I found baby cockroaches. What do I do right now?

Young cockroaches mean adults are breeding close by. That is the honest part. The other honest part: this is a problem with a known plan, and the plan works best when you start calmly this week, not with a can of spray in each hand tonight.

Small, wingless and dark, often with a pale stripe down the back: those are usually German cockroach nymphs, the kind that lives indoors. Work through the steps below in order.

Today

1. Stop spraying. Spray kills the few you see and pushes the rest deeper into walls and into other rooms. It also leaves a residue that puts cockroaches off the bait you will use this week.
2. Note where you saw them. Take a dated photo of the spot. That is where traps and bait go first.
3. Take away food and water. Food into sealed tubs, crumbs and grease off the cooker sides, bin out at night, sink dried, pet bowls picked up overnight.
4. Look for signs with a torch. Hinges, cupboard corners, under the sink, behind the fridge and cooker. Droppings look like ground pepper. Egg cases are small brown capsules. Our page on droppings and egg cases shows both.

You do not need to throw out the cupboard, or the toaster, or the box they ran out of. Cockroaches are rarely only in the one thing you can see, and dragging it out can scatter them. Empty it, wipe it, and treat around it.

This week

1. Put out monitor traps first. Flat against walls where you saw them, under the sink, behind appliances and in the bathroom. The first count is your starting line. See how to use monitor traps.
2. Gel bait in small dots. In the hiding spots: cupboard hinges and corners, around pipes under the sink, behind the fridge and cooker. Many small dots beat a few big blobs. Cockroaches eat it and carry it back to the others.
3. Add an insect growth regulator. It stops nymphs growing into breeding adults, which is exactly the stage you have found. Our answer on growth regulators explains how it fits with bait.
4. Count weekly. Same traps, same spots, same day. Write down adults and young ones apart.

For every product: follow the label, and check it is allowed where you live. The label decides how much, where and how often, and what is sold differs from country to country.

A young child or pets at home: gel goes into cracks, behind appliances and high inside cupboards, never on low open surfaces. Traps and bait stations go up high or behind the fridge and cooker, never on the open floor. If a label says to keep the product away from children or pets and you cannot, leave that product out. If a child or pet eats bait, call your doctor, vet or local poison centre with the label in your hand.

Did I catch it early?

Nobody can tell from one look, and that includes a photo or an AI. What tells you is the trend. If the weekly counts fall and the young ones stop showing up, you are winning. If they hold steady or rise, the plan needs a change or a professional.

A female carrying an egg case in a bedroom does not prove the nest is in that room. Females with egg cases often stay hidden, so seeing one out in the open can mean the usual hiding places are crowded. Put a trap in that room as well, and let the counts show you where they gather.

When pest control already comes

Regular visits and young ones still turning up means the approach needs changing, not more of the same. Ask what they use, whether it includes bait and a growth regulator, and show them your dated trap counts. Small smoky brown nymphs can also be an outdoor kind that wanders in, which a good pro will check. More in pest control is not working.

Still catching young ones after four weeks of bait and a regulator? Call a professional, or if you rent, write to your landlord with the counts and photos. With a baby in the home, our answer on treating with a baby covers the safety side in more detail.