Sweep your floors. Make sure all traces of food and other debris are swept off your floors. This is especially important in the kitchen where food and crumbs commonly fall. After sweeping, mop your floors with a disinfectant cleaner and boiling hot water to kill germs and keep roaches at bay.
Pine-Sol and Fabuloso are strong, all-purpose household cleaners. Similar to bleach, these products kill roaches on contact. Some homeowners suggest spraying Pine-Sol around the outside of your house to keep cockroaches away.
Moisture. Roaches need moisture to survive and this search for water will bring them into even the cleanest of homes.
The best way to keep cockroaches away permanently is to make the home less inviting. Make sure to keep the home clean, clean up food messes, take out trash at the end of the day, seal any cracks or gaps around windows, doors and the foundation, and fix any issue that might lead to high moisture content within the home.
It's been said by some that a clean house is a roach-resistant house. There's some truth to that. By keeping a clean dwelling, you'll give roaches less of a reason to intrude upon your happy home. There is more to keeping roaches at bay than just having spotless floors, however.
Citrus. You may love the smell of fresh citrus, but cockroaches hate the scent. That means you can use citrus scented cleaners in your kitchen and bathroom to chase any lingering roaches away. You can also keep a few citrus peels around your home in strategic places.
Breadcrumbs or baby food can be effective lures to draw cockroaches out of their nests and into your traps. You can also use peanut butter – and dipping pieces of bread in beer has also been shown to be an especially enticing lure for cockroaches.
Boric Acid
Boric acid is a popular method for killing cockroach infestations. How to get rid of cockroaches overnight will always include some kind of insecticide or trap; boric acid is one of the most effective weapons against cockroaches.
Distilled vinegar does not kill or repel roaches, making it completely ineffective. Distilled vinegar will help keep your kitchen clean, giving cockroaches less to snack on. However, roaches can live for months at a time without any food at all, and they will eat almost anything to survive.
No matter how clean your home is, if there's some excess moisture somewhere, it could very well be an attractive invitation for your neighborhood roaches. This is one of the reasons why you'll commonly find roaches hanging out in your bathroom and laundry room or around an appliance that produces condensation.
White vinegar is often recommended as a natural way to get rid of roaches. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually kill these problem insects. It's more of a cleaning tool than anything else, and it won't actually help eliminate your roach problem.
For cockroaches, window cleaner can make them temporarily unconscious so that you can squash them. This works on initial contact, but Windex will not continue to kill bugs after it has dried. Laundry Detergent – Dilute a few drops of laundry detergent or dish soap in water and use the mixture as a spray.
Let's take a look at some of the best cleaning practices that will deter bugs from coming into your home. 1. Sweeping and Mopping - It is important to sweep and mop your kitchen floor on a regular basis. Food crumbs and other tasty morsels tend to fall on the floor and get forgotten about or hidden under cabinets.
Soap and water are a good start, but you can also use baking soda to help get rid of the roach smell. Another option is to use a disinfectant cleaner to wipe down surfaces. Make sure you clean floors, appliances, counter tops, cabinets, and anywhere else you have seen signs of roaches.
They now make trash bags pre-scented with mint or other scents known to repel cockroaches, mice, and other common trash invaders. These bags may prove effective because peppermint, winter mint, and spearmint are among the strongest odors to deter various bugs and rodents.
It's a fact that cockroaches are afraid of humans and other mammals or animals that are bigger than them. They see us as predators and that fear triggers their instinct to scatter away. However, they dislike strong and distinctive scents such as citrus, peppermint, lavender and vinegar.
Thus, sleeping with the light on can keep cockroaches away from your bedroom. When you leave your lights on, the cockroaches will not even try to come out. Predators are also attracted by the light and will begin to actively hunt down the cockroaches when it's bright in the room.
Boric acid Some people find this to be the best option to kill roaches. Boric acid can work too, the only downside is that sometimes roaches will go away as soon as they smell boric acid.
Spray cypress and peppermint oils under and around your bed.
These essential oils tend to naturally repel roaches. Mix 8 drops of cypress oil, 10 drops of peppermint oil, and 1 cup (240 ml) of water in a spray bottle and then spray this mixture wherever you've seen roaches.
Sprinkle the diatomaceous earth around areas where roaches travel and frequent. The sharp particles of diatomaceous earth damage the waxy, protective exoskeleton of the roach, causing it to dehydrate and die, typically within 48 hours of contact.
Cockroaches are attracted to your home by the smell of food. They are most attracted to starch, sugar, grease, meat, and cheese. Rotting fruits and vegetables can also give off a very pungent smell that will definitely attract these pests.
Your laundry room has the potential for excess moisture and humidity, plus plenty of places for cockroaches to hide. Condensation, standing water, and humid air are all very common when running a washing machine or dryer and cockroaches love areas with high moisture content.
Females have an estimated adult lifespan of 180 days, while males have an adult lifespan of about 160 days. Cockroaches are one of the oldest living insects on the planet. Their life cycle plays an important role in their ability to survive and populate the earth.