Turning on the kitchen light at night to watch a couple of cockroaches skitter away under the stove is depressing. Because where there are two, there are more and you have a fight on your hands.
Roaches are in your house because they want food, water, and shelter. Cockroaches are one of the most common household pests. They prefer locations where food is prepared or readily available and sanitation is lax.
Cockroaches are repulsive. They are a little scary and people are embarrassed to have them in the home.
- Odor. They produce a musty unpleasant odor that spreads throughout the house.
- Contamination. Roaches constantly move between food, garbage, and feces. They can transfer pathogens that cause food poisoning and other illnesses.
- Allergies. Cockroaches shed their skin regularly as they grow. Many people are allergic to the skin and to roach feces. Cockroach allergies cause congestion, sneezing, and watering eyes–among other symptoms.
- Asthma. Asthma induced by cockroach allergens can be life-threatening. Symptoms include coughing, wheezing, and breathing problems–some severe. Children living in dense populations with severe cockroach infestations are especially at risk.
Getting rid of cockroaches requires patience and tenacity because they are a tough and persistent enemy. Stomping on them can be very satisfying, although some people are a little squeamish about that. Killing them one at a time usually will not solve the problem. They are never going to move out so you have to kill the ones in your home and prevent more from entering. Use a combination of the these ideas to solve your problem.
Keep Cockroaches Out Of Your Home
All opening windows should have well-fitting screens without tears. Windows and doors should seal tightly to the weatherstrip. Replace worn and torn door sweeps. Seal around all wall penetrations–pipes, vents, wires–with spray foam insulation and/or caulking. Insulate the rim joists with foam and caulking.
Ensure that all ventilation into the attic is screened and sealed because once in the attic roaches make their way through plumbing and electrical service holes in the framing into living spaces.
Cockroaches may already be living in things you bring into your house–furniture, cardboard boxes, garage sale items, used books, etc. They also travel between living units of apartment buildings using plumbing penetrations in communal walls.
Cleaning
Keep your house–especially the kitchen–clean to eliminate food sources. Wipe up and vacuum spilled food. Store food in closed sealed containers–not just the bags or boxes it came in. (Cockroaches eat cardboard and book binding.)
Store garbage in containers with tight lids. Do not leave garbage near doors–inside or outside–to attract cockroaches. Regular vacuuming removes food crumbs from the floor. It also picks up roach feces, skin, and eggs. If you think you are also picking up live bugs, replace the bag after each use or plug the hose so they can’t come back out.
Repair any plumbing leaks or foundation leaks. Keep your basement humidity below 60%. Cockroaches and mold like warm moist environments.
Boric Acid
Boric acid kills cockroaches when they ingest it while cleaning off their bodies. Spread very thin layers–barely visible to the naked eye–at the wall/floor junction behind refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers. Also, behind cabinet and vanity kicks and any openings around plumbing penetrations under sinks. Boric acid retains its potency almost indefinitely but is a slow-acting poison.
Do not use boric acid on countertops or any food preparation areas.
Borax
Borax is a different product than boric acid. It is well-known as a cockroach and ant killer. Mix borax with an equal amount of icing sugar. Use a puffer or squeeze bottle and dust where roaches appear–under sinks, refrigerators, stoves, and dishwashers. Cockroaches are attracted to the sugar. Eating the borax dehydrates and kills them.
Baking Soda
Baking soda can kill roaches within 24 hours of ingestion. It also must be mixed with icing sugar to attract the pests. Baking soda will take care of the occasional cockroach but is not effective against large infestations.
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous earth cuts open a roach’s exoskeleton when it crawls over the dust–eventually dehydrating and killing the insect. It works fairly slowly and is best used at doorways and on window sills to kill invading roaches rather than to eliminate an existing infestation.
Sticky Traps
Glue traps are inexpensive and easy to use. Place them in corners of walls, inside cabinets, under sinks, stoves, and refrigerators. The traps are effective for smaller infestations because roaches have to come to the trap to be caught. Checking and replacing them regularly gives you an idea of the size of your problem.
Bait Traps
Bait traps are one of the more effective cockroach control methods. They get rid of large roach populations quickly. Traps entice roaches to them where they eat poison bait. They then carry the poison back to the colony and poison other roaches.
Poison bait is also available in powder and granule form. Traps are safer if you have kids or pets because the bait is contained and inaccessible.
Gel Traps
Gel bait traps contain the same poison as bait traps but are applied with a syringe. They are excellent for small tight locations. Applying many pea-sized gel traps is more effective than widely-spaced large deposits. They can be used inside cupboards, along baseboards, under sinks, appliances, and small roach-infested counter appliances.
Use gel traps for large infestations. Keep them out of reach of children and pets.
Bleach
Bleach kills cockroaches on contact. Keep it handy in a spray bottle to get rid of any you see and can squirt before they get under cover. Bleach is not effective on large hidden infestations unless you can get to them. The spray has to contact the roach to kill it. They do not eat bleach.
Foggers (Bug Bombs)
Roach foggers are available online or from building supply and garden centers. They are meant for indoor use only in enclosed spaces–like a bedroom. Set the can in the middle of a room, set it off, and close the door. It sprays up toward the ceiling and falls on everything in the room–killing roaches it contacts.
The University of Kentucky advises against the DIY use of foggers because of their ineffectiveness and potential fire hazard. They should only be used by professional pest removal technicians. Cockroaches are also becoming resistant to the pyrethroid insecticide used in many roach foggers.
Essential Oils
Essential oils do not kill cockroaches–they repel the pests. Growing a peppermint plant at your front door keeps cockroaches and other pests away. Mix 10 to 20 drops of one of the following essential oils in water and spray it on window sills and frames, door sills and frames, baseboards, and any other likely roach entrances. Not only do essential oils repel cockroaches, they give your house a pleasant fragrance. Repeat every week.
Some of the other essential oils that repel roaches include:
- Eucalyptus.
- Tea Tree.
- Lavender.
- Oregano.
- Cedarwood.
- Rosemary.
- Peppermint.
Hire Professional Exterminators
If your best efforts fail, or if you just don’t want to deal with the problem, call a pest extermination company–especially if you are dealing with German cockroaches. One female and her offspring can produce 30,000 roaches per year.
Read your contract carefully. Some exterminators ask for a one-year contract even if the cockroach problem is solved after one or two treatments.
