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.
The short answer is yes; the scent of vinegar can help to keep cockroaches away. However, it is helpful to note that this is not a guaranteed solution, and you may still see cockroaches in your home even if you use vinegar. Therefore, we believe it's a great repellent but not an effective roach killer.
You can spray a mixture of oregano oil and water on countertops and any nooks and crannies. Oregano has a strong, pungent odor that cockroaches can't stand. Since it's a safe oil to use around the kitchen, you can spray a mixture of oregano oil and water on countertops and any nooks and crannies they like to hide.
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.
Smells that roaches hate: a quickfire summary
Oregano, rosemary, mint, eucalyptus, lemongrass and catnip are great herby options. Citrus oils work brilliantly too. And surprisingly, lower concentrations – 2.5 parts per hundred – seem to work best as deterrents. Just don't bother with lavender.
Sugar. Sugar is by far the most attractive substance to a cockroach. They love sugar and can smell it from anywhere. This means you'll want to keep your sugar containers, fruits, and other sweeteners sealed in air-tight containers that are up off the floor.
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.
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.
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.
Good old-fashioned soap and water is a safe, reliable, and inexpensive method. Create a soapy water solution that you can spray with a bottle. It will only take about 2 – 3 sprays to kill any roaches, as the soapy solution will cover their breathing pores and suffocate them.
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.
Just take some hot water, mix 1 portion of white vinegar and stir well, wipe slabs and clean around the cook tops with this solution and pour this solution in the kitchen drains in the night, this will disinfect the pipes and drains and would keep cockroaches from climbing up into the kitchen.
Taking a deep drink of household bleach would kill anything, roaches included. But the same strong odor that keeps people from taking a swig of bleach repels roaches as well. So though it could work, in reality, it will not. It is very difficult to kill an entire roach infestation yourself.
Home remedies like diatomaceous earth, baking soda, boric acid, citrus, essential oils, and borax can be effective ways to get rid of roaches. If you want to take a more aggressive approach to eliminate roaches, glue traps, bait stations, and liquid roach deterrent concentrates are all excellent options.
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.
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.
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.
Squashing a cockroach can spread disease
The World Health Organization also advises against crushing them, for reasons of hygiene.
Dryer Sheets: Mostly False
Linalool is an alcohol derived from plants, and it gives dryer sheets their distinctive scent. In sufficient concentrations, linalool can indeed be used as a pest repellant, but your average dryer sheet doesn't contain enough of it to actually work on roaches.
Turning up the AC may not look good on your energy bill but at least your house will be cockroach-free. There's a reason why we see roaches in the summer, and they vanish during the winter – cockroaches hate the cold. Always turn up the AC. To save energy, you can turn on an overhead fan or buy a large fan.
Cockroaches are most likely to be active about four hours after dark and enter a period of immobility just afterwards. This immobility period is similar to what humans would call “sleeping.”
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.
Cockroach gel baits, at Walmart are a popular solution that can get rid of roaches within a couple of weeks – simply apply dots of the gel over cracks, seams and corners, along baseboards, around appliances and so on.