How To Know if Roaches Are in Your Laptop

Many things belong in a laptop, like wires and hard drives, but not roaches.

However, roaches are known to invade electronic devices like laptops, game consoles, and routers because of the seclusion they offer.

If you suspect these unwanted insects are in your computer, this guide is for you.

In this article, we will consider a few sure signs that can indicate the presence of roaches in your laptop.

In the next headings, we will walk you through seven sure signs of roach presence in laptops. If you suspect roach activities in your computer, read through the signs below stealthily to confirm. In addition to the seven signs discussed, we also answered some frequently asked questions about laptop roach infestation.

7 Unmistakable Signs Roaches Are in Your Laptop

Laptops can be a warm, cozy hiding spot and breeding ground for roaches and other small bugs. These insects carry diseases, and crawling on your computer’s surface exposes you to dangerous bacteria.

Roaches can even crawl to the high-voltage areas in your laptop, and the current may kill them. Over time, roach corpses can damage your device.

In many cases, the presence of roaches in computers may indicate a much larger infestation problem.

Even if you don’t see them scurrying across your computer screen, roaches leave tell-tale signs of their presence.

We consider some of these tell-tale signs below:

1. Visible Roach Droppings

Roach droppings are often the first indicator of their presence. These insects leave droppings that are typically 1mm wide or less, depending on the size of the roach.

Smaller roaches release droppings that resemble black pepper seeds or ground coffee. On the other hand, droppings of larger roaches are oval-shaped and resemble black pellets.

Roaches eat anything, including food particles that drop between your laptop keyboard buttons. As a result, they will spread their droppings as they crawl through your laptop.

These feces typically contains loads of harmful bacteria. So, whenever you spot these droppings on or around your laptop, clean them with caution.

Wear protective gear like a face mask and gloves. Then, use disinfectant wipes to clean your system.

2. Roaches Leave Smear Marks

Another unmistakable sign of roach presence is a smear mark. Wherever they go, roaches leave brown, irregular smear marks as they crawl past.

You may notice these tell-tale marks around your laptop’s USB and power supply ports, vents, keyboard, and fan.

Once you spot these, clean them up with disinfectant wipes and monitor the spot for a few days.

If the smear marks return, you may have unwelcome visitors living on your laptop. You don’t want to give them time to lay eggs, multiply, and damage your computer.

So, take the device to a professional once you suspect it may be infested with roaches.

3. You May Notice Roach Egg Castings

Roach eggs are wrapped in egg casings called oothecae. Each of these cocoons can hold up to 50 eggs.

These egg casings can be of different colors, depending on the roach specie. American roaches, for instance, produce brown oothecae, while the oothecae of Oriental roaches are a mix between red and brown.

While some roaches keep their egg castings attached to them before they hatch, others keep them in a sheltered place. After the eggs hatch, roaches leave the casings behind for humans to find.

This is visible in hidden spots like the gaps between your keyboard keys, vents, and ports. These egg casings are much bigger than roach droppings and, as such, more visible.

If you notice shell casings fall out of your laptop, take it to a professional for an inspection.

In some cases, this may indicate a possible roach infestation in your house. You may also want to check out the entire house for roach activity or presence.

4. You May Find Shed Skin on Your Computer

Roaches, like most animals, molt or shed their skin or exoskeleton. This is an important stage in roach development, as the insect cannot grow without it.

As they develop from the nymph stage into adulthood, roaches typically shed their skin up to six times. You can expect to see shed exoskeletons frequently if roaches live inside your laptop.

These shed skin can trigger an allergy or asthmatic attack. So, it is important to carefully remove the shed skins and take action to save your computer from a roach infestation.

5. Roaches Have an Unmistakable Smell

Roach feces have a musty smell because it contains pheromones, a chemical that calls out to other roaches. Dead roaches also emit a terrible odor due to their decomposition.

Humans ordinarily do not pick up this smell, especially if it is a single roach. However, the more roaches, the greater the musty smell.

At this point, it may become strong enough for the human nose to smell. If there is a lingering unpleasant smell every time you open your laptop, roaches may be the culprits.

6. Your Laptop May Short-Circuit

As we said earlier, roaches love warm, cramped, dark places because they are similar to their natural dwellings. Your laptop’s motherboard and processor are two units that produce heat and are quite close to your hard drive.

Roaches chewing around your laptop’s inner components can cause it to “short.” In the electronic world, “short” is another terminology for short-circuit.

For an electronic device to short, electric current must have gone through the wrong channels, damaging the device.

Different factors like dust, spilled drinks, and crawling roaches can cause a computer unit to “short.”

Most times, when a computer device doesn’t turn on anymore, a dead roach may be the culprit. Their feces and urine can seriously damage your computer.

If you notice this sign on your laptop, these annoying insects are at work. So, take your device to a trusted computer technician for repairs.

7. Seeing a Live Roach

An obvious sign of a roach infestation in your laptop is seeing live roaches come out of it. It is the surest indicator of these unwanted insects in your computer.

Although there are different species, all roaches have similar body features. These include six legs, long antennae, and a mouth. If you spot anything that fits this description on your laptop, it is a sign of a serious issue.

Roaches move in clusters. So, if you spot one, there may be more nearby.

Thus, we recommend that you get the laptop checked out immediately. The long-term presence of roaches in your laptop can ruin it.

Conclusion

Electronics and bugs have gone hand in hand since the invention of technology. It is not surprising that we say a computer has bugs when it has a problem.

However, nobody wants to deal with bugs like roaches in their laptop because they can ruin its internal components.

Besides damaging your computer, shed skin from these insects can trigger an allergy or asthmatic attack, and the insects themselves can expose you to dangerous bacteria.

If you suspect a roach living in your laptop, follow the tips in this article to confirm.