Cockroaches are the personification of unsanitary conditions in the house. They are able to crawl through any crack, wander from apartment to apartment, carrying infections on their paws. It is not so easy to deal with them. However, there are many effective methods to get rid of cockroaches in the apartment quickly and permanently.

Where and why they appear

Cockroaches in the house can appear in several ways:

  • run away from the neighbors, especially if they were engaged in the breeding of insects at home. In this case, it is better to agree with them in advance about joint efforts to destroy cockroaches;
  • from things in suitcases after a recent trip;
  • in parcels;
  • along with purchases from the store.

How to get rid of cockroaches in an apartment

If to this is added a favorable environment for the life and reproduction of insects, then cockroaches will rapidly begin to multiply, and it will be more difficult to get rid of them. What contributes to the fact that cockroaches decide to settle in your apartment? This may be due to one of the following reasons:

  • Food waste. Cockroaches can live without food for a couple of weeks. But in conditions when there is access to food, they begin to multiply actively. They can eat any food waste in the kitchen, even packaging paper from products. A cockroach has been discovered – make it a habit to hide food in the refrigerator, empty the trash can every day, tightly close bags with garbage and food.
  • Water. Cockroaches need access to water more than food. If you have a leaking faucet, condensation forms on the walls, you forget to wipe up spilled water, this creates ideal conditions for supporting the life of a cockroach colony.
  • The presence of cozy corners that are rarely cleaned. A lot of dust and garbage accumulates in these places, which becomes an excellent building material for creating a cockroach nest.

What shall I do

To get rid of cockroaches, you will need to perform a whole set of measures. One thing will not help, these are living insects. If you give them even a chance to survive, they will stay and multiply again.

  1. Think about where cockroaches could make their home. If there are empty spaces in the walls or under the floor, then most likely they are there. This will entail repairs, as it will not be enough to simply finish the room.
  2. Spring cleaning. Remove all the trash, hide the food. Move furniture, household appliances. It is necessary to wash all corners in the apartment. Sometimes cockroaches settle inside household appliances, for example, in the compartment for pallets in the oven. Check similar places as well.
  3. Treat the apartment with special or improvised means against cockroaches, set insect traps.

Chemical preparations

To get rid of cockroaches, most likely, you will have to use more than one means. Ready-made preparations from the store have the greatest effectiveness. The chemical industry offers a whole range of means for the destruction of insects.

  • Aerosols. With their help, you can quickly remove cockroaches. Very convenient, it is enough to treat places where insects accumulate: behind kitchen cabinets, sinks, plinths. But they are toxic, so it is better to take children and animals out of the apartment during disinfection, and put on a gauze bandage.
  • Gels. Their composition includes poison and flavoring that lure red parasites. After consuming the gel, the cockroach returns to the colony and dies there. Other insects, attracted by the delicious smell, eat the chitin of the deceased relative. As a result, dozens more pests die. The gel is applied in drops to all places where cockroaches live at a distance of no more than 10 centimeters from each other. It is safer for people than an aerosol. The disadvantages of the drug include the inability to treat the most intimate corners and the duration of action: the effect can be observed only after a week.
  • Powder and chalk. These tools are convenient to use. The powder is sprinkled behind cabinets, refrigerators, under sewer pipes. Chalk can be applied even on vertical surfaces. But these drugs are not as effective as those listed above. In addition, it is necessary to ensure that children and animals do not have access to the places of treatment with drugs.

Traps

It is better to use traps in combination with other means, as they will only thin out the population of pests, but they are not able to get rid of them completely on their own. The main advantage is safety. There are several types of traps:

  • Adhesive tapes. Glue in the places of the cockroach trails. When cockroaches hit a sticky surface, they stick tightly with their paws. Then it will be enough to get rid of the tape together with the corpses of cockroaches.
  • Electric traps that kill cockroaches with electricity.
  • Houses with scented poison.

The last two options attract cockroaches with delicious smells. Running closer, the insect dies.

Homemade traps for cockroaches:

  • Take any container, for example, a plastic bottle. Put something sweet inside to attract insects. To prevent the cockroach from getting out of the bottle, grease its inner walls with vegetable oil.
  • Stick double-sided tape on a piece of cardboard. Sprinkle the sticky part with sugar or drops of honey. wait Cockroaches will crawl out on the bait, stick to the trap, and all that remains is to get rid of the cardboard.

People’s advice

Long before the use of chemical preparations, people successfully dealt with cockroaches and improvised means. You can prepare poisonous treats for cockroaches, scare them away with the smell, cold, or make a trap yourself.

Freezing. Cockroaches die at sub-zero temperatures. The method is used in winter and only when it is possible to turn off the heating devices, which is not very convenient in the apartment. Windows are opened for more than half an hour, it is desirable to create a draft so that cold air gets into all the cracks. The room is cooled down to -10 degrees. Disadvantage – cold air is harmful for household appliances and repairs.

how to remove cockroaches

Poison. If you decide to prepare poison for cockroaches, remember that it is just as poisonous to humans and other animals. Use this method if you are sure that neither children nor pets will eat the prepared product. Poisonous delicacies are prepared from boric acid or borax:

  • Boric acid. Sold in a pharmacy. This inexpensive means is effective against cockroaches and does not pose a danger to humans and animals. It has an unpleasant smell for insects, but it is very poisonous for them. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare an “appetizing” bait from boric acid. Mix 30 grams of powder with one boiled yolk, roll balls from the mass and spread them around the kitchen.
  • Borax or sodium tetraborate. Borax is sold in radio equipment stores. You can make a paste from it: take a glass of borax and mix it with 1 tbsp. l. starch and with 1 tbsp. l. sugar, add a pinch of vanillin. Dilute the dry mixture with water to the consistency of jelly. Any surfaces where cockroaches run are lubricated with the paste. Insects attracted by the “treat” eat the borax, which leads to their death.

Frightening smells . Some substances and plants have an unpleasant smell or taste for cockroaches, which will help get rid of them by driving them out of the apartment.

  • Ammonia. When washing the floor, a teaspoon of ammonia is added to a bucket of water. Cockroaches cannot stand its smell. And they run away from such an apartment.
  • Kerosene, denatured or turpentine. Like ammonia, they are used to wash floors and scare away cockroaches. However, these drugs have a very unpleasant smell for humans and can be dangerous for health.
  • Vinegar (9%). Has an unpleasant aroma for cockroaches. For several days in a row, wash all kitchen cabinets, corners and plinths.
  • Cockroaches cannot stand the aromas of mint, anise, geranium, cedar, tansy, eucalyptus, tea tree and lemon. Plants can be grown in an apartment, for example, geranium and mint. And you can add essential oils to water when washing floors or put aroma lamps.

Prevention of the appearance of cockroaches

Cockroaches prefer to settle where there is a lot of food and water. It is necessary to monitor cleanliness in the kitchen: do not leave leftover food and crumbs on the table, immediately wipe the work surfaces, tightly close the garbage cans, wash the dishes in a timely manner, in no case leaving them dirty overnight.

It is necessary to look at the condition of plumbing, even the smallest leakages cannot be allowed. Gaps in the apartment should be closed, and a net should be stretched over the ventilation hole.

Do not leave open products, especially rotten fruits or vegetables. This will attract not only cockroaches, but also become a breeding ground for fruit flies .

Extermination of cockroaches is a rather troublesome task, but it is quite feasible. We hope that our tips will help in this difficult task.

How to get rid of cockroaches in an apartment