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How To Get Rid Of Roaches In Your Home: A Complete Guide [2022]

Roaches: the name alone is enough to make your skin crawl.

Unfortunately, they’re common pests, and they can be difficult to get rid of. If you have roaches in your home or apartment in areas such as kitchen cabinets, the attic, or in your bathroom, it’s important to get rid of them fast.

Here at Smith’s Pest Management, we help homeowners throughout Northern California, from Marin to Monterey, get rid of pests. Our team offers professional cockroach control services to help you reclaim your space and get life back to normal.

In this post, we’ll share the best and fastest ways to get rid of roaches for good, and everything you need to know about your various options.

Key Takeaways

What Type of Cockroaches Are in My Home?

While there are more than 4,500 roach species in the world, only about 69 of them live in the U.S.

Although most species of roaches have no interest in invading homes, there are a few that will happily set up shop in your house.

Here’s an overview of the roaches you’re most likely to see indoors:

German Cockroaches


Image: LMBuga via Wikipedia / CC by SA 3.0

The German cockroach is the most common cockroach in the U. S. Because they breed so rapidly (each egg case can produce 20-40 baby roaches), even a single female in your home could produce a cockroach infestation of more than 30,000 individuals in a single year.

Unlike other roach species, the female German cockroach carries her egg pouches with her until they’re ready to hatch.

This means infestations spread easily and can be difficult to contain.

All cockroaches have flat, broad bodies with long hind legs and antennae. Their wings lie folded flat on their backs, and most are black or brown.

The German cockroach, however, tends to be light-brown with two dark, parallel stripes that run down the body from the head to the wings.

Brown-Banded Cockroaches


Brown-banded roaches love warm, dry areas, and are commonly found inside walls or electronics like televisions or refrigerators.

A flying cockroach, this species hates water and doesn’t like to live in moist or damp places.

They are about 0. 5” in length, and tend to be dark brown. Both males and females have light yellow bands on their wings and abdomens.

American Cockroaches


 Image: Gary Alpert via Wikipedia / CC by SA 2.5

While the American cockroach isn’t the most common roach species in the U.S., it is the largest.

It’s also one of the longest-lived – with lifespans of about two years.

These roaches are sometimes called the “sewer roach” or “palmetto bugs.” They can reach 1-3” in length and tend to be brown or reddish-brown with light yellow edges around their bodies.

What Attracts Roaches to My Home?

Regardless of what kind of roaches you have in your home, one thing is certain: you don’t want them there.

In addition to giving you the creepy-crawlies, roaches can trigger allergies, spread disease, and create an unsanitary living environment.

Fortunately, the first step to getting rid of roaches is understanding what’s attracting them to your property in the first place.

Here are some of the most common culprits:

1. Food sources

Roaches are omnivores, meaning they’ll eat anything. They are particularly fond of starches, sweets, greasy food, and meats.

Easy sources of food – like dirty dishes in the sink, pet food on the floor, or crumbs on the counter will draw them in.

Roaches also love garbage, so make sure to take the trash out regularly and keep all household garbage cans tightly sealed.

2. Shelter

Cockroaches enter homes for shelter.

Depending on the species of roach, they may live behind picture frames, in hollowed-out wood, in damp places like beneath the sink or behind the toilet, or in the backs of your electronics.

As the temperature dips outside, roaches will venture indoors.

They love quiet, forgotten areas, and may live underneath large appliances, in the corners of basements, and the attic.

3. Location

If you’re wondering “why do I have roaches in my clean house?” we understand.

Solving a roach problem can be frustrating – especially if you’ve been careful to avoid common attractants.

Unfortunately, some locations are just more appealing to roaches than others.

Species like the American cockroach don’t need unsanitary conditions to thrive – they simply enter through a gap in a window seal or a door left open and start establishing themselves in your house.

4. Water

Like all animals, roaches need water to survive – and they’ll enter even the most sanitary homes to find it.

Leaky pipes and faucets are common attractants, as are open showers and pet water bowls.

5. Landscaping

While roaches love to live inside, they’ll also enter your yard in search of food, shelter, and water.

Standing water in birdbaths, gutters, and flowerpots will all attract roaches, as will food sources like birdseed or fruit plants.

How Roaches Enter Your Home

Shelter, food, and water attract roaches to your home, but how do they get in? The most common way roaches enter your home is through tiny cracks and gaps in windows, doors, and other areas.

Here are some of their favorite access points:

1. Cracks and Gaps in Windows and Doors

Cracks and gaps in your home’s doors and windows are the top way roaches make their way into your home. Doors that aren’t sealed properly and windows that don’t close entirely are perfect access points for roaches.

2. Holes in Pipes and Vents

Another common entrance point for roaches is through holes in pipes and vents. If you live in an older home with vents that have holes or don’t properly seal, it’s an invitation for roaches to come inside.

Check your vents when you replace or service them and keep an eye on pipes and plumbing fixtures for holes or other potential roach access points.

3. Hitching a Ride on Furniture and Other Items

If you’re bringing used furniture or other items into the home, check them for roaches, first. These insects can hole up and hide in used items, only to emerge once they’re safely inside your home.

How to Get Rid of Roaches Naturally: 6 Home Remedies

If you want to get rid of roaches without chemicals such as bombing, foggers, or sprays you’re in luck. There are a handful of effective home remedies that will send these nasty critters packing and many of them are not harmful to children or pets.

