You can control a roach infestation yourself using a combination of smart practices and
the right products.
An effective roach control program consists of four parts. Identification, Inspection,
Treatment, and Prevention.
Identification is important to be sure you are dealing with roaches and not a beetle
infestation, for instance, as the treatments are very different for these two pests.
Next, you’ll need to know how to inspect your home for roaches and learn the signs
of a roach infestation.
This will help you access the level of infestation in your home and ensure they don’t return.
The only tool you’ll need for a roach inspection is a flashlight.
Roaches love dark, moist areas to live and breed in, so kitchens and bathrooms should
be inspected first. Use your flashlight to look behind or under refrigerators, stoves,
microwaves, dishwashers, sinks, or cabinets. Roaches may also be found in or around floor
drains, inside motor areas of refrigerators and microwaves, behind wall mounted pictures
or clocks, under floor mats, behind wallpaper, and in cracks and crevices in cabinets.
You will also be able to detect roaches by the feces they leave behind. Feces are often
the size of coffee grounds or specs of black pepper. Check inside cabinets around the hinges,
the cracks and crevices in drawers, the door gasket of the refrigerator, and in other suspected
hiding places. The quantity of visible feces is normally a good indicator of infestation
level. Roaches will also lay egg cases called oothecae.
Each egg casing can hold 10 to 50 eggs. If you see egg casings, this is a sign an infestation
is present.
If you’ve determined you have a roach infestation, it’s time to move on to treatment. Roach
treatment includes proper cleaning practices, roach bait, roach spray, and insect growth
regulator.
First, clean your home as much as possible to eliminate food and water sources the roaches
need to survive. To prepare your kitchen and bathrooms for
treatment, remove everything out of the cabinets and drawers and sweep and clean them out to
remove all crumbs and debris. Do not use harsh chemical cleaners while doing this clean out
as it could interfere with the roach bait. While cleaning the kitchen, don’t forget
to clean and sweep behind and beneath all appliances. If an appliance can be moved,
like the refrigerator and stove, do so to make sure no crumbs are left behind.
Make sure the bathroom shower, tub, and sinks are dry, removing all moisture from the room.
Before you go to bed each night, remove any food or water sources that might attract roaches.
Keep all food, including pet food, in tightly sealed containers. Wash and put away all dishes,
leaving the sink empty. Wipe down countertops, store sponges in zip-top bags, and empty pet
food and water bowls or keep them covered overnight. Keep garbage cans covered, sweep
floors, and wipe inside and around sinks to be sure they are dry. If you do not clean
nightly, your roach treatment will not be as effective.
Once you have cleaned and prepared your home properly, begin with roach bait gel treatment.
Roach bait gel is an important step in any roach treatment program.
Most roach bait gels come in tubes. Tubes typically have a stopper at the end of the
tube that you will unscrew, and some have a screw-on applicator tip. Use the plunger
included with your bait and insert it in the end of the tube opposite the stopper. You
will press on the plunger to release the bait. For a more precise application, you can also
use a professional bait gun to apply the roach bait gel.
You may also want to keep a paper towel handy to wipe the application tip of the gel, keeping
the tube clean in case the bait leaks slightly when applying.
Roaches have small mouth parts and look for small crumbs of food. When applying roach
bait gel, remember to apply many small spots of gel instead of one or two large spots.
Roaches will mistake the small spots of gel for crumbs they can eat. Make each spot no
larger than a small pea. Do not apply the bait in a long bead like
caulk or in large spots. To roaches, these large gel placements will look like food that
is too big for roaches’ mouths to eat, and they will avoid this bait.
Each bait placement should be placed 8 to 10 inches apart.
In the kitchen, apply bait to the back corners and along the shelves of emptied cabinets.
Also, along the underside of the shelves and on the door hinges of the cabinets. In drawers,
apply the gel on the back and front corners of each drawer and on the top of the drawer
slide. Often kitchens will have an exposed crack
where cabinets and countertops are connected to the wall. These cracks are a perfect hiding
spot for roaches. Apply gel along the crack where the cabinets are connected to the wall,
and on the side and underneath each cabinet. If there is a lip where the countertop meets
the cabinet, apply the gel every 8-10 inches along the underside of the countertop, but
not on the top of the counter where food will be prepared.
The vents and cracks of appliances in the kitchen also need to be baited. Add spots
on the hinges of the refrigerator and in the vents below the refrigerator.
Bait where the dishwasher meets the wall and around the wall void of electrical boxes throughout
the kitchen. In the bathroom, bait where the toilet pipe
and sink pipe enter the wall. Add bait where the mirror meets the wall, on the corners
of cabinets, on the hinges of cabinets, and underneath the lip of the countertop.
There are many different varieties of roach bait gel, so be sure to read and follow the
instructions on the product label to apply the bait properly.
Next, make sure
to apply an Insect Growth Regulator. IGRs work by interrupting the growth cycle of any
listed immature insects that come in contact with the IGR. The insects will not mature
into breeding adults and therefore will not be able to repopulate, which is turn helps
control future roach infestations. Available in aerosol, liquid, and station form, IGRs
can be sprayed or placed where roaches most commonly hide, including the corners of rooms
and cabinets, beneath sinks and appliances, around door and window frames, in pantries,
and in drawers. Roaches are much easier to prevent than get
rid of! Preventing roaches from being attracted to and infesting your home will almost always
come down to proper sanitation. You may notice that many of the prevention steps are the
same as the treatment steps, so make sure to eliminate food and water sources going
forward even after you have treated for roaches.
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