I saw a cockroach, should I be worried? Yes, because it is a sign that you have to clean your surroundings. Cockroach loves a humid, warm, and dirty place. But don’t worry, you can prevent it from getting into your house. There are several quick and common ways how to avoid cockroaches from getting inside your house as follows:
First, make sure your house is clean and tidy. Cockroach won’t enter your house unless it’s dirty. Clean your kitchen every night with disinfectant every night because cockroach feeds at night. Clean your dining table, kitchen counter, and appliances.
Second, limit where you eat so it will be easier to clean. It will minimize the possibility of unnoticed crumbs and spills that might attract cockroaches. Here, cockroaches love to eat leftover foods and crumbs. So, that is why sometimes people who do not brush their teeth and wash their hands can be bitten by cockroaches.
Third, tidy up. You can tidy your house up by getting rid of paper and cardboard, storing food in sealed containers. That will be blocking the entry point of cockroach. And don’t forget to empty your trash. Or if you can’t get rid of it right away, you have to make sure the trash can have a tight-fitting lid.
Paper and cardboard are not only used by cockroaches as an entry point but also as a shelter. Here, the real problem is that cockroach’s whole body and its feces are full of bacteria and parasites that can spread some diseases. So, you have to throw away the unused paper and cardboard.
So, should I be worried if I saw one cockroach? Don’t worry, those are the quick and common tips in avoiding cockroaches from entering your house. However, sometimes things can be so as easy as it is written. Therefore, here are some other great tips that you can do when you saw a cockroach.
Avoiding Cockroaches from Getting In with Aromatherapy
Bay Leaves
People often use the bay leaf as a spice because of its scent. You can dry this leaf, smash it, and spread it at cockroach’s shelter and any place where the cockroach often goes through. Well, the way it works is that the essential oil released from the bay leaves can repel the cockroaches.
But, there is a basic problem in using this aromatherapy. Here, you need to produce so much essential oil that hopefully will produce a strong scent. In this case, you need also to realize that actually cockroaches can easily stay in animal feces that have a strong and stink scent.
Therefore, you need so much crushed bay leaves to keep away the cockroaches. It means that it will be wise to use pure bay leaves oil that has a strong scent. In this case, you do not really need to do much effort. But, if you want a cheap or even free one, you can do it yourself.
Coffee Powder
Coffee is famous for its strong and unique aroma, like a mixture of sweet, spicy, fruity, and earthy scent that can be easily noticed. Apparently, a cockroach cannot hold this black powder. So, you can pour a bit of coffee powder around the entry and the cockroach won’t get in your house.
But, why cockroaches do not like coffee?
According to this research, coffee can kill insects. So, it has potential use to kill cockroaches. Caffeine is one of the natural substances that has a function as an insecticide. Here, sometimes, you can find people will use coffee in blocking insects like ants and etc. So, it is worth to try applying coffee powder as insecticides.
On the other side, people will argue that they can find cockroaches in the coffee. Actually, that is a normal thing. What kills cockroaches is not the scent but poisonous chemical substance in caffeine. Also, sometimes, what cockroaches look for may be the cream, sugar, or milk in the coffee. So, there are more pleasant things for them than the toxic ones.
Citrus Oils
On the other side, it is believed that the scent of Lemon is the repellent. Well, the truth is that it is because of the chemical compound called limonene in the lemon that works well. So, you can squash the lemon or any other citrus oil source. Then, mix it into your floor mop fluid. This mixture will cleanse your house and drives all pests away.
Getting Rid of Cockroaches Inside House
DIY Cockroach Repellent Spray
Use the spray by spraying directly on its body until it flipped and the antennae stopped moving. Based on personal experience, when the antennae stopped moving, the cockroach is fainted or dead. That’s the chance when you want to get rid of cockroach, you can push it outside with a broom, or you can pick it up by its antennae and flush it down with the disinfectant solution.
Using Diatomaceous Earth
Aquatic organism’s skeleton is made from silica and when their body is fossilized, the tiny remaining became a soil, containing the mixture of fossils and sand that accumulated in the sediment of rivers, lakes, and ocean. Many people mined silica from this soil that we can call as Diatomaceous earth. The main compound containing this soil is silicon dioxide that can break insect exoskeleton.
How’s the mechanism?
Insect’s exoskeleton is made from oil and wax (fat). This exoskeleton helps insects to maintain water balance (the wax), helps to maintain an ionic balance, protection from physical ham, et cetera.
Silicon dioxide absorbs water and fluid, it will absorb oil and fat from the cuticle of the insect’s exoskeleton. When the oil and fat are absorbed, the insect will dry out to death because there will be no fluid left inside.
You can spread diatomaceous earth to the floor where the cockroach usually enters or you can spread it on your garden.
- Cover every crevice on your wall. A cockroach has a flat body it can go through a small crevice on your wall. Also, fix every crack in your house so cockroach can’t get in.
- Fix every leak in your house, close the piping using paving blocks. A cockroach can live for weeks without food but can’t live without water. So check regularly for your water tank to avoid leakage. We wouldn’t want any cockroaches to come in, right?
- The most important tip is don’t panic. Cockroach and rats can sense that. I was panicked twice while seeing a cockroach inside my house. The first time I saw that I was panicked and it ran faster to the darker side of my house, hiding, took me 6 hours to get rid of it. The second time while I was in the toilet, I saw a 3 cm cockroach, I shrieked and it came closer to me very fast. I freaked out, I tried to run. This cockroach knew that I was shocked and terrified, so it threw its ultimate move, flying. Lucky me, I reached the door faster than the cockroach and left the toilet.
Those are ways to avoid cockroaches getting in your house, simple and easy, right? Good sanitation is the most important way to prevent pests from coming. Also, keep calm so the cockroach won’t sense your fear and you can get rid of it easier. So, when I saw one huge cockroach should I be worried? You should not be worried when you saw a cockroach.