11 tips to get rid of cockroaches in the house

Many of us, with the mere mention of cockroaches, have goosebumps and an unpleasant sensation. But, unfortunately, no one is safe from the appearance of these insects in the house. Even if you are very clean and tidy, and your neighbors do not, sooner or later cockroaches will appear in your apartment if preventive measures are not taken in time. And if you have already found yourself with baleen pests, check out tips on how to get rid of cockroaches in the house with the help of folk and special means.

Where do cockroaches come from?

If your apartment is constantly kept in perfect order and cleanliness, then the indignation at the appearance of insects in such a dwelling is understandable. There are several options in this case:

• They come to you from the neighbors. If the residents of neighboring apartments are not very clean, the appearance of pests is understandable. Sooner or later, they can begin to fight them, and then the insects will be forced to look for a new habitat, that is, they will flee to you;
• They can penetrate into the home in several ways - through open windows and vents, through cracks in the ceiling, between partitions, between the floor and the wall, through ventilation shaft, by sewer pipes;
• Cockroach can to bring guests at your house or yourself, for example, From the job. Naturally unintentionally. If pests are noticed in your workplace, be sure to shake out your bag and clothes before going home;
• Cockroach can arrive by mail. Now shopping through online stores is very popular. We buy food, clothes, and household appliances. You cannot know the conditions under which the goods were stored before entering your home. Perhaps an uninvited guest got into the package box;
• Also possible to bring cockroach from the supermarket along with purchases. Large stores are the ideal habitat for these insects. Therefore, carefully inspect the goods before loading them into the bag;

• If we are not talking about a private house, but an apartment building, then cockroaches in it are found on stairwells. It is possible that he got into an apartment through the front door at the same time as you entered or left the house;
• In other cases, the appearance of insects may be associated with unsanitary conditions in the rooms. With irregular cleaning, a pile of dirty dishes in the sink, which is regularly left overnight, with the accumulation of a large number of empty, dirty containers for yoghurts, jams, with irregular removal of garbage, storing it for a long time in an open bag or storing filled bags at front door;
• FROM the presence of permanent access to water and high humidity. Cockroaches can live without food for more than a month, but they really need water. Therefore, if the house has a constantly leaking tap, you regularly take a shower and leave wet drops on the floor and on the sides bath or shower room, thereby creating favorable conditions for pests;

• If the meal is not tied to the same place. It is very bad if you or your relatives are used to carrying food throughout the apartment and eating in front of a TV or computer. Crumbs will be distributed throughout the house, which will undoubtedly please cockroaches.

How to understand that cockroaches appeared?

Usually red or black cockroaches start in apartments or houses. Redheads have a smaller size and elongated shape, black larger, with an almost round body. Many say that it is much easier to breed black individuals, as they do not lay eggs so often.

Cockroaches are nocturnal residents, therefore, they can not always be seen during daylight hours. The main features indications that your home is infected are:

• Small black dots. If you notice similar marks on skirting boards, on the kitchen worktop or in cabinets, in the bathroom, it's time to start a fight. Black dots are the waste products of cockroaches. Often close to them you can find small flakes or pieces of wings;

• In secluded places, for example, in the corners of kitchen cabinets, under the sink, under skirting boards, one can often find an oval elongated light brown “larva”. This is the cockroach masonry with the future offspring.

Cockroaches are dangerous

The neighborhood with these vile insects is not only unpleasant, but also dangerous to health. Scientists have proven that they are carriers many dangerous diseases for example, salmonellosis, hepatitis, typhoid fever, etc. If you left an open container with food on the table, and a cockroach ran through it or worse, left your feces on food, this can cause poisoning or an upset stomach.

