How to eradicate cockroach
10 Effective Ways to Get Rid of Roaches and Keep Them Out
- There are ways to mitigate small roach invasions, but infestations should be handled by exterminators.
- Close up any openings to a home and maintain a vegetation-free zone to keep roaches out.
- Avoid foggers and instead kill roaches with diatomaceous earth, boric acid, or gel-based baits.
You probably know the feeling — the stomach-dropping moment when you hear a faint scuffle on your floor and look up to see a large, dark roach scuttling across your room or kitchen. No bug infestation is a particularly fun experience, but roaches somehow take things to a whole new level.
Scot Hodges, vice president of technical services for Arrow Exterminators, says cockroaches fall into two categories: domestic or peridomestic.
- Peridomestic roaches live in our surroundings but will typically migrate indoors once the weather gets colder.
- Domestic roaches, on the other hand, tend to coexist with humans in homes all the time.
Because of this difference, Hodges likes to classify the arrival of peridomestic roaches as either an infestation or invasion.
- An invasion is when roaches have only just sought refuge in a house, like when you open your garage door and see a roach scuttle across the concrete. Invasions are easier to manage by identifying how and why they arrived in the first place, then closing up entry points to a house and eliminating the few that have already entered.
- An infestation, however, is when the roaches are living and completing their entire life cycles in a house. "Once they move in, they do not move back out. You either have to kill them, or live with them," Hodges says.
Hodges says being able to identify different roach species, as well as if they're domestic or peridomestic, will help you understand how and why roaches might be entering your house in the first place and which methods to try first.
- German cockroaches (Domestic): One of the easier cockroach types to identify according to Hodges, German cockroaches are a tannish color and have two parallel dark stripes, also known as rally stripes, that run from their heads down their backs. And if getting close enough to catch a glimpse isn't a possibility, Hodges says there's another way to tell if a home has German cockroaches: the smell, which Hodges likens to a diaper pail. Given German roaches are domestic and already live indoors, Hodges advises focusing on mitigating their presence by eliminating food, water, and harborage in rooms like the bathroom and kitchen.
- Brown-banded cockroaches (Domestic): Similar to German cockroaches, brown-banded roaches also have two light brown stripes. However the stripes on a brown-banded roach go across their abdomen. These roaches like to occupy warm areas of a house, meaning you'll typically find them in high places.
- Smokybrown roaches (Peridomestic): The bodies of these roaches, which are mostly a deep, dark mahogany with an almost black pronotum, which is the shiny shield-like covering on a roach's head, can get very large, sometimes 1 ½ to 1 ¾ inches. They can fly very well and typically enter a home via the surrounding vegetation. Because of this, Hodges recommends practicing good exterior maintenance and treatment to help control Smokybrown roaches from migrating indoors.
- American cockroaches (Peridomestic): Like the smokybrown roaches, American cockroaches are large, can move through the air, and tend to get into houses through vegetation. However American cockroaches glide more than fly through the air, and are even bigger than smokybrown roaches, typically growing up to 1 ¾ to 2 inches. Hodges says one of their other more notable features is that their heads look a bit like a raccoon mask, with a mostly gold head and little darker brown spots.
- Oriental cockroaches (Peridomestic): While it's pretty standard to see cockroaches scuttling across your floor, Oriental cockroaches likely won't move like that given they're not very agile. They're black and don't have the ability to climb straight up a wall, leading them to mostly infest in ground-level areas like sewage.
Hodges says there's no singular silver bullet approach that will completely eliminate roaches from a house, but rather a combination of many to help deal with the problem.
These methods help mitigate small invasions. An exterminator should be called in the event there's a larger issue.
The first line of defense when combating roaches is to "use the pest's biology to outsmart it," according to Amy Cross, the project coordinator at the National Pesticide Information Center. In other words: eliminate any causes for why they might be entering the house.
Here are a few important roach resources to secure:
Food: Roaches need food to survive, and if it's available in your home, they'll try to stick around. Wipe or vacuum up any crumbs on floors, tables, and counters. Don't leave food unsealed in your pantry. To ensure it's out of reach of pests, store open pantry foods in airtight containers. Roaches also eat substances we don't consider food, such as hair, soap, and toothpaste. Try to keep your home clean and store away any potential items that roaches may try to feast on.
