What to do if cockroaches appear in the apartment

Black cockroaches are very unpleasant neighbors; they suddenly appear in your apartment out of nowhere and immediately consider themselves full-fledged inhabitants of your home. They are ubiquitous, you can see them both in very unexpected places at home, which, it seems, should not interest them in any way, and in the kitchens and bathrooms they traditionally love. It is unlikely that there will be a person who will be glad to have an unusual neighborhood.

How to get rid of black cockroaches in an apartment? They pose a real danger to the human body, being carriers of many unpleasant diseases. And it is quite difficult to destroy them; insects are reborn again, you just have to get to the water that revives them.

Over the years and even centuries of living together with cockroaches, humanity has found a lot of different ways to get rid of this scourge.

If there is a black cockroach in your apartment, the fastest and most effective way to solve the problem is to call a special service that will treat the room in a fairly short time. The chemicals they use for treatment are completely safe for humans. But the hated black cockroach will die.

How to get rid of an insect on your own? We offer several ways.

The best method is boric acid

If there is a black cockroach in your apartment, the most popular and safest way to get rid of it is to exterminate it using boric acid powder. It can be freely found in pharmacies, it is inexpensive, and to treat an ordinary apartment it is enough to buy only 50-150 grams. This method, unlike many modern and super effective chemicals, is completely harmless to humans and various animals. The product does not leave any sharp unpleasant odors, and the effectiveness is great - for cockroaches there is hardly a more terrible poison.

Chemical methods

Good results in the fight against arthropods are achieved through the use of chemicals. However, it is worth mentioning right away that cockroaches quickly get used to the drug, and from the second and subsequent treatments it does not give the expected result. Therefore, when choosing a chemical option for insect control, you need to alternate insecticides.

Chemicals for disinfection are available in the following forms:

• spray;
• gel;
• liquid poison;
• powder.

Liquid poisons

Chemicals in liquid form, when used in accordance with the instructions, are safe for humans and animals. They give a good effect when the degree of infection is very high. The only disadvantage of this option is the high cost of the drug.

Sprays

Insecticides can be produced in the form of a spray or aerosol. This form is very convenient due to the high penetrating ability of the substance. Thanks to this, it is possible to poison insects hiding in cracks or behind the baseboard.

The treatment must be carried out wearing protective equipment, and before spraying, all people and animals must be removed from the apartment. Windows and doors must be tightly closed at the time of treatment. After 3-4 hours of exposure, ventilation and wet cleaning should be done.

Important! Aerosols are not recommended for use in homes where people suffering from allergic diseases live.

The most famous insecticides produced in the form of sprays and aerosols are:

• Raptor;
• Tetrix;
• Battalion commander

Review of the most effective cockroach repellents

Gels and adhesives

Common forms of release of contact insecticides are gels and adhesives for cockroaches. They are applied on the floor near the walls in the bathroom, toilet and kitchen. In addition, it is recommended to place the drug behind sewer pipes, under the sink, and on the drain holes.

This adhesive substance has a pleasant smell for cockroaches. They go at it themselves, and then die as a result of poisoning. For ease of use, the gels are sold in a syringe, which makes it very easy to apply it to the surface. Gels can be intestinal and contact. Their validity period is 2 months.

Currently, the following brands have gained popularity:

• Dokhlos;
• Raptor;
• Fas;
• Storm;
• Combat;
• Global;
• Raid.

Attention! The drug in this form is not capable of killing insect eggs. Nymphs, young and adult individuals die from it.

Cockroach gels: review of 12 effective gels

Chalk and powders (dusts)

Another form of insecticide release is powder. Now there is a large selection of such certified products. This powder is scattered in a small layer in the habitats of cockroaches, but at a respectful distance from food storage areas. According to the instructions, it is recommended to dilute some powders with water before use, and then spray the rooms.

The most famous brands of powder products are:

1. Gett. Before use, this powder is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 5. Then the solution is poured into the sprayer and processing begins. After an exposure of 4 hours, begin to ventilate the home for the same time. The insecticide is odorless and has a long period of action.
2. Ecokiller. This powder has an original mechanism of action on insects. Its active ingredient is diatomite, which has abrasive properties. In addition, this substance actively absorbs moisture from the outside. Contacting this substance, the cockroach damages the integumentary membrane of its body and dies from dehydration.
3. Frontline M. This insecticide is produced in Belarus and has nerve-paralytic properties. The active components of the product are fipronil and methoprene. The first has a contact effect on cockroaches, and the second is a component of intestinal action. The insect gets poisoned and quickly dies.
4. Clean house. This cockroach dust contains two components. They have a nerve-paralytic effect on insects. If you strictly follow the instructions, the result becomes visible after a couple of days.

