How to Get Rid of Roaches in Your Home

Once roaches have moved into your house and made themselves comfortable, they can be extremely difficult to get rid of. Cockroaches are one of the most common household pests in the world, but even though millions of people suffer from these infestations, there isn’t a silver bullet to eliminate them. Roaches multiply quickly, so once you see one, chances are there are others in your house too!

Let’s go over the list of why roaches are not so desirable to share your living space with:

1. They contaminate everything they touch with their saliva.
2. They love a free meal.
3. They’ll eat your books.
4. They can cause allergies, rashes, and food poisoning.
5. They can exacerbate your allergies.
6. They’re just overall gross!

By taking some simple preventative measures, they’ll be much less likely to grace you with their presence. So, obviously, the best way to get rid of roaches is to prevent them in the first place! Follow these preventative measures to ensure you don’t have an infestation anytime soon:

How to Prevent Roaches

• Water: Roaches need water, and that’s one of the reasons they came to your home. Fix any leaky faucet or pipe, and try not to let your pet’s water stay out all night. Standing water is a roach’s best friend.
• Food: Make sure you keep food in airtight containers, and that there isn’t any fruit on your counters. Roaches have an incredible sense of smell.
• Clean: Once you’re done eating, do the dishes right away, rather than let them sit in the sink all night. Try to always clean up any crumbs you may have made and sweep your kitchen floor. Roaches love dirt and filth!
• Garbage: Your garbage cans are the first place a roach will go searching for food, so remember to take out the garbage every night. Don’t leave it sitting anywhere in your house!
• Vacuum: Roaches don’t need a lot of food to survive, so it’s important to eliminate any food source, including crumbs in your carpet.
• Wood: Roaches love living in wood piles, so make sure they are far away from your house.
• Cracks: Check your foundation and around your windows and doors for cracks. If you find a hole, no matter how small, fill it with caulk or steel wool, then put caulk or foam over it to hold it in place.

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How to Kill Cockroaches

Obviously, these proactive measures are useful if you don’t already have an infestation, but chances are you’re probably looking for a reactive approach. If you already have roaches in your house, try these measures below to get rid of them once and for all:

• Get bait: These lethal baits usually come in a tube, and you apply them to areas that you know roaches are traveling. Under baseboards, under the sink, and in small cracks would be best. The roaches will be attracted to the bait, eat it, and then go back to the nest where they die and are eaten by other roaches, passing along the poison, so they die as well. The only problem with this approach is that you’ll find the dead roaches in your home, or they might die behind your walls. But a dead roach in your house is better than a living one, right?
• Soapy water: Mix liquid soap with water and put it in a spray bottle. When you see a roach spray it a couple of times, and although the roach will try and run away, it will be dead in about a minute. The soap forms a film over the roach’s breathing pores, suffocating it. Throw the roach away immediately as it might recuperate once the water has evaporated.
• Store-bought traps: Roaches are attracted to small dark areas, so they will enter a trap just because it looks appealing. The roach will get caught on the adhesive and won’t be able to leave.
• Glue strips: If you don’t mind seeing a roach, lay glue boards in areas where you know roaches are frequenting. They get caught on the glue and then can’t escape.
• Jars: These are a great DIY trap. Put an open glass jar out with some coffee grounds or water in it. The roach will go into the jar for the bait, but won’t be able to get back out.

Let Us Help Get Rid of Roaches!

When you see a roach in your home, it’s impossible to know if the infestation is truly gone without professional technology and methods. Even if you stop seeing roaches after using the lethal methods we mentioned, that doesn’t mean there aren’t more lurking behind the walls. One of the main problems with trying to get rid of roaches yourself is that even if you kill the adults, chances are they have already laid eggs, which will hatch after the adults have died – resulting in a whole new infestation.

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This blog was written by Kent D. Edmunds, CEO of Paul's Pest Control. Kent has been working with Paul's Termite & Pest Control since 1989 and is a certified pest control operator in both Georgia and Florida!