How to get rid of roaches without an exterminator

Boric acid is one of the best home remedies for roaches if you are keen on taking the DIY approach. Mix equal amounts of boric acid, flour, and sugar to make a dough. Set balls of dough around the home where cockroaches can feed on it. The flour and sugar will attract the roaches while the boric acid will kill them.

Boric Acid

When cockroaches come into contact with boric acid, it sticks to their legs and wings. When they ingest the powder, it acts on the roach’s nervous and digestive systems – killing it rapidly. To use boric acid to get rid of roaches, sprinkle a light dusting onto a paper plate.

The most popular and effective natural cockroach killer is diatomaceous earth. It is non-toxic to humans and kills roaches when they come into contact with it. Sprinkle the diatomaceous earth around areas where roaches travel and frequent.

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 eliminate them, combine powdered sugar and boric acid.

Roaches are deterred by scents that humans enjoy, such as citrus. 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.

In that scenario, you can buy what are called desiccant dusts—like diatomaceous earth, a non-toxic substance you can find on Amazon—and that will dehydrate the eggs, thereby killing them.

Roaches need moisture to survive and this search for water will bring them into even the cleanest of homes. Leaky pipes and faucets are one of the most common attractants for cockroaches and is one of the main reasons you often see them in bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms.

What attracts cockroaches to a clean house is food, water, and warmth. While the presence of one cockroach in your home can be enough to send you into a panic, one roach doesn’t necessarily mean you have a full blown infestation. Roaches are social pests, however, and reproduce quickly.

If you are diligent with cleaning and have done all you can do, but you still suspect you have a cockroach problem, it’s time to call a professional. Cockroaches are hard to get rid of, and to save you time, money, and the stress of doing it yourself, call a professional pest removal service as soon as you can.

Roaches can also get in the house through the plumbing. They migrate between apartments by traveling along the plumbing within a common wall. To prevent this migration, seal holes in common walls and around plumbing pipes. Use window screens and seal openings around doors and windows to keep the cockroaches outside.

Will roaches leave a cold house? Roaches, in general, do not like cold temperatures, so subjecting them to cold enough environments might force them to leave in search of warmer surroundings. That said, some species can tolerate lower temperatures as long as they have access to food and water.

As temperatures outside get cool, you may find the American roaches moving indoors. They come in thru entry points like, air ducts, around utility pipes, small breaks and crevices, sewer connections and under doors.

First of all, cockroaches like to go around during the night, which coincidentally is when people sleep. So by virtue of just lying there motionless, we become likely victims. Cockroaches also like small, warm, humid places. The problem is that once the roach crawls inside the ear, it’s likely to get stuck.

Cockroach Myths

Contrary to popular belief, cockroaches are not afraid of light. Although most species do prefer darkness, some are actually attracted to light and can be found gathering near windows or on television screens at night. Most of these nocturnal insects will scatter when a light is shone upon them.

Familiar to most people, cockroaches are very resourceful insects that can live, eat, and breed in your home without you even knowing it. Finding roaches is not a sign that your house is dirty. Even if you clean regularly and maintain a tidy home, cockroaches can usually find food and water without much trouble.

Check Your Mattress

Again, it’s uncommon for roaches to be found on mattresses, but they can hide in or near furniture, including your bed. When you remove your mattress and dismantle your bed to move, check everything for signs of roaches and remove or sanitize items as necessary.