Besides:

• Small scales of a chitinous layer of a cockroach can cause exacerbation in allergy sufferers and seizures at asthmatics;
• The favorite habitat of cockroaches in the kitchen is household appliances, especially one that does not move from place to place. The perfect appliance is washing machine. Inside it is always humid, warm, there are leftovers of food. Insects live in the body of the device, pollute its insides with the products of their vital activity, which in the end leads to equipment failure. A similar situation can happen with the oven and with the refrigerator;
• Black dots left by a cockroach on a book or documents important to you are almost impossible to trace without a trace. Similarly, they can ruin the kitchen tablecloth, upholstery and other textiles;
• AND the worst - An insect can creep into a sleeping person’s ear or nose. Most often this happens with babies.

Overview of folk remedies

It is immediately worth noting that folk remedies are less effective than special chemicals.

However, in non-launched cases, they can still give the desired result:

• Borax - White powder, which is safe for both humans and pets, is poison for cockroaches. The borax can simply be scattered in the alleged places where insects are gathered. You can boil one potato and one egg, crush, add 1 tsp. powder, form small balls and arrange them indoors. Another recipe is to mix 100 g of borax with 30 g of starch and 30 g of powdered sugar, add a bag of vanillin and a little water. It should make a sticky mass from which you can make balls. Getting into the stomach of an insect, borax causes its poisoning;
• Boric acid - harmless to humans, has no smell and taste. It has a neuroparalytic effect, and in large quantities - pest poisoning. There are several ways to prepare a poisonous compound. Mix boric acid, flour, sugar and water in equal proportions, mix thoroughly and form balls. Pound one boiled yolk and 40 g of acid, distribute in small portions and arrange around the house. Or simply dilute the acid in a container of water and leave overnight. Using this method, it is very important to exclude the possibility of extracting water elsewhere. Thoroughly wipe the sink, bathtub, washbasin, floor around, turn off the dripping tap. Then the cockroach will have no choice but to go to the poisoned water;
• Low temperatures. Cockroaches do not tolerate cold.Therefore, some sources suggest freezing insects. To do this, in winter, when it is frosty on the street, they open all the windows in the house and leave them in this condition for a day or two. Yes, cockroaches can really freeze, and you just have to sweep them and throw them away. But note that such a decrease in temperature in the living room can lead to the fact that from the walls the wallpaper will go away, a heating radiators just burst. About indoor plants and not at all out of the question. Therefore, we would recommend regular ventilation, leaving the window ajar for several hours. This technique can be used for preventive purposes.

Aerosols from cockroaches

If folk remedies are powerless, use special medications. One of the most popular forms of release are aerosols. The most famous insect control agent is Dichlorvos. However, its drawback is a very pungent odor. Modern products do not have such a pronounced aroma or may even have a rather delicate and pleasant smell. Before treating the room with any aerosol, it is necessary to remove all indoor plants and pets, and after spraying, close the door and close the gap between the door leaf and the floor with a cloth. After a day, the room can be opened. After this, be sure to carry out wet cleaning. Effective aerosols are:

• "Raptor";
• "Dichlorvos";
• "Regent";
• "Raid";
• "Combat";
• "Get."

Gels

Gels are convenient and appropriate to use if it is not possible to leave the room after it has been treated with aerosols. The gels are colorless, devoid of an unpleasant odor and are easily washed off from almost all surfaces. They are are safe for pets. A component is specially introduced into their composition, which, when ingested, gives an unpleasant bitterness. The composition is applied on the surface, where the most common are cockroaches dotted or droplets with a distance of 10-15 mm. The effect after applying the gels occurs only after 7-10 days. TO disadvantages drug can be attributed to the inability to process hard-to-reach places and the entire room as a whole, and inefficiency against egg laying. Gels recommend using in complex with drugs of another form of release and action. The most popular gels are:

• "Clean house";
• Dohlox;
• "Raptor";
• "Global".

