How to Get Rid of Roaches Before They Become a Problem
- 1). Clean your home. Vacuum your house thoroughly to remove any food crumbs, roaches, roach skins and eggs. Discard the vacuum cleaner bag in a trash bin outdoors. Wipe up any food and beverage spills that might attract cockroaches. Keep leftover food sealed in airtight containers and don't leave pet food lying around overnight. Empty trashcans frequently and keep them clean.
- 2). Caulk crevices and cracks in your home's foundation because these can serve as entrances to roaches. Fix any plumbing leaks because standing water attracts roaches.
- 3). Lay out sticky traps to kill roaches and to find the origin of your roach problem. Sticky traps use an attractant to lure the roach. Once the roach walks onto the trap, a sticky substance prevents it from moving. Place the traps in corner areas where walls meet the floor, under sinks, in the basement or in storage cabinets. The location of the trap that catches the most roaches is the area you must treat with other repelling methods.
- 4). Spray cockroaches with insecticide spray. Commercial insecticide aerosols work best when dealing with a small amount of roaches. The spray temporarily knocks out the roach or it flushes it out of its hiding space to an area where it may encounter a residual insecticide product that is fatal.
- 5). Use residual insecticide bait or dust, to eliminate cockroaches. Wear thick gardening gloves when handling residual insecticide. Insecticide dust, such as boric acid powder, works slowly but is effective. The powder sticks to the roach when it walks over it. When grooming itself, the roach ingests the boric acid and eventually dies. Boric acid is toxic to plants and therefore best for indoor use. Apply it only to cracks, crevices, behind furniture and other potential hiding places of roaches. Use cockroach bait in areas you cannot dust. Eating the bait is fatal to roaches.