is a small part of what’s there. The earlier you start, the fewer visits you need.
If you’ve just moved into a new flat and found cockroaches, book a treatment before you fit out the kitchen and fill the cupboards. The technician can reach every crack while it’s empty, and the job is much easier.
Send us a photo of the cockroach on WhatsApp and the technician will tell you which kind it is. Anywhere in Egypt, we can reach you the same day.
After the treatment: what to do
- Don't use cockroach spray on or near the gel. Spray drives cockroaches away from the gel, which is the opposite of what we want.
- Don't wipe the gel drops off when you clean the worktop. Wipe around them instead.
- Seeing more cockroaches for the first few days is normal. They are coming out of hiding after feeding.
- Don't leave dirty dishes in the sink overnight, and keep the drains covered.
- Check grocery boxes and deliveries before bringing them into the kitchen. The small cockroach often arrives in them.
The price is set after the inspection
The cost of cockroach treatment depends on the size of the flat or shop, whether the problem is limited to the kitchen or has reached the bathrooms and drains, the species involved, and how many follow-up visits the place needs. We confirm the exact price before we start, and the inspection comes with no obligation.
After treatment you receive a guarantee certificate stating the period and the service, and if the problem returns within that period we come back at no extra cost.
