How to Get Rid of Cockroaches

Wondering how to get rid of cockroaches? If you spot cockroaches scuttling away as you flip on the light, you need a fast answer. These insects breed quickly and can infest a home before you know it. Seeing just one is cause for an all-out elimination campaign.

Exterminator
Calling an exterminator is a quick and effective way to eliminate cockroaches. The plus side to calling in a professional exterminator is that it is a sure way to remove a cockroach infestation for good; the down side is that an exterminator may be expensive. If you've got an established colony of roaches, an exterminator is the best way to guarantee that you get rid of all of the eggs so that the roaches don't bounce back.

An exterminator may employ two methods. One is to lay sticky traps to capture the cockroaches. This will work if you've only got a few roaches running around.

The other method uses chemicals to kill the cockroaches. Several applications may be needed to make sure that all of the young roaches and eggs are killed.

Traps
Instead of calling in a professional exterminator, you can eliminate cockroaches yourself. To do this you will need to use sticky traps. The traps are available in hardware and home supply stores. The traps use a special cockroach pheromone to attract roaches. 

For the greatest effectiveness with traps, you need to determine where the greatest cockroach activity is taking place. Cockroaches tend to congregate in areas such as the kitchen or bathroom. They are attracted to sources of food and water. Once you find out where they like to be, place traps in these locations. It is also a good idea to set some traps along the walls, where roaches tend to scurry.  

Traps will eliminate adult roaches and are a good first line of defense. They won't help with eggs, so you need to monitor the situation carefully. If roaches stop appearing a week or so after traps are set out, you've likely stopped the infestation. If you're running out to buy new traps all the time, you need an exterminator to get rid of the source of the problem.

Prevention
Cockroaches thrive indoors because homes provide unlimited food and shelter. To keep roaches from taking up residence in your home, take the following precautions:

• Store food in sealed containers
• Clean counters and floors every night
• Do not leave dirty dishes in the sink or dishwasher overnight
• Empty trash cans daily
• Clean and seal cracks in walls and baseboards
• Use weather-stripping in windows and doors to seal windows and doors
• Fix leaky sinks, drains and pipes  
• Eliminate clutter, particularly paper and wood clutter, which provides an ideal home for roaches