how to kill cockroaches with boric acid

Boric acid can be found naturally in many fruits and other plants. The stuff you’ll be using is produced from borax mined from mineral deposits. While highly toxic to cockroaches and other insects, boric acid is fairly harmless to humans and pets when used accordingly.

For a completely non-toxic roach killer, use food grade diatomaceous earth.

how to kill cockroaches with boric acid

Roaches crawl through the boric acid powder and the tiny particles cling on to their bodies. When they clean their bodies by licking themselves clean, they ingest the boric acid (which acts as a stomach poison). They die shortly after.

Since roaches are not very picky eaters, the roaches killed from the poison is eaten and the cycle continues. It also sticks on to food dragged through it. When the food is brought back for other roaches to eat, they all feast on the poison.

Don’t like the idea of dead roaches everywhere? You can try to keep them away with these electronic pest repellents instead. Although, I personally feel the best way to deal with them is to make sure they can’t return.

What doesn’t work well
Glue traps will keep roaches trapped in one place.
A glue trap will stop the chain killing effect that makes boric acid so great–because they can’t return to the nest to poison the others.
What will work well with boric acid and what won’t? Let’s start with what won’t work well. Don’t use monitor traps (glue traps) beyond the identification phase if you’re using boric acid. A cockroach killed through contact with boric acid becomes a cockroach killer itself. Thanks to the fact that cockroaches will eat other dead roaches, this works great to our favor. Well, that’s assuming an affected cockroach is able to make it back to the nest. Using roach traps completely nullifies this. It gets stuck in the trap and doesn’t return to the nest to kill the others.

Fast acting contact killers like DemonWP can kill them within just seconds, but they work against boric acid. They die way too fast; thus being unable to return to the nest to kill the others. If you want faster results, and your okay using synthetic pesticides, then stick to contact killers and glue traps.

Cockroach control Dubai

Brown-banded cockroaches
While German and brown-banded roaches might inhabit the same house, they rarely hide in the same spots. Brown-banded roaches prefer warmer, drier areas, especially up high and inside your electronics, television, refrigerator, etc. They tend to stay away from water.

Length: 0.5 inches; smaller than American or Asian cockroaches
Color: males are dark-brown at base and golden-tan toward wing tips; females have reddish-brown wings and dark-brown bodies
Distinguishing features: males and females have two light-yellow bands on wings, abdomen and sides of pronotum
Region: entire United States
Found: warm, dry indoor areas, ceilings, behind picture frames and clocks, in hollowed-out wood and clutter, inside electric devices
Flight: only males can fly, more likely to jump
Entry: like the German roach, typically carried in via visitors, packages, clothing, purses, used furniture, etc., and also easily spread through walls in multifamily dwellings

American cockroaches
Though not the most common cockroach in American homes, the American cockroach is the largest. They can survive up to two years, much longer than other cockroach types. These roaches are more commonly called "palmetto bugs" and spotting one can be particularly alarming.

Length: 1 to 3 inches; biggest
Color: brown to reddish-brown
Distinguishing features: light-yellow edges on pronotum
Region: entire United States
Found: prefer outdoors but love warm, damp areas, sewers, drains, kitchens, laundry rooms, basements and bathrooms
Flight: both adult males, and females, can fly
Entry: can come in under doors, basement windows, garages or sewer system

Smoky brown cockroaches
The smoky brown cockroach dehydrates very quickly so you will see these types of roaches in moist, damp places – if you see them at all. They are excellent fliers and extremely nocturnal, though they are attracted to light and will enter homes when they see it.

Length: 1.5 inches; a bit smaller than American roach
Color: uniform dark-mahogany, black pronotum
Distinguishing features: wings longer than bodies
Region: Southeastern United States
Found: gutters, attics and crawl spaces
Flight: both adult males, and females, can fly
Entry: plumbing, vents, where trees, vegetation, shrubs, etc., meet the house

Oriental cockroaches
More commonly called "water bugs", the Oriental cockroach dwells in darkness and loves moist, damp spots that are out of sight and harm from humans. This makes them harder to get rid of without pest management professionals since pesticides might get washed away.

Length: 1.25 inches
Color: dark-brown or glossy-black
Distinguishing features: glossy appearance, male wings shorter than body, female wings underdeveloped
Region: Northwest, Midwest and Southern states
Found: areas with tons of moisture, decaying organic matter and below ground level (e.g., sewers, damp basements, etc.)
Flight: no
Entry: can come in under doors, basement windows, garages or sewer system

Other home remedies that will repel, or keep roaches away may not work too well with boric acid. The probem is, you want the roaches to make contact with the boric acid. Using a repellent that will stop them from touching the powder will only make things harder.

Also, if you’re in the early stages of dealing with baby roaches, you might wan to hold off for a bit until you’re certain it’s under control.