Traps

If there are few cockroaches in the apartment, they did not have time to give offspring and there is a suspicion that some individuals just made their way to your house, traps will be an effective means of struggle. They are very comfortable, safe for animals and children. The trap is a small box with a poison bait inside. Climbing inside, the cockroach eats the bait, and carries its pieces on its paws to its relatives, after which there is mass poisoning.

there is sticky bait. The bottom of the box is saturated with super-sticky scented glue. The cockroach gets inside, sticks and becomes motionless. You just have to throw out the filled bait and buy a new one if necessary. Popular traps:

• “Combat”;
• "Raptor";
• Dohlox.

Crayons and powders

The most affordable at the cost are special crayons and powders from cockroaches. They are convenient to apply, but it is almost impossible to process hard-to-reach spots. Also, there is no way to process the entire room. Both crayons and powders can be used indoors, they are harmless to humans and animals. But, if there are a lot of cockroaches in the house, these funds may be ineffective. They can be used as prophylaxis after treatment with stronger drugs. The following tools have proven themselves well:

• "Masha";
• Tornado
• Super Fas;
• "Clean house";
• "Phenaxic."

Ultrasonic repeller

The repeller is a rather expensive device, which, in turn, does not kill insects, but only helps to create unacceptable living conditions for them. The device creates an ultrasound field of a certain radius, safe for people of animals. However the effect such impacts highly controversial. Ultrasonic waves do have an effect on cockroaches, but only if their level becomes noticeable to animals and people. The devices use low frequency ultrasound. Perhaps that is why the instructions for many devices indicate that repellers are recommended to be used in conjunction with other means, and the effect of their use does not occur immediately. In other words, the manufacturer relies on the fact that a certain number of insects will have time to poison, and the reduction in their number is supposedly a consequence of the use of a repeller. However, some users report a positive result. Popular models are:

• "Typhoon";
• "Banzai";
• "Zenet";
• "Ixus";
• "Pest Project";
• "Air Comfort".

Pest control

The last and most effective measure is to call the appropriate services. Professional disinfectants will carry out high-quality processing of premises with stronger and more effective drugs. Most of them give at least a one year warranty. But it’s important to understand that all your attempts will be in vain, and the effect will be short-lived if prevention and destruction are not carried out together with neighbors.

How to avoid the reappearance of cockroaches?

After the pests in your house are destroyed, it is very important to create conditions that prevent their return. This is especially important for residents of apartment buildings, where it is very difficult to conduct simultaneous professional processing of insects.

• Carefully inspect the walls, floor, and ceiling of your home for cracks. Through them, cockroaches can again get to you from the neighbors. Void need putty;
• All grilles covering the ventilation ducts should have a fine mesh;
• Do not forget about the ventilation duct to which you connect range hood. Often it is not covered with a net, so insects can climb first into the device itself, and then into the apartment;
• Seal the space around the sewer pipes, if any;
• Regularly clean, do not leave dirty dishes in the sink, wipe the crumbs from the table, often take out the trash, get a bin with a lid;

• Eliminate all leaks and make it a rule not to leave the sink wet after washing dishes and bathing after taking a shower;
• Put nets for windowsto block the way for uninvited guests;
• If there is a pet in the house, watch the cleanliness of its place for eating;

• Beautiful and popular houseplant geranium, due to its specific aroma, it can repel insects. Put a pot of plants in each room;
• Some housewives wash the floor once a week with water ammonia. Cockroaches do not like its smell. Just add 1 tsp. alcohol in a bucket of water;
• Instead of ammonia, you can use vinegar. In principle, it is enough to handle only skirting boards, and do not forget about the threshold at the front door;
• Also, the threshold and skirting boards can be periodically treated with a solution based on essential oils eucalyptus, cedar, lemon, mint. Add 2-4 drops to a bucket of water;
• Do not tolerate cockroaches and smell daisies. Buy dried inflorescences in a pharmacy and place them in those places where insects previously accumulated;
• Dry fragrant herbs - chamomile, laurel, wormwood, mint or ledum - can also be decomposed in separate places. For example, near the bin, under the sink, in the corners, under the furniture, in the bathroom.