How to Keep Roaches Out of Kitchen Cabinets
Cockroaches are disgusting – no one wants them in their home, let alone their kitchen where their food is kept. But how do you stop cockroaches from destroying your kitchen without spraying dangerous toxic chemicals everywhere?
You don't want to breathe in pesticides!
Luckily, there are many DIY and store-bought solutions for stopping cockroaches in kitchen environments, whether they're hiding in your cabinets, under the kitchen sink, or scurrying behind cracks and crevices in your walls.
Here we look at how to get rid of cockroaches in kitchen cabinets!
Why Are Cockroaches In My Cabinets?
You'll often find cockroaches in kitchen cabinets, especially if they happen to be under the sink. But why do roaches love these environments so much?
- Roaches love dark, closed spaces
- Your cabinet is a source of food & water
- There are multiple potential food sources
- They're nocturnal (kitchens are normally empty at night)
- Crumbs & small spills are common
- You don't come into contact with your cabinets too much
When it comes to cockroaches, cabinets are like amazing grocery stores full of things for them to eat and drink.
If you've got a roach problem that keeps coming back, check that you're keeping your kitchen cabinets clean and in good order so that the problem doesn't keep returning.
9 Ways to Kill Cockroaches (Or Get Rid Of Them)
There are many different ways to kill cockroaches or get rid of cockroaches from your home. Just remember that it's best to use preventative measures with long-term solutions over short-term kills that don't help you with your cockroach infestation in the long run.
Here are 9 ways to get rid of cockroaches from your kitchen cabinets!
1. Borax Powder
Borax Powder is a common home cleaning product that is used in kitchens to help reduce mildew, mold, and other common kitchen cabinet problems.
However, Borax Powder can also help to kill insects like ants and it may help to exterminate cockroaches too.
If you're having problems with roaches, try emptying out of your kitchen cabinets, cleaning them with Borax Powder thoroughly, and then putting everything back.
2. Glue Traps
Glue traps don't necessarily make the roaches go away, but it can help you to monitor the amount of roaches left in your home.
Glue traps are best used in conjunction with other pest control methods to see whether they're working or not. If you find a dead cockroach stuck in your glue trap, then you need to continue your roach killing methods or try something more effective.
If a roach gets stuck on the glue trap, it will usually die from starvation by the time you find it.
3. Cimexa Dust
Cimexa dust (or powder) is an insectide products use for bug, insect, and roach infestations.
This dust is a great solution because the effects are physical, not chemical. This means that you can spread it around your house and kitchen cabinets without it causing toxic substances to get into the air.
The dust damages the exoskeleton of the cockroaches, essentially causing them to dry up and die. This dust can kill insects and roaches for many years – lasting up to 10 years in some cases.
Spread this evenly around the cracks and crevices of your home, especially around the cabinetry and kitchen sink. Roaches will avoid it if it's spread unevenly, so ensure it's evenly coating your cracks and crevices without being patchy.
4. Bay Leaves
Bay leaves are commonly used for bug and insect problems – many pests and insects hate the smell of the essential oils that these leaves naturally release.
This natural method of controlling insects may work for some pests, though it's suggested that the smell isn't strong enough to make cockroaches go away.
Either way, it's worth putting a few bay leaves around the home and in your kitchen cabinets – they smell just fine to humans.
5. Aerosol Pesticide & Vacuum Cleaner
This is a great way to make sure you eliminate cockroaches that are in hiding places, but it's a little tricky and is best done with 2 people if possible.
- First get an aerosol pesticide that works on infant and adult cockroaches. Get one that has a straw attachment, similar to a can of compressed air.
- Spray the pesticide into cracks, crevices, and hiding places where you suspect roaches to be hiding. As they come out, immediately hoover them up with a vacuum cleaner. You might want a second person standing by with the vacuum cleaner, as roaches can scurry out of these areas very quickly.
- Ideally, use a vacuum with a HEPA filter installed – cockroaches carry allergens and disease pathogens that we don't want to compromise our vacuum cleaner!
6. Cockroach Killer Sprays
When you think cockroach infestation, you probably think cockroach killer spray.
There are many cockroach killing products you can buy from grocery stores, and most of them will indeed do the trick.
However, you need to be careful spraying these products around your home – many are toxic and dangerous to inhale, especially if you have pets or young children.
You should also be careful when spraying these products close to food sources in your kitchen cabinets – you don't want to get food poisoning because you accidentally sprayed insecticide into your food items.
7. Soap & Water Spray
While it's not a permanent solution, this simple trick is great for killing roaches when you see them appear.
Simply mix together dish soap and water in a spray bottle, making sure there is plenty of soap in the water. Then spray the mixture onto the roaches directly – the soap should clog their breathing pores and cause them to suffocate and die quickly.
It's a bit cruel, but it's one way to help reduce a cockroach infestation.
8. Boric Acid
Try using boric acid dust to kill the roaches plaguing your home. Lay some boric acid powder around the kitchen cabinets, crevices, and surfaces that the roaches like to walk over.
This insecticide gets on their bodies and as they try to clean themselves, they will ingest the boric acid and eventually die.
It's a simple way of killing cockroaches if you'd prefer to not see it happen in front of you or do it personally.
9. Gel Cockroach Baits
Gel-based cockroach baits are very, very useful for getting rid of cockroaches in your kitchen cabinets and other areas of your home.