Here are a few we recommend:

1. Diatomaceous Earth

Diatomaceous earth, or DE for short, is an excellent natural insecticide. Composed of pulverized, fossilized algae, DE’s particles are sharp and dehydrating. When roaches come into contact with DE, it damages their exoskeletons and dehydrates them to death.

Purchase some food-grade DE and sprinkle a light coating on any surface where you’ve noticed roach activity.

Pros: Effective, affordable, safe for kids and pets

Cons: Messy, requires re-application, you will have to locate and dispose of dead roaches after each DE treatment

2. Baking Soda

Baking soda is one of the fastest, easiest ways to get rid of roaches – and it’s probably something you already have in your pantry. To make a DIY roach bait, dice a handful of onions and sprinkle them with baking soda.

Place this appetizer in a shallow dish anywhere you’ve noticed roach activity. When the roaches consume the baking soda, it creates gasses in the roaches’ stomachs, causing them to burst.

Pros: Effective, non-toxic, affordable

Cons: Pets may consume the onion mixture (onions are toxic for dogs), messy, requires you to locate and dispose of dead roaches

3. Boric Acid

Boric acid is a naturally-occurring compound. A mixture of water and boron, it shows up in fruits and plants.

And while it’s harmless to people and pets, it’s deadly for roaches. When cockroaches come into contact with boric acid, it sticks to their legs and wings. When they ingest the powder, it acts on the roach’s nervous and digestive systems – killing it rapidly.

To use boric acid to get rid of roaches, sprinkle a light dusting onto a paper plate. Put an orange peel or spoonful of peanut butter in the middle of the plate and place the whole thing anywhere you’ve noticed roach activity.

Pros: Effective, affordable, natural, non-toxic, easy

Cons: Can be messy, requires several applications or treatments, may not be ideal for homes with pets or young kids, requires you to track down and dispose of dead roaches 

4. Borax

Borax is a readily-available laundry product that’s excellent for killing roaches. For best results, combine equal parts borax and white table sugar. Dust the mixture any place you’ve seen roach activity. When the roaches consume the borax, it will dehydrate them and kill them rapidly.

Pros: Effective, affordable, kills both adult and baby roaches  

Cons: Can be messy, requires re-application, requires you to track down and remove dead roach bodies

5. Citrus

Citrus is a tasty treat for humans, but it’s a repellent to cockroaches. The smell of lemons, specifically, deters roaches. Add a few drops of lemon oil to the water you use to mop your floors. The scent won’t be detectable to people, but it will send roaches packing.

Pros: Effective, affordable, ideal for homes with kids and pets

Cons: Does not kill roaches – only deters them

6. Essential Oils

Essential oils are a great natural roach repellant. For best results, purchase peppermint or lemongrass essential oil and mix it with a bit of water. Spray the mixture anywhere you’ve seen roaches.

Pros: Effective, affordable, safe for kids and pets, non-toxic

Cons: Does not kill roaches 

How to Get Rid of Roaches Inside the Home: 5 Conventional Methods

Looking for more conventional options to solve your roach problem? Here are some of the fastest ways to get rid of roaches:

1. Use Glue Traps to Identify Problem Areas

Glue traps are an effective way to identify roach problem areas and resolve infestations.

The smell of the trap lures roaches in and, once they step on the strip, the glue traps them.

For best results, place store-bought glue strips in any place you’ve noticed roach activity, including behind the refrigerator or under the sink.

Pros: Effective, safe for kids and pets (as long as the strips are hidden), fast-acting

Cons: You must monitor strips for a few days or weeks and change and replace them when they become filled with dead roaches 

2. Set Bait Stations

What kills cockroaches almost instantly? Bait stations. Typically, these bait stations come in a long tube and can be placed anywhere you’ve noticed roach activity.

The smell of the bait attracts roaches who then eat the poison. When the roach travels back to its home location and dies, the other roaches will eat it, passing the poison through the group.

Pros: Effective, fast-acting

Cons: Bait stations look unattractive around a home, can be toxic to kids and pets, will leave dead roaches around the home, dead roaches may be consumed by non-target species like birds and other animals – poisoning them as well

3.

Caulk all Entry Points

While glue strips and bait stations can be effective to get rid of roaches, they won’t do much good if new roaches are constantly entering your home. With this in mind, use caulk to seal gaps and possible entry points. Pay close attention to gaps between walls or tile, worn-out weather stripping, or gaps in door and window seals.

Pros: Effective, safe, affordable

Cons: Caulk wears out over time, so you must check and recheck access points routinely

4. Use a Liquid Concentrate

Purchase a liquid roach deterrent concentrate at your local home improvement store. This concentrated liquid is designed to be diluted and sprayed into cracks and crevices where roaches like to hide.

If you need a more comprehensive solution, you can also add a bit of the concentrate to a mop bucket and mop your floors with the solution. This option will deter roaches overnight and keep them from coming back.

Pros: Effective, fast-acting, affordable.

Cons: Contains toxic ingredients, not ideal for homes with kids and pets. 

5. Hire a Pest Management Professional

For best results, hire a professional roach management team like Smith’s to get rid of your infestation once and for all.

Professional teams know how to locate and eradicate roach infestations safely and effectively, without putting your kids, pets, or household at risk.

Pros: Effective, safe, long-lasting, can deal with roach infestations both indoors and outside the home

Cons: Requires a larger upfront investment than DIY options

Roach Bombs: Avoid if Possible

When wondering how to get rid of roaches without an exterminator, some people turn to roach bombs.

Also called “foggers,” roach bombs spray a pesticide into the air.

When the pesticide falls to the ground, it coats indoor surfaces and kills target pests. Most roach bombs are designed to be placed in the center of the room and activated.

