Roach infestation in your home can be frustrating. These pests are persistent and will make themselves at home in your kitchen, bathroom, and other living spaces. The sight of black cockroach skittering across the counter, sinks, and other surfaces is not only disgusting but poses a risk to your health. These pests carry diseases, give unpleasant odors, cause allergies, and ruin food. The best solution is to figure out what attracts the roaches and how to get rid of them.
What Attracts Cockroaches to Your Home
The following factors attract these pests;
- Food– food bits left on dirty dishes in the sink, milk in the jug, particles all over the floor, these are the things cockroaches love as their meal.
- Water– any source of moisture is a potential lure for roaches. From leaking pipes to spills in the kitchen, these will make cockroaches stick around.
- Shelter– these insects hide in gaps and crevices in the walls as well as within the clutter. I have things piled like cardboard and firewood that will act as cockroaches’ home.
- Warmth– these insects are active all year round, but they thrive and breed in summer. If your home is warm, it serves as a good place for them and thus breeds more.
- Messy garden– a garden with overgrown grass and bushes is a perfect hideout for roaches. The roaches will invade if it has water, food, and shelter too.
- Cracks and crevices– cracks and crevices in walls are ideal places for roaches to hide. Seal any such holes, cracks, and leakages in pipes to eradicate sources for bugs to live.
How to Get Rid of Cockroaches
The best way to get rid of cockroaches is to get professional help. However, there are several things you can do to help get rid of the pests and prevent future infestation, including:
Thoroughly Clean Your Home
This tip may seem obvious, but roaches are highly attracted to dirt and filth spots as they search for new food sources. The easy way to keep the cockroaches out of your home is maintaining hygiene but ensuring you do the following;
- Wash utensils and put them away after meals
- Clean crumbs and spills immediately.
- Take out the garbage before going to bed.
- Remove grease from the stovetop.
- Seal food in containers
- Mop the floor regularly.
- Wipe up excess moisture
- Fix any plumbing leaks right away
- Don’t leave pet food on the floor.
- Seal any cracks and crevices
- Don’t leave cardboard and paper clutter around your home.
Use Store-Bought Traps or Baits
Use the type of trap found in the supermarkets and home improvements stores (You can order one from Amazon if you’re like me and love the conveniences of modern life). The device uses a scent or other bait to attract roaches. It’s an effective way, as the bait lures the cockroaches and they become trapped in a sticky substance inside. The method can take up to two weeks to give results, so you should check the traps regularly.
Chemical baits, on the other hand, disguise insecticides as a food source. Through their antennae, cockroaches can pick up scents and quickly home down to their source (the bait). Roaches ingest the insecticide and return to their nests, where they die. Other insects eat them, spreading the poison to the rest of the nest. Place chemical baits near garbage cans and underneath sinks and cabinets in kitchens and bathrooms.
Use Liquid Concentrates
Use this liquid concentrate to deter the roaches. Once diluted, you can spray the liquid into cracks and crevices and other areas they are hiding in the house. You can still consider moping the floor and wipe the counters with the solution. This remedy is one of the sure bets of getting rid of the roaches overnight.
Use Boric Acid
Boric acid is an excellent remedy for cockroaches, especially if you are keen on taking the DIY approach. Mix equal amounts of acid, flour, and sugar to make a dough. Place the dough balls on the areas where the cockroaches can feed on; the sugar and flour will attract the roaches while the caid will kill.
The acid will kill the roaches, which will become food for other bugs and entirely wipe away all the pests. But this is risky; you have to be careful while applying this method, especially if you have pets around your home. Again, keep the kitchen out of bounds for the kids as they can easily taste the dough, which is risky for their lives.
Lay Glue Strips
Place several glue strips near the infested areas, and they will draw the bugs out of small crevices and trap them. This process can take several days to or even weeks, so it’s more suitable for less infested homes.
Why Do I Have Roaches in My Clean House?
Keeping a clean home will decrease your chances of attracting roaches, but sometimes, it’s still not enough. Several factors can cause cockroaches to inhabit a clean house. Some of these factors are like dark, moist areas. These pests love the humid, compact, and dark regions of your home.
If you’ve ever noticed cockroaches crawling around your bathtub or kitchen sink, it’s because humid areas like these are usually the perfect breeding ground for roaches. They will also congregate near any standing water like a kitchen sink or washing machine.
The pests also like piles of packing supplies like boxes in the attic or basements. These areas are dark and also attract other insets which cockroaches eat. It’s best to keep your home area tidy and free of any debris—other factors crevices, holes, cracks, and hiding places that may be present in your home.
Check this too: How to Remove Cockroaches from the Refrigerator
What Smells Keep Roaches Away?
Several strong, specific scents have proved to deter roaches and other insects. Some are like herbs, spices, plants, and essential oils. Peppermint oil, cedarwood oil cypress oil are essential oils that successfully keep roaches at bay. Additionally, these pests hate the smell of crushed bay leaves, mint, cinnamon, garlic, and more.
Conclusion
It can be irritating to work hard at keeping your house clean and still have issues with roaches. But if you follow the tips like sealing the crevices, fixing the leaking pipes apart from cleaning the homestead, you will control the roaches. Also, it’s best to use natural remedies like herbs and spices or traps and glue to eliminate them, unlike poisons which may pose a risk to kids and pets.