Leaks: Water is another resource that supports roach life inside of your home. If you have any leaky pipes or areas where water pools or drips, such as underneath sinks or in basements, roaches are likely to congregate there. To drive away roaches, fix any leaky pipes and replace leaky faucets. Repair any other places where outside water can enter your home, such as a leaky window or roof. If your basement is moist, try using a dehumidifer or sump pump.
Hiding spots: During the day, cockroaches often hide in dark areas. Stacks of cardboard boxes, newspaper, and other clutter can make perfect hiding spots for roaches. Break down the boxes and recycle them instead of harboring a potential roach hideout in your home.
Points of entry: Close up points as many points of entry as possible. This could include affixing a door sweep to cover the crack between the bottom of a door and the ground, or sealing up any holes in the foundation of a house.
Outdoor foliage: Hodges also says to maintain clean gutters, and to keep a vegetation-free zone with your landscaping by eliminating any foliage hanging over a house and not adding mulch when it's not necessary.
Collect and dispose of roaches with glue stripsGlue strips are one of the safest and most effective solutions for killing roaches, says Hodges.
Glue strips are sheets or tubes covered in a sticky substance and they can quickly catch cockroaches within 24 or 48 hours. While Hodges says these won't work for large infestations, they can help with monitoring the severity of a roach situation and indicate the severity of an issue.
Important: If the glue strips catch a bunch of roaches, you have a large infestation and should consider calling in a professional exterminator.
Bait and kill with boric acidBoric acid is a stomach poison that roaches don't have any resistance to.
A roach must consume the boric acid for it to work.
However, it does come with a few caveats, as both Cross and Hodges point out. First off, Hodges explains it's a slow-acting agent and takes a while to actually kill roaches. On top of that, Hodges states people often panic and use more than necessary.
"The rule that we use when applying any type of a dust insecticide is that if you can see it, you've put out too much," Hodges says. "If the roach sees that big old pile [of boric acid], they're just going to walk around."
To attract roaches to the boric acid, mix it with equal parts sugar and water. Put the mixture in an open jar and place it where you've seen roaches. After roaches consume the mixture, they'll eventually die.
Hodges also encourages people to exercise caution, as boric acid can be toxic in large doses according to the National Pesticide Information Center, and to make sure they're following the instructions on the label when it comes to application.
Note: If you can't find boric acid, you can also use Borax.
Sprinkle some diatomaceous earthDiatomaceous earth works as a scratching agent or abrasive meant to get spread out on a surface that insects will then run across. The diatomaceous earth will then damage or stick to the exoskeleton, causing them to dry out.
Similar to boric acid, this option is slow working and oftentimes is applied by people in overly large quantities or incorrectly.
According to Hodges, using too much can sometimes cause itchy or sore throats with homeowners, and Cross also points out that overapplication can render diatomaceous earth ineffective since the roaches will see it and just crawl around it.
Important: Cross advises against using bug bombs or foggers. The mist often doesn't get into the small spaces and crevices where cockroaches are hiding. Additionally, some species of cockroaches are becoming resistant to some insecticides in many roach foggers, such as pyrethroids.
Baking soda is another common household substance that you can add to your pest-fighting arsenal.
Mix baking soda and sugar to bait the roaches. When they eat the baking soda and consume water, it will cause their insides to bloat and expand, which kills them.
However, baking soda alone is not as effective as boric acid. But you can combine them.
A 2013 study found that pellets made from a combination of three parts boric acid and one part baking soda were effective at killing roaches, with an average death time of 5 hours after ingestion.
Repel roaches with essential oilsEssential oils can be helpful if you're dealing with a few roaches entering your home from outdoors.
You can create a spray with at least 2.5% essential oil mixed with water, then spray it around areas where roaches might enter or where you've seen them.
Here are several essential oils proven to be effective against specific roach species.
- Citrus: A 2009 study found that a variety of citrus essential oils — including grapefruit, lemon, lime, and orange — were effective at repeling several species of roaches. This is likely due to limonene, a chemical in citrus peels that is also used in insect repellants.
- Kaffir lime: In a 2007 study, researchers found that kaffir lime oil was 100% effective at repelling both the American cockroach and German cockroach.
- Oregano: In a 2016 study focusing on the brown-banded cockroach, oregano oil was 96.5% to 99.1% effective at repelling the pest.
- Rosemary: In the same 2016 study, researches found that rosemary essential oil was toxic to brown-banded cockroaches, with 100% mortality after 24 hours of exposure to the oil at a concentration of at least 2.5%.