Unfortunately, roach bombs are extremely toxic, and we recommend against using them. There are safer and more effective ways to get rid of your roach infestation.

Pros: Fast-acting

Cons: Toxic, flammable, most effective only for flying roaches, not suitable for homes with pets or young children, requires you to vacate the home while the roach bomb works 

How to Get Rid of Roaches Outside Your House

If you want to prevent cockroaches in your house, you have to start by limiting their numbers outside your home.

Here’s how:

1. Clean Up

Remember: roaches need three things to survive – food, water, and shelter. While you can’t eliminate these things in the outdoor environment, you can make your landscaping less welcoming for them.

Here are a few tips:

Pros: Effective, affordable, makes your landscaping look beautiful

Cons: Does not kill or get rid of roaches – only makes your landscaping less appealing for them

2.

Use Sticky Traps

Sticky traps aren’t only for indoor use – you can place them outdoors, too. Lay sticky traps down any place you see roaches entering your home, such as cracks around doors or windows, or foundations.

If you’re not sure where the roaches are coming from, lay the traps down in a few locations and check the traps daily to identify high-traffic routes.

Pros: Effective way to identify roach routes

Cons: Unsightly, time-consuming

3. Place Bait

To decrease the number of roaches entering your home, kill them with bait before they get inside.

Since roaches like to keep the top or side of their bodies pressed against something as they walk, your bait stations will be most effective when placed next to outbuildings, ledges, corners, fences, or the foundation of your home.

Pros: Effective, fast-acting, long-term solution

Cons: Toxic, can be dangerous for kids, pets, and other animals

4.

Spray Pesticide

One of the more effective ways to get rid of roaches is to spray a pesticide around the perimeter of your yard and home. These sprays are long-acting (many last three months or more) and will kill roaches on contact.

Pros: Effective, long-acting

Cons: Toxic, can be dangerous for kids, pets, and other animals 

How do Exterminators Get Rid of Roaches?

If you hire a professional exterminator to get rid of roaches, what can you expect?

Here’s how our team at Smith’s Pest Management does it:

Step 1: The Inspection

Our cockroach control experts will arrive at your property to inspect the infestation. We’ll look for areas where the roaches are accessing your home, and sources of moisture or food that may be enticing them.

We’ll also identify the species of cockroach you’re dealing with and formulate a plan for cockroach control.

Step 2: The First Treatment

Based on the information we gleaned during our initial inspection, we’ll develop a treatment plan for your home. Since cockroaches can be a difficult pest to eradicate, we take a two-step process to get rid of them.

Depending on the severity of your infestation, our preliminary treatment may include baiting, monitoring, trapping, or spraying the cockroaches or providing education, cleaning and sanitization services, or insect growth regulators.

During this step, we’ll place cockroach monitors to gauge activity.

Step Three: The Follow-Up Visit

Once we’ve deployed our initial treatment, we’ll check our monitors and deploy additional treatments, as needed. The result is a complete end to your infestation, as quickly as possible.

How Do I Keep Roaches Out of My House?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Keep roaches out of your home in the first place with these simple tips:

1. Clean the House

First things first: start by removing everything that could attract roaches.

Any homemade roach killer you employ will be more effective if you make your home as unwelcoming as possible before using it.

Here are a few items to check off the to-do list:

2. Get Serious About Storing Food

If you want to keep roaches out of your house, eliminating food sources is critical. One of the best ways to do this is to store food in airtight glass or plastic containers.

Store perishables in the refrigerator, and avoid leaving fruits and vegetables out on the counter.

3. Clean Kitchen Appliances

Remember: roaches love fat and grease, and your kitchen is a great place to find these tasty treats. With this in mind, keep the stovetop, dishwasher, and other cooking appliances clean.

Pay special attention to areas like the drip pans under stove burners, the backsplash, and your garbage disposal.

Additionally, make sure you’re wiping counters and tables after you cook each night. To add an additional layer of protection, add a few drops of lemon oil to your cleaning water. The scent of citrus will keep cockroaches from coming back.

4. Get Rid of Newspapers and Cardboard Boxes

Roaches love newspaper and cardboard boxes because they make excellent breeding and nesting material. To prevent roach infestations, recycle or get rid of old newspapers and used cardboard boxes as quickly as possible.

5. Seal Cracks and Entry Points

Roaches can squeeze their small bodies through tiny gaps and cracks. To prevent them from gaining access to your home, seal cracks in the home’s foundation and install door sweeps to block gaps under doors.

You’ll also want to check for gaps around windows, and around holes used for gas, plumbing, and electric lines, and crawl space vents. Use caulk or sprayable foam to seal these cracks and keep your home roach-free.

6. Fix Leaks Right Away

If you have plumbing leaks in your home, fix them as quickly as possible. Even a tiny pipe drip is enough to provide roaches with the moisture they need to survive.

In addition to fixing leaks, regularly inspect sinks, refrigerators, appliances, and faucets to ensure they’re not leaking or producing excess moisture.

Are Roaches Taking Over Your San Francisco Bay Area Home? We’re Here to Help!

Our team is here to help you get rid of roaches permanently. We provide top-quality pest control services to residential and commercial customers in Northern California – from Marin to Monterey.

Don’t settle for living with roaches – call our team for fast, effective roach control services: (408) 871-6988

16 Awesome At-Home Remedies for Roaches

There are countless home remedies for roaches out there, but which are recipes for success and which are a waste of time?

