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The strategies and steps stated in this article lay down effective solutions that can be taken to end kill roaches and stop their activities.
December 28, 2021
23 min read time
This information is reviewed by an independent pest control expert.
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As humans, we all experience many frustrating and annoying issues in our day to day activities. In all of this, very few things are more annoying and irritating than having a roach infestation.
Cockroaches are super annoying pests that crawl around in search of food like cardboard boxes and water.
They are disgusting, and no one likes to have them around the home. When these roaches infest a house in large numbers, they give homeowners a huge headache.
Cockroaches crawl on anything, and sometimes, some fly.
This can be scary and irksome at the same time. Much more than annoying pests, they spread diseases and bacteria that can be harmful. They are also speedy and elusive. If, as a homeowner, you’re in search of how to get rid of cockroaches, you are on the right page.
This article explains what you need to know about roaches, what attracts roaches, what roaches hate, and how to eliminate them.
Table of Contents
Roaches are insects that exhibit strong survival techniques. There are more than 4000 species of roaches. Only about 30 of them have interactions with human habitats, while about 5 are known to us as pests. The German cockroach, American cockroach, Australian cockroach, and Oriental cockroach are the commonly known cockroach species.
The American and German cockroaches are the most popular.
While the American roach is reddish-brown, the German roach is brown. With the brown German roach growing to about 1.5 inches, the German roach holds the standard size for every roach species.
If you have a roach infestation in your house, there’s a good chance it is a reddish-brown American or brown German roach.
A really resilient insect, the cockroach can live for up to seven days without its head!
Spreading germs and bacteria around your house for up to a week without its head.
If there is an infestation around your home and you’re looking for how to eliminate the roaches, you’ve got to double done because this is a very strong-willed insect with advanced survival techniques, intelligence, and resilience.
Although having a cockroach infestation in your home might come as an annoying pest invasion, you need to know that they are also just trying to live. They are living things that need food and shelter to survive.
So naturally, they are attracted to random areas with enough food. They are also attracted to homes that provide these things because they like dark and humid spots.
Although roaches, like every other pest, are attracted to dirty areas, your home does not need to be dirty to attract roaches sometimes.
As long as you have enough food sources for their survival, they will welcome themselves into your home. Some of the things that attract roaches are:
· Dirty environments for feeding
· Leaking drainage system, pipes or faucets
· Shelter and dark places
Dirty environments:
Cockroaches are capable of eating everything. They munch on delicacies that we love as humans, but unlike us, they also eat things that are not so healthy, like newspapers and leftovers. If you frequently leave your sink with unwashed plates or garbage cans with too much dirt without disposing of it, your home will surely attract roaches.
Dirty places are always filled with enough food to attract them.
So, if your home environment is dirty with crumbs of food scattered around or with leftover food undisposed, you are indirectly inviting roaches into your house with food sources. They will find the sources and find ways in.
Leaking drainage system, pipes, or faucet:
Water is the most important thing to roaches.
A roach can go longer without eating than without taking in water. They must constantly find water sources because they need moisture to survive. They move around pipes and areas that provide this for them. Moving around pipes and these drainage areas gives them the moisture they need. Once they find reliable water sources, they stick to them.
A home with a faulty plumbing or drainage system will surely attract them. Their need for water is why you see many of them around the toilet and any leaking faucet or pipe.
Shelter and dark places:
Like every other living thing, roaches have a limit of temperature they can withstand.
While some species can withstand as low as 32 degrees Fahrenheit, some prefer temperatures that are not so cold. So, they curl up in areas and corners suitable for them. This can include wall crevices, old kitchen containers, and old unused materials.
They are also comfortable in dark places, and that is why most roaches come out at night. And even though your house might be clean, if it has some dark corners and a little water, they can be attracted.
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Roaches are attracted to humid, dirty, and dark places.
But the way they manage to get inside is puzzling.
Roaches exploit the tiniest spaces and use them to move inside the home. The cracks and crevices give them the little inch they need into the house. Once they are inside, they begin their activities.
Except for a species in South America, roaches are generally about one and two inches. So, they use their small size to enter the cracks in your home, finding their way around the house to spread bacteria.