Dab the cockroach bait in several spots along the bottom of your kitchen cabinet, under the sink, and other areas you think they may be hiding.
Gel bait is best because it's not a dust or aerosel that easily spreads to your food items and ruins them – it stays contained as a gel. You can also put gel bait on a piece of paper or card to make cleanup even easier.
Regularly come back to check whether your cockroach bait has been taken – replace it if it has. If you find that the cockroach bait isn't attracting the roaches, try different brands with different formulations until you find one that they like.
Once one cockroach gets the bait, it will steadily spread it to the others. Cockroaches eat vomit, body parts, and each other, so they can quickly spread the poison among themselves despite only one cockroach eating the original bait.
Tips For Controlling a Cockroach Infestation In Your Home
While killing roaches is an obvious way to make them disappear, there are additional things you can do to spot a roach infestation, stop it in its tracks, and stop an infestation from happening again in the future.
Here are our best tips for dealing with roaches in your cabinets!
Look at your cracks and crevices with a flashlight
Roaches love the dark, which is great because it helps them to fly under your radar and hide more easily. When inspecting your place for cockroaches, be sure to look down cracks and crevices with a flashlight to spot any roaches that are hiding particularly well.
You might be surprised how well a roach can hide in the dark.
Check your kitchen cabinet at night
Cockroaches are nocturnal, so you're more likely to find them at night than in the middle of the day.
If you're suspicious that you've got a cockroach infestation but you're not sure, very quietly tiptoe into your kitchen late at night and check then.
If you've got a roach problem, you're more likely to spot them at night.
Use compressed air to flush them out
Similar to the aerosol insecticide method we mentioned earlier, use a can of compressed air with a straw to help flish the roaches out from behind your sink, kitchen cabinets, any other similar areas in your house.
This is an easy way to check whether you have a cockroach infestation in certain areas, but be prepared for the possibility of them scurrying out quickly!
Check under ovens, fridges, and large appliances
If you're having a hard time finding your cockroaches, be sure to check under large appliances like ovens and fridges as well as your kitchen cabinets and under your sink.
Cockroaches love dark, secluded spaces, and these areas tend to have a lot of leftover food particles and nutritious debris that they can eat.
Use airtight containers to store food
Cockroaches need food and water to survive, just like everything else.
Buy airtight containers to store your food in within your kitchen cabinets, thereby eliminating access to food items for the cockroach.
If you do this and clean up stray crumbs and spills, they'll soon run out of food to eat and move elsewhere or starve to death.
Don't forget to clean up pet food too!
Pet food, whether it's dog food or cat food, is just as appetizing to a cockroach as human food is.
Even better, we often leave pet's food in bowls on the floor unattended for long periods of time. This is especially true for cat food – as cats tend to eat their meal gradually over the course of several hours.
Make sure you clean up your pet's food and their water bowls regularly.
Seal up your cracks and crevices
If you can, consider sealing up the areas if your house, walls, and cabinets where cockroaches can easily get in. Cracks and holes in your walls can be the sign of an infestation, so consider caulking them up or using some kind of filler to plug them up again.
If the cockroaches can't get in your house, they can't cause you any problems.
Seal your garbage
If you have a garbage can in your kitchen, make sure that it's sealed up and airtight – look for garbage cans with lids that close, keeping the smell of rotting food firmly inside the bin so that cockroaches and other pests don't smell it and come rushing to your kitchen.
On top of that, ensure that you change your garbage regularly so that food isn't rotting away in there for too long.
Clean up spills and crumbs quickly
We commonly spill things and get little crumbs in our cabinets that we may not even notice because they're so small.
However, cockroaches and insects do notice.
Whenever you see a spill or crumbs in your kitchen – no matter where – be sure to clean it up quickly before it attracts bugs and roaches.
The less spilled food and drinks in your cabinets, the more likely you can avoid an infestation because there's nothing to attract the cockroaches in the first place.
Fix leaky pipes
Without water, cockroaches will die just like any other creature. They have to be getting that water from somewhere, and chances are you may have a leaky pipe under your sink cabinets.
If this is the case, fix the leak ASAP to eliminate a key source of water for the cockroaches giving you problems.
It might not make them go away entirely, but it will make it much more difficult for them to survive every day.
Call a pest control professional
If you've tried all of these solutions for getting rid of roaches but nothing is working, it may be time to call in a pest control professional team that can help you to get your life back on track without cockroaches in the picture.
While professional pest control services can be intrusive and annoying, you might need to call up your local insect-killing place if all else fails.
At least you'll be in the hands of a professional who can spot the sign of entry and exit points, kill the existing roaches, and stop more roaches from coming back in the future. It's expensive, but it's worth it for a large-scale cockroach problem.
The Bottom Line – Cockroaches Don't Belong In Cabinets
Cockroaches love your kitchen's cabinets, which is not good news for many homeowners in roach-prone areas. However, if you follow these tips and tricks, you might be able to solve your roach problem for good.
It's important to remember that killing one or two cockroaches isn't always the best way to end a long-term roach problem. Try to use systematic methods that stop roaches from being able to come back once they're gone.
That's the best way to stop future infestations.
Whichever method you choose, we hope you enjoyed this guide to killing and getting rid of those cockroaches from your cabinets!
How to Keep Roaches Out of Kitchen Cabinets
Source: https://kitcheninfinity.com/how-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches-in-kitchen-cabinets/
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