Starving Cockroaches as Control

Cockroaches live everywhere—in houses, apartments, trailers, and teepees. Roaches can squeeze through cracks the thickness of a quarter, and live a month without food. They enter your home in bags, boxes, and even underneath doors. So how to do get rid of roaches once and for all?

Starve them

Chemical control methods alone cannot effectively control cockroaches. Starving them may help control or discourage them to stay in your place.

Whenever food and water are easy to find, roaches will invite themselves to dinner. Here's how to cancel their reservations and get rid of roaches:

• Dry up any standing water around sinks, tubs, and toilets. Roaches can only live a week without water.

• Meticulously clean your kitchen, including crumbs near the stove, microwave, and refrigerator.

• Vacuum scraps of food from corners and around the cabinet bases.

• Wipe down cupboard insides and drawers with soap and water.

• Immediately clean and put away dirty dishes.

Anything that can be done to eliminate the sources of food and water for the cockroaches from the home environment will help in their control:

• Do not allow dirty dishes to accumulate in the sink and remain there overnight.
• Keep food scraps in the refrigerator or in containers with tight-fitting lids.
• If pets are in the home, keep the pet food in tightly sealed containers, and do not allow food to remain in the bowls overnight. Feed only what the animal will eat at the time of feeding.
• Remove garbage from the home on a routine basis. Keep outside containers covered, especially at night.
• Periodically check and clean the evaporation pan under the refrigerator or freezer.
• A critical point may be the area between the stove and cabinet, where grease and food scraps often accumulate. Pull the stove out periodically and clean thoroughly.

DON'T pour fats and oils down the drain. DON'T leave dirty dishes over night. DON'T let grease accumulate on benches and behind stoves. DO clean up after food preparation. DO store food in sealed containers. DO use a biodegradable drain cleaner. DO use ‘Sticky Traps' under refrigerators and behind ovens. DO limit available water through open containers and leaky taps. DO use a sink strainer to catch food scraps for your compost or garbage bin. DO put plugs in sinks at night so cockroaches cannot come up the drain.

A roach can find a snack just about anywhere. They eat crumbs, pet food, dead leaves, and trash. If they get really hungry, they might eat glue or soap.

Green kill:To paralyze and eventually kill roaches, mix boric acid with water and flour, and place in jar lids in the back of cupboards and underneath stoves. (Caution! Keep out of reach of pets and children.) The flour will attract the roaches; the boric acid will eat away at their exoskeleton.

If you can't get rid of roaches yourself, hire a pest control companyto fight the war for you.   Check out our page here for assistance on the control: