Water roaches invade homes for a few reasons, most of which are out of a homeowner's control. Seriously—they infest homes both clean and dirty, as long as there's a little food and… the number one reason they move indoors… Easy access to water. True to its name, a water cockroach needs lots of water to survive.
These include concentrated distilled white vinegar; a mix of equal parts sugar and baking soda; borax and boric acid, which destroy the insects' digestive tract; and essential oils like citronella.
Waterbugs are attracted to damp, moist areas, and they are also very attracted to old food and garbage. In other words, if you're noticing waterbugs in your home, that's probably an alarm that you aren't cleaning enough.
All cockroaches need water to some degree, but some need water more than others. Those roaches that need water most will be attracted to water sources in your home, including leaky pipes, water spills, drips, and open containers of liquid.
Cockroaches have an incredible sense of smell that they use to find food. You can take advantage of this fact by using scents they dislike such as thyme, citrus, basil, mint, and citronella to repel them from your home.
Baking Soda + Powdered Sugar: it is a powerful remedy to remove water bugs. It is simple yet effective. Just take equal amounts of both the materials and mix them. Sprinkle it on areas where the cockroaches are most frequently seen or their nest.
Spray essential oils—Water bugs, like most insects, hate the smell of essential oils. Mix a few drops of citronella essential oil with water and pour the solution into a spray bottle. You can also use peppermint oil as another safe and natural pesticide option.
Second, you can place moth balls near the holes to deter the waterbugs from coming into your home in the first place. Never leave moth balls around people or animals becuase they are toxic.
It's no mistake this variety is often called a waterbug. These large roaches are most often found in sewers and storm drains living in massive colonies of thousands, but any water source will draw them. This includes a leaking pipe under a sink, pet's water dish, or a gutter and downspout right outside your house.
Some of the ways to stop bugs from coming up the drain include plugging the drain, pouring bleach down the drain, and cleaning out the room so there is nothing attracting bugs in the room like garbage cans or food. Different types of bugs find refuge in sewers and piping because it's wet and full of food sources.
Both cockroaches and water bugs come out at night to forage for food and water. However, unlike cockroaches who are scared of bright lights, water bugs are attracted to them and sometimes stray into houses at night.
Cockroaches are typically light tan to dark brown in color, while waterbugs are tan to black, but their colors won't be of much help. Their bodies are oval-shaped and flat, and both species have antennae and wings. Waterbugs have piercing mouth parts and a short, pointed beak on the underside of the head.
Waterbug Droppings are Different.
They leave egg cases, discarded shells, and droppings where they've been living, and it's often easy to find.
So, do mothballs get rid of roaches? The answer is yes they can. The use of mothballs is one of the most effective and easiest ways to use home remedies to curb a roach infestation. Apart from preventing roach infestations, mothballs also prevent other insects from coming into your home.
Roaches are repelled by ground coffee. In fact, putting some ground coffee down in the corners or windowsills of your kitchen can actually help keep them insects away.
One of the best-known water bug treatments is food-grade diatomaceous earth (DE). It's all-natural, safe to use around children and pets (but do take precautions not to inhale), and best of all, effective (although we do recommend CimeXa for even better results).
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.
Combine water and peppermint oil in a spray bottle. Shake bottle before use and spray the solution around entry spots such as windowsills and door frames, or places where insects may hide. The strong odor acts as a repellent.
For kitchen deterrents, cockroaches dislike the smell of cinnamon, bay leaves, garlic, peppermint, and coffee grounds. If you want a strong-smelling disinfectant, choose vinegar or bleach. The best scent-based deterrents are essential oils, such as eucalyptus or tea tree oil.
Peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, and cypress oil are essential oils that effectively keep cockroaches at bay. Additionally, these insects hate the smell of crushed bay leaves and steer clear of coffee grounds. If you want to try a natural way to kill them, combine powdered sugar and boric acid.
Household bleach is commonly used as a cleaning agent and gives off a strong smell that cockroaches hate. Filth and cleanliness don't mix at all, which makes the physical act of killing cockroaches with bleach very hard.
The water bug is a bug that looks like a cockroach, but isn't technically part of the roach family. A true water bug is—true to name—an aquatic insect that lives in the water. Waterbugs hold their breath for a long time without resurfacing. If handled, water bugs can bite in defense.