If you see one cockroach in your home, you have more. Hundreds. Maybe even thousands of viruses and bacteria carrying creeps are living under your roof. Nothing to be embarrassed about, but definitely something you want to get rid of. As fast as humanly possible. When it comes to cockroach control, there is little time to waste.

A cockroach is never lonely. They live in groups and these groups grow fast. Think that's bad news? Here is the worst: the bigger the group, the faster a group will grow. Because of the size of the group, a female cockroach speeds up in reaching the adult stage so she can mate. This is perhaps another reason of why and how cockroaches can reproduce so quickly.

The entire process from egg to adult takes just about 90 days. The average lifespan of a cockroach is 200 days to a full year, depending on the species.

Let me explain to you what this all means. In 90 days a female cockroach will grow, reach sexual maturity, mate and then lay 30-48 eggs. Considering the female cockroach can produce 8 egg sacs a year, which equals to about 384 new cockroaches a year. If you have 100 female cockroaches living under your roof, that's close to 40.000 newborn cockroaches. Thing is: by the time you discover your uninvited guests, you probably have more than just a 100...

It get's worse. Most of these newborn roaches will survive and be able to begin reproducing in another 3 months. I've already done the math for you. With ideal conditions, one single cockroach and its youth can produce 25,000 offspring a year. A hundred roaches can produce 2,500,000. A thousand female cockroaches end up as a group of 25 million cockroaches. That's why cockroach control a pretty tough battle.

Considering a cockroach never comes alone and with up to four generations of roaches being born within a year, it is very easy to see how and why cockroaches can quickly take over your home and then an apartment building and then a city block.

Having cockroaches living under your roof is nothing to be embarrassed about. Happens all over the country and to anyone. Once you've discovered the creeps though, it's time to take immediate action. Now you know how fast a group of roaches grows, you know time isn't on your side.