Roaches Guide

What Does a Comprehensive Roach Treatment Program Involve?Learn Effective DIY Methods to Eradicate Roaches

Successfully getting rid of cockroaches requires more than just applying insecticides or setting out baits. Roaches are notorious for infiltrating every corner of your home, reproducing quickly, and surviving under harsh conditions—up to several months without food and two weeks without water. These resilient pests pose a challenge, but with the right tools and professional-grade products, you can effectively tackle an infestation.

Follow These 3 Essential Steps to Eliminate Roaches:

1. Clean Thoroughly
2. Use Professional-Grade Products
3. Monitor with Glue Boards

Whether you’re dealing with American roaches, German cockroaches, oriental roaches, smoky brown roaches, brown banded roaches, wood roaches, palmetto bugs, or any other type, DoMyOwn’s guide provides the tools and knowledge you need to eliminate them on your own.

Removing the elements that attract cockroaches—such as food, water, and hiding spots—is a critical step in successfully eliminating and preventing roach infestations. Without addressing these factors, most treatment efforts will fall short. It’s essential to reduce access to food and water sources while sealing or removing potential hiding places to deter roaches. This is the most effective natural approach to roach control.

Remove What Roaches Feed On

Getting rid of food sources is a crucial part of your roach control strategy. Proper sanitation in the kitchen and other areas of your home is necessary to create a roach-free environment. Focus on the following areas during your cleaning routine:

• Clean Kitchen Appliances: Roaches can thrive on grease and food spills beneath and behind appliances. Be sure to clean under and behind the stove, refrigerator, microwave, toaster, dishwasher, and around and beneath the kitchen sink.
• Empty and Sanitize Cabinets: Crumbs and food spills in cabinets are excellent food sources for roaches. Thoroughly clean cabinets and remove all traces of food spills to eliminate these hiding spots.
• Store Food in Sealed Containers: Roaches can access food in cardboard packaging or loosely sealed bags. Use metal, glass, or hard plastic airtight containers to store food securely.
• Restrict Food Consumption to One Room: Limiting food and eating to a single area of the house minimizes crumbs and spills, making it easier to focus on cleaning one area thoroughly.
• Clean the Kitchen Every Night: Roaches are nocturnal and feed at night. Before bed, clean kitchen counters, wash dishes, store food properly, wipe down the sink and dry it, and sweep the floors to remove crumbs and water sources.
• Regular Floor Cleaning: Sweep or vacuum non-food areas every few days to eliminate crumbs and debris. Removing roach feces, egg sacs, and body parts, which contain pheromones that attract more roaches, will further deter them.
• Manage Pet Food Containers: Remove pet food and water bowls overnight or cover them tightly to prevent access.
• Maintain Garbage Cans: Ensure trash cans are clean, emptied regularly, and covered tightly to avoid attracting roaches.

Thorough cleaning and eliminating food access are foundational to an effective roach control plan.

Stop Attracting Cockroaches

Reducing water sources is a key step in preventing roach infestations and serves as an effective natural solution. Take the following actions to remove water sources from your home:

• Repair Leaks: Fix leaky faucets, plumbing, and sweating pipes to eliminate excess moisture.
• Dry Sinks, Tubs, and Showers: Before going to bed, ensure all sinks, bathtubs, and showers are completely dried, and plug the drains to block access.
• Manage Wet Dishrags and Sponges: Store wet dishrags and sponges in an airtight plastic bag overnight, place them in the washing machine, or hang them outside to dry.
• Remove Pet Water Dishes Overnight: Either place pet water bowls outside overnight or dry them and refill them in the morning.
• Store Wet Toothbrushes Properly: Dry toothbrushes as much as possible, then store them in sealed containers or bags to prevent access.
• Empty Refrigerator Drip Trays: Check and empty the drip tray under your refrigerator regularly to eliminate standing water.

By removing these water sources, you create an environment less hospitable to roaches, making it easier to prevent and control infestations.

Block Access to Common Roach Hideouts

Roaches thrive in dark, confined spaces, typically hiding during the day. By reducing potential hiding places, you force them into the open, making them easier to spot and more likely to come into contact with insecticides or baits. Follow these steps to remove cockroach hiding areas in your home:

• Seal Cracks and Crevices: Use a caulking gun to seal cracks and gaps in walls, floors, and baseboards.
• Close Gaps Around Pipes and Fixtures: Use materials like Stuf-It Copper Mesh to seal openings around pipes, light fixtures, and wall fixtures.
• Ensure Tight Window and Door Frames: Check and repair gaps around windows and doors to block roaches from entering from outside.
• Tape Over Holes in Appliances: Cover crevices in small appliances, electronics, and household items in areas with heavy roach activity. Items like computers, microwaves, and other small appliances can become roach harborage sites.

