It is believed that roaches are so hardened, that they would be able to survive even a nuclear war. These pests can be found everywhere and multiply very fast. What is worse is that they can cause some serious sickness, which can even turn fatal. Needless to say, none of us ever wants to see a roach in the house, but sometimes they can get into the house either unintentionally with things that were left outside for a while, or they can come through cracks. If that happen, we need to immediately take action. Otherwise it can be very difficult to control them.
Some tips below will help you in making your home a roach free zone:
- Keep food out of reach - Roaches are attracted to food and if it is easily available in your home, they will flock in here and lay eggs all over the place. Killing the roaches does not get rid of them as their eggs will continue hatching, and the numbers will continue to increase. If looking to rid your home of roaches, begin by keeping all the food out of reach of these roaches. All the leftovers must be put away in the fridge. Clean all dirty utensils, the dinning table, etc right after you have eaten food. Put the garbage out before you get into bed for the night. If you leave even a few specks of food lying around the house, it is enough to attract the roaches and so you need to make sure that all food is out of reach from the roaches.
- Maintain high hygiene - Another attraction for roaches is dirt and dampness. The more unhygienic your home will be the more it will attract roaches. It is important to keep the house clean and use disinfectants while cleaning up. Remember that while roaches are very difficult to kill even with chemicals. Their eggs are the real problem and unless you keep the house absolutely clean, the eggs will hatch and continue to add to the roach infestation in your home. So sweep and mop and clean all over the house and do make sure that you use natural cleaners often so as to keep the house safe from germs in general and roaches in particular
- Use organic chalk - Roaches have survived for millions of years and sometimes when we use chemicals to get them out of our house, we tend to forget that these strong chemicals harm us too. Instead it is safer and more effective to use organic chalk. There are several varieties available and all one needs to do is draw lines of this boric acid chalk all over the house. Interestingly, this keeps the roaches in control and also works well to kill the new hatchlings. Experts believe that roaches eat the boric acid and take it along and make other roaches sick as well. This acid kills of the new hatchlings quickly thus preventing the roach infestation from growing further.
Keep these tips in mind and you will be able to keep the roaches at bay. However, in case you do have a roach infestation that you are unable to control, it will work best to call for professional help. After that, imposing hygiene and putting away left overs are paramount.
Try bay leaves in your kitchen. They worked for me. A couple will not do and you may have to bring in a whole packet. I think they hate the smell of bay leaves and tend to stay away from the area. Baking soda also works well. But the one problem is that while you maybe able to remove the cockroaches their eggs just lie there and then hatch after some time and the problem is back again. So even if you feel that the roaches have gone away, do not stop taking the preventive measures.
We bought this house a year back and it was only after moving in that we realized it had so many cockroaches. No matter what I do they keep coming back. The kitchen area is the main target. I asked a professional to come check it and he said that the water pipe in the back of the kitchen is what is attracting them. We had that removed and while it has helped a bit, the roaches are still there. I would appreciate any more ideas on what I can do to get rid of them.