How To Get Rid of Cockroaches at Home?
Do you have children or pets at your home? If yes, you should know that cockroaches can be a possible health hazard for your children and pets. If you face a pest control cockroach infestation at your home, you must act quickly to neutralise the threat.
Unfortunately, DIY methods are not effective all the time. In fact, only a professional pest control service can handle the cockroach infestation and evict these creepy insects completely. If you currently need help with pest control cockroach removal in Perth, it is best to call local pest control experts like the Xterminate Pest Control.
Know The Creepy Cockroaches
Cockroaches are creepy and ugly insects that contain six legs, two antennae, and two pairs of wings. The length varies from ½ to 2 inches depending upon the age and species. If you look at the worldwide picture, more than a thousand species of cockroaches are out there. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, only about 30 of those types are considered pests.
Apart from Antarctica, you can find cockroaches in every country and on every continent. Paleontologists have found cockroaches’ fossils which are over 350 million years old. So, the fun fact is, cockroaches are older habitats of planet Earth than the human species itself. Cockroaches are highly adaptable to any climate or environmental scenario. They can eat almost anything which has hydro-carbon in it.
In Australia, only six species of cockroaches are commonly found, which are considered pest issues.
- Australian Cockroach (Periplaneta australasiae)
- Smoky Brown Cockroach (Periplaneta fuliginosa)
- American cockroach (Periplaneta americana)
- German cockroach (Blattella germanica)
- Oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis)
- Brown-banded cockroach (Supella longipalpa)
You must opt for the local expert Pest Controllers Perth A1 Pest Control for the best pest control service in Perth, WA.
How Are Cockroaches Harmful To You And Your Family?
With the unpleasant reddish-brown looks and the awful smell of their droppings, cockroaches are strong survivors of planet Earth. Pest Control Cockroach are such old habitats of Earth that scientists dated their existence back in the prehistoric era, about 70 million years ago. Due to their feeding habit and rapid adaptability, it is said that Cockroaches can even survive nuclear radiation infestation.
With the presence of cockroaches at your home, you may have to face social embarrassment. Many people are scared of cockroaches, so a kitchen crawling with them is not a good place to party.
Cockroaches themselves do not cause any disease as they are not venomous. But they are known carriers of millions of bacterias and fungal infectious agents. So cockroaches can be the vector of spreading diarrhea, food poisoning, skin rashes, and allergic diseases. Due to low immunity, kids and pets are more prone to such health problems. Go through the following way to know how you can get infected by cockroaches:
Contamination
As we already know that cockroaches can eat anything, so you can consider everything as food for them. From regular edible substances to paper, soap, glue, leather, dead plants, dead animals, fecal matter, plywood, and even hairs, cockroaches can eat everything. If you leave any food uncovered, they can contaminate it with bacterias while eating. Without your knowledge, they can leave defective food with their fallen hair, dead skin, or eggshell droppings in it.
Inoculation Of Bacteria
At the time of eating, cockroaches induce their saliva and digestive fluids into the food. This way, they transmit the bacterias and infectious agents into the food. A specific bacteria called “bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa” is found extensively in the guts of cockroaches. These bacterias can reproduce and multiply rapidly and cause urinary tract infections, sepsis, mal-digestion, etc.
Cockroach Bites
Many people don’t know that most cockroaches can not bite. There are some specific species of cockroaches found which can bite, but those are very rare. But of course, cockroaches can scratch and cause wounds on the soft skins like toes and fingernails. Also, by scratching, they can leave bacterias and allergens on the skin tissues, which can cause skin diseases and allergies.
Invasion Of Body Parts
There are several records where cockroaches entered the human body in the ear and nose while sleeping. Cockroach lings can readily enter your body if you are not aware of their presence. It may sound scary, but the cockroaches inside your body can cause not very serious damages. But of course, the cockroaches can put the bacteria and allergens in places where it is much harder to treat.
Food Poisoning
The most common hazard caused by cockroach infestation is food positioning. If your kids or pets are having diarrhea, vomiting, stomach ache, kinds of problems regularly, cockroaches might be the reason behind it. In various food poisoning epidemics, it was found that the number of new cases reduced instantly after through cockroach infestation elimination. Cockroaches carry the “bacterium Salmonella” with them, which can cause severe diseases like Typhoid and Gastroenteritis (stomach flu).
Spreading Allergies
Cockroaches contain thousands of allergens in the saliva secretion. If you got infected by such allergens, it is tough to say what reaction you will suffer. It may cause skin rashes, extreme sneezing, water or red eyes, pimples, etc. Such allergens can cause hair fall also.
Problem For Asthma
If you have any asthma patients at home, you must make sure your house is free from cockroaches. If your house is cockroach-infested, the number of asthma attacks can increase significantly, which can cause mortal danger to the patient. The cockroach spreads allergens that can cause severe allergies to asthma patients, becoming a complex life-threatening danger. Even some people can develop Cockroach asthma by inhaling cockroach allergens accidentally.
How Do Cockroaches Infest Your Home?
Cockroaches can thrive in humid, dry, or moist conditions. If a place is dirty, it is an open invitation for cockroacEspecially the smell of leftover food attracts the cockroaches like nothing else.
