The Best Cockroach Pest Control Methods

Did you spot a cockroach scurrying away in the middle of the night when you turned on the kitchen light? Yep, you might need some gool ol’ fashioned Richmond, Virginia, cockroach pest control – whether the do-it-yourself kind or the professional kind.

DIY Cockroach Pest Control

The best way to keep cockroaches from invading your Richmond, Virginia, home is to keep your home neat and tidy. Cockroaches eat nearly everything – even wallpaper paste – so giving them open access to food (including Fido’s dog bowl) is an open invitation to make your home their home.

Here, then, are our best DIY cockroach pest control tips for your Richmond, Virginia, home.

Borax: While this might not be something you want around your house if you have kids or pets, borax is highly effective against cockroaches. Mix three parts borax with one part sugar. The sugar will attract these pests, while the borax will damage their digestive systems and outer skeletons. In short, borax is a cockroach pest control superstar, killing roaches in their tracks.
A Borax Alternative: If you don’t want borax in your home, then mix equal parts of sugar and baking soda, which will have a similar effect.
Clean Underneath Appliances: Pull out your refrigerator, stove, and other large appliances and clean behind them and underneath them. If you’re okay with the borax cockroach pest control method, then sprinkle a thin layer of borax on the floor where the appliances will sit when pushed back into place.
Stay Dry: Cockroaches need water, so if there’s a slow leak underneath the sink, under the dishwasher, or behind the washing machine, then you are more likely to see cockroaches. Check under every sink in the house, your hot water heater, and your washing machine to make sure everything is dry.
Don’t Leave Food Out: Keep cereals, pantry items, herbs and spices, pet food, and anything else that can become a tasty treat for cockroaches in tightly sealed containers. If cockroaches can’t find water and food in your home, they’ll go elsewhere and become some other person’s cockroach pest control problem.
Do the Dishes: Don’t leave dishes in the sink at night. And if you use a dishwasher, slide it out and sprinkle a little borax underneath it.
Clean Your Garbage Cans: If the inside of your garbage can is coated with a layer of old food, then it is only a matter of time before cockroaches find it. Clean your cans regularly and make sure they have tight-fitting lids.
Pull Out the Vacuum: Vacuum every nook and cranny in the house at least twice a week, from your couches to little spaces throughout the house. If you have deep cracks on the floor, squirt some borax into them.
Wash Your Clothes: Cockroaches love dirty clothes. Don’t let your laundry pile up, unless you want to be forever tackling your cockroach pest control problem.

A Word About Borax

Borax is marketed as a green product because it doesn’t contain phosphates or chlorine. Instead, its main ingredient is sodium tetraborate, a naturally occurring mineral.

People sometimes confuse sodium tetraborate – the main ingredient in borax – and boric acid, which has similar properties. Boric acid, however, is usually used exclusively as a pesticide and is much more toxic than sodium tetraborate, so it should be handled with extra special care.

While borax may be natural, that doesn’t mean it’s completely safe. Borax often comes in a box with a caution label warning users that the product is an eye irritant and that it may be harmful if swallowed. While people are mostly exposed to borax in their homes, they may also encounter it at work, such as in factories or at borax mining and refining plants.

Even More DIY Cockroach Pest Control Techniques

Seal Your Pipes: Check all sink and toilet pipes. If there are any gaps, seal them with caulk. If there are cracks and holes where the wall meets the floor, then seal those, too. Cockroaches are almost flat and can squeeze through tiny crevices to hide. Closing these entry points to your Richmond, Virginia, home is an easy cockroach pest control technique.
Close the Drains: As hard as it might be to believe, cockroaches sometimes crawl through pipes to get from their hiding places to your bathroom and kitchen. So, install covers on your bathtub and shower drains with holes that are too small for cockroaches to fit through.
Favor Plastic Over Cardboard: Cockroaches love cardboard boxes, so if you’re using cardboard boxes to store files, holiday decorations, and all your high school t-shirts, then switching to plastic storage containers will help keep cockroaches at bay.
Ventilate: Cockroaches love dark, moist areas – such as your attic and basement. To enhance your DIY cockroach pest control strategy, add a vent and fan to these areas – if they don’t already have them.

Are There Natural Cockroach Pest Control Solutions?

Natural cockroach pest control solutions exist, but they are not always effective. Still, some things you can try and which some people swear by are certain essential oils – including lavender oil and peppermint oil – which can overwhelm a cockroach’s sense of smell and cause it to avoid the area.

A few herbs and spices can also do the trick. Plants from the mint family are especially effective and their insect-repellent powers are backed by research.

Finally, catnip is also said to be a strong cockroach repellent.

Professional Cockroach Pest Control

When you’re facing a serious problem or a true cockroach infestation, natural ingredients might not be enough. Instead, your Richmond, Virginia, home might need professional cockroach pest control help. At Eco Pest Control, we have the expertise to find exactly which areas to target and the tools and techniques to get rid of the roaches for good. Even better, we use green, environmentally friendly solutions that are not only effective, but also safe for your family and pets.

Cockroaches aren’t fond of light. Because of this, you’re unlikely to see them during the daytime. If you do notice one during the day, it may be because the cockroach got crowded out of its home. Rather than wait to find out if the cockroach you spotted was simply too hungry to wait until nighttime to search for food or was one of hundreds – or thousands – of cockroaches nesting in your home, we encourage you to call us at 757.520.5381.

Fun Facts About the American Cockroach

The American cockroach’s name is a little misleading. American cockroaches most likely originated from Africa and then spread to the United States on ships in the early 1600s. Now, they are commonly found throughout North America – including Virginia. Some parts of the south are home to a very large species known as the palmetto bug.

Cockroaches can run up to three-and-a-half miles an hour, or about 50 body lengths a second. That’s equivalent to a human running two hundred miles an hour.

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