Mashenka chalk, which is an excellent repellent, is also suitable for fighting cockroaches. Chalk is not capable of killing insects, but it has an effect on them that causes paralysis.

Traps

Traps are another means of removing cockroaches from an apartment. When there are a lot of children and pets in the house, a trap becomes perhaps the main tool in the fight against cockroaches.

These devices are different. There are traps that kill the victim with an electric current. Once you plug it in, you don’t need to do anything else, except for collecting dead arthropods from the tray.

The next type of trap is the bait trap. It consists of a plastic container, inside of which a product is placed that attracts cockroaches with a pleasant smell. The insect cannot resist such temptation and penetrates inside.

10 Most Effective Cockroach Traps

What awaits him inside? There may be:

• an insecticide, contact with which kills the insect;
• sticky substrate that envelops the insect;
• There is nothing inside except the bait, and the design features of the container do not allow the insect to get back out.

This is interesting! Craftsmen make such traps on their own. Wrap a glass jar with paper and grease the inner walls with oil. A piece of fruit is placed inside as bait. Cockroaches crawl into the jar based on the smell, but the slippery glass prevents them from getting out.

Among the commercial traps, “Combat Superbyte” has been popular for 40 years. The principle of its operation is simple: the cockroach enters the trap by smell and eats the poisoned bait. Infected with an insecticide, it returns to its relatives, comes into contact with them, as a result of which they also become infected. After a short time, all cockroaches die.

Black cockroaches in the apartment: how to get rid of them?

You can sprinkle the powder on all access points to water in your home. Black cockroaches are extremely fond of water, and if, trying to find access to it, they touch the killing powder with their antennae or paws, their fate will be sad. If an insect, already under the influence of boric acid, interacts with uninfected pests, then they too will die after such contact.

But big black cockroaches are quite cunning and can quickly sense danger. As a result, it is better to show the cunning characteristic of people and make an appetizing bait for insects.

Another method

Still wondering how to get rid of black cockroaches in your apartment? We offer another proven method.

You will need the yolks of raw eggs; they must be mixed with a mixture of boric acid to a paste. This consistency will allow you to form anything you want out of the mass. Make small balls from this paste and give them time to dry thoroughly. Then place the balls in places where insects are most likely to appear. The innate curiosity of cockroaches will guarantee the effectiveness of this product. They will not stop exploring interesting, tasty-smelling balls, and thus your goal - the insect's contact with the poison - will be achieved.

For those who are looking for a way to get rid of black cockroaches quickly, this option is unlikely to be suitable, since it will take 3 or maybe even 4 weeks to kill the insects.

Traditional methods

Any housewife will advise you to use boric acid to get rid of cockroaches. Some people pour it into metal caps, pour some water into them and place them in areas where pests have been spotted, while others add eggs or other products as bait instead of water. This is an old folk remedy. This explains its poor effectiveness. Over the years of its use, insects have developed resistance to boric acid.

Another folk remedy is vinegar and other strong-smelling repellents. These substances can create an effect of repelling insects, but no more.

If you notice that your night guests appear from the sewer, then you should think about the following method. It is recommended to periodically pour a blockage cleaner into the drain holes and leave for an hour and a half. The mole has a negative effect on sewer large black cockroaches.

Among the folk methods of struggle, one can also highlight a homemade trap, similar to the one we described above, only using improvised means. Usually it looks like a jar with bait, with vegetable oil poured at the bottom, which does not allow the cockroach to escape.

Poisonous gels

So, if there are black cockroaches in your apartment, how to get rid of them? Special poisonous gels, which, as a rule, are sold immediately in large syringes, have an excellent reputation among consumers. They are already ready for use, and you only need to apply the poison in small drops to the baseboard around the entire perimeter of the room at a distance of 10 cm. Black cockroaches will disappear in approximately 3-7 days.

Manufacturers producing gels “Raptor”, “Liquidator”, “Killer”, “Dohloks”, “Globol” know very well how to effectively get rid of cockroaches, and provide the opportunity for everyone affected by a similar problem to do this.

