Like you, a lot of people want to know how to get rid of roaches without an exterminator so they can save some $$$.
So, today we will be answering your question and even provide some helpful tips and home remedies to kill cockroaches naturally.
Roaches are hard to deal with no doubt because they have survived even hell itself. Homeowners agree on one thing – a dead cockroach is the best insect to have around.
The three most roach type in the United states are Oriental, German and American Cockroach. The German roach loves water and limiting easy access to water sources in home can help you reduce its population.
Other roach prevention tips include:
- Proper storage of food
- Daily cleaning
- Taking proactive steps
Roaches can survive on almost anything. Once your home is infested, an average visit from an exterminator costs like $100-$300 a visit and monthly or quarterly visit can cost $50 each. It takes a lot of amount to spend if the cockroaches in your house are ankle-deep.
Before taking calling on one, try to discover how to get rid of roaches in home yourself since effective roach control generally needs more than one treatment method.
READ ALSO: 3 Most Effective Pest Control for Bed Bugs and Cockroaches
How to get rid of Roaches without an Exterminator in Your Home
Calling on an exterminator is not the only way to exit cockroaches from your home. There are even more means of getting rid of roaches from your home than using an exterminator.
The issue with exterminators is that a lot of them spray large amount of toxic chemicals to kill roaches around your home. These harmful chemicals are not good/safe for health and after your home has been fumigated, you need to wait 8-12 hours before it’s safe to enter.
Besides, an exterminator spray has an ugly-smelling odor that can affect one’s breathing and also harmful to people who are allergic or suffer from asthma. It also cost lots of bucks and a lot of people like you are on the search for safe and non-toxic means of controlling roach infestations.
Here are the methods on how to get rid of roaches without an exterminator:
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Keep your House & it’s Surroundings Clean
A dirty home attracts all sorts of bugs, insects, infections and diseases. While cleaning your home does not 100% secure your home against roach infestation, it does help limit them to the bare minimum.
Keep your living room, bed room, dining tables, stove and kitchen countertops clean. These are some of the most loved spots of these freaky bugs.
You should cut off the roaches water and food supply. Roaches are moving into your home since they are finding open packages and fat in your dining table and kitchen countertop, and crumbs in under appliances and cupboards.
Another things is this – roaches are also attracted to damp garbage cans, old magazines, storage boxes, recycling bins and similar things. Get rid of these meal sources and the roaches number will go from hundred to 0.
Cockroaches love water and they require more water than food, so fic the leaking faucets and take away excessive water supply sources. Fixing those faucets and pipes will help reduce your water bill while stopping any structural damage too.
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Use Caulk to Close Gaps
Cockroaches can and will fit through the tiniest cracks, thus fixing all cracked walls can help to significantly reduce infestations.
You should use caulk to fill all possible entry points too, including entry holes, gaps between tiles, and small crevices.
Plus, seal the gaps in your kitchen cupboards.
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Use Insecticide Sprays
The use of common household spray is advised for roaches. These sprays are dangerous, but not as harmful as the chemicals employed by exterminators.
You can buy liquid concentrate treatments that are more effective. These can keep away roaches and other bugs away for 2-3 weeks until it has to be reapplied.
If you’re not a fan of using commercial sprays then you can either use natural insecticide sprays. Natural insecticide spray can also be used as soon as you see the roaches, a cheap soap-water solution works greatly too.
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Get Gel Bait to Reduce Roach Population
Gel baits are an effective means of controlling roaches. It is mostly in form of a tube and can be used in cracks, crevices, under baseboards, and other areas that roaches are mostly attracted to.
Aside using gel bait, you can also try bait stations. Bait stations work partially to eliminate cockroaches from your home, but it doesn’t target all the roaches in your house.
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Buy and Use Roach Glue Strips
You should search your home for possible cockroach infestation sites. Go Holmes in your home!
Some common places you can find them include: behind the refrigerator, under the shelves, cabinets, and sink, cabinet and closets too.
You can use roach glue strips to uncover big infestations. Try out different strategic areas and repeat one that works for you best.
Placing strips in high traffic places will help you catch the most cockroach, and these areas need the most treatment.
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Use Boric Acid Powder
Boric acid is an element present in items like clothing detergent and boric acid, and is super effective as a bug and roach killer.
However, since this acid is not safe for consumption, you should keep out of the reach of children, cats, dogs and other pets.
Any roach that comes in contact with this acid will die, but there are certain things to be aware of before sprinkling boric acid naturally in your home:
- It won’t work much when wet
- Only a light dusting is advised
The aim of using this powder as a control tactic to encourage roaches walk through acid powder, which is hard if these pesky bugs are hidden and are in small corners like under the cabinets.
Boric acid will lose its effectiveness if it’s not used correctly, and is not typically recommended as the sole method for getting rid of roaches.
That marks the end of this how to get rid of roaches without an exterminator tutorial. Let’s learn how you can get rid of roaches naturally with home remedies.
How to Get Rid of Roaches Naturally with Home Remedies
There are several tips, tricks and techniques on how you can get rid of cockroaches naturally. Although it may appear easier to call an exterminator to use chemicals to help you or using pesticides, but these things can do more harm to your family and home than good.
It is recommended you try these home remedies for cockroach infestation control before trying out harsher substances:
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Borax and Diatomaceous earth
Borax is an ingredient present in detergents you buy at the shop. We recommend spraying in places where roaches infestation is the worst.
If you do not have access to borax, you can optionally try Diatomaceous earth, as it works in similar way to Borax.
If the cockroaches come into contact with diatomaceous or borax, they become dehydrated because this substance will seep through its shell and damaging it. The roaches will eventually die, as they cannot stay hydrated while their shell is injured.
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Bay Leaves and Catnip
Cockroaches dislike the smell of bay leaves and catnip, and if you place small amounts of these two in your home, roaches will run away.
It’s great to place them in your kitchen or other roach infested areas. Another cool thing about this is that the bay leaves are not harmful to humans, or pets, so you need not be scared of giving this a shot.
This method will send them away but not harm the roaches in any form.
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Make a Roach Poison
To create roach poison, you need to mic together several equal portion of sugar and baking soda and sprinkle it around places where roaches are present.
Roaches have proven to love sugar and will consume this mixture, but the soda in it negatively affects their stomach thereby killing them.
This is a simple yet effective means of controlling roaches naturally with common household products.
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Use Lemon Juice or Lemon Peels
The fresh smell of lemon is commonly depicted to mean a clean home, and it is used by world’s most popular household cleaners and home decors.
Lemon juice is a great agent and have cleaned some of the dirtiest stains and grease, but bet you don’t know that it can repel cockroaches too.
You can take on many steps to keep roaches out of your home.
Add lemon spray or juice in hard to reach areas of home where you know the cockroaches reside in.
You can grind peels and place the grounds around the home where you see roaches.
With the different techniques and tips, we hope you now know how to get rid of roaches without an exterminator. Besides, cleaning your home and applying safe strategies are needed to get rid of cockroaches in your home.