We’ve collected some of the best home remedies for cockroaches and given them each a grade! From easy-to-make traps and natural repellents to powerful roach-killing formulas, you’ll find simple solutions to send roaches packing fast.

Ready to get cooking? Let’s go!

Raw-Knuckled Roach-Killing Recipes

We don’t blame you if you’re not too concerned at the moment about playing nice and just want to kill as many roaches as possible, as fast as possible.

These are the home remedies to start with:

  1. Baking soda and onions
  2. Duct tape
  3. Boric acid and peanut butter
  4. Cockroach cookies
  5. Diatomaceous earth
  6. Borax
  7. Cornstarch and Plaster of Paris
  8. Petroleum jelly
  9. Ammonia or Bleach (in drains)

★ Find even more home remedies to get rid of roaches in our detailed guide to killing cockroaches.

1. Kill Roaches With Baking Soda and Onions

Grade: B+

Let’s begin with one of the quickest, easiest, and most “make it right now!” home remedies for roaches – baking soda and onions, both of which you may already have in the fridge.

Dice a handful of onion, sprinkle it with deadly baking soda, and voila! A great, natural roach-killing hors d’oeuvre to serve anywhere roaches like to dine.

2. Duct Tape: The Simplest Sticky Trap

Grade: A

The duct tape trap is truly the Old Fashioned of cockroach traps, pest control reduced to its simplest ingredients: a sticky surface and something to bait the bugs onto that sticky surface.

For the trap: one upside-down strip of duct tape.
For the bait: one piece of food

Spread these strips all over the house for one of the most ruthless cockroach killer home remedies. It will kill cockroaches overnight, and show you the most infested areas to hit again.

Read on: 15 Great Roach Traps for Beating Cockroaches Every Time

3. Boric Acid and Peanut Butter

Grade: A

Boric acid tops even baking soda when it comes to killing cockroaches. With little more than a sprinkle on the floor, boric acid acts as an all-natural poison to take down dirty roaches in just days. Or, spread a dusting on a paper plate and bait it right in the middle with a piece of orange peel.

We’ve also put together a handy Roach-Free Recipe for killing cockroaches with just 2 ingredients: boric acid and a dollop of peanut butter.

4. Irresistible Roach Cookies

Grade: A

Speaking of sweets, we’ve cooked up one of the deadliest home remedies to kill roaches ever, and it’s packed in a delicious (to roaches) dessert. Our simple no-bake roach cookies recipe combines the irresistible draw of raw cookie dough with the roach-killing power of boric acid.

5. DE to Be Cockroach-Free

Grade: B

It’s a little less common than baking soda but, if you have a pool at home, you probably have a tub or two of diatomaceous earth (DE) sitting next to its filter. Great start! But EPA-registered, food-grade DE is the one you want to buy. DE is an amazing cockroach killer. All it takes is a light dusting to damage a roach’s exoskeleton and dehydrate it to death.

Mix equal parts DE and powdered sugar and spread a very light coating on all at-risk surfaces to kill any cockroaches craving sweets!

Safety tip: DE may be natural, but even the food-grade variety can hurt your lungs if you breathe it in. Wearing a protective mask when using DE is recommended.

6. Kill Roaches with Borax

Grade: B+

There’s one more super-powered powder that’s easy to find, easy to use and effective as heck: borax. Use this laundry product as one ingredient in a variety of roach-killing recipes, from sugar and borax to cocoa dusts and borax balls. Check ’em all out here!

7. Cornstarch Plus Plaster of Paris

Grade: B

Take two common household products, mix them together and create a great roach killer in no time at all. Equal parts will do for this recipe, which attracts roaches with the promise of a starchy snack and kills them quickly. Apply it in cracks, crevices and places you think roaches are hiding.

8. Petroleum Jelly to Trap Roaches

Grade: C

Have some petroleum jelly in the closet? While it’s not a repellent or toxic to roaches, it’s an essential part of an awesome roach trap.

Choose an empty glass jar, beer bottle or wine bottle. Place a little bait at the bottom. Then, rub petroleum jelly all around the upper half of the inside of the jar or bottle. Tape a bookmark or straw to the outside as a ramp. This way, roaches can easily climb in for the food but can’t climb back out!

9. Down the Drain: Bleach or Ammonia to Kill and Keep Out

Grade: C-

Sometimes, roaches like to hide in drains but you don’t have to trap them at their convenience. For a quick-and-dirty way to kill roaches right where they’re hiding, pour 1/4 cup of bleach into the drain and don’t forget to plug it! In 30 minutes, thoroughly flush it with plenty of water. Always be careful when handling bleach!

A mixture of water and ammonia dumped down the drain also warns roaches to stay away with its powerful smell. And, of course, a thorough cleaning with ammonia signals to roaches that there’s no food to be found.

Home Remedies to Prevent and Repel Roaches

Repellents are like power-ups in a cockroach control system: they won’t get rid of roaches on their own but they can help by making your home less attractive to the bugs.

Great roach repellents include:

  1. Essential oils
  2. Bay leaves
  3. Vinegar
  4. Cleaning and exclusion

★ Find even more home remedies for repelling roaches in our detailed guide.[2]

10. Repel Roaches with Essential Oils

Grade: A

One of the best natural remedies for roaches, essential oils are effective and smell great, too. That is, unless you’re a cockroach.

For example, they simply can’t handle the potent, refreshing scent of peppermint essential oil. Roaches avoid its aroma like it’ll kill them (which—fun fact—it can!). Cypress oil is another strong repellent; dilute it with water and spray it anywhere you’ve seen roaches to send them away.

