You just came across a cockroach and you want that to never happen again? For what reason have cockroaches suddenly appeared in your house when you have never seen them before? What to do to end once and for all even the last cockroach in a fully effective way?
We have all seen them at some time and almost all of us feel the same when we see them.
And, although there are up to 30 species of cockroaches that can be associated with a human habitat, meeting a cockroach is not usually a dish of good taste for anyone. Much less be aware that there is a plague of these insects in your own home and that small cockroaches wander into their fields without control wherever they want without knowing what we can do to avoid it. Although a pest can be a bit tedious to eliminate, before starting it is important to confirm that you are dealing with one of them. For more information on pests, visit: plagas10.com.
Surely you have seen one or more cockroaches in the bathroom or kitchen and simply want to know how to prevent them from reappearing, or perhaps you have detected that your house is infested by a pest and are looking for a desperate solution that acts even where it is hide cockroaches.
Before you know what radical solutions you have available, it is recommended that you first try some less invasive methods that guarantee great results.
Where do cockroaches come from and why are they in my house?
Cockroaches are highly adaptable insects that have a great ability to survive. However, there are certain factors that can favor its appearance and persistence.
Control water sources
A humid or wet environment favors the proliferation of cockroaches.
Depending on the temperature and their size, cockroaches are able to survive without water for up to a week and up to a month without any food.
It is important that you locate all water leaks in your home and fix them quickly. When you have achieved it, you will notice that the presence of cockroaches begins to reduce immediately.
Perform a thorough and comprehensive cleaning
A clean home is the key to keeping roaches away.
The best place to start is the kitchen, since keeping the dishes clean and without food scraps in the middle will ensure that no cockroaches appear. Make sure to remove all crumbs and food debris, and try to keep the entire area clean.
Store food well
Using airtight containers will prevent food from being exposed for long periods of time. Do not forget to wash the dishes after each meal, this way you will leave the cockroaches without their precious feast.
Clean the floor more frequently
It will help you keep it clean of crumbs and other debris that roaches can use to feed themselves. However, try not to soak everything, since you already know that roaches love water.
Do not accumulate garbage at home
Take out the trash at least once a day, as keeping it at home is a direct call to roach and other vermin pests.
Using a garbage can with a lid is very useful, since it prevents what is outside from coming out, and at the same time, it prevents any entry.
How to eliminate cockroaches forever
Making roaches disappear around your home forever is often considered a difficult or complicated task. However, there are some very effective methods that will make your home free of cockroaches again forever.
Use roach baits
Cockroach baits are an ideal solution for those houses where there are children living.
Cockroach baits are made up of a slow-acting poison mixed with delicious roach food. The plan is simple: when the roaches taste the poison and return to their nest, they will transmit the poison to the other roaches.
For the bait to be effective, remember the following:
Make sure to place it in a place where roaches will be able to find it. The best places are usually under the furniture, under the drains and in the areas near the corners of the rooms. It should be as close to the nest as possible, so that the roaches land on the bait, then they can return to the nest and extend its effect.
The baits can take weeks to take effect, since until after passing through your bait, since to completely end the plague, the cockroaches need to infect their eggs as well.
Try making your own roach bait at home
For this you will have to mix a boric acid, with flour and sugar in equal parts. Boric acid is often sold under the name of anti-cockroach powder and is generally found in most drug stores. The sugar and flour will attract the roaches and the boric acid will kill them.Just sprinkle a little of the mixture in key places where roaches are frequent, such as under the refrigerator, under the sink, or near sinks.
There are different things you need to know to successfully make roach killer bait at home:
- A similar method is to mix one part boric acid with two parts flour and one part cocoa.
- You have to be aware that up to 3 cycles of disappearance-reappearance of progressively smaller hordes of cockroaches can emerge. You will need to keep applying the product until the pest is extinct.
- Caution should be exercised with this method if there are children or pets nearby.
