How To Rid Your Home of Cockroaches

Cockroaches, according to scientists, had been around millions of years before humans dominated the earth. They have the ability to adapt fast in their environments. This ability makes them one of the worst household pests. The mother cockroach may be dead, but if the eggs have hatched, the offspring will take her place. Counter them all with a few simple measures:

• Lay a sticky trap to get them. If they completely cover the sticky pad, it means that there are lots of cockroaches within the area.

• Once you know that you are dealing with a large population, you can decide to use your poisons, sprays and dusts. Sprays and dusts are called desiccants and kill roaches slowly.

• Use secondary ingredients like neurotoxin with your dust or spray to kill the roach faster. Silica aerogel roughen the exoskeleton of the roaches, diatomaceous earth dehydrates them, and pyrethrin and borax are also desiccants and poisonous.

• If you only have a few roaches, roach baits would be your best solution. They are best for houses with other pets or small children.

• Try spraying insecticide directly on the cockroaches. But try a different formulation after emptying a bottle. If it is too harmful to use insecticides at home due to certain health conditions, try manual swatting - it could be nastier but definitely the bugs are killed.

• Fogging is also effective, but your home will be covered with pyrethroids.

• For a natural repellant, it is recommended to plant a nim tree inside the yard or even inside the house in a small pot. A nim tree, originally from India, is believed to have insect repellant qualities. It releases a chemical toxin not harmful to any creatures except to insects. It can be grown indoors or outdoors.

• If no nim tree is available, go for an artificial remedy. The ever famous moth balls are always available in stores for an affordable price. There is also a chalk, which repels insects. These should be put in the dark areas of the house cockroaches are known to inhabit. However, proper education and installation is advised, because these are highly toxic chemicals and fatal when swallowed.

• But the most important measure of all is keeping the house clean. Regular house cleaning not only creates healthier homes; it also cuts down the potential food sources of these bugs, because they enjoy leftover foods as well as wastes in the trash bins. It also lowers the number of egg laying zones for these critters. Try also to provide better lighting around the house, because these bugs love the dark.

Cockroaches are considered household pests since they eat clothes and paper, scavenge for food, dwell and reproduce in dark places within the house, and fly over one's head. They are potential carriers of diseases, since they also dwell in garbage sites and sewages.