Cockroaches here don't have an off-season. A Chalmette house sits in warm, wet soil with a high water table, and the drains, meter boxes and catch basins that run under the neighborhood stay humid year round. That means the first thing worth settling is which roach you actually have, because the two common problems need opposite treatments.
A German cockroach is small, tan, with two dark stripes behind the head, and it lives its whole life indoors — almost always within a few feet of a kitchen or bathroom. These come in on grocery boxes, secondhand appliances, moving cartons, or through shared walls in duplexes and apartments. They breed fast and hide in places you never clean: the hinge gaps of cabinet doors, the motor compartment under the fridge, the frame of the dishwasher, behind the stove's control panel. Seeing one in daylight usually means the population is already large enough that the good hiding spots are full.
The big ones — American and smokybrown roaches, what most people around here call palmetto bugs — are outdoor insects that wander in. They breed in sewer laterals, storm drains, mulch beds, tree holes and attic soffits, and they show up inside after heavy rain, after a cold snap, or when a cleanout cap is broken or a p-trap has dried out. Two or three a week in the garage or bathroom at night is a perimeter and plumbing problem. A hundred under the kitchen sink is not.
Treating them the same way is the single most common mistake. German roach work is bait-driven: gel bait placed in dozens of small, precise spots where they actually harbor, plus an insect growth regulator so the next generation of nymphs can't reach breeding age, plus crack-and-crevice application in voids. Spraying a repellent liquid across the kitchen contaminates the bait, scatters the colony into wall voids and the neighboring unit, and turns a three-week job into a three-month one. Over-the-counter foggers do exactly this, which is why a house that's been bombed twice is usually harder to clear than one that's never been touched.
Cockroach extermination starts with an inspection, not a sprayer. A flashlight and a mirror go under sinks, behind appliances, into cabinet corners and along plumbing penetrations through the slab. Outside, the walk includes the meter box, the sewer cleanout, weep holes, door sweeps, AC line entries, mulch depth against the foundation, and any palms or woodpiles close to the wall. On raised houses in Arabi and parts of Meraux, the crawl space matters too — standing water and rotten sill plates feed roaches, and the same moisture conditions draw Formosan subterranean termites, which have been in the New Orleans area since the 1950s and carry a control and repair bill the USDA has put at roughly $300 million a year citywide.
For a German roach job, expect light prep: clear under the sinks, pull food off the lower shelves, and leave the appliances accessible. Treatment itself usually runs under two hours. You will likely see more roaches for the first few days, not fewer — bait draws them out of harborage before it works, and that's the sign it's doing its job. Don't wipe out the bait placements. Follow-up visits timed to the egg hatch, roughly every ten to fourteen days, are what finish the job; one visit almost never does it. For peridomestic roaches, the emphasis shifts to an exterior barrier, granular bait in the landscape beds, direct treatment of drains and voids, and sealing the gaps the roaches are using to get in.
Cost tracks severity and scope more than square footage: a German roach infestation in an occupied kitchen takes more product and more return trips than a perimeter treatment for palmetto bugs. Clutter, multiple units in a building, and plumbing defects that need a plumber's attention all push the number up. Cypress Perimeter Group works with licensed, insured contractors, gives free estimates, offers same-day service when the schedule allows, and takes several payment methods.
Before you book anyone, ask what they'll apply and where, whether they bait or spray in kitchens, how many follow-ups are included, and whether the exterior and plumbing get inspected or only the inside. Call to set it up — phone is the only way we take enquiries. Office hours are Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm, covering Chalmette, Arabi, Meraux, Poydras, Gentilly and across New Orleans.