Every homeowner agree that roaches are filthy, disgusting insects. Cockroaches live all over the world, but their favorite residence is your house, where they can snack on your food, damage books and wallpaper, and spread germs to you and your family.
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To say the cockroach is resilient is like saying water is wet. Getting rid of cockroaches is no easy thing but not impossible.
They’ve evolved over millions of years to become resistant to as many threats as possible, and because they reproduce extremely quickly, different species can sometimes develop resistance to specific pesticides.
Most types of cockroaches can survive a month without water and two to three months without food, which makes it difficult to get rid of the bugs simply by depriving them of nourishment.
Roaches feed off waste, foodstuff and other debris left sitting around your house. The insects prefer dark areas, which is why you might find the bugs living in kitchen cabinets or bathroom closets.
These insects come into your home in different ways, such as from an infested apartment next to yours or from infested food bought from a grocery store.
1/ Check if you have cockroaches:
Cockroaches are generally medium-sized insects. They have spiny legs and long antennae. If you see even one roach, you’ve undoubtedly got a lot more. They generally hide during the day, so you may need to look for them at night with a flashlight. If you didn’t fide any of insects, check anyway, cupboards and pantries for their droppings, tiny brown slime stains or pellets.
2/ Get Rid of cockroaches:
Boric acid:
- Boric acid is used as an insecticide in powder form, and works by abrading the cockroach’s cuticle, or shell, with its harsh particles. When its shell is damaged, the insect will dry out and ultimately die of dehydration.
- It has been recommended that boric acid works better when it is mixed with sugar, because the sugar acts as bait, the roaches come and eat, then carry back the boric acid on their bodies.
- This is an effective method, but may be less useful in highly humid environments where it will take the cockroach longer to lose its moisture.
- Boric acid is toxic by mouth, so keep it away from children and pets.
Catnip:
- Catnip is a natural repellant to roaches. The active ingredient in catnip is nepetalactone, which is non-toxic to humans and pets.
- Catnip can be left in the nesting areas and places you see them, and it can be simmered in water to make a concentrated “tea” to use as a spray for the places you cannot easily see.
- This remedy should not be used in households who have cats.
Live traps:
- Live traps work by attracting the cockroach to the trap with some form of bait. You can purchase live traps or make your own using a bowl with steep sides.
- Put petroleum jelly on the inner walls of the container so the cockroach can’t climb back out, and then put food and damp paper toweling at the bottom of the container.
- Make a paper ramp leading into the container so the cockroach climbs in due to the food but is unable to escape due to the petroleum jelly barrier.
- After trapping roaches, you can flush them down your toilet for sanitary disposal.
Cockroach bait:
- Bait stations are similar to live traps but work by incorporating a deadly mold in the bait. This mold is harmful only to cockroaches and related insects and should not be damaging to humans or pets.
- Many of these cockroach baits may have incorporate pheromones to attract the cockroach into the trap to ingest the mold or another type of poison.
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Soapy water, bay leaves, and water jars:
- Spraying roaches directly with soapy water will kill them. Keep spray bottles of soapy water on hand to spray them.
- Roaches also hate bay leaves. Break them up, and scatter them in your cabinets, and places you see the roaches.
- If you steep bay leaves in water, making a bay leaf tea, and pour it in a spray bottle, add soap, you not only kill the roaches, you repel the others at the same time.
- A simple and effective homemade way to lure and trap roaches is with a jar placed next to a wall, allowing the roaches to get in, but not escape. Any bait can be placed in the jar, including coffee grounds and water, but it also works with just plain water in drier climates.
Fruits:
- Leave cucumber slices and garlic in areas you see roaches, as deterrents.
- The fruit of the Osage orange tree, hedge apples, are natural roach repellants. Put out one hedge apple per room, every month to keep roaches away.
Tree sap:
- A small amount of tree sap may kill some of the roaches in your home. Use an old coffee can or another tall dish.
- Rub a small amount of tree sap on the sides of the can, which spreads the scent around, and arrange a thick layer of the liquid on the bottom of the can.
- The roaches climb inside the can seeking the sweet substance, but once the bugs get inside, they cannot crawl back out.
- The roaches die inside the can. If you use a thick enough layer, the tree sap even drowns the bugs.
Sprays:
- Sprays can be classified by the type of insecticide they use. Common chemicals used to kill cockroaches include permethrin, imiprothrin, and cypermethrin.
- Some sprays are liquid, and others are powder; the powders tend to be both more toxic and more lasting, as well as capable of covering a larger area.
- If you buy an exterior bug spray, it will work inside much better. To spray it, put it in a spray bottle or a pump-up pressure bottle and spray the solution in the kitchen cabinets clockwise while holding your breath.
Gels:
- Gels or “sticky traps” are strips of gel or other sticky substances, designed to catch cockroaches on their way in or out of your home.
- The roaches will be unable to escape from the stickiness.
- Cockroaches prefer to walk so that the sides or tops of their bodies are touching another object, like a wall or the bottom of a piece of furniture. Keep this in mind and place your sticky traps next to walls or under or next to low furniture items or cabinetry.