Now that you know the things that attract roaches, it is important to know some of those things they dislike. Here are some of them.
· Citrus
· Eucalyptus
· Lavender
Citrus:
Citrus has a very nice and fresh smell, but it has proven to repel roaches. The nice smell it has means that you can use it to make the room smell better even while using it to remove roaches. A couple of citrus peels dropped into areas that roaches love will also aid in chasing them away.
Eucalyptus:
The smell of eucalyptus also drives roaches away. You can plant it in your garden outside or behind the house. Although this is not a very efficient step to remove roaches, the efficiency can be increased when the eucalyptus oil is mixed with other chemicals.
Lavender:
Just like the Citrus, it has a very nice smell. It can also be planted outside in the garden to help in repelling any cockroach around, beside, or behind the house. But the efficiency is not guaranteed. To increase potency, you can mix with other chemicals.
The Citrus, Eucalyptus, and Lavender, once planted outside, can drive roaches away, but their efficiency is quite low.
If cockroaches are coming into your home in large numbers, you might need to take more proactive steps to wipe out these pest species in your home completely.
In setting out to get rid of that species of cockroach that has invaded your home.
Be it the German cockroach or the American cockroach, which are the most common species of this pest; you can decide to use home remedies with all the ingredients at home without having to go outside.
These home remedies can be effectively applied with the DIY approach to control German or American cockroach. Here are some of the effective home remedies used to clean out and kill these pests.
· Baking soda
· Diatomaceous earth
· Essential oils
· House detergent and roach repellent
Baking soda:
A naturally multi-purpose product, baking soda has proved to be very effective in different things, including getting rid of cockroaches. When the bugs take in baking soda and then go over to drink water, the mixed solution will make the stomach burst.
The effective way to use this home remedy is to mix it with sugar. The sugar will attract the cockroach to the soda, and once its ingested, the reaction will surely kill the cockroach. Because roaches eat other dead roaches, the poison will be passed on.
Diatomaceous earth:
It is a soft natural rock grounded in a white powder. It is natural, and in using it, you refrain from using a behind-the-counter chemical solution to eliminate these bugs, choosing a natural solution instead.
The diatomaceous earth is not toxic, and it is amicable around pets and children. While it is not harmful to humans and pets, it is highly effective in killing insects. It kills by subduing the exoskeleton of the cockroach and suffocating it through dehydration. Once a cockroach steps over it, it is doomed.
Because it dehydrates, it doesn’t kill the roach on the spot. Rather, its effects linger on making the roach spread the poison to other roaches and subsequently increasing the roach casualties.
In applying, you have to know that this cockroach repellent does not work when applied in wet places. Once it comes in contact with water, the effectiveness of the solution is watered down. Before applying, make sure you thoroughly clean the areas that you intend to spray like cardboard boxes or spill the repellent to avoid it being wet. Then proceed to apply in the corners where the roaches will be killed.
Essential oils:
These essential oils can kill cockroaches too. The smell makes it difficult for the cockroaches to continue their normal business, and if applied thoroughly and robustly, the smell can kill the cockroaches around it.
House detergents and roach repellent:
This is also another home remedy against roaches.
Because the roach does not have a nose to breathe in, it takes in air through the side. If a house detergent solution of soap and water is used and sprayed directly on the cockroach, it will suffocate the cockroach and kill it. While it is a good remedy, it cannot be used to handle a whole lot of cockroaches.
It is possible to exterminate the pest called the roach overnight or over a short period of time. All you need to do is employ one of the best strategies to help in roach control. Some of the strategies are:
1. Keeping the environment clean
2. Using a trap and roach bait
3. Insecticide
4. Boric acid
5. Using Ultrasonic pest repeller
Keep the environment clean:
Although roaches can be attracted to clean areas for some reasons like shelter, they are mostly attracted to dirty areas and environments. Almost all the time, roach infestations are caused by dirty environments. To eliminate this, make sure that the dishes are very well washed as quickly as possible. The garbage is taken out immediately when it is filled up, and every other neat and healthy lifestyle is imbibed. One of the best ways to reduce the population of roaches. It is an excellent natural strategy.