Lemongrass oil is one of the strongest natural roach repellents available. Catnip oil works, too—just don’t let your cat near the areas you’ve treated!

Read on: Essential Oils for Roaches: Pest-Free With Just a Spray Bottle?

11. Deter Cockroaches with Bay Leaves

Grade: C

Need more natural remedies for cockroaches? Raid the spice rack!

That’s because bay leaves make another surprising home remedy for roaches.

Bay leaves’ fragrance (specifically the compound eucalyptol) has been shown to repel some roaches and keep them out of cabinets, closets and kitchen areas. Just make sure you’re pairing bay leaves with a thorough cleaning for maximum effectiveness.

Read on: Natural Cockroach Repellent: What Works and What Doesn’t

12. Using Vinegar to Prevent Cockroaches

Grade: C

Vinegar doesn’t kill cockroaches but you can create a few effective home remedies for cockroaches with vinegar in a starring role.

Mix vinegar with tea tree essential oil or cedar oil for a powerful cleaning and roach-repellent solution.

There’s one more way to use vinegar to prevent roaches and it’s more effective over time than any other repellent: cleaning.

13. Cleaning: The

Best Way to Keep Roaches Out for Good

Grade: A

Nothing beats good ol’ fashioned cleaning for permanent pest control! Roaches look for easily accessed food and water sources, and when they can’t find them, they either die or leave. That makes basic, thorough cleaning an awesome cockroach remedy that can make a bigger difference than you think!

The key is thinking like a roach: where can I find a few crumbs and a sip of water each day?

These bugs can get by on water from a leaky faucet, crumbs under furniture or appliances, grease splatter on the stove, old papers boxed up in the basement, and even—disgustingly—the bodies of dead roaches.

While you’re in the six-legged mindset, think about where you’d most want to hide away during the daylight hours: dark, cluttered storage areas full of cardboard boxes and old papers for a snack. Swap the boxes for bins with lids and do some organizing to take away a cockroach’s favorite hideouts.

Find even more tips for preventing roaches with sanitation.

Home Remedies for Specific Species Control

Get Rid of German Cockroaches

A notorious house pest around the world, the German cockroach has a reputation for spreading ruthlessly and causing major problems for homeowners.

In addition to reproducing rapidly, German roaches are stubborn. They tend to display bait aversion more often than other species, making it tricky to eliminate them with steady applications of one type of bait.

14. Rotate the Bait

Grade: A

Plan to rotate the baits you use in traps to prevent resistance; German roaches are particularly good at adapting to and avoiding traps if they get used to smelling one flavor or ingredient.

Stop Wood Roaches from Flying Indoors

Indoor run-ins with wood roaches are likely the result of a few wanderers that got stuck on the wrong side of an open window.

The best way to prevent wood roaches is through exclusion:

15. Screening All Visitors

Grade: A

What about home remedies to get rid of cockroaches when the little buggers fly inside?

Try any of the above! But nothing is more effective at keeping bugs outside than window screens and screen doors. If your screens are a few-too-many-seasons old and featuring a few holes, attach some coarse steel wool or, in a pinch, a piece of duct tape. You can buy a magnetic screen “door” for under $10, too.

16. Draw the Blinds on Bugs Attracted to Light

Grade: B

Wood roaches attracted to light have it too easy on spring and summer evenings; the windows are open, the patio lights are on and people are in and out of the house. These bugs can fly straight inside, guided by the light.

The solution is simple: keep the shades and blinds drawn. Hiding the lights lets the bugs stay outside where they belong.

Remedies for Roaches in the Apartment and the Car

In Your Apartment

Keeping a cockroach infestation out of your rental starts with eliminating the most common things that attract cockroaches to apartments: food, water and hiding places.

When using home remedies for roaches in an apartment, pay special attention to the bathrooms and their drains and piping: both popular entry points for bugs. (They’re also easy sources of water.) Roaches take advantage of A/C vents to spread from unit to unit, too.

In Your Car

Believe it or not, there’s plenty of space inside a car for cockroaches to thrive and multiply. To deal with a roach infestation on wheels, start by vacuuming everywhere. We’ve already covered roach motels and roach-killing dusts. Now, use these great home remedies to get rid of roaches in your car, too!

Check out our Roach-Free Recipe: Getting Rid of Roaches in Your Car.

Conclusion

Finding cockroaches crawling around your home is gross.

Luckily, with a few minutes and some common household ingredients, you can whip up any of these awesome home remedies for roaches and start killing the bugs today!

You’ve got this!

Sources

  1. Nagro, Anne (2019) Rethinking German Cockroach Control. Pest Control Technology. Retrieved from https://www.pctonline.com/article/rethinking-german-cockroach-control/
  2. 2017 Cockroach Management Supplement. Pest Management Professional.
  3. Myth Busting: DIY Cockroach Control (2016) Rentokil Pest Control. Retrieved from https://www.rentokil.ie/blog/myth-busting-diy-cockroach-control/

How to get rid of cockroaches at home: the best remedies

We have been living in an expensively renovated apartment in a good house for 10 years. All the neighbors on the site are decent people. We never had insects and other living creatures.

A few weeks ago I noticed a cockroach in the kitchen. At first I thought it was random. But the next night I went in for a drink of water, turned on the light - and there are already a lot of them, and they are crawling on the table. Every day there are more of them.

Where did they come from and what should we do now? In the HOA they say that you need to call the disinfection service. Will it help get rid of them once and for all?

