A North Carolina pest control company is offering homeowners $2,000 for it to release about 100 cockroaches in their homes in an effort to study a treatment method.
“As technology advances, we’re always looking for the newest and greatest ways to get rid of pests (cockroaches specifically),” The Pest Informer in Raleigh said in a notice.
The company added it was looking to “test out a specific pest control technique” by releasing about 100 American cockroaches in five to seven homes. It wants “to gauge how effective this treatment is,” according to the notice.
The company stipulated that people interested in applying must own the home or have written approval from the homeowner and not try any additional cockroach treatment during the study.
The experiment will last about a month, and if the cockroaches are not gone by then, the company said it will “use traditional cockroach treatment options at no cost to you.”
It isn’t clear what method The Pest Informer is testing or if anyone has actually taken the company up on its offer. Officials could not be reached for comment Monday morning.
American cockroaches are one of the five most common cockroach species in the U.S., which has 55 species of the insects, according to Western Exterminator Co. There are more than 4,000 different types of cockroaches in the world.
Female American cockroaches lay eggs for 10 straight months after mating, and each month lay about 16 eggs, according to Pestech Pest Solutions.
Exterminators typically use a gel bait containing insecticides to kill cockroaches.
