How To Get Rid Of Cockroaches

How To Get Rid Of Cockroaches

They’ve infested your house, spoiled your food and are starting to affect your quality of life. You can’t turn on the light at night without seeing them running everywhere and you are afraid to invite people over, fearing their judgement. Well, you are not alone, and you are not to blame. In fact, cockroaches are probably the most common pest in the world. Today, you’ll learn how to finally get rid of that nuisance.

Understanding Cockroaches

Cockroaches are extremely common in Australia and different species will be attracted to your home for multiple different reasons. Therefore, it is very important for you to identify which one you are dealing with. The most common species are the German, the Oriental, and the American roaches.

Once again, proper identification of the problem is a major step toward solving it. For example, the German roach, the one most commonly found find indoor, is known to be attracted to water. Simply removing their access to water sources is a proven way to reduce their infestation.

Other common ways to prevent them from entering your home include increasing the frequency of your cleaning, and a good food storage plan. This can stop them from accessing the source of nutrients they need in order to multiply.

If they are already present in your house, it is very important to understand that can reproduce very quickly, so the longer they infest your home, the more difficult it will be to rid yourself of them, and the more risks to your health and comfort they will cause. They are well known for carrying bacteria that might result in diarrhea, allergies, skin rashes and even food poisoning. If the infestation grows to large, they might produce foul odor, affecting your quality of life.

So can you get rid of them once they’ve already infested the place? You need a plan. More than one action will need to be taken for it to be efficient.

Step by step plan to eliminate cockroaches

 

1.Identify the Problem Areas

Before choosing which actions to take, you need to identify all the possible roach infection sites. To do so, use a flashlight and search the most common hiding spots. Those include:

-behind the refrigerator

-under the sink

-cracks in shelves and cabinets.

-closet door corners

-bathroom cabinets

-closets.

Those are the areas that will need the most attention and where your actions will bring the most results. In fact, you should observe those areas for at least a few days, possibly a week, in order to properly identify the source of the problem. Only when you are sure you’ve found all their hiding place should you move on to the next step.

2.Use Caulk

Your second step, now that you know where the problem is coming from, is to make sure that your home is safe from further invasions. You do not want another colony entering your house while you are getting rid of the first one. To do so, you can use caulk. You should fill all the entry points, including gaps between tiles or between walls, and look for entry holes, like small crevices. You should also apply weather stripping on the window seals and on your door.

3.Place Gel Bait and Bait Stations

Those are the two main traps used to effectively kill the pest already present in your home.

Gel bait:

Gel bait normally comes in a tube and is fairly easy to find. It can be applied to all the most attractive areas for cockroaches. You should put it under baseboards, as well as in crevices.

While very effective to get rid of of cockroaches, please note that it is likely to leave numerous dead bodies around your home.. Which brings us to your second option.

Bait stations:

Bait stations are placed around the house and work by having the roaches feed on the poison in the stations, then traveling back to their colony, dying, and getting their corpse consumed by the other roaches. In turn, this causes the rest of the roach invasion to be infected by the poison. Its effects are more wide spread, but unfortunately won’t target all the cockroaches present. While efficient, keep in mind that they do contain poison, and might look unappealing, when they are set all over the place. However, some stations come equipped only with glue, no poison, to trap instead of kill.

A mix of both options will bring more substantial results, but they are not your only tools in dealing with the issue at hand.

4.Boric acid powder

Boric acid is a substance commonly found in toothpaste and clothing detergent. It is easily one of, if not the most efficient roach killers, but can be misapplied and present risks of getting moved by air currents, away from the infestation areas and to locations where pets and children are present. However, being made of the chemical combination of boron and water, it is not overly toxic to people or pets, while still being lethal to roaches.

Due to the difficulty of. its use, it shouldn’t be your only strategy in your fight against the pest invasion.

 

5.Hire a Pest Management Professional

To truly put your mind at rest and insure the best results, you should consider hiring a professional. A Safeguard Pest Control specialist has the added value of ensuring that the infestation will be taken care of for good. A specialist also offers the most effective approach to handling the problem, while also making sure that all the safety measures are in place. The go-to option if you dislike the idea of having traps and glue all over your home, or having to deal with those insects yourself.

Keep in mind that the more measures you set in order to prevent, find and eliminate infestations, the less likely you are to ever have such a worrisome event happen to you again. Remember that many people have gone through the same ordeal and successfully got rid of the problem. You can do so too!