- Although boric acid is not too dangerous a toxic for humans and pets, it is only intended for external use, so it must be applied where cockroaches can find it.
- Lastly, remember that the mixture will become a hard paste when placed in very humid environments. Use paper or aluminum trays to protect the surfaces to which you apply this method.
Eliminate cockroaches with insecticide
Insecticide is the go-to option to kill off intrusive cockroaches. They work quickly, are easy to use, and usually don't cost a lot of money. As against, you should know that it only serves to eliminate adult cockroaches, since the poison will not act on the nests.
Soap and water solution
It is the easiest way to eliminate adult cockroaches. Just make a light soap and water solution and put it in a spray bottle.
You just have to apply it on the cockroaches directly with two or three pulsations of the solution.
When the mixture comes in contact with the head and abdomen, the aforementioned will try to run to escape but will suddenly stop and die.
Spray insecticide
You can buy any product against cockroaches. Its use is reduced to applying the product anywhere we have seen a cockroach.
Use the insecticide only when there are no people or pets in front of you, and be sure to read the manufacturer's directions for using the product.
If you had placed a bait, do not use the spray nearby, as the insecticide can contaminate it and leave it without effect.
Spray insecticides are used to remove cockroaches from our sight, but they will continue to live inside your walls, which could lead to an even worse situation, so it is important to try to end the root problem.
Apply an anti-cockroach concentrate
Concentrated liquids used to be exclusively available to professionals, but are now available to anyone.
This concentrate is a poison that, when diluted with water, kills cockroaches when applied to them.
This method is very practical to avoid reinfestation after a few weeks.
Contact a professional fumigator
It is the last resort for when the dimensions of the pest are beyond our control. Although you can try spraying roach-infested areas yourself, you may need the help of a professional fumigator. A fumigator will use specific pesticides that will ensure a permanent pest-free home.
Use traps
Traps are a convenient way to kill roaches. You can buy the traps or make them yourself. Below you will find all the details.
Buy anti-cockroach traps
They tend to attract roaches and trap them with a glue.
You will need to use several to maximize their efficiency, and you will have to place them in those places that you know roaches tend to roam.
Use them if you want to effectively kill a small adult roach infestation, as this method will not affect the nest.
Use a bottle of water
This home method involves placing a jug or a jar filled with water near a wall. This allows roaches to get in, but it will be impossible for them to get out.
You can use anything as bait, even coffee beans, but its effect will be greatest in very dry environments.
Like the previous method, this will not affect the nest in any way, so it will only kill the adult roaches that fall into the trap.
Make traps with plastic bottles
You just need to take a plastic bottle and break it in half. Invert the top and insert it into the other half. This will funnel into the inside of the bottle.
Now you just need to add a little soapy water to the bottom of the bottle and install the trap in the place where the cockroaches appear. The rest is a matter of patience.
How to avoid the reappearance of cockroaches
It is logical that you are concerned about making that horde of cockroaches that has invaded your home disappear, but it is also important that you take the appropriate precautions to prevent a new plague from re-infesting your house in a few weeks.
Put debris from the garden or balcony as far away from the house as possible
Cockroaches tend to be very comfortable in areas with many hiding places, such as piles of wood, since they can move freely and enter their hiding place when the weather cools.
Keep this type of accumulation as far away from your house as possible and throw away everything you don't need.
Seal the places where roaches can get in
Sealing both the exterior and interior cracks, will make the walls of our houses become a good barrier against cockroaches. Check and repair all the walls of your home and take your time to eliminate possible access that roaches could use to enter.
Pay special attention to the furniture in your kitchen, on the floors, doors and windows of your house, and on the walls of the bathroom and kitchen.
Prepare preventive traps
Even if you have managed to kill a roach infestation, it is best to prepare to prevent a re-infestation in a short time.
Use an insecticide as a booster to weaken any roaches that have managed to survive.
You can also use caulk to repair any cracks in walls or baseboards.
