Cockroaches are harder to kill

By Isaac Kim

Cockroaches are now harder to kill.

A new bug spray is undergoing development to battle against cockroaches that have evolved to resist modern insect repellents.

Pest control added grape sugar in a spray, but cockroaches shied away from them, sensing the sugary liquid as bitter. The cockroaches’ taste sensors had changed due to their preferences, meaning getting rid of roaches will be more difficult.

Roaches living in Chinese restaurants have an affinity for greasy foods, and thus, the only way to truly lure them out is by using oily substances in the bug spray.

Butcher shop roaches prefer protein so sprays with high carbohydrates will fish them out.

Cesco Insect Sanitation Research Institute found average household bug sprays only cleared 13–43 percent of cockroaches in one area, whereas repellents engineered to target specific roaches removed 100 percent of the pesky burdens in an area.

Cockroaches in the Seoul area were found to be more resilient to average bug sprays due to prolonged exposure.

High temperatures and humidity in July and August attract roaches, and the best way to handle them is through high-protein bug sprays.

“The time it takes for cockroaches to change their preferences took 10 years, but now it takes only two to three years,” one pest control official said. “We’re in a situation where bug sprays need to be developed faster than the bugs’ change in food preferences.”