Yelena

Yelena, disinfestation - that is how it is correct to call a set of measures that help to destroy insects - will most likely help. But it is possible that it will have to be carried out twice, or even thrice. In addition, you need to work on protecting the apartment: clog all the cracks, ventilation and doors.

Andrey Nenastiev

lived in Khrushchev with alcohol addicts, hooligans and cockroaches

Author's profile

I will tell you about my experience of dealing with cockroaches, how the treatment takes place and what to do after it.

Where do cockroaches come from

Cockroaches usually enter the apartment from neighbors. Not necessarily it will be your neighbors on the site. An infected apartment can be located through several entrances. The whole house will suffer from such an apartment: cockroaches will move along the ventilation shafts, through the cracks in the doors, and in the summer they will crawl out the windows and crawl right along the facades.

It is believed that if you leave bread crumbs on the table or plant unsanitary conditions in an apartment, then cockroaches will definitely start. This is not true. Dirt contributes to their appearance, but does not guarantee it. In search of a place to live, cockroaches usually send scouts - one individual who finds out how it is there, and then informs the rest. Water is of great importance for cockroaches: they like to drink. If there is a leak under your sink and a puddle, and the scout notices this, then it will be more dangerous than bread crumbs on the table.

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13 hellish neighbors everyone knows

Cockroaches can also appear if residents bring them with them, for example, from public transport. This path is less common, since the probability of catching a cockroach and carrying it on clothes to the house for an ordinary person is quite small.

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What to do with neighbors

It is often not enough to treat only your apartment. Ideally, sanitation should be done in the apartment where cockroaches crawl.

By law, the owner must maintain the dwelling in proper condition so that it meets the established requirements and is habitable. If he does not comply with the requirements of the law, you can complain about him to Rospotrebnadzor.

Art. 30 ZhK RF

Theoretically, you can even try to bring him to administrative responsibility under Article 6. 4 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation for violating sanitary and epidemiological requirements for the operation of residential premises. Sanctions under this article for citizens - a fine from 500 to 1000 R.

But usually people live in such apartments who are not interested in any sanctions other than imprisonment. It is difficult to get something from such tenants. And in order to evict or deprive them of their homes, more compelling reasons are needed.

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You can also put pressure on the management company. By law, she is obliged to regularly carry out disinfestation and deratization - measures to eliminate rodents - in non-residential premises: basements, entrances, prams.

clause 9.2 Sanpin 2.1.2.2645-10

If cockroaches run around public places, the Criminal Code will be held administratively liable for violating legislation in the field of ensuring the sanitary and epidemiological welfare of the population.

For example, in Komi, the management company was fined 10,000 rubles for cockroaches on the complaint of a resident. insects. The proceedings reached the Supreme Court of the Republic, but it upheld the fine.

Art. 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation

However, usually everything ends with the fact that the neighbors gather and chip in to process the problematic apartment. The main thing is to provide access to it when the exterminator arrives. They talk heart to heart with the landlord or offer him something in return for loyalty.

How to fight on your own

Cockroaches can sometimes be destroyed by yourself. For this, gels, aerosols, pill traps and various types of poison that dissolves in water are used.

Gels contain a poison, a bait and a fatty substance that keeps the product liquid and prevents it from drying out. Some gels contain components that cause rejection in pets.

Cockroaches take the bait, eat the insecticidal gel and carry the poison on their feet. When an infected cockroach dies, others eat it. This is how the poison spreads throughout the colony. Cockroaches begin to die within 1-2 days after gelling the apartment. Manufacturers say that in general, gels last up to two months.

If one gel does not work, you can try another. But you need to look at the composition so that the main active ingredient does not match. It can be chlorpyrifos, hydramethylnon, fipronil, lambda-cyhalothrin and others. Sometimes there are two or even three insecticides in the gel.

The gel is said to have helped if, two months after it stopped working, cockroaches no longer appear.

A simple and cheap cockroach remedy is a gel that is applied to baseboards. These are offers on Yandex Market

Boric acid may also be suitable. It is relatively safe for humans, but for insects it is the strongest poison. If a cockroach eats it, it becomes paralyzed, and then suffocation occurs.

There are two ways to use boric acid:

  1. Apply it to skirting boards, ventilation shaft edges, pipe joints and any other surface where cockroaches can run. This is ineffective, since boric acid itself is tasteless, and there is little chance that cockroaches will eat it just like that.
  2. Mix 50 grams of boric acid with raw egg yolk and make balls. Spread them out as bait in cockroach habitats. You can also add flour, powdered sugar, vanillin and starch. Cockroaches react to smell: the more fragrant the ball is, the more likely the insects will eat it.

Before using any poison, you need to clean up the room: cockroaches should not have a choice what to eat today.

Boric acid is inexpensive and is sold in any pharmacy. These are offers on Apteke-ru

Insulation of the apartment

Even if you managed to eradicate the cockroaches on your own, it is useless when they have a well-trodden path to your apartment. New insects will come to replace the fallen ones. So that's what needs to be isolated.

Ventilation shafts. This is perhaps the main entry route for cockroaches. If the shaft is closed with a standard plastic grate, behind which there is a mesh, this is not enough. Usually the diameter of the mesh cells is 4 mm, and cockroaches easily crawl through it: they can flatten and sometimes are able to get into a gap as thick as a notebook sheet. For reliable insulation, they buy organza - a thin fabric for needlework in a very small cell. It is important to attach it without gaps.

You can take the simplest coarse organza, and match the color of the walls so that it does not visually catch the eye. Source: online store of goods for needlework "Shtuchka"

Pipes and other communications. See how your neighbors pipes come out. It is easy to check the reliability of the pipe seal - you need to shake it with your hand. If the pipe "walks", then sealing is needed. To do this, buy a balloon of mounting foam and seal all joints with it. Excess then can be carefully cut off with a clerical knife.