Cockroach repellents you can buy in the store

Now you can buy a variety of cockroach repellents that can be used to poison insects in your apartment. These are gels that can be squeezed onto baseboards and furniture, powders, insecticidal crayons, aerosols, traps, etc.

Such products are considered low-hazard to humans, but before use, be sure to read the instructions. During use, wear gloves, a mask, goggles - everything as required in the instructions.

Pay attention to whether the product can be used if there are children and pets in the room.

Insect traps

Cockroach traps are another fairly effective method of pest control. They are square or round boxes with special entrances for insects.

There is poison in the center of the trap, cockroaches come into contact with it, and after that they go to spread the poison among their own relatives, infecting them through touch. Such boxes are attached in the required places using special Velcro. According to consumer reviews, products of the brands “Raptor”, “Kombat” and “Raid” provide the greatest results.

Chemical weapons against mustachioed colonialists

When insects appear in the house, it is necessary to use special means - insecticides. These are pesticide-based chemicals designed to rid your home of bruins. You can buy such drugs at any hardware store, market or in a specialized department of the supermarket.

Ask a sales consultant, he will select the appropriate product and explain how to get rid of pests with it. Today, manufacturers produce a variety of products, and the average consumer can easily get lost among all these boxes and jars of insecticides. Insect repellent can be presented in the following forms:

• gel;
• chalk or powder;
• spray;
• trap.

Insecticides are also divided according to the route by which they enter the insect’s body:

• fumigators (respiratory tract);
• intestinal (edible poison, oral route);
• contact (enter the body through the skin);
• systemic (used in agriculture and not suitable for home use).

Regardless of the form, the principle of action of these substances is based on the following: one individual, upon contact with an insecticide, is poisoned and, returning to the nest, infects others. Let's try to figure out how insecticidal preparations work and which one is better to give preference to.

Insecticidal powders

Powders are popular because of their relative safety for people and animals. However, before treating the premises, it is better to play it safe and limit children and pets’ access to cockroach poison. The most famous insecticidal powders are the following:

• Boric acid.

An affordable drug, you will find it at your nearest pharmacy. The method of application is quite interesting: the acid is scattered in the sink, toilet and bathtub, while the drops are wiped off and the water is reforged. Cockroaches can go a long time without food, but not without water. And boric acid, scattered in all sources of moisture, makes it impossible for insects to drink, and they die. This method has one significant drawback - the processing time. It will take more than one week to kill all the individuals with thirst.

• Pyrethrium.

This beautiful word refers to ordinary chamomile flowers, dried and crushed. This powder has a detrimental effect on pests, paralyzing their nervous system. In addition, pyrethrium repels new cockroaches. The product is perfect as a preventive measure if your neighbors have parasites and you don’t want them to settle in yours too.

• Borax.

Read on the topic: Cockroach larvae or why insects come back after disinfestation

To control pests, borax is mixed with powdered sugar, which attracts insects, and scattered in places where cockroaches may be. If you don’t want to waste, you can pour the resulting mixture onto a piece of paper and leave it in the kitchen.

• Medilis Cyper.

A drug based on cypermethrin is an insecticidal substance that was discovered back in the seventies of the last century. The drug was widely used to control pests in agriculture, and later began to be used to kill household insects, and quite successfully. Among the advantages of powder insecticides are the following:

• efficiency;
• safety for people and their pets;
• versatility.

Of course, there are also disadvantages. For example, the duration of the process of exterminating insects. Any of the above remedies will require several weeks, or even months, to completely get rid of the mustachioed conquerors. Places where Prussians may live will have to be treated regularly and very carefully. When it comes to such vile roommates, you want to get rid of them as soon as possible.

Daylight negatively affects powders, reducing their activity. Thus, pyrethrium left in the sun becomes safe for pests, which means it is necessary to ensure that the poison is not exposed to sunlight and daylight in general. If a couple of neighbor's cockroaches wander in, the powders will help, but, unfortunately, they won't be able to cope with an entire population.

Sticky traps

When a large black cockroach appears in an apartment, you can also use traps of another type to destroy it - small cardboard houses, usually sticky inside. In the middle of such a house there is a bait that is tempting for cockroaches; they confidently move towards it, not knowing that they will remain inside forever, since they are firmly stuck to the walls.

