How to get rid of cockroaches in the apartment once and for all

Most insect exterminators will tell you that if you see a cockroach in your apartment, there is a good chance that it is not alone. This brethren breeds very quickly, but hides cleverly. It is enough for a female cockroach to lay a special capsule – an ootheca, in which there are 30 – 40 eggs, and in a couple of weeks you have a ready-made colony.

In our country, mainly two cockroach varieties are common: red cockroaches – among the Ps, and black ones. Redheads are most often found in houses, they are smaller, more thermophilic and, fortunately, live several times less than their black counterparts – about six months. The second can live 2-3 years.

Reasons for the appearance of cockroaches in the apartment

Cockroaches can get into the apartment in two main ways: either they are brought in, or they come by themselves. You can bring in cockroaches with old furniture or things that you took from an apartment where there were mustachios. You can bring them from the store, so purchases should be washed thoroughly. Cockroaches can “come” to pets. But most often the insects come by themselves, especially if you have the right conditions for them.

Usually they enter apartments from neighbors leading a marginal lifestyle, as well as from basements or entrances equipped with a garbage chute. Tenants of high-rise buildings suffer from the invasion of these insects more often. In many ways, the reason is precisely in the garbage chute, and if waste is also taken out intermittently, then this is just a paradise for cockroaches.

When it starts to get colder, cockroaches move to where it is warmer – to apartments. They especially like kitchens, because it is also humid there, you can find food waste – their main delicacy. If you have a pet – a dog or a cat – cockroaches will register even more willingly, because where a pet is, there is its food, which is easy for a cockroach to find.

Effective ways to get rid of cockroaches in the apartment

There are several ways to get rid of cockroaches in an apartment once and for all, but it is important to understand that the choice of method depends on the size of the problem. In other words, if there are still a few insects, you can try to deal with them on your own by buying a poisonous gel or a trap. If there is already a whole colony of them, it is better to call specialists, otherwise there is a high risk that you will only temper uninvited guests with purchased insecticides.

Caulk all the cracks and carry out a general cleaning

Efficiency: average

The Ps love unsanitary conditions and garbage, so the first step towards getting rid of cockroaches in the apartment once and for all is general cleaning. This should not be a one-time action, you will have to clean up all the time, you need to be especially careful about food waste. At a minimum, remove food from the tables so that cockroaches cannot feast on it.

But it is not enough to create uncomfortable conditions for them, and cockroaches can live for quite a long time without food. If they make their way to you from the outside, you need to cut off these paths: caulk cracks, hang a ventilation grill, make sure that there are no openings in the bathroom and toilet through which they can come.

However, not all moves can be blocked. If you have an alcoholic neighbor who carries all sorts of junk home, it will not be difficult for cockroaches to come from him through the door or loggia. So, probably, we will have to look for joint ways to solve the problem. Similarly, if cockroaches crawl from the basement or garbage chute. In this case, getting rid of them in the apartment will not work without the help of the management company. According to part 1.1 of Art. 161 of the Housing Code of the Federation of the Criminal Code are required to maintain the common property of the owners of the house in accordance with sanitary and epidemiological standards, which means they must starve out insects in the basement and entrance.

Boric acid

Efficiency: average

Boric acid is indeed a poison for cockroaches. This tool can be easily bought at a pharmacy, and it costs less than fifty. Boric acid works well if you get cockroaches to eat it. To do this, you can mix the powder, for example, with bread and leave overnight in open places. The cockroach will feast on it, and then bring poison to its relatives.

Funds from the store

Efficiency: average

In stores, you can find many means to combat insects, such as traps. The principle of their action is as follows – inside the trap is an appetizing bait for a cockroach. It is poisonous, therefore, by eating it or simply hitting it with its body, the cockroach receives a dose of poison and becomes its source itself. It is assumed that the poisonous P returns to the colony, where it infects everyone and dies itself. This is a good option if there are still few cockroaches.

– If you saw a cockroach at home or in an apartment, the best thing you can do is buy special traps / houses for cockroaches on the same day or the next and place them throughout the apartment. Traps are sold in packs of 5, which is enough for a small one-room apartment. If you have a house or a large apartment, take 2-3 packs. Most of the traps are installed in the kitchen, preferably behind the kitchen unit, behind the refrigerator, in the toilet and bathroom next to the riser. In the rest of the rooms – in the corners, behind the furniture (where you see fit), – advises exterminator Dmitry Grachev.

Such traps do not have a chemical smell, so they do not cause discomfort. But if there are a lot of cockroaches in the apartment and their ranks are replenished from the outside, it will be difficult to overcome them with traps alone. The same goes for gels.

Exterminators

Efficiency: high

“If, along with ordinary cockroaches, you see small individuals, then this means that your apartment is already a breeding ground for insects, and the best thing to do is still use the services of professionals,” explains exterminator Dmitry Grachev.

One of the most effective methods of getting rid of cockroaches in an apartment in the arsenal of exterminators is a cold fog generator. With its help, toxic substances are sprayed around the room, penetrating into the most inaccessible nooks and crannies. Not a single individual can escape from such a fog.

But such an approach also has disadvantages. For processing with cold fog, the owners will have to leave their apartment for a while. Specialists will make it look like a gas chamber for cockroaches. After such treatment, you will have to carry out a series of manipulations – wash surfaces, dishes, wash clothes – everything on which a poisonous fog has settled.

Aerosol spraying also helps to get rid of cockroaches in the apartment. It acts in a targeted way: they spray baseboards, crevices, hard-to-reach spaces in the bathroom and in the kitchen – only those places where cockroaches can live. This is less effective than fog, but it will also cause less trouble for the owners.

– In any case, the problem of cockroaches must be discussed with neighbors above, below, on the floor. Because it is the inconsistency among the residents that contributes to the fact that insects, after they have been poisoned, can return to the treated apartment. The residual effect of any drug, no matter how expensive it is, is two months, notes exterminator Dmitry Grachev.

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