Wherever there are food crumbs and trails, roaches won't be too far behind. Some species like to hide inside of photo frames, clocks, and furniture. The brown-banded cockroach, in particular, often hides its egg cases in or under furniture.
Cockroaches are blessed with an amazing sense of smell. This is what they use when seeking food and mate but at the same time, this is also their weakness. A cockroach's sense of smell can be used to get rid of them.
If cockroaches are active during the day, it could be a sign that their hiding spots are overcrowded or that there is a shortage of food, water, or space. This often happens when there's a significant infestation, and the roaches must come out during daylight to search for resources.
Some strong scents, such as lavender and mint, have been known to repel cockroaches. Therefore, growing these plants or misting their scent with essential oils can keep them away.
Leaving the light on doesn't deter cockroaches effectively because they can navigate in low-light conditions. While they're mostly active at night, they may still come out in search of food or water. During the day, cockroaches hide in dark areas not directly exposed to light.
Insects and Arachnids
Strangely enough, one of the most prevalent kind of predator that cockroaches face are fellow insects! The emerald cockroach wasp, Ampulex compressa, for example, has an unusual way of preying upon cockroaches. The wasp stings the cockroach's brain, which paralyzes the cockroach.
While cockroaches are fond of many foods, they have a strong dislike for the powerful scents of citrus, especially lemon. Leaving a cut lemon around the kitchen or in a fruit bowl can help to deter these pests.
A cockroach can feel the change in air current and change in the surroundings, and when they encounter us, they look in their surroundings, looks for a place from where they can escape, and then chase you, scare you, and make a run toward the escape. They use this strategy against many other predators.
Oatmeal and Baking Soda Bait:
Mix baking soda with a bowl of prepared oatmeal to entice roaches and send them packing. Application: Mix equal parts of oatmeal and baking soda. Place the mixture in shallow dishes near roach-prone areas, ensuring it's out of reach of pets and children.
Generally, the presence of discarded skins and feces are indicative of a nest, with other telltale features including a large number of dead roaches, egg cases, dark spots, and smears. Egg cases are usually brown and less than a quarter of an inch long. Each case can house 40 or more baby roaches.
Electronic cockroach repellent supposedly works by emitting ultrasonic, or very high frequency, sound waves. This noise is supposed to cause response which can confuse, and may even kill, certain pests like cockroaches.
To keep roaches away from your bed, you can create a homemade spray using water and a few drops of essential oils known to repel cockroaches, such as peppermint or tea tree oil. Spray this solution around your bed frame and nearby areas to deter roaches.
COCKROACH TRAP
Make cockroach traps by cutting the top off of a 2-liter soda pop bottle. Cut in a straight line where the bottle begins to curve. 2. Put a little Vaseline or cooking spray around the inside of the bottle (Be careful not to get any on the outside).
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.
For homemade cockroach control, you can make a simple bait using boric acid, sugar, and water. Mix equal parts of boric acid and sugar, then add a bit of water to form a paste. Place this mixture in small containers or on pieces of cardboard and put them in areas where you have seen roaches.
There's a long-running joke that cockroaches could survive the apocalypse, as getting rid of unwanted roaches is difficult if you have an infestation. But if you want to kill them on contact, all you need to do is reach for your handy bottle of Pine-Sol! Considered a "contact insecticide," it kills them quickly.
Squashing cockroaches can spread these pathogens onto surfaces, increasing the risk of disease transmission to humans. For example, if you squash a cockroach, now the sole of your shoe is contaminated. Wherever you walk next may also become contaminated.
The best roach killer, based on our research, is the advion 383920 Cockroach Gel Bait; a commercial-grade roach killer set that is easy to use and lasts months after application. It can kill all sorts of cockroaches, including the American and German variety, and it's even safe to use if you have pets or kids.
Generally, cockroaches don't like the cold one bit. They are cold-blooded arthropods that don't survive very well in either extremely cold or hot circumstances. They're always at whatever temperature their environment is and generally slow down with cooler temperatures.
Seeing a cockroach crawl across a bed isn't unusual if the insects are already making a home in your bedroom or a nearby bathroom.
Citronella Oil
Its strong scent is known to deter roaches and other insects like mosquitoes and gnats. Homeowners can either directly apply the oil to areas frequented by roaches for the most effective application or dilute it with water to create a DIY repellent spray.
The results of the investigation on what color will repel the greatest number of cockroaches, indicate that red light repels a greater number of roaches than the other five colored lights and the control group of no light. Green light deterred the second most roaches followed by white, yellow, and blue.