Can Bleach Kill Cockroaches & their Eggs [Shocking Answer]

Cockroaches are one of those annoying pests you find everywhere. Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to find your kitchen crawling with cockroaches – the sight would be so gross. Of course, this would ultimately set you on a mission to kill every single one of them. But what if you are out of insecticides at such a time? This is where a house cleaning agent (bleach) comes into play. A lot of people use it as an alternative to insecticides for cockroaches.

 Many homeowners believe that bleach, DIY pest control is more effective than conventional insecticides designed to kill roaches. Bleach is a common cleaning agent, and most of us always have it in our house. We believe using it to kill this stubborn crawling and flying insect sounds like something you’d want to try out. Not only is it convenient but also quite affordable. It’s like using one stone to kill two birds. 

But the question is if it even works! 

Does bleach kill cockroaches? Is it even an ideal solution? Let’s find out below. 

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Can Bleach Kill Cockroaches?

When ingested, bleach is a lethal substance to humans; imagine what it would do to those tiny creatures. So, yes, bleach can kill cockroaches, that too, in a matter of seconds. However, we have different types of bleach, like mild and harsh. This means that not all household bleach would work in the same way. Hence, the milder ones might not be as effective in killing cockroaches as the stronger ones. 

Regardless, bleach with chlorine as an active ingredient is more potent for killing cockroaches than any other. This brings us to the next and equally important question; how can you use bleach to kill roaches?

The insect has to ingest the bleach or drown in it to put it in simple words. So now, to ensure that below are some effective strategies.

Ways To Execute the Mission: Killing Cockroaches With Bleach

Bleach is effective DIY pest control for most people because it does not leave behind chemical fumes after use, unlike insecticides. In addition, cockroaches are at their worst at night, as they only come out when the lights are off. During the day, you might only see one or two roaches crawling around, which you can kill quickly with a shoe or other easy-to-grab equipment.

Here are some ways to use a bleach solution as pest control, especially to kill roaches or repel them.

• Using a Spray Bottle

To get rid of roaches, get an empty spray bottle and fill it with bleach. Spray the bleach on the cockroaches when you see them moving around. It would help if you also sprayed them in cockroaches’ hideouts during the daytime. For instance, spray the solution on your cupboard, floors, cracks on the walls, drains, sinks, behind your refrigerator, and other possible hideouts. Once a reasonable amount of bleach comes in contact with this insect, it’s sufficient to kill them. The bleach soaks into their skin and slowly burns each layer of it, resulting in their death.

• Using Bleach as a Bait

To make cockroaches ingest bleach, you can try making bait. Usually, people poison leftovers with bleach and leave them open for roaches to ingest. This pest control strategy is generally conducted at night. 

Another way of killing roaches with chlorine bleach is by mixing the bleach with water. This will lessen the strong smell of the chlorine bleach and attract cockroaches. You can place this bleach solution where these insects frequent, like the garbage. The moment a roach ingests bleach, it dies instantly.

• Sanitizing Your Home

Bleach is commonly used for cleaning and sanitizing. So it would be best if you frequently sanitized your home with it. It helps control pest problems and protects you and your household from contacting any disease the cockroaches deposit. In case you didn’t know, cockroaches are home to harmful germs and bacteria. That’s why you must not ignore them, especially when it comes to the kitchen. 

• Drown Cockroaches in Bleach

This is the next option you can resort to if making the roaches ingest concentrated bleach seems impossible. Drowning roaches kill them instantly. To be successful, you have to use bait to direct them to your trap. You can take a bucket of bleach and apply some bait on it to lead the roaches inside the bucket. 

• Destroying the Cockroach Nests With Bleach

Cockroaches love water. Thus you’ll sometimes notice them come in from your bathroom sinks, kitchen sinks, shower drain, and more. If that’s the case, you likely have an insect or rodent infestation. Pouring bleach down the drains or sinks will kill any cockroach lurking in the pipe. However, don’t forget to pour down water into the drain after some minutes to prevent your pipe from rusting.

Apart from its effectiveness, there are some drawbacks to using bleach to kill cockroaches or pest control in general.

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All You Should Know About Bleach and Cockroaches

Bleach requires careful handling since it’s highly toxic for humans too. So this requires extra care, especially if you have pets or kids in the house. 

Another significant issue with bleach is that cockroaches flee from just perceiving its strong smell around. So, setting a trap for them to ingest anything poisoned with bleach is quite difficult. As a result, you’ll hardly be able to catch a few roaches out of the hundred. This means bleach is not good bait. Also, keeping bleach baits for cockroaches can be dangerous if you have little kids or pets around. They could ingest the food.

Drowning is another problematic procedure. These insects move so fast that you can’t begin to catch and drown them one after the other. This method is not productive since it does not highly cut down the population of roaches in your home.

Spraying the roaches with bleach is a more efficient method. But the problem with this is that the bleach has to come in direct contact with the insect. Once you begin spraying, the cockroaches quickly run into their hideouts, where it’s difficult to spray the solution. 

When it comes to pouring the bleach solution into the drain, you’ll have to deal with corrosion. Bleach has corrosive properties, and therefore, pouring it down the drain can corrode your pipes. 

Caution – If you must use bleach to kill cockroaches, do not mix bleach with any other chemical (boric acid) except water. Mixing bleach with other chemicals makes it poisonous by releasing the toxic chlorine gas into the air.

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

• Can bleach kill cockroach eggs?

Yes, bleach can kill roach eggs. So gather cockroach eggs and soak them inside a bucket of bleach to kill them.

• Can bleach kill roaches instantly?

Bleach can kill cockroaches if they are entirely drowned or soaked in it.

• Is bleach not a good cockroach killer?

There is not a definitive answer to that. We know that substances like bleach kill cockroaches, but it is quite a challenging solution at the same time. That’s because bleach repels roaches, keeping them away from baits. Moreover, you have to be careful using bleach since it is highly toxic.

• Is bleach a repellant?

The smell of bleach is repulsive for cockroaches. So yes, bleach repels roaches, and they do not come close to the substance. If you wish to eradicate these insects from your home, clean every nook and cranny of your house with bleach.

Conclusion

All in all, bleach kills cockroaches; in fact, it is an effective roach killer if used in the right way. However, it requires extra care and attention. Using bleach to kill roaches is only possible if you can get the cockroach to ingest or drown in bleach. Therefore, this is not an efficient method if you have a cockroach infestation, but it can help reduce the population of cockroaches in your home.