All manufacturers succeed in making sticky traps, so you can safely purchase any boxes - using any of them gives a good result, and does not pose a danger to humans and other animals.

How to understand that cockroaches have appeared?

Usually, red or black cockroaches appear in apartments or houses. The red ones are smaller in size and elongated in shape, the black ones are larger, with an almost round body.

Many people note that it is much easier to breed black individuals, since they do not lay eggs as often.

Cockroaches are nocturnal inhabitants, so they cannot always be seen during daylight hours. The main signs that your home is infested are:

• Small black dots. If you notice these marks on the baseboards, kitchen countertops or cabinets, it's time to start fighting in the bathroom. Black dots are waste products of cockroaches. Often small scales or pieces of wings can be found next to them;

• In secluded places, for example, in the corners of kitchen cabinets, under the sink, under baseboards, you can often find an elongated oval light brown “larva”. This is a cockroach clutch with future offspring.

Is it possible to solve this problem once and for all?

Now you know what to do when a black cockroach appears in your apartment. How to get rid of these insects forever? This question interests many. Unfortunately, if you live in an apartment building, this is almost impossible. All the same, you will find a “dysfunctional” apartment, from where pests will colonize other habitats.

An effective way is to talk to your neighbors and ask them to destroy the cockroaches. There is a possibility that they will leave your entrance forever. If this fails, treat your apartment and seal all possible ways for these insects to enter your home. This way you will be able to ensure that the time of existence without cockroaches will be quite long, and their sudden appearance in your apartment will be short-lived.

Many people, regarding the question of how to destroy red and black pests, think that the best remedy is modern aerosols, which are designed for spraying areas where insects are most frequent, in particular, door frames, holes between walls and baseboards, and so on. Among similar aerosols, Baygon and Raid performed well. However, you need to know that cockroaches relatively easily adapt to the influence of such agents, get used to them, and after that the effectiveness of the poisons sharply deteriorates.

If you are completely desperate in vain attempts to get rid of these insects using folk remedies or using modern chemicals, then you can resort to the services of professionals and invite pest control experts.

Private companies will charge 300-450 rubles for processing an ordinary two-room apartment. Within an hour there will be no trace of pests. After this, you are guaranteed not to see a single cockroach in your own home for a year.

Where do cockroaches come from?

If your apartment is constantly kept in perfect order and cleanliness, then indignation at the appearance of insects in such a home is quite understandable.

There are several options in this case:

• They come to you from your neighbors. If the residents of neighboring apartments are not particularly clean, the appearance of pests is quite understandable. Sooner or later they may begin to fight them, and then the insects will be forced to look for a new habitat, that is, they will run to you;
• They can enter a home in several ways - through open windows and vents, through cracks in the ceiling, between the partitions, between the floor and the wall, through a ventilation shaft, through sewer pipes;
• A cockroach can be brought to your house by guests or you yourself, for example, from work . Naturally unintentional. If you have pests in your workplace, be sure to shake out your bag and clothes before going home;
• The cockroach may arrive by mail. Shopping through online stores is very popular now. We buy food, clothing, and household appliances. You cannot know in what conditions the product was stored before entering your home. Perhaps an uninvited guest got into the box with the parcel;
• You can also bring a cockroach from the supermarket along with your purchases. Large stores are ideal habitats for these insects. Therefore, carefully inspect the goods before loading them into the package;

• If we are not talking about a private house, but an apartment building, then cockroaches are also found in the staircases. It is possible that he entered the apartment through the front door at the same time as you entered or left the house;
• In other cases, the appearance of insects may be associated with unsanitary conditions in the premises. With irregular cleaning, a mountain of dirty dishes in the sink, which is regularly left overnight, with the accumulation of a large number of empty, dirty containers for yoghurt, jam, with irregular removal of garbage, storing it for a long time in an open bag or storing filled bags in front door;
• With constant access to water and high humidity. Cockroaches can live without food for more than a month, but they absolutely need water. Therefore, if there is a constantly leaking faucet in the house, you regularly take a shower and leave wet drops on the floor and on the sides of the bathtub or shower, thereby creating favorable conditions for pests;

• If the meal is not tied to the same place. It’s very bad if you or your family are used to carrying food around the apartment and eating in front of the TV or computer. The crumbs will be spread throughout the house, which will undoubtedly please the cockroaches.