If you are however living in a house with children or pets, vinegar will be the safer option to getting rid of cockroaches. All you will need to do is mix vinegar with water in a 70:30 ratio and spray it around your kitchen area. As cockroaches hate the smell of vinegar, this will help keep them away.
Did you know that cockroaches hate the smell of peppermint, lavender, eucalyptus, and tea tree oils? That is because it disrupts and masks the scent trails which cockroaches use to hunt for their food. Roaches die when they are exposed to higher concentrations of essential oils, particularly peppermint oil.
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.
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.
All About Vinegar
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. It can, however, help deter roaches and get rid of germs in the kitchen when used as a cleaning agent.
Sprinkle boric acid in areas the roaches frequent; when they walk through it, it sticks to them. They later ingest the boric acid, which then kills them. When using boric acid, be sure to limit your exposure; don't place it anywhere that children or pets might find it, as it's toxic when ingested.
Borax and Sugar
The right combination is about three parts borax to one part sugar. Once you combine the two ingredients, sprinkle it around your home to keep the roaches at bay.
Mint or eucalyptus - Roaches hate the smell of mint too. You can use this in many different ways. From placing these plants in the corners of your house or using the eucalyptus' essential oil as a spray. Clove oil - This works best with other essential oils like peppermint or citrus.
Lemon and lemongrass essential oils specifically will drive any cockroach away due to their strong scent of limonene, which smells like nothing else on earth! Add a couple of drops of citrus or peppermint essential oil to a few cotton balls, and lay them around where the roaches in your home congregate.
Boric acid remains one of the most popular and effective methods for combatting a roach infestation.
Pine Sol, like many household cleaners, such as bleach, is capable of killing a cockroach on contact. In the pest control world, we call these contact insecticides.
Cockroach predators include mammals, avians, amphibians and other reptiles. For example, hedgehogs will eat roaches. Joining the roach à la mode dinner party are geckos, skinks and other species of lizards, frogs, turtles, some types of birds and even rats and mice.
While bleach is ineffective when it comes to killing cockroaches, it does repel them. But, bleach should only be used with extreme caution, as it is toxic when ingested, and has the potential to bleach or damage anything it touches. When it comes to deterring roaches with smells, bleach may not be the best option.
Most species are picky about the temperature, some are picky about the humidity, and a few really hate lights. But you don't want to freeze yourself in your own house and run fans in every room just to make the cockroaches uncomfortable.
If you are however living in a house with children or pets, vinegar will be the safer option to getting rid of cockroaches. All you will need to do is mix vinegar with water in a 70:30 ratio and spray it around your kitchen area. As cockroaches hate the smell of vinegar, this will help keep them away.
A concoction of baking soda and sugar is an effective way to control the multiplication of these pests. Sugar acts as bait to attract cockroaches and the baking soda will kill them. You just need to identify their hideouts and sprinkle this mixture in those corners. This is one of the best way to get rid of roaches.
Peppermint, clove, cinnamon, rosemary, and thyme have been found to have lethal properties. You can either make your own “instant roach killer spray,” or use a packaged product like Zevo or Wondercide.
One popular DIY method is to mix boric acid with equal parts powdered sugar as a lure. Apply as a fine layer under appliances, behind cabinets and along crevices. Roaches ingest the mixture and die within a few hours.
Your best bet is to combine baking soda with another granulated attractant, like sugar. Mix equal parts baking soda and sugar in a small dish and apply it to kitchen cabinets, baseboards, crevices, water sources, and other places roaches like to hide.
Windex is toxic to most pests, especially spiders. Spraying window cleaner directly onto small insects like ants or mosquitoes will kill them within a few moments. For cockroaches, window cleaner can make them temporarily unconscious so that you can squash them.
A concoction of baking soda and sugar is an effective cockroach killer and controls the multiplication of these pests. Sugar acts as a bait to attract cockroaches and the baking soda kills them. You just need to identify their hideouts and sprinkle this mixture in those corners.
So yes, Dawn soap will kill a roach when used correctly and accurately. However, it won't repel or be passed on from roach to roach the way current pesticides will.
Gel baits: According to Black, gel baits are the best roach killer option. These are available as either plastic bait stations or gel formulations that come in plastic syringes. The baits contain insecticide-laced foods that cockroaches eat.
Squashing a cockroach can spread disease
Indeed, salmonella, staphylococcus and streptococcus are some of the illnesses that cockroaches can cause, in addition to dysentery, diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid fever.