If you have domestic roaches, such as the German cockroach, or if you think roaches are reproducing in your home, purchase an insect growth regulator product, such as a spray formulated with Pyriproxifen.
These products focus on roaches at the egg and nymph stage, often rendering them unable to reproduce or mature into adults, and thus reducing the population.
Insect growth regulators are best used in tandem with products that kill adult roaches, since they often do not work on fully grown roaches and can take several months to have any noticeable effect.
Use a syringe to apply gel baitsProducts that bait roaches with a gel applied via syringe make it easier to cover a wider variety of hard-to-reach areas. Covering more surfaces also makes it more likely that roaches will come across the bait.
Experts recommend applying small dots of the gel in areas where roaches may forage or enter and leave, such as in corners, under cabinets, and near cracks and edges. It's better to use small dots in many areas, rather than large globs in just a few areas.
Baits can take one to three days to kill roaches, allowing them time to potentially infect other roaches, as well.
When you see a roach, step on it. That's one less roach you need to worry about in your home.
After stepping on a roach, disinfect the area with antibacterial cleaner to avoid spreading any pathogens the roach may have been carrying.
Quick tip: If you're afraid that stepping on a roach will release all the eggs being carried on its body, worsening a roach problem, then fear not. According to Hodges, the moment a roach is killed, then all the egg capsules will die along with it.
Pull out the poison and trapsSometimes you have to pull out the big guns. Roach poison and roach traps are easy to come by and sometimes instantly effective. Here are some of our top recommendations for killing roaches:
Best roach killer Target; Amazon; Home Depot; Alyssa Powell/InsiderWe test and recommend the best roach killers.
Find our recommendations linked throughout the story, or check out our favorite products here:
- Best overall: Ortho Home Defense Insect Killer - See at The Home Depot and Amazon
- Best contact spray: Raid Ant & Roach Killer Insecticide Spray - See at Walmart and Target
- Best trap: Black Flag Roach Motel Insect Trap - See at Amazon and The Home Depot
While it's better to leave large roach infestations to the professionals, there are certainly mitigation techniques that can be used to eliminate roaches and keep them from returning to a home.
Closing up cracks in a house and getting rid of anything that might be attracting roaches in the first place is the best line of defense, and glue strips are also a highly recommended option when it comes to efficiently catching roaches.
You can also try natural methods such as diatomaceous earth or essential oil sprays.
But if you continue to see roaches in your home, you might need to invest in chemical methods such as syringe-applied gel baits, insect growth regulators, or roach-killing sprays.
Megan Wahn
Home & Kitchen Reference Fellow
Megan was previously a fellow for the Home & Kitchen Reference team. She is based in New York, and has also worked as an assistant producer at WUGA-FM as well as a content editor for The Oultaw Ocean Project. She also interned with HGTV Magazine in 2019 through the American Society of Magazine Editors summer intern program. She graduated from the University of Georgia.
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How To Get Rid Of Roaches In Your Home: 11 Effective Ways
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
- Roaches are common pests that can be difficult to get rid of. They breed rapidly, and infestations spread quickly.
- Roaches will infest areas that offer them ample food, water, and shelter. When they do, they can trigger allergies, spread disease, and make a home unsanitary.
- There are several home remedies to get rid of roaches, including diatomaceous earth, baking soda, boric acid, citrus, essential oils, and borax.
- If you want to take a more aggressive approach to eliminate roaches, glue traps, bait stations, and liquid roach deterrent concentrates are all excellent options. Severe infestations will likely require the help of an expert pest management team.
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 Inside Your Home
Naturally with 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 AcidBoric 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
7. 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
With Chemical Methods
Looking for more conventional options to solve your roach problem? Here are some of the fastest ways to get rid of roaches:
8. 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
9. 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
10.
Use a Liquid ConcentratePurchase 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.
11. Hire an Exterminator
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 HomeIf you want to prevent cockroaches in your house, you have to start by limiting their numbers outside your home in your yard or garden.
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:
- Remove woodpiles, leaf piles, stagnant water, and overgrown underbrush
- Secure lids to outdoor trash cans
- Trim foundation plantings back away from the home
- Limit water sources by emptying standing water in pots and birdbaths
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:
- Wash and put away all dirty dishes immediately after use.
- Clean up any crumbs and spills promptly.
