The German cockroach program is a minimum of two treatments, two weeks apart — and the fortnight in the middle is not dead time. What happens in your kitchen between visits genuinely shapes how well the program lands, so here is the between-visits guide nobody writes.
Why there is a gap at all
The first treatment removes the population it can reach; the egg cases it cannot are on a timer. The two-week gap lets protected eggs hatch into a treated environment — the second visit then closes the loop on the new generation before it can breed. Shorten the gap and eggs survive it; treat once and the eggs simply restart the infestation. The gap is the design.
What to do during it
Deep-clean the food supply out from under the survivors: degrease behind and beneath the fridge, dishwasher and stove, empty and wipe the cupboards where activity was heaviest, fix the dripping tap, and keep benches and sinks dry overnight — the kitchen habits guide ranks what matters. Do not lay your own supermarket sprays over the professional treatment; they can interfere with it and scatter survivors into new harbourages.
What is normal to see
Some sightings between visits are expected — hatchlings emerging, survivors moving as harbourages become uninhabitable. Increasing daytime activity from a dwindling population is the treatment working, not failing. Note where you see them: those locations are useful intelligence for visit two.
Visit two and after
The second treatment targets what hatched, at $249 per treatment like the first — and a particularly heavy or long-established infestation occasionally needs a third to finish the job. After the program, German cockroaches will not reinfest unless reintroduced, so the long game is carriage awareness — cartons, second-hand appliances, adjoining units — plus the kitchen habits above. The full species guide covers identification if you are not yet sure this is your problem.
Mid-program questions? Call 0490 425 521 — licensed technicians, QBCC Licence 15104001, across Brisbane, Logan and Ipswich.
