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How to Kill Cockroaches Indoors  
 
 
  
Cockroaches are one of humans worst enemies. If you spot a few cockroaches in your house, chances are good that your home is completely infested with roaches. At this point you should be doing anything in your power to kill every single roach that you see.
 
You may not even have a cockroach problem. You'll need to judge how bad your cockroach problem is and decide which methods to use depending on how many cockroaches are in your house at the moment and depending on how messy your house is at any given time.
 
 
 
 
This is cockroach feces.
It almost looks like dirt but it's very hard to clean-off of most surfaces! 
 
 
 
    
 
 
 
 
Dead roaches stuck to duct tape. 
 
 
 
How to Kill Cockroaches Indoors
 
 
 
Items that you'll need include :
 
Tissue
Duct Tape
Vacuum Cleaner
Bleach and Water Solution
  
  
 
Step 1
 
Follow each cockroach to it's hiding spot. After you've found where that particular cockroach is living, you will know where you need to set traps and which areas of your house that you need to pay most attention to.
 
Chances are good that the roach den that you have found isn't the only one in your house. That means that there are more cockroaches hiding somewhere in your house.
 
Fifty cockroach can fit inside of one VHS tape and that's usually how many cockroaches you'll find living in a "roach den".
 
Cockroaches can make dens in almost any place including your toaster oven and the inner workings of items such as : computer printers, microwave ovens, stereos, TVs, etc.
 
Cockroaches can easily get behind furniture such as dressers, chairs, couches, beds, wardrobes, closets, etc.
 
You need to track down any roach dens, kill all of the roaches by hand (using a tissue) and then clear the entire area of cockroach feces and scent.
 
Keep in mind that you need to kill every single cockroach that you see. A few of the roaches will get away from you and this can be frustrating because a million cockroaches can infest a house if the roach problem gets out of hand.
 
 
 
Step 2
 
Clean up any uneaten food and crumbs that may have been spilled on the floor or counter-tops in your home. There shouldn't be any potential food sources for cockroaches to survive on, any where in your home.
 
Try these cleaning techniques to help prevent cockroaches from settling in your home for good :
 
Dust your home regularly using a feather duster or dust mop.
 
Seal up any entry or exit holes in the interior and exterior of your home.
 
Install tight-fitting sunscreens on your windows to prevent pests from entering when a window is open.
 
Keep doors closed at all times to prevent cockroaches form entering your home.
 
Thoroughly clean your entire house.
 
Vacuum floors regularly.
 
Use a bleach/water solution to clean off kitchen and bathroom counters. Also clean any other area that cockroaches may frequent including wooden or tile floors.
 
Place your toaster oven and your garbage cans in a place that cockroaches can't get to. Do this every single night.
 
Make sure that there aren't any leaky faucets in your home and use drain stoppers or drain plugs to plug up sink drains to prevent roaches from entering and exiting the water pipes under your house.
 
Clean the walls in your house regularly to prevent the build up of gunk. Cockroaches can climb up dirty surface versus slick-clean surfaces.
 
Wash the windows and mirrors in your house on a regular basis. Cockroaches can eat the dirt on your windows to stay alive if they need to. They can also survive by eating glue and pieces of carpet.
 
Clean the seals on your refrigerator and freezer to prevent cockroaches from entering and exiting.
 
Clean out your microwave oven and your refrigerator regularly. This will stop cockroaches from wanting to get inside of your fridge to a point.
 
Clean behind any dressers or large appliances regularly. It only takes one roach egg to infest an entire house! Squish roach eggs flat and wipe to ensure that any remaining baby cockroaches inside of the egg have been crushed. Then throw the cockroach egg case into the garbage. Then take out the trash. Cockroach eggs are usually hatched if you've found one, but it's still a good idea to treat the eggs as if they are full of baby cockroaches to further prevent the spread of roaches.
 
There is usually enough crumbs hidden somewhere inside of a house to provide a whole colony of roaches with enough food. This is why you should thoroughly clean your house everyday! Keep your home as clean as possible!
 
 
 
Step 3  
 
Block the cockroaches into any spots that you can't get them out of using duct tape. The roaches will eventually die without air, food and water. You can also use plaster or Spackle to permanently seal and patch up any holes that cockroaches might be living in.
 
If you have any decorative items that roaches may be living inside of, take the items completely apart and clear out any and all roaches. Completely clean the item to remove the roaches scent (The scent of a cockroach will attract more roaches directly back to that spot.) If you have an item that is a haven for cockroaches (because it has small cracks and the scent now attracts other roaches) Take it far away from your house until you get the cockroach infestation under control.
 
You can also store important items (that may or may not) attract roaches inside of a sealed garbage bag, wrapped in 1 or 2 more airtight garbage bags, to prevent cockroaches from getting to the items. Items that you may want to protect include : VHS tapes, collectibles, anything priceless, memorabilia, important trinkets, sentimental items, anything that's one of kind, etc.
 
Trap wandering cockroaches using "sticky" traps that were designed to catch mice.
 
Place wads of duct tape in areas of your home that you've spotted cockroaches. Roaches easily get stuck to the duct tape and then the other roaches will follow the scent right onto the duct tape until one small piece of duct tape is completely covered with roaches.
 
Replace the duct tape and the sticky traps regularly. 
 
  
 
Step 4
 
Smash every single cockroach that you see. Some of them are going to get away from you. If possible, chase them down and kill them. Chances are good that a fleeing roach will lead you to more roaches. Kill any other roaches that you might find along the way. Cockroaches tend to run and hide in a cluttered area. Clean the area up while trying to find and kill the roach that ran from you.
 
Whenever you see a cockroach, do your best to chase the roach down and smash it using a tissue.
 
Make sure that you are completely smashing the cockroach flat and then wiping/smearing its body to make sure that it's dead. If you just smash it flat, it may still live for a few weeks and sometimes that's long enough for the roach to lay even more eggs. Technically, the cockroach isn't dead until you've completely smeared the cockroaches entire body.
 
Throw any dead cockroach bodies and used tissues in the garbage only after you are sure that the roach is 100% dead.
 
Adult cockroaches are usually carrying an egg case inside of them. Make sure to squish any cockroach egg cases flat and then wipe them even flatter. Then throw them in the garbage.
 
Always throw away any tissue that you use to kill a roach with.
 
Clean up any area where you kill roaches. Especially if you smear and/or wipe a cockroach "flat". Clean the area using the proper method, including : a vacuum, water/bleach solution, etc.
 
Depending on how many cockroaches are in your house, you will either need to smash a lot of roaches or not that many roaches. Don't get discouraged if you keep smashing the roaches and it seems that they just keep coming out of the woodwork. You need to keep squishing the roaches no matter how useless it may seem. Eventually you will get rid of the cockroaches. Then you'll know that all of that hard work that you did has finally paid off.
 
  
 
 
A baby cockroach crawling on glass. 
 
 
 
Baby cockroaches are harder to see than larger cockroaches.
 
Baby cockroaches are slower and less intelligent than older, smarter cockroaches.

 

 

 

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