- Empty sources of standing water, including pet bowls.
- Take out the garbage daily, and especially before going to bed at night.
- Mop and sweep the floors regularly, including under and around large appliances.
- Avoid leaving pet food out for an extended period.
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.
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How to get rid of cockroaches in an apartment forever
December 22, 2021 Likbez Do it yourself
At night you went into the kitchen for a bite to eat, but instead of a cake, you found only crumbs and mustachioed swallows rushing in all directions? Congratulations, it's cockroaches! But you should not be afraid, but read: how to make traps, what to buy at the pharmacy so that the insects leave, and how to wash the floors so that they never return.
How to understand that there are cockroaches in the apartment
- Black dots. If small dark balls appeared on dishes, kitchen shelves, wallpaper, alas, they were left by cockroaches. This is what their products look like.
- Specific smell.
- Clutches with eggs in corners and crevices.
If you find them, you can, of course, be glad that your apartment has officially received the status of "cockroach-friendly", but this also means that the insects will have to be removed twice. First, the main number of pests will be destroyed, then the hatched offspring. - Personal meeting. Cockroaches are curious and sociable creatures, therefore, if you do not pay attention to the alarm bells described above, sooner or later they themselves will make contact. Most often, black (up to 3 cm in length, kitchen) or red (up to 1.3 cm in length, Prussians) cockroaches start up in houses.
Why did they come to you
- You have a lot of delicious food. Cockroaches also like to eat. Only if you are eating sandwiches in front of the computer, they are content with little: leftover crumbs. And they also have enough open garbage bags or buckwheat scattered in the kitchen drawer.
- You have plenty of water available.
A good dinner should be washed down. Therefore, puddles at the sink and a leaky shower cabin will come in handy. - Your neighbors have plenty of food and water. No matter how hard you try to exterminate pests, all efforts can be broken by the stubbornness of your dirty neighbors. If you can’t agree with them, it’s enough to seal your own home: eliminate cracks and cracks.
Effective remedies for cockroaches
Folk methods
Boric acid is the strongest poison for cockroaches. Getting into the digestive tract of an insect, it affects its nervous system. The cockroach is paralyzed and dies of suffocation. It is best to use boric acid in powder, you can buy it at any pharmacy.
- Sprinkle powder along cockroach paths: along baseboards, at watering points (toilet, sink, shower). He will settle on the paws of an insect, and when the cockroach starts to clean them, he will fall into the stomach.
- Make delicious baits: mix mashed potatoes, egg yolk, sugar or flour with boric acid and roll into balls. Spread them out wherever malicious barbels can run.
Ammonia has a strong smell that cockroaches don't like. Therefore, they tend to leave the premises treated with this substance as soon as possible. To get rid of cockroaches, add ammonia to your water to clean floors, shelves, walls, and ceilings.
Freezing. Cockroaches are cold-blooded creatures. They cease to multiply and weaken at temperatures below +7 °C. However, this method can only be applied in winter, preferably in hard frost. It is enough just to leave the windows wide open for a day (or better for two). It is necessary that all rooms freeze to -10-15 °C.
Trap will help if there are not so many cockroaches. It can be made at home. A jar with a wide neck, a deep enameled or glass bowl, grease the inside with oil, fat or petroleum jelly, and crumble the bait on the bottom: cookies, bread, sugar.
Insects will be drawn to the smell of delicious, and then they will not be able to get out. You can also use a plastic bottle as a dangerous container: cut off the neck and, turning it over, insert it back like a funnel.
Leave the trap overnight in the kitchen or bathroom and in the morning be sure to kill the pests. They can be poured with boiling water or sprayed with insecticide.
Chemicals
The market is rich in various specialized products: from sprays and crayons to nanotechnology lamps and traps. The main thing when working with such things is to carefully follow the instructions and do not forget about gloves and a protective mask.
How to get rid of cockroaches forever
If you live in a private house, it will be enough to thoroughly poison insects once, and then regularly take preventive measures so that in the future insects do not come to visit.
But if you are a happy homeowner in an apartment building, you can't do without actions coordinated with your neighbors.
Agree with all residents and carry out pest control at the same time. Otherwise, it may happen that a cockroach landing from another floor will again and again enter your neutralized apartment.
