How to Get Rid of Roaches

Removing food sources for roaches is one of the most important steps in your roach control process. Sanitizing your kitchen and other areas is necessary to have a roach-free home.

Don't forget the following spots when cleaning your home:

• Clean Your Kitchen Appliances. Roaches in the kitchen can live off grease and food spills beneath and behind your appliances. Clean under and behind the stove, refrigerator, microwave, toaster, dishwasher, and around and beneath the kitchen sink.
• Empty and Clean Cabinets. Crumbs and food spills from stored food products provide an excellent source of food for roaches. Get rid of roaches in your kitchen cabinets by thoroughly cleaning the cabinets and removing these food spills.
• Keep Food in Sealed Containers. Roaches are small enough to get into cardboard packaging and loosely closed boxes and plastic bags. Store food in metal, glass, or hard plastic seal-able containers.
• Limit Food Consumption to One Room of the House. Keeping all food and eating in one area of the home will limit crumbs and food spills, making it easier to concentrate on deep cleaning one room of the home.
• Clean the Kitchen Each Night Before Bed. Roaches often come out to feed at night, so doing a thorough cleaning of the kitchen each night will leave nothing for roaches to eat. Wipe down kitchen counter tops, wash all dishes, put away all food, clean the sink and dry it to remove all water, and clean floors well.
• Clean the Floors Frequently. Vacuum or sweep all non-food areas of the home every few days. Picking up stray crumbs will help keep your home clean. Roach egg sacs and body parts contain pheromones that attract other roaches to the same areas, so sweeping up roach feces, skins, body parts, and eggs sacs will also help.
• Empty Pet Food Containers Overnight or Cover Tightly. Roaches will eat pet food and use water sources.
• Keep Garbage Cans Clean and Covered.

Another way to keep roach infestations at bay, and a natural roach control solution, will be to remove as many water sources for the roaches as possible. Consider the following water sources:

• Fix leaky plumbing and sweating pipes.
• Before bed, dry all sinks, tubs, and showers completely and plug the drains.
• Place wet dishrags and sponges in an airtight plastic storage bag overnight, place them directly in the washing machine, or hang outdoors to dry.
• Pet water dishes should be placed outside overnight or be dried and refilled in the morning.
• Wet toothbrushes should be dried as best they can and placed in sealed bags or containers.
• Empty drip tray from under refrigerator.

Roaches prefer dark, small spaces and will typically hide during daylight. By eliminating potential hiding locations, roaches will be forced out in the open to find a new place to live. Roaches in the open will be easier to spot and more likely to come across insecticides and baits. When looking for where cockroaches nest in your home:

• Seal cracks and crevices with a caulking gun.
• Close holes surrounding pipes or other light and wall fixtures with a material such as Stuf It Copper Mesh.
• Make sure window and doorframes are tight and gap-free to prevent entry from outside.
• Place tape over holes and crevices in appliances and other household items in areas that have heavy roach traffic. Computers and small appliances can all serve as harborage for roaches.

Bait is one of the most important and essential components of an effective roach control program.

Roaches are communicative pests, frequently interacting with other roaches. One roach that feeds on a poisoned bait can contaminate up to 40 other roaches by contact, feces, or other roaches feeding on the now-dead roach's poisoned carcass. The domino effect of baiting gets rid of roaches at an incredibly quick rate, greatly reducing an infestation.

We recommend rotating roach baits every few months if you have an ongoing roach control program to avoid bait resistance. By rotating you will accommodate all bait preferences and prevent roaches resisting, or not eating, the bait. DoMyOwn's Roach Control Kits make this easy with different active ingredients in each rotation. We strongly recommend you start with Kit A which contains Maxforce FC Magnum which will give you the fastest roach knockdown and wipeout to start to your roach control efforts. If needed you should follow up with kit B and then move onto kit C if needed.

Cockroach bait is typically packaged in tubes that include tips and plungers, making it easy to apply. If you do not want to apply bait directly to a surface, you can use place bait on removable bait stations.

Gel cockroach bait and bait stations should be placed in the following areas for the best results:

• Behind kitchen cabinets and counter tops
• Behind wall hangings such as pictures, clocks, or posters
• Behind, next to, and under the stove.
• In the corners up under the sink and other cabinets.
• In stored paper bags and boxes.
• Around pipes, cords, and cables that come out of the wall.
• Behind and under bathroom fixtures.
• Behind the medicine cabinet and vanity.
• In any cracks or crevices around shelves or wood
• In corners and under railings and on drawers.

Reapply bait every 2-3 weeks or when placements appear to be gone. Continue to place bait until all roaches have been killed.

Even if all adult cockroaches are successfully killed with your baiting treatment, a new cockroach infestation may appear once the hidden cockroach egg capsules (oothacae) hatch. Any successful cockroach treatment program must include an insect growth regulator, also known as an IGR.

IGRs use a synthetic pheromone to disrupt the lifecycle of insects in the egg and larvae state. Acting as "birth control" for roaches, IGRs keep roach populations under control by preventing current and future infestations from reproducing.

IGRs are available in different formulations including aerosols, concentrated liquids, and point-source stations.

Liquid IGRs can often be added with water to liquid insecticides and sprayed together but require the use of a sprayer. If you do not want to use a liquid, aerosols are already pre-mixed and ready to use. And point-source stations are quick to use and easy to replace.

Each are effective, so choosing an IGR will depend on your cockroach treatment plan.

Select an insecticide labeled for cockroaches, then measure and mix according to the product label. Apply in the following areas around your home:

• Along baseboards
• In cracks and crevices
• Under appliances
• Around door and window frames
• Where utility pipes and cables enter the building

Be mindful to avoid spraying in the exact areas where you have placed baits as this will contaminate the bait, causing roaches will avoid it. Reapply insecticide sprays according to the time period given on the product label.