They also check the inputs of various cables: Internet, intercom, video surveillance. They also look at how the wiring is going in the house, if there are through sockets that directly connect to a neighbor. If they are, it is better to dismantle them, and cover the holes with putty.

Windows and doors. The front door must be airtight and must not hang on its hinges. If the door is old, put rubber seals.

Install mosquito nets on the windows that fit snugly against the frame.

In the apartment of the Cherepovets janitor, cockroaches crawled along the water pipe until the hole was covered with mounting foam. This photo was shared with me by the exterminator

Disinsection

Disinsection is the treatment of an apartment with special preparations from insects - insecticides. But processing does not mean that the apartment is simply sprayed with reagents. A competent specialist will ask the owners to isolate the apartment, remove debris, and eliminate water leaks before starting his work.

p. 8 Sanpin 3.5.2.3472-17

Exterminators select drugs based on their experience, often by eye, so several treatments may be required: if one insecticide does not work, they will try another.

Specialists use pyrethroids, neonicotinoids, organophosphorus compounds. Generations of cockroaches develop immunity against poison, so it is not known in advance how it will work.

Spraying is carried out with hand-held sprayers - as for extinguishing forest fires - and battery-operated. There are also petrol ones, but they are not used in apartments. They are needed for basements and other utility rooms.

The most effective solution is sprayed from a cold mist generator. This is a gun that converts the drug into fine dust. Such dust penetrates into the most inaccessible places and small cracks. The same installations are used to treat, for example, medical facilities from coronavirus.

Extermination of cockroaches in Moscow

Rates in St. Petersburg

First of all, the kitchen, bathroom and corridor are treated from cockroaches. In living rooms, the exterminator will not consume a lot of solution if the residents did not see places where insects accumulate. Before processing, it is better to cover the furniture with plastic wrap.

Treatment of the apartment with a cold fog generator. Source: Parilov / Shutterstock

The incubation period for insecticides is two weeks. Cockroaches will not die immediately - they will crawl out of the cracks and actively run, including during the day. You need to finish them off, for example, with a slipper.

If after two weeks the cockroaches crawl again, a second disinsection is carried out with a different solution. How to pay the exterminator in this situation depends on the contract. Some give a guarantee for processing and come for a second time for free or charge only 500 R for a trip. Others ask for 50% of the cost of the first treatment. Still others ask to pay for the trip and the price of the drug.

By law, an apartment is considered free from cockroaches if they are absent from all premises for more than two months.

p. 3.22 Sanpin 3.5.2.3472-17

How I fought cockroaches

Khrushchev, where I lived, was over 50 years old. Cockroaches didn’t appear right away, but about 5 years after buying an apartment.

We tried to etch them on our own: I smeared the baseboards with gels, my wife laid out pills with poison. In the mornings, we found 2-3 dead insects, but the problem was not fundamentally solved. When they went into the kitchen at night and turned on the light, cockroaches scattered in the corners from the countertops of the headset and cabinet doors.

We decided to sanitize and called the exterminator. On the phone, he explained how to prepare the apartment: remove all dishes from the kitchen, and remove all clothes from the corridor. We hid some of the dishes in the refrigerator and dishwasher, took some out into the hall and covered it with rags. The clothes from the corridor were put on the sofa and stuffed into the wardrobes.

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When the specialist came, he examined the housing for a long time. He advised me to permanently remove the cat saucer with water that was on the floor and clog the ventilation hole.

At the time of processing, we went for a walk. The whole procedure took about half an hour. We paid 2000 RUR for a two-room apartment.

2000 R

we paid for the disinsection of a two-room apartment

The exterminator said to wipe the door handles and switches with a damp cloth and not to wash the floors for two weeks.

For about a week we found dead cockroaches in the most unexpected places. Some were still moving, and I hit them with a slipper. Heaps of dead insects I raked with a whisk into a scoop and threw away.

No more cockroaches after treatment.

After treatment with insecticides, cockroaches become like drunk

Alexander Kirillov

exterminator

In any, even the largest house, one focal apartment is enough for cockroaches to be everywhere. It is not necessary that the homeless will live there. It happens that these are pensioners or labor migrants who rent an apartment and care little about cleanliness.

Before starting work, we look for traces of cockroach excrement - brown dots. Where there are a lot of them, it means that more solution is needed there. We also recommend plugging all the cracks and joints: cockroaches love them very much. Then we carefully process the room.

After treatment, the preparation dries in 3 hours. In dry form, it becomes safe for people and animals. And vice versa for insects. But they can crawl for a long time and look like drunk.

People often call me and say that there are even more cockroaches after treatment. I answer clients: “I didn’t bring them with me!” And then I explain that this is how the drug acts on the nervous system of insects. They can no longer stay in one place and start running in all directions, so it seems that there are even more of them. Then they can pour everything out at once and fall down dead.

Out of ten treatments for cockroaches, in about six cases we work the first time. The rest is rework. It rarely happens that you need three times.

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How to get rid of cockroaches quickly at home

Published:

How to get rid of cockroaches: Pixabay

Cockroaches are creatures that not only cause disgust, but also spoil food, pose a threat to human health. Looking for ways to get rid of cockroaches? Effective ways to kill insects, as well as measures to prevent their reappearance in the house, are suggested by authoritative publications.