Reducing these hiding places helps disrupt roach behavior and enhances the effectiveness of your pest control efforts.

After completing the necessary sanitation steps to prepare for treatment, you can begin targeting the infestation with professional-grade roach control products. To achieve the best results, we recommend utilizing the following three essential tools during your roach treatment plan:

1. Concentrated Insecticide: Quickly eliminates active cockroaches upon contact.
2. Bait: Attracts hidden roaches, drawing them out and eradicating them effectively.
3. Insect Growth Regulator (IGR): Disrupts the roach life cycle, preventing reproduction and reducing future infestations.

For convenience, our roach control kits combine all three products, simplifying the selection process and providing a comprehensive solution to your cockroach problem.

Bait is a crucial and effective component of any successful cockroach treatment program.

Cockroaches are highly social pests that interact frequently with one another. When a single roach consumes a poisoned bait, it can transfer the toxin to up to 40 other roaches through contact, feces, or other roaches feeding on its poisoned carcass. This "domino effect" accelerates the elimination process, significantly reducing the infestation.

Pro Tip: Rotate Baits

To avoid bait resistance, we recommend rotating your cockroach baits every few months during an ongoing control program. This ensures you address varying bait preferences and prevent roaches from becoming immune to a single formula. DoMyOwn's Roach Control Kits simplify this process by providing different active ingredients for each rotation. Start with Kit A containing Maxforce FC Magnum for the fastest initial knockdown, then proceed to Kit B and Kit C as needed.

How to Apply Cockroach Bait

Cockroach bait typically comes in easy-to-use tubes with tips and plungers for precise application. If you prefer not to apply bait directly to surfaces, you can place it on removable bait stations.

Best Areas to Apply Cockroach Bait:

• Behind kitchen cabinets and countertops
• Behind wall-mounted items like pictures, clocks, or posters
• Around and under stoves
• In the corners beneath sinks and cabinets
• In stored paper bags and boxes
• Around pipes, cords, and cables exiting walls
• Behind and under bathroom fixtures
• Behind medicine cabinets and vanities
• In cracks and crevices around shelves and wooden surfaces
• In corners, under railings, and on drawer interiors

Reapply the bait every 2-3 weeks or as soon as it appears to be depleted. Continue baiting until all roaches are eradicated.

Even if your baiting treatment eliminates all adult cockroaches, hidden cockroach egg capsules (oothecae) can hatch and restart the infestation. To prevent this, a successful cockroach treatment plan must include an insect growth regulator (IGR).

IGRs work by using a synthetic pheromone to interfere with the lifecycle of cockroaches in the egg and larvae stages. Acting like "birth control" for roaches, IGRs help control cockroach populations by preventing them from reproducing, effectively stopping current and future infestations from growing.

IGR Formulations

IGRs come in various formulations, each suited for different treatment preferences:

• Liquid Concentrates: These can often be mixed with water and combined with liquid insecticides to be applied using a sprayer.
• Aerosols: Pre-mixed and ready to use, these are a convenient option for those who prefer not to mix products.
• Point-Source Stations: Easy to use and replace, these provide a quick solution for ongoing roach management.

All formulations are effective, so your choice will depend on your cockroach treatment strategy and preferred application method.

General Spray for Cockroach Control

Choose an insecticide specifically labeled for cockroaches and carefully measure and mix the product according to the instructions on the label. Apply the insecticide in the following areas around your home:

• Along baseboards
• In cracks and crevices
• Under appliances
• Around door and window frames
• Where utility pipes and cables enter the building

Take care to avoid spraying areas where you’ve applied bait, as the insecticide can contaminate the bait, causing roaches to avoid it. Reapply the insecticide spray as indicated by the frequency listed on the product label for ongoing protection.

Cockroach Monitoring with Glue Traps

Eliminating a cockroach infestation may take time, ranging from three weeks to six months, depending on the severity of the problem. Unfortunately, these pests won't disappear overnight, but you can monitor your progress effectively using glue board traps.

Place glue boards in the following locations:

• Inside and underneath cabinets in kitchens and bathrooms
• Behind toilets
• Beneath appliances
• Other areas showing signs of infestation

Check the traps weekly to track the effectiveness of your treatment. Continue monitoring and treatment until no new cockroaches appear on the glue boards.