Preventive measures
- Keep your home in order. One single cleaning is not enough to destroy pests, it is necessary to clean it regularly. Store food in airtight containers, remove crumbs from the table, and keep an eye on areas where pets eat. It would be a good idea to audit kitchen drawers for spilled cereals. It is advisable to wash the dishes immediately after eating, and not store them in the sink with the remnants of the meal inside.
- Take out the trash. Do not keep trash in a cabinet under the sink or store overflowing bags at the front door. Get in the habit of regularly walking to the trash cans (or the garbage chute), and put a container with an airtight lid in the kitchen.
- Repair leaks promptly.
Whereas cockroaches can survive for weeks without food, they cannot live even a day without water. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly check potentially dangerous places (toilet bowl, sinks, pipe joints) for leaks. In addition, do not forget to dry the surfaces in the bathroom after active bathing. Well, it’s better not to abuse the sailor’s way of washing floors (this is when a bucket of water is poured onto the deck at once). - Repair cracks. If your neighbors are not clean, take care of the inaccessibility of your apartment. Examine the walls, ceiling, corners of the room: there may be cracks. They deserve to be patched up. And close the ventilation holes with a special fine mesh through which insects cannot crawl.
Are you worried about whiskered pests? How do you protect your apartment from cockroaches? Share your tips in the comments.
step-by-step instructions with expert advice
Most pest control experts will tell you that if you see a cockroach in your apartment, there's a good chance it's not alone.
This brethren breeds very quickly, but hides cleverly. It is enough for a female cockroach to lay a special capsule - an ootheca, in which there are 30 - 40 eggs, and in a couple of weeks you will have a ready-made colony.
In our country, there are mainly two varieties of cockroaches: red cockroaches - among the Prussians, and black ones. Redheads are most often found in houses, they are smaller, more thermophilic and, fortunately, live many times less than their black counterparts - about six months. The second can live 2-3 years.
Causes of cockroaches in the apartment
Cockroaches can get into the apartment in two main ways: either they are brought in, or they come by themselves. You can bring in cockroaches with old furniture or things that you took from an apartment where there were mustachios. You can bring them from the store, so purchases should be washed thoroughly. Cockroaches can "come" to pets. But most often the insects come by themselves, especially if you have the right conditions for them.
They usually enter apartments from neighbors who lead a marginal lifestyle, as well as from basements or entrances equipped with a garbage chute. Tenants of high-rise buildings suffer from the invasion of these insects more often. In many ways, the reason is precisely in the garbage chute, and if waste is also taken out intermittently, then this is just a paradise for cockroaches.
When it starts to get cold, cockroaches move to where it is warmer - to apartments. They especially like kitchens, because it is also humid there, you can find food waste - their main delicacy. If you have a pet - a dog or a cat - cockroaches will register even more willingly, because where a pet is, there is its food, which is easy for a cockroach to find.
Effective ways to get rid of cockroaches in an apartment
There are several ways to get rid of cockroaches in an apartment once and for all, but it is important to understand that the choice of method depends on the size of the problem.
In other words, if there are still only a few insects, you can try to deal with them on your own by buying a poisonous gel or a trap. If there is already a whole colony of them, it is better to call specialists, otherwise there is a high risk that you will only temper uninvited guests with purchased insecticides.
Caulk all the cracks and carry out a general cleaning
Efficiency: average
The Prussians love unsanitary conditions and garbage, so the first step towards getting rid of cockroaches in the apartment once and for all is a general cleaning. This should not be a one-time action, you will have to clean up all the time, you need to be especially careful about food waste. At a minimum, remove food from the tables so that cockroaches cannot feast on it.
But it is not enough to create uncomfortable conditions for them, and cockroaches can live for quite a long time without food. If they make their way to you from the outside, you need to cut off these paths: caulk cracks, hang a ventilation grill, make sure that there are no openings in the bathroom and toilet through which they can come.
However, not all passages can be covered. If you have an alcoholic neighbor who carries all sorts of junk home, it will not be difficult for cockroaches to come from him through the door or loggia. So, probably, we will have to look for joint ways to solve the problem. Similarly, if cockroaches crawl from the basement or garbage chute. In this case, getting rid of them in the apartment will not work without the help of the management company. According to part 1.1 of Art. 161 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation of the Criminal Code are required to maintain the common property of the owners of the house in accordance with sanitary and epidemiological standards, which means they must starve out insects in the basement and entrance.
