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Have a cockroach colony recently taken charge of your kitchen? Are they stealing your food? Forcing you to compromise your personal space with them?
If you nod in agreement for any of the above questions, then its high time to make your home cockroach free.
Do not overlook their presence as they may spread bacteria of harmful diseases like cholera, typhoid, etc. If you live with your children, keep an extra eye for cockroaches. In case of any stomach, problem don’t waste time; take them straight to the doctor.
If you are scared of cockroaches, removing them is the need of the hour as their sudden appearance may scare you so bad that it can lead to an accident.
If you are serious about removing cockroaches from your home, first of all, try to find why you get them after all?
So, What Attracts Cockroaches To Your Home?
If your home has any or a combination of the below-mentioned situation, you may end up having cockroaches.
- Warm and dark areas
- Cracks and crevices
- Leftovers
- Pipe linkage
- Uncovered trash
Cockroaches love to hide within dark areas; their body color also helps them to camouflage easily. They also love to stay close to the food sources, that is why you may find them roaming around your kitchen.
They can survive for a longer period without food, which makes it more difficult to remove them. A tiny food particle is enough to meet their appetite. If you leave a piece of bread, it can seamlessly feed the entire cockroach colony for a week.
What precautions should you take to keep cockroaches away?
- Keep your kitchen clean
- Seal all the cracks and crevices
- Use proper products to deal with the cockroach infestation
- Don’t overlook early sign of infestation
How can you remove them after all?
If you found cockroaches in your kitchen, storeroom, or other parts of your house, don’t panic, calm down. You require a full proof pest strategy to keep them at bay.
There are various cockroach killing products in the market, but before purchasing, make sure you know what product is suitable to remove your infestation.
Remember one thing, among the various roach killing products; three are effective, those are- Baits, Traps, and Sprays. These can be used one after the other or in combination.
Baits
Baits are one of the most effective cockroach killing products. More than killing, it will help you to detect their presence. Try to get an idea about the hiding places of the roaches, place the baits near those areas, and leave overnight.
The roaches will be attracted to the baits due to its stimulating smell and food like the taste. They will eat it and eventually die within 2 to 3 hours. Because of the food fragrance, they cannot avoid it. After eating the baits, if they return to their colony and dies there, the poison will spread as other cockroaches sometimes feed on the dead roaches. This way, it will be easier to kill the roaches that hide in hard to reach areas.
If you expect you can remove the entire roach colony with a single application of baits, then hold on. It does not act that fast. It is best known for its slow poisonous reaction. For best results, you can use it along with the roach sprays.
Do not apply the sprays directly on the baits as it will contaminate the bait; thereby, cockroaches will not eat them. For best results, the baits need to be replaced from time to time. Baits are effective in small to medium cockroach infestation. In case of a large infestation, only bait application will not work. Baits may come as gel or tablets, but more or less, every form is equally effective.
If you have children and pets, keep the baits out of their reach as these are poisonous. If swallowed accidentally give them warm milk or water to dilute the poisonous mixture or ask them to vomit it out.
Traps
The traps are another viable option to minimize the infestation. Those are easy to place and maintains a low profile to attract the roaches. Most of the traps are black in color. Sometimes traps contain a few bait stations which are ideal for trapping and killing the roaches at the same time.
Place a piece of bread or biscuit or any other food that contains sugar and place the traps at the target places where cockroaches may hide. The traps can be reused, but once a few cockroaches get caught and died inside the trap, clean it, and place it again.
Those traps will let the roaches to enter but does not allow them to escape. These are non-toxic and free from harmful chemicals, so don’t worry if you have children or pets. You can make the traps on your own following some DIY methods. It only requires a piece of food to attract them and an adhesive to trap and kill them.
Watch the video to see how to construct a cockroach trap with easy DIY method: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIQKUZ06Vqs
Sprays
Here come the cockroach killing sprays, which are the fastest roach killing option available to date. It kills roaches on contact. But before that, it is mandatory to locate their hiding places.
Sprays are the best to apply in cracks and crevices where other materials struggle to reach. Most of the sprays come with a nozzle for easy application. These sprays contain chemicals that are specially designed to kill the roaches. So, don’t let your children play with it, keep it out of their reach.
Most of the cockroach killing sprays come with a strong residual property. Once applied, it can work up to weeks. If you want to apply it in the kitchen try to cover all your cooked food and also relocate dry food and utensils.
For best results, seal the cracks and crevices so that the roaches will not get any more places to hide. Do not apply the sprays on clothes or fabric, as some of it may stain those materials.
Author: Tanaya is a Senior Content Developer at PestTactics, who helped to build the content of the site along with several other sites with her compassionate SEO driven content. She is also a HubSpot, certified Content Marketer. She brings her five years of experience to her current role, where she is dedicated to developing the content of different websites.
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