Effective ways to deal with cockroaches

Cockroaches are small insects that prefer to live next to humans. In total, there are more than 7,500 species of cockroaches. The red cockroach, or Prussian, causes the greatest trouble to a person.

Insects living next to humans, according to the authors of the book "Cockroaches near us" D. Zhuzhikov and N. Alyosho, are dangerous as mechanical carriers of a number of pathogens of infectious diseases in humans and domestic animals, as sources of allergens.

Feelings of disgust and a threat to health encourage you to get rid of vile pests in accessible ways. There are many methods for destroying the Prussians.

How to get rid of cockroaches: NUR.KZ

Freezing

Cockroaches are hardy: they can live without food and water for several weeks. But there is something that the Prussians are afraid of. This is cold, and more specifically, the sub-zero temperature in the room. At temperatures below +7 °C, they cease to multiply, and at -10 °C they die.

This knowledge can be used to destroy the pest population. What should be done to get rid of cockroaches? The instruction is:

  1. In winter, when the outside temperature reaches -10-15°C, open all windows and doors in the house.
  2. Move items of furniture and appliances that have been found to contain cockroaches to the balcony or outside.
  3. Wash home textiles (spreads, bed linen, clothes) in a washing machine and hang out in the cold.
  4. Keep your windows open and your belongings outside for 24, preferably 48 hours.

After 1-2 days, do a general cleaning and bring things into the house.

Boric acid

An effective way to eliminate insects is to use insecticides. The market is rich in various specialized products: sprays, gels, crayons and poison traps. These products contain aggressive chemical components that can harm not only insects, but also people.

A safer option is boric acid bait. This substance is the strongest poison for cockroaches. Getting into the digestive tract of an insect, it affects its nervous system. How to poison cockroaches? Follow step by step guide:

  1. Make poison bait. Crack the egg and remove the protein. Add 1 pack (10 g) of powdered boric acid to the raw yolk. To enhance the smell, add a pinch of vanilla sugar.
  2. Stir the bait thoroughly and roll into small balls. Wear gloves to protect your hands.
  3. Place baits in areas where pests tend to accumulate - against walls, in the corner of the floor, on shelves, in food pantries, under equipment and household appliances.

Remove other food so that the cockroaches feed on the extremely poisonous mixture. Make sure that poisoned balls are not tasted by children and pets.

Destruction of cockroaches: Pixabay

Folk remedies and traps

How to get rid of cockroaches with folk remedies? If cockroaches bother, turn to folk remedies. A homemade trap will help. It is done like this:

  1. Take a large jar or plastic bottle. With the latter, you need to cut off the neck.
  2. Lubricate the inside of the container with petroleum jelly or vegetable oil (this will prevent cockroaches from getting inside).
  3. Sprinkle bait on the bottom: honey, sugar, biscuits, bread crumbs. You need to change the bait every 3-4 days.
  4. Place a trap near the place where cockroaches crawl out.

This is a great way to kill Prussians if the pest colony has not yet grown. If there are a lot of cockroaches, the author of the book "The Complete Encyclopedia of Household" Elena Vasnetsova recommends using pyrethrum - powdered dry flowers of Caucasian or Dalmatian chamomile. Pour the mixture into places where pests accumulate and treat the likely areas of penetration of cockroaches.

Smells

Unpleasant neighbors can be banished with scent weapons. What smells don't like cockroaches? Most pests are repelled by such substances and plants:

  1. Ammonia, vinegar, gasoline or kerosene. Add one of the listed substances to water (ammonia and vinegar in a ratio of 1:2, gasoline - 1:5) and treat all surfaces, ceilings, pantries and floors in the house with a solution. Repeat the procedure daily for 3-4 weeks.
  2. Bay leaf, wormwood. You can use them:

Despite the fact that some biologists have noted a decrease in the number of Prussians, they still appear in apartments and houses. To get rid of insects, you have to make an effort.

Bay leaf repels cockroaches: Pixabay

Causes of cockroaches and preventive measures

Insect pests are predominantly nocturnal. During the day, cockroaches hide from people in hard-to-reach dark places - in cracks and holes in the floor, under baseboards, behind a refrigerator or in household appliances.

Why do cockroaches appear in the apartment? The main reasons that contribute to the appearance of the Prussians:

  1. Access to food. Cockroaches feed on human food, its remains and waste. They are attracted to open trash cans, unwashed dishes, bread crumbs, or traces of grease. Prussians are interested not only in human food, but also in pet food.
  2. High humidity. Insects need a source of water to live. Leaking pipes and faulty plumbing are a haven for cockroaches.
  3. The ideal conditions for their life are warmth, darkness, the presence of rubbish where they can hide.

How do cockroaches get into an apartment? The most likely ways for pests to enter the house:

If you have ever had to remove cockroaches, you know what a hard job it is. The more relevant are the actions that prevent the appearance of these insects.

What measures are there to prevent the appearance of cockroaches in the house? According to Steve Jacobs of the University of Pennsylvania, hygiene is the key to prevention.

Cleaning the kitchen: Pixabay

To prevent the reappearance of cockroaches:

  1. Seal all cracks and holes in the apartment so that cockroaches cannot get into the house from neighbors. To do this, cover the holes in the walls, on the floor and ceiling with putty, eliminate the gaps near the pipes, attach to the ventilation grill or mesh.
  2. Maintain plumbing and pipes to prevent leaks and high humidity.
  3. Clean up any spilled or spilled food, including crumbs on the floor.
  4. Do not leave dirty dishes overnight.
  5. Store food in sealed containers.
  6. Take out the trash every evening.

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