Boric acid
Efficiency: medium
Boric acid is really poison for cockroaches. This tool can be easily bought at a pharmacy, and it costs less than fifty. Boric acid works well if you get cockroaches to eat it.
To do this, you can mix the powder, for example, with bread and leave overnight in open places. The cockroach will feast on it, and then bring poison to its relatives.
Funds from the store
Efficiency: medium
You can find a variety of insect control products in stores, such as traps. The principle of their action is as follows - inside the trap is an appetizing bait for a cockroach. It is poisonous, therefore, by eating it or simply hitting it with its body, the cockroach receives a dose of poison and becomes its source itself. It is assumed that the poisonous Prussian returns to the colony, where it infects everyone and dies itself. This is a good option if there are still few cockroaches.
- If you see a cockroach at home or in an apartment, the best thing you can do is buy special traps / houses for cockroaches on the same day or the next and place them throughout the apartment. Traps are sold in packs of 5, which is enough for a small one-room apartment.
If you have a house or a large apartment, take 2-3 packs. Most of the traps are installed in the kitchen, preferably behind the kitchen unit, behind the refrigerator, in the toilet and bathroom next to the riser. In the rest of the rooms - in the corners, behind the furniture (where you see fit), - advises exterminator Dmitry Grachev .
These traps do not have a chemical smell, so they do not cause discomfort. But if there are a lot of cockroaches in the apartment and their ranks are replenished from the outside, it will be difficult to overcome them with traps alone. The same goes for gels.
Exterminators
Efficiency: high
- If you see small individuals along with ordinary cockroaches, then this means that your apartment is already a breeding ground for insects, and the best thing to do is still use the services of professionals - explains exterminator Dmitry Grachev .
One of the most effective methods of getting rid of cockroaches in an apartment in the arsenal of exterminators is a cold fog generator.
With its help, toxic substances are sprayed around the room, penetrating into the most inaccessible nooks and crannies. Not a single individual can escape from such a fog.
But this approach also has disadvantages. For processing with cold fog, the owners will have to leave their apartment for a while. Specialists will make it look like a gas chamber for cockroaches. After such treatment, you will have to carry out a number of manipulations - wash surfaces, dishes, wash clothes - everything on which the poisonous fog has settled.
Aerosol spraying also helps to get rid of cockroaches in the apartment. It acts in a targeted way: they spray baseboards, crevices, hard-to-reach spaces in the bathroom and in the kitchen - only those places where cockroaches can live. This is less effective than fog, but it will also cause less trouble for the owners.
- In any case, the problem of cockroaches must be discussed with neighbors from above, below, on the floor. Because it is the inconsistency among the residents that contributes to the fact that insects, after they have been poisoned, can return to the treated apartment.
The residual effect of any drug, no matter how expensive it is, is two months, notes exterminator Dmitry Grachev .
Popular Questions and Answers
How can you tell if there are cockroaches in your apartment?
The surest way is to face one of them. If you see a cockroach in the kitchen, do not panic, try to find out if there are other relatives in the apartment.
To do this, check all the nooks and crannies: look behind the baseboards, in the gaps between furniture and walls, in the bathroom. It’s not a fact that you will be able to find something, because cockroaches are great at hiding and prefer to go out only at night.
— In addition to a live cockroach, wings or parts of their chitinous cover, for example, on a table in the kitchen, as well as empty or full ootheca or their waste — small black grains, can be a cause for concern, — Irina, director of the cleaning company Chisto, explains Komarova .
What harm do cockroaches cause?
Cockroaches can spoil life in several ways. Firstly, they like to arrange housing for themselves in electrical appliances, where it is warmer, so it is not difficult for them to spoil the equipment.
- These insects on their paws carry any infection - mold, pathogenic bacteria, and so on. All this can migrate to your table, dishes, food. There is direct harm to health. In addition, cockroaches provoke allergies and even asthma. Many have probably heard that they can crawl into their ears, which is also very unpleasant, Irina Komarova clarifies.
What deters cockroaches?
- Among the folk remedies that are believed to repel cockroaches, we can mention dry herbs (tansy, wormwood), ammonia, vinegar. However, it is important to understand that scaring away is not the same as getting rid of. If the cockroaches in the apartment have already divorced, you cannot expel them with one wormwood, you need to act comprehensively: call exterminators, close all the cracks from where insects can enter the apartment, and start cleaning regularly,” says Irina Komarova.
