If you live in the South, you know what I'm talking about when I say, "Giant Flying Cockroaches...Oh my!" If you live up north or out west, just be grateful for yourt ignorance.:P Unfortunately, I not only live in Georgia, I have a flying cockroach phobia! Much of my time in the Summer is spent trying to make sure I never have to see those creepy, gigantic nemises of mine. Here are the ways I try to combat them without poisoning myself, my kids, or my dog. As an added bonus, these methods are also frugal!
CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN
Being clean won't keep ALL of the roaches out, but it will certainly make it harder for them to hide and survive if they do choose to move in. Never ever leave food out, or dishes in the sink overnight. Don't leave food in the garbage disposal, or beverages (ESPECIALLY BEER) around. For some reason, beer attracts pretty much every bug and slug on the planet. Soda will also attract them, so beware. Sweep up all crumbs every night and wipe the counters. I never let my kids eat anywhere but the kitchen or the dining room. I figure containing the mess makes it a lot less likely that I'll overlook a pile of tasty crumbs and then walk in on a palmetto bug dinner party some night.
Don't let clutter accumulate around the house. Piles of papers, toys, and dirty laundry make excellent places for bugs to hide. Nothing is worse than picking up a pile of dirty clothes and then seeing a bug so huge you think it might actually be TWO buge that have somehow morphed together skittering away.
Keep your bathrooms clean and clutter free. Bugs really like to hang out in the bathroom, so the cleaner it is, the less likely it is that you won't see them and kill them. If they escape, they will go forth and multiply, and by multiply, I mean laying 26 eggs every eight days.
BUY SOME BORIC ACID
Boric acid is great, because you can use it to make laundry detergent, clean your house, and kill roaches! You can find it in the laundry section under the brand name, "Borax." To use it to kill roaches, just spread a thin layer along base boards, under appliances, in cabinets, and anywhere else you think a roach might like to hang out. Boric acid is not toxic to humans or pets, but it is very toxic to bugs. From what I've read, they walk on it, it gets on their hairy little legs, they groom themselves, eat the boric acid, and then die from an exploded stomach.
IF YOU DO SEE ONE, HERE'S HOW TO KILL IT
When I see a baby roach, I just spray it with soapy water to kill it. Soapy water won't kill the adult ones, though. For the adult ones, I spray them with a LOT of soapy water to soak their wings so they can't fly. I've also read that hairspray works. Then I chase them down and smash them several times with something heavy. I say several times, because they can take quite a pounding and not even seem injured. Then I pick up the roach with a big wad of toilet paper and flush it down the toilet. I don't use commercial bug sprays, because they are horribly poisonous to humans and pets as well as bugs. When you spray something like Raid, you breathe it in too.
Well that is my non-toxic and frugal method for preventing and killing bugs!
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11 comments:
Oh God. I love summer, but I hate hate hate roaches. I developed a weird phobia about taking out the trash after a very bad incident involving multiple large bugs and my dumpster.
I've found that your usual cleaning products such as Windex and 409 are great bug killers. Not so sure how the work on the huge ones, but it works great on the usual house roaches. Not the most non-toxic, but better than Raid. Plus, if you use something antibacterial, you feel like you are getting the area where the roach was clean. :)
Palmetto bugs are gross, but remember that they really won't hurt you. Another important thing is to look for places that the bugs might get into the house and block them off.
I live in Arkansas and have the bug guy come every 3 months. We have a yearly contract which means he'll come out even more frequently for free if I give him a call. I have a 2 year old so he sprays with some non toxic junk that the state approves for daycare centers. Just to be sure I keep her away from window sill and such for a couple days and don't let her play out in the yard for a few hours. Our biggest problem here is SPIDERS of every kind including brown recluse (they like to climb in dark damp spots like sneakers),wood roaches which look like ginourmous grasshoppers and jump so high they scare the crap out of me, fleas, termites (we all live in brick houses here), and we get palmettos too, but we politely call them water bugs instead of roaches!!!!!!!!! I hate them all.
Great tip on the with the borax!
I think roaches can come in from so many different ways... the eggs can be attached to paper bags from the supermarket, even. It's just so darn hard to keep them out or to get rid of them once they're in. Yuck.
It's funny, I don't mind bugs *at all* when they are OUTside. Camping, hiking, whatever, I have no issue with bugs.
But I go nuts when I have bugs IN the house.
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Boric acid is helpful to kill roaches. I already tried it and it really works.
The ultimate solution to the Roach problem is to let nature deal with them. Just raise a frog!
You won't see it, you won't have to clean its dirt because it turns into stone-like thing and you rarely find it anyways but cockroaches will disappear. And you can consider it your pet, but don't feed it or it won't hunt :)
If you have a multiple floor house put a one on each floor. You'd better use a small one, a field frog will be fine unless you really want a visible pet frog :D (I only tried field frogs).
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The sight of cockroaches disgusts me, not to talk of giant flying cockroaches. This is such a nice and interesting post, am sure that many people who have had access to this post will have a roach-free home. I do love the kind of a post you have shared, and i hope that you will keep on posting more. Thanks
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