A cockroach infestation can appear in any home. As long as they can make their way inside, cockroaches will start an infestation and ruin a lot of things and cause various diseases like asthma and allergies.  Grandmas and grandpas who are living and enjoying their retirements at home are even more at risk of getting sick because of these infestations.

Seniors are more prone to diseases because their immune systems are not as strong and robust compared to their younger years. That’s why they would be more affected if a cockroach infestation appeared in their home. There are a lot of easy ways to prevent the infestation that even a grandma can do. Here are three easy ways to prevent cockroach infestations naturally. There are also online pest control services like joshuaspestcontrol.com who are experts in these kinds of jobs. 

1. Cleaning the house regularly

Cockroaches prefer houses that are dirty and unmaintained. They crawl on unwashed dishes, gather on leaking pipes, and crawl near your food and on places where you prepare your food. Maintaining a clean and bright surrounding can greatly help in preventing cockroaches as well as other pests.

It is also important to make your house as comfortable and cool as it can get. Cockroaches do not thrive well on cool weather conditions. The colder the place is, the more unlikely they will stay at your house. Cockroaches like warm and moist places, so make sure that you don’t have any leaking pipes and faucets.

Also, make sure to always maintain cleanliness in the kitchen to prevent cockroaches from crawling to your kitchenware. Cockroaches can carry salmonella and E.coli that will get you sick when digested. Check the back of your furniture and other equipment regularly to monitor any appearance of infestation in the house.

2. Dehydrating the roaches

Cockroaches are known as one of the most resilient types of pests. They can go on for days without eating and they can also stay alive for days even after beheading them. However, they are not good at staying resilient without drinking water. The reason why they want to stay in places with a lot of moisture is that they cannot survive without water in a few days.

One way to kill cockroaches naturally is to dehydrate them. You can feed them dry food while also making sure that they have no source of moisture. In this way, they will have no choice but to leave your house or to die due to dehydration.

3. Easy and natural traps

One of the easiest ways to fight cockroaches is to install sticky traps in the places that they are likely to stay. These locations include places at the back and under your appliances and furniture, leaky pipes and drains, the space under your drainage, closets, and cabinets, as well as unused electronic devices. Sticky traps will not kill the cockroaches, but it will stick them in places and will let them die from starvation.

Another way is to use a natural solution that will not affect your health and the health of other people in the house. One such solution is a poison recipe from “Housewife How-Tos”. Using bacon drippings, powdered sugar, and flour as your baits, use boric acid powder to kill the cockroaches. They will weaken with borax and will die easily. To use this, combine, bacon drippings, sugar, borax, and flour and add water until there is a soft dough. Roll into balls that are the size of an olive. The last step is to bring the soft dough to where cockroaches are likely hiding and make sure to lightly drop water to keep the mixture fresh.

Borax is safe to use for humans and animals, so you don’t have to worry about your pets getting poisoned accidentally. However, Borax is deadly to cockroaches and is helpful for eradicating them. Make another mixture if the first batch was cleared.

WHEN TO GET HELP FROM PEST CONTROL PROFESSIONALS

If you think that the infestation is severe, and you start seeing live cockroaches (not dead ones) during the day, then it is time for you to call pest control professionals. This is because the infestation might be out of control already or your health is already getting compromised by the infestation. Pest control professionals have the tools to make sure that your house will be free of cockroaches.