How to Keep Cockroaches Out of Your Kitchen

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How to Keep Cockroaches Out of Your Kitchen

Staff Writer · Oct 19, 2009

Cockroaches are an important part of many ecosystems; they recycle plant and animal wastes. Indoors they are a pest and a health hazard, but there are many options to keep them out of your kitchen where they belong.

Keep Food Away from the Cockroaches

Keep food either in the refrigerator or in sealed containers. Food that is scattered about does not cause a cockroach problem, but it makes it a bigger incentive for the cockroaches to come into the kitchen. Clean counters and floors daily, and if you have recently experienced a cockroach encounter, make sure the dirty dishes don’t sit in the kitchen overnight. Take the garbage out every night.

Use Sticky Traps for Small Cockroach Problems

If you have only spotted a cockroach or two, a sticky trap may be all you need to rid yourself of the problem. Put a couple under the refrigerator, a few in the cabinets and keep and eye on them to see if you caught any culprits. Even if you do not have a cockroach problem, using sticky traps will allow you to keep an eye on a cockroach problem your neighbor might be sharing with you by accident. 

Vacuum the Crevices

Use a vacuum with a crevice attachment to suck up roaches lurking in the cracks in the kitchen cabinets. Pull the refrigerator out and thoroughly clean behind and under it. Pull everything out of your kitchen cabinets if there are visible signs of roaches. Vacuum and wipe everything down with soap and water. 

Try Earth Friendly Cockroach Poison

Insecticidal dusts such as diatomaceous earth or boric acid are effective ways to kill cockroaches. Make sure the diatomaceous earth is the kind designed for bug killing and not water filtering, or it will not be effective. Boric acid can be mixed with sugar and a small bit of water to increase the incentive of the cockroach to eat it, but it can also be applied straight on as a dust. There is low toxicity for humans for both these substances, but wear a mask to prevent any small particles from being inhaled into your lungs.

Roaches will avoid big piles of dust, so make sure your application of these insecticidal dusts is light and even. Spread it under the refrigerator, along the wall, in cracks. Even opening up electrical outlet covers and sprinkling the dust inside is a good way to get the roaches. Roaches are most likely to be along the walls, in appliances, and cupboards, so there is no need to but any poison dust in the middle of the room. 

If they Keep Coming, Hire a Professional

If these measures are not enough, you can hire a pest control company to come out and thoroughly spray your house. Choose one that offers an earth friendly treatment, as you will be living in that space after the cockroaches are dead and gone. 

With these preventative measures, sticky traps and earth-friendly roach poison, your kitchen will stay clean and cockroach free and you can focus on more interesting things in life than roaches!

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