HOW TO KEEP COCKROACHES AWAY FROM YOUR HOUSE

Cockroaches in your home can be distressing and unpleasant. If you see one crawling around, chances are there are plenty more hiding away in the darkest, quietest corners of your home.

While you can learn how to get roaches out of your house and eliminate them from your home, understanding cockroach control is key to total prevention. As they say, prevention is better than cure.

What attracts cockroaches?

The first thing to do is to understand what attracts cockroaches and what reduces their presence. When a cockroach ventures into your home, it’s usually looking for food, water, warmth and shelter. Knowing this, it is a good idea to make your home as unattractive to cockroaches as possible by:

• Eliminating access to food: Don’t leave food on the counter (covered or uncovered), thoroughly rinse out all disposable food containers before placing them in the recycling bin and transfer kitchen waste to the bins outside. Wipe down all surfaces in your kitchen with a good surface cleaner and give your appliances a good clean regularly.
• Eliminating access to water: Remove any liquid spills or liquid residue in containers around your home. Wipe down sinks and tubs and rinse sponges and cleaning cloths thoroughly, squeezing as much of the water out as possible so they dry quickly.
• Eliminating access to your home: Block any gaps or crevices through which they might gain access to your home, including around windows and under doorways.

Doing this is not just how you can keep cockroaches out during daytime, but it’s also how to keep cockroaches away at night. By eliminating the roaches’ access to anything they might be able to get into, you can sleep easy knowing they’re not causing an infestation overnight.

How do you keep roaches out of your house?

Cockroaches are hardy creatures, which means that the most effective way to eliminate them from your home is by using purpose designed products such as control bombs, baits and surface sprays which are ideal for killing these pests.

Cockroaches like to congregate together in the dark. Start by using the Mortein Powergard Cockroach Bait that contains ingredients to lure cockroaches to the bait laced with insecticide. The cockroach will feed on the bait, become contaminated and die often after returning to the nest. The bait takes advantage of the cannibalistic tendencies of cockroaches as the contaminated cockroach remains are likely to be eaten by others which will then be poisoned in turn and die. The insecticide also eliminates the eggs that the cockroaches carry thereby also breaking the breeding cycle, as well as eliminating the existing population.

Once you have eliminated the nest, help keep your home cockroaches free with Mortein PowerGard Easy Reach Crawling Insect Surface Spray. Once sprayed onto surfaces, the residual action lures and kills cockroaches continuously for up to nine months. Simply spray in infested areas such as around doorways, cracks, under and behind cupboards, behind refrigerators, under stoves and along wall skirting.

Can one cockroach cause an infestation?

Unfortunately, all it takes is for one cockroach carrying an egg to lead to an infestation. A typical egg case of a German cockroach can contain up to 48 eggs. The egg case is carried by the female until one to two days before hatching. With their ability to reproduce prolifically, it is important for you to quickly eliminate the problem before it gets out of hand.

Generally speaking, cockroaches can invade our homes at any time of the year, with the warmer months being their chief breeding season. According to entomologist Graeme Smith, “cockroaches are much less active when the weather gets cool, but,” he adds, “they don’t necessarily die out. They survive quite well in people’s homes.” Cockroaches travel from house to house as well, making an infestation all the more likely.

What happens when you don’t know how to keep roaches away?

If you let cockroaches fester in your home without dealing with them, you run the risk of letting your house become a health hazard. Allowing roaches to infect your household can cause many negative effects such as:

• Allergies and asthma
• Food poisoning and contamination
• Infections

Fortunately, all of these can easily be prevented by not letting your home be an environment that allows cockroaches to thrive. Always be on top of the cleanliness of your living space and you won’t have to worry about cockroaches infesting your home.

How do cockroaches get in your house?

With cockroaches being such fierce breeders, perhaps the best way to combat them is to know how to keep roaches away in the first place. So, how do cockroaches get in your house, and how to get rid of cockroaches? Here are some possibilities, as well as ways to combat them:

• As mentioned, cockroaches can get into your house through cracks and crevices in your walls and gaps around your entry ways. Seal gaps in damaged walls with filler and use foam or rubber strip products to seal around doors and windows.
• You’ll also want to seal off any holes surrounding pipes, wall fixings and lighting fixtures.
• Keep your garden and porch clear from unnecessary materials which can act as a staging shelter for cockroaches close to your home.
• Get effective cockroach prevention solutions to ensure you have the first line of defence against these pests.

Now that you know how to kill cockroaches as well as how to keep cockroaches away naturally, you’re now equipped to prevent roach infestations from happening in your own home. Always remember the tips above so you can keep your household roach-free.

References:

• WebMD Editorial Contributor. (2024, January 17). What to know about cockroaches and your health. WebMD. https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-to-know-cockroaches-health