Will Bed Bug Spray Kill Roaches?
If you are stuck fighting both cockroaches and bed bugs, then you might get to your wit’s end and decide to use one method of killing the bugs to fight the other. If you are wondering, ‘will bed bug spray kill roaches?’ this article will provide some clarity for you.
Bed Bug Spray is typically made from Pyrroles, Pyrethrins, Pyrethroids, and desiccants. Desiccants are a natural and chemical-free way to kill bed bugs. Desiccants work by destroying the protective wax coating on bed bugs, which after time will cause them to dehydrate and die. Examples of desiccants include diatomaceous earth and boric acid.
If your bed bug spray happens to include desiccants like boric acid, it could be effective for killing roaches.
Why Does Boric Acid Work?
Boric acid is commonly used in dust form, and you place it around your home. At the foot of cracks and crevices of walls, in the places where you know the roaches will be, in the kitchen and bathroom, and everywhere else. What happens is that the boric acid will stick to the cockroaches whenever they walk through it, thanks to its electrostatic charge, and the dust will remain on the insect’s legs.
Whenever the cockroach decides to clean itself, it will ingest the dust, and the boric acid will attack the nervous system of the roach’s body, killing the roach. Roaches have also been know to eat other dead roaches. Dead roaches filled with boric acid will infect & kill any other roaches that decide to eat them.
Using Boric Acid Effectively
However, you can’t just place the boric acid onto the floors and crevices of your home and then call it a day. You need to make sure that it will be used effectively, and you also need to know about the boric acid’s weaknesses. You need to put down a layer of dust where the cockroaches move often, so tracking and understanding their habits is crucial.
Additionally, know that Boric Acid alone will not stop the cockroaches from causing trouble for you. You should cover up any cracks in your home’s foundation that allow the bugs to come inside because all that boric acid kills the cockroaches but doesn’t repel or prevent new ones from entering your home.
Make sure to couple using boric acid with the use of preventative measures. Clean where the cockroaches gather, remove all food and water sources, and try to use a preventative measure to kill the cockroach eggs. Otherwise, new roaches will hatch and start an entirely new infestation.
Does Spraying Boric Acid