- Dirty Sink: A dirty sink with leftover food not only attracts cockroaches but is an ideal breeding place as well. If you are going out for the office leaving behind dirty dishes on the sink, cockroaches will use this opportunity. Even do not leave unwashed dishes to stay in the sink overnight. This way, within weeks, the number of cockroaches can increase significantly, and your home becomes infested with them.
- Garbage: The dustbins and trash cans are palaces for cockroaches. The open dustbins or trash cans without cover must have cockroaches in them. So, stocking up a pile of garbage in the backyard is a terrible idea. Make sure to segregate waste and dispose of them regularly. Opt for trash cans with lids on them. Else you may not know when your house has become infested with cockroaches.
- Food Crumbs: You may already know that cockroaches love the kitchen. It’s because of the easily found leftover food crumbs on the floor. If you are not keeping your kitchen clean every day, you serve the cockroaches food and help them to grow in numbers. They are going to return the favour by infesting your whole house.
How To Prevent Cockroach Infestation
- Clear Clutter: A clean, fresh, and clutter-free home is not an ideal place for cockroaches. Make sure to declutter all the stockpiles you have at home. Keep the kitchen and pantry clean all the time. Regularly mop the kitchen floor, clean the sink, and keep the pantry fresh. Do not use exposed trash cans, indoor or outdoor.
- Fix All Water Leakage: The cockroaches quite prefer moist areas. If the environment is humid and you have a damp place with water leakage at your home, it might be containing cockroaches already. So do not let the water stand for too long in or around your house. Fis any pipe leakage or plumbing faults as soon as possible. Just a leaking water pipe is also enough to attract cockroaches to your home.
Best Ways To Say Goodbye To Cockroaches
If you want to stop the cockroaches from infesting your home and multiplying on your property, there are a couple of homemade remedies you can use. But to ensure the best results, you must approach an expert pest control service. For best Pest Control Perth, you can consult the A1 Pest Control today.
Boric Acid / Boric Powder / Borax
Boric acid is a poison for cockroaches. Just sprinkling the powder can kill these pesky insects quickly. To ensure best results, use some borax dust or boric powder at the corners and floors where you found the cockroach traces. Let the cockroaches come in contact with the boric dust; they will die in minutes. You can bait for them with some leftover food on your sink as well.
Remember, the borax powder is not effective if the place or the powder is wet. So make sure you use the boric powder in dry locations. Also, keep the powder out of children’s and pets’ reach as it is poisonous.
Baking Soda
If you can spot the hideouts of the cockroaches, then this method is for you. You can use the solution in front of the cracks and holes where they are coming from to ensure better results. This is a baiting technique that also kills the cockroaches.
Mix some baking soda with some sugar, and that’s it; your DIY cockroach bait killer is ready. The Sugar will bait them, and the baking soda would kill them. Apply the mixture just outside the cockroach hideouts, their entry points, and on their tracks around the corners.
Indian Lilac
Indian Lilac (Azadirachta indica), also known as Neem tree, is a natural herb and can be used against cockroaches. Neem oil or Lilac powder contains potent components which can kill cockroaches. Also, cockroaches do not like the smell of Lilac itself. So the scent is also helpful to keep them away from your home.
To make some DIY lilac-based pest control cockroach repellent, take some lilac or neem oil and mix it with water. Then put the mixture in a spray bottle and spray on the cockroach sites.
You can sprinkle the lilac powder on the crack and holes from where the cockroaches are coming in. The smell would keep the cockroaches away. If any cockroach tries to eat the powder, it will die. Try to use the lilac oil and powder every day twice, on the targeted spots, to ensure the best and natural results.
Peppermint Oil
Peppermint oil is another natural insect repellent, which is effective against cockroaches also. Many people are using essential oil as a natural remedy to keep the insects out of their houses. You can get it quickly in the shops near you, and it comes at a low price also.
Make a mixture of salt and essential peppermint oil, spray it in the infested areas of your house. The solution would work as an insect deterrent and repellent at the same time.
Bay Leaves
If you do not like killing insects, you should at least try to keep them out of your property. Bay leaves can do that for you. Your pantry and cabinets where you keep food are one the best places for cockroaches to thrive. Crush some bay leaves and sprinkle them inside the cupboards & cabinets and in pantry areas. You can also boil some bay leaves with water and spray them in infected corners to see the difference.
Fabric Softener
Want to kill these pesky insects instantly without touching them? Here is it for you. Prepare a mixture of water and fabric softener in a spray bottle. Spray it on the cockroaches whenever you see them. It will die in minutes. But for a full-scale pest control cockroach infestation, this process might not be enough to kill all the cockroaches.
Get Help From Professional Pest Control
If you face a full-scale cockroach infestation, calling the best local professional pest controllers Perth can help you. In the Perth area, Xterminate Pest Control leads in providing the most cost-effective cockroach removal. Moreover, they cover all sorts of pests in residential, commercial, and industrial properties.
You can visit the Xterminate homepage for details about their services. You can call them for a free quote and to enquire. Furthermore, you can visit Google My Business for their customer reviews.
