Seal the Entrances
They enter homes through cracks and crevices in doors, windows, and foundations. The best tip for how to keep roaches away is to avoid an infestation by preventing the bugs from coming inside in the first place. Close gaps around windows and doors with weatherstripping and seal up cracks with caulk.
Loose window seals, gaps under doors, tears in screens, holes around dryer vents and other access points can give roaches a clean path into your home.
Cockroaches are believed to be in 63 percent of homes in the United States.
Even regular cleaning will not stop the pest to come. The pest will visit your place whenever they want and when they need it. If you want to avoid cockroaches into your clean home, better choose the right location. But wherever you are, if the pest persists to infest, it will.
So what smell do roaches hate? Oregano, rosemary, mint, eucalyptus, lemongrass and catnip are great herby options. Citrus oils work brilliantly too.
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.
With the highest quality pest control treatments, you'll likely see a reduction in roach activity within days, while total control and complete elimination of your infestation may take months.
When treating roaches it all depends on how bad the problem is as to how many times you have to treat. Once the problem is under control and you do not see any more roaches, it is recommended to spray something once every 30 to 60 days inside and outside your home to help keep the problem from coming back.
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.
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.
Bleach's Effect on Roaches
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.
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.
Boric acid: Used correctly, boric acid is one of the most effective roach killers.
Cockroaches are attracted to the food and shelter that comes with filth. Cleaning your home is the easiest way to keep roaches at bay. You need to be incredibly thorough in this effort—unfortunately, roaches can survive for 2 weeks without water and 3 months without food.
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.
While bleach is ineffective when it comes to killing cockroaches, it does repel them.
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.
Bleach: Bleach kills everything! Spraying cockroaches with bleach or an ammonia mixture will poison them, but be cautious with this powerful chemical. Borax: Borax is a classic roach killer. It's a powdery substance which is a kind of salt.
Baking Soda and Sugar Mixture
Mix a pinch of sugar with some baking soda in a bowl and leave it for the cockroaches. Attracted to the food source (the sugar), the roaches will ingest the poison (the baking soda) and die. It's safe and efficient, but make sure you clean up any dead roaches as soon as possible.
Spray cracks and crevices where the roaches are running, behind and under ovens, stoves, refrigerator, between the refrigerator and nearby appliance, behind microwaves, toasters, ovens, coffee makers, dishwashers.
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.
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.