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Are you looking for the best cockroaches elimination advice? You’ve come to the right article! For so long, cockroaches have been a nuisance in homes, invading our space and spoiling our foods. Here are 5 tips on how you can eliminate cockroaches in your abode.
5 Tips to Remove Cockroaches at Home
Cockroaches are tough creatures. They survive extreme conditions and can even keep on moving without its head. Following these 5 tips will help you regain control over your house, keep your family safe, and prevent unwanted diseases.
1. Know What Makes Your House Attractive to Roaches
No matter the species of cockroach in your house (mostly being the American cockroach), you’ll do well when you identify what makes them go and stay inside. This also applies to other pets such as rodents, termites, and ants.
The following are what attracts roaches the most:
- Warmth and moisture
- Dirty dishes and kitchen appliances
- Garbage
- Food crumbs
- Other food remnants
- Pet food
- Empty cans
- Empty containers
To keep them away, do what you can and remove anything that they might find appealing – wash dishes right as they hit the sink, especially before you call it a night. Clean and pick up crumbs, pet food, and other possible food remains. Put trash where it belongs and keep it sealed.
2. Determine How They Got to Your House
Having things in your home is the first step in cockroach infestation. Their next step is finding how they move to your house. They usually crawl in small spaces like holes and cracks where wires go through, but they can also hitch a ride in your bags or other containers. They’re so flexible that they can even use the narrow spaces in your window sills to pay a visit.
How to know when a roach infestation is on the way or is already happening? Usually, finding just one roach roaming around is enough to assume that its other friends are already in the building. You’ll also be able to find black droppings, brownish molted skins, smear marks, and egg cases lying around. Damage to packets containing food is also a tell-tale sign of roach infestation.
3. Utilize Cockroach Traps and Baits
Traps in supermarkets or stores can be very effective in killing roaches. These traps use a scent that attracts roaches and kills them, either with them eating the toxic baits or sticking to the trap.
Cockroaches that managed to get back to the nest will also pollute the others and contaminate the eggs by dying in the nest and the other roaches eating its remains.
Make sure that you put these traps and baits in the correct area in the home, such as:
- Under the refrigerator
- Near trash bins
- Inside cabinets and drawers
- Any storage areas
- Under sinks
- In bathrooms
- Near stoves and dishwashers
These are all places where cockroaches are most attracted to and most probably dwell. Traps and baits are best for infestations that only started because then the population of the pest isn’t that great yet.
4. Mop and Spray Liquid Concentrates
Another great way to stop cockroaches is to use liquid concentrates. They’re also available in your local supermarket and are simple to use. Just dilute the solution and spray it at the suspected entry points and hideouts of the roaches. You can even use it to mop the floors and wipe the countertops and stove.
5. Create Boric Acid Doughs
If you’re a fan of DIY craft, then this one’s for you. Boric acid is an effective home remedy for fighting cockroaches but make sure that you don’t apply too many of it, or it’ll lose its effectiveness. Using equal amounts of boric acid, flour, and sugar, create a dough and scatter it in places where the roaches litter.
The combination of sugar and flour will easily attract cockroaches and make them think it’s food. On the other hand, boric acid will slowly kill them. The process can take up to 72 hours, so you need to be patient. If you don’t want to waste the remaining boric acid, you can use it to dust around the areas where roaches have been. Make sure that the dough is far from your furry friends or the reach of children.
Although it may be effective for adult cockroaches, the dough won’t be ingested by the eggs, making the infestation still very viable to continue.
Be Safe From Roach Infestation
If, after trying the above, the infestation continues – may it be because there are too many of them in your house or the roaches just always find their way back – the next step is to get help from professional exterminators.
The best way to prevent an infestation is to always have a clean environment. Although, in some cases, this might be hard to maintain with your schedule and daily activities, find the time to allocate a certain time frame to clean your house properly. Keep safe from an infestation and live a roach-free life.
