How to Get Rid of Roaches: 3 Easy Steps For Lasting Results

Find out how to get rid of roaches by yourself and not go crazy. Trying to eliminate them is frustrating if you don’t know what you’re doing. No matter what you try, their numbers don’t seem to go down at all. When you think they’re finally gone because you haven’t seen them in a while, they suddenly appear! It can feel like all that effort and money goes to waste.

Having been through that nightmare, I’ve learned how to kill them off for good, so I’m sharing what I’ve learned with you. Hopefully you don’t have to suffer as much as I did

The Best Roach Killer

Here’s what I think is hands down, the best roach solution. It’s meant as a quick answer for those who are in a rush. Read the rest of the page get all the details you’ll need to get rid of them for good/

1. Use professional-grade roach baits. I use Advion Syngenta Gel Bait. Baits are the best when you use the right stuff, and you use it correctly. Apply bait to the bottom of major appliances, baseboards, trash bins, cracks, and crevices.
2. Dust with boric acid powder. Baits get even better when combined with boric acid powder. A thin layer is critical and a bulb duster is the secret to getting the perfect amount. Dust areas of the house where there is high roach traffic. Some of these locations include: inside cabinets, behind appliances and wherever you see a lot of roach droppings.
3. Keep the house clean. Clean every night and put food away. With limited access to food, they won’t say no to the bait.

This is the most effective method I’ve ever used to eradicate these pests. However, you have to be patient. This solution doesn’t provide instant, visible results like DemonWP, but it gives lasting results.

Continue reading below to get all the steps to getting the best results.

1. Figure Out What & Why

It’s critical to know what you’re dealing with and why you have this problem. There are over 3,000 known species of roaches in the world, but you’re likely dealing with one of four species that are well-known to be pests.

• German cockroach (Blattella germanica), the most common.
• American cockroach ( Periplaneta americana)
• Brown-banded cockroach
• Oriental cockroach

Which species are you dealing with?

Knowing which type of cockroach you’re dealing with will make your fight against them much more straightforward. Different species have different preferences for food and shelter.

The easiest way to determine the species you’re dealing with is to catch a few of them. They don’t have to be alive, so I recommend using sticky traps (also known as monitor glue traps) like the Catchmaster Glue Trap/Monitor. These are simple traps commonly made of cardboard and strong adhesives that keep them in place.

Once you’ve captured a few, pick up the monitor and inspect the roaches. Use the information on this website to identify them based on their physical characteristics.

Why are they attracted to your home?

You have a problem, and there is a reason for it. These pests are looking for a place that provides warmth, shelter from the elements and has easy access to food & water. Your home has everything they want.

The necessities for survival is found in any home, but why did they choose your place? The smell of food is what gets their attention.

Once they make their way in and discover their necessities for survival are easily available, they’ll call in others and invade your home. They then quickly multiply to almost uncontrollable numbers if not handled correctly.

2. Keep Them Away

The best way to repel cockroaches is a clean home. The “smell” of a clean home is what keeps them away. You wouldn’t have a problem with these bugs if you cut off their food and water sources completely. They wouldn’t be attracted to your home if they didn’t smell food.

Alright, we can both agree it’s impossible to cut off their food and water supply entirely. However, we can make it less attractive for them. With fewer roaches coming in from the outside, we can focus on eliminating those that are inside.

Reduce food sources

Make it harder for them to eat.

• Don’t leave dirty dishes overnight
• Put food away in sealed containers
• Sweep & vacuum daily
• Keep garbage in tightly closed containers
• Take out the trash often

Reduce water sources

Make it harder for them to drink.

• Fix leaky plumbing (including fixtures that drip)
• Dry all sinks in the house every single night before bedtime
• Cover all drains at night
• Wipe and dry spills
• Empty and dry pet water bowls at night

Keep it clean and tidy

I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep your home clean. You have to clean every day. Reduce clutter and keep things neat. A messy house provides them with plenty of safe places to nest.