In keeping the environment clean to eliminate cockroaches, any water and drainage problem should be taken care of. Leaking faucets fixed, and broken pipes repaired and replaced with the best materials. Once an enabling environment for cockroaches to thrive is blocked, they will be ridden. Helping to keep and reduce cockroaches around the home.
Using a trap and roach bait:
This can help to kill cockroaches overnight.
All you need to do is place it in strategic corners of the house where these cockroaches can be caught behind containers. To be effective, the trap must have a roach bait that will attract cockroaches. This bait can include food crumbs or just any kind of food that will easily attract the cockroach.
Insecticide:
Insecticides are strong chemicals that poison and kill insects. To get rid of roaches, insecticide use is highly recommended as it is one of the best ways to chase roaches from hiding places and kill them. Although roaches are quite resilient, the use of insecticide will kill them. The chemical sprayed from the insecticide can, or spilled from the container, will deal a huge blow to any cockroach’s nervous system.
Boric Acid:
Boric acid serves as roach control.
When correctly applied, It is a potent chemical that can be used to control and kill pests like roaches quickly and effectively. Boric acid, a combination of water and boron, is a chemical compound that has proved efficient in dealing with and getting rid of cockroaches. Once a cockroach crawls through this powder and ingests it, it is sure to die.
For the acid to work, you have to spray effectively. It may and should not be too little and not too much because if a cockroach gets a whiff of the powder from afar, it will attempt to move away from it immediately. Once the compound is in the body of the cockroach, it will quickly breakdown the system.
The chemical is also so strong that it can still affect the cockroach that eats a dead cockroach ingested the spray. In deciding to take on a professional exterminator’s work to kill cockroaches, the acid must be used effectively. It must also be kept away from pets and children as it can affect them.
Using Ultrasonic Pest Repeller
If you have a roach infestation, you definitely want to eliminate the cockroaches in the best way possible and with the best products.
Because this is a very stubborn and strong-willed insect, it may not be easy to destroy permanently. Below are some of the strategies to use when in search of how to get rid of roaches permanently in a step by step approach.
Seal cracks:
To totally remove roaches from home, it is important to seal cracks and crevices and all entry points. Roaches get in contact with the food they are so attracted to because they have entry points.
Homes that are well built without cracks and crevices may be less unlikely to get a roach invasion.
So, to permanently eliminate the roaches, you must seal and fix the cracks. This will prevent these tiny irritating things from getting into the house through the cracks.
Calling pest control:
Getting a professional pest control agency with professional backing and rights reserved to help spray your home will help with the roach control.
These agencies have expert pest control workers who are skilled with many years of service in controlling insects and cockroaches alike.
Although this is the most extreme and expensive measure, it is the most effective roach control mechanism. The experts will comprehensively spray the home of roaches, and that may even keep other pests away. The pest control agency also has better equipment to reach the spray areas that would otherwise not have been reached without the apparatus they use.
Pest treatment agencies offer Top-notch services.
Because pests like cockroaches can breed and multiply quickly, some of these DIY steps might not work as effectively as needed to control bacteria invasion and spread. That is why calling an external terminator to treat your environment will help take care of the infestation totally.
Gel bait:
This is a sort of insecticide in which an active ingredient is mixed with food.
This insecticide has revolutionized the pesticide market because it is wildly efficient.
The gel bait attracts roaches and then kills them with its chemical ingredient. The gel bait is so efficient because the bait does not kill roaches on the spot. It kills slowly as one roach transmits it to another. It is like a roach virus, an ingenious addition to pesticides.
The gel baits do not affect the eggs because they have to be ingested, and gel eggs can not take in baits. Once the gel baits are applied in the bait stations, they are sure to kill the larger percentage of the roaches. They are highly recommended because the baits are potent and proven.
Cockroaches are unyielding pests.
Once they infest an area, eliminating them becomes difficult. The strategies and steps stated in this article lay down effective solutions that can be taken to end kill roaches and stop their activities. They are straight to the point and are sure to be helpful.
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