3. Get Rid of Them With These Proven Methods

Fast results with professional-grade contact killers

I just had to include professional-grade, concentrated insecticides used for spraying applications. Nothing else comes close to instant results.

The pros use these to make a living by providing quick & visible results. I’ve used it many times with fantastic results in a short amount of time.

Being a contact killer, any cockroach that makes direct contact with the poison can die in a matter of seconds. For some roaches, it can take a couple of minutes longer, but that is still very quick compared to other methods.

DemonWP is my all-time favorite brand. Mix the concentrate with water and spray it in appropriate locations using a dependable sprayer like this Smith 1 gallon sprayer.

Locations you don’t want to skip:

• Crevices
• Baseboards

All-natural boric acid and borax

Boric acid is my favorite all-natural remedy. Even professional exterminators love using this solution to control insects and other unwanted bugs.

An alternative that may be easier to locate is borax powder. Borax can often be found in the laundry aisle. Borax is often confused with boric acid, but they are not identical. Both work amazingly well at killing roaches, and application is the same.

To get the best results, lightly dust the powder using a bulb duster. The bulb duster lets you spread a thin layer of dust. In cases where these powder didn’t work, it was because the user had applied too much of it.

Once the powder is dusted and an unsuspecting cockroach walks through, it clings to their legs. From just the physical contact alone, the powder destroys their protective exoskeleton. When they clean themselves after contact is made, it’ll also poison them from the inside (because they end up ingesting it).

Tip: You can mix boric acid or borax with a little sugar and water to create a very potent homemade DIY bait.

Roach baits

What if we could get those roaches to kill each other? We can do just that with cockroach bait. There are different brands and a few different varieties of roach baits out there.

• Advion Cockroach Gel Bait. For gel baits, none has worked better than this one. If I had to choose ONLY one solution, I would pick Advion Roach Gel (You can buy it from Amazon).
• Bait stations. Unlike the gel that comes in a tube, bait stations come in a container that keeps the bait enclosed (I recommend buying the Advion Bait Stations). These are a little better to use around pets because they help reduce the chances of your beloved pet being able to get to the roach bait. Baiting with bait stations is also easy and convenient.

Fun fact, the active ingredient for some of these baits is boric acid. It’s an incredibly potent roach poison. If it’s poison, why would a cockroach ever eat it? The attractant mixed into the bait is what makes them irresistible. It’s so good, they’ll even bring some back for the others hanging out in the nest (which is precisely what you’re hoping for).

The poison (active ingredient) will stay in their feces. Other roaches (especially baby roaches) will eat the feces and get poisoned as well. What does this mean? It means you only need some of them to eat it and they’ll kill off the rest for you.

Non-toxic diatomaceous earth

An all-natural and non-toxic alternative for getting rid of roaches is diatomaceous earth (DE). I prefer the other solutions listed above. I’m adding this here for those who would prefer a non-toxic answer.

If you’d prefer to use this solution instead, buy food grade diatomaceous earth and apply it the same way you would with boric acid or borax powder. Remember to use a bulb duster because it makes a difference.

Insect Growth Regulators (IGR)

Insect growth regulators work very well, and they are vital to any serious attempt to get rid of a cockroach infestation. The only problem is they don’t work by themselves.

IGRs are artificial hormones. They do not kill roaches. They help stop juvenile cockroaches from being able to reach adulthood and prevent eggs from hatching.

You can find a few different brands out there, but I use and recommend buying Gentrol.

Additional Tips

More tips to get better results quicker.

• Start with one solution.
• Monitor the results. Keep a written record of what was used, where it was used, and when it was used.
• Record any other relevant information, such as the amount of pesticide used (if any), as well as any other consistent observations. The more data you have, the easier for you to achieve the results you want–zero roaches in your home.
• After a month, assess your pest problem. Has the population decreased? Has it stayed the same? Did it get worse?
• If their numbers haven’t decreased at all, choose a new method. If their population has gone down a  little bit, keep at it for another month.
• Take the time to learn more about what you’re dealing with. You can find information here by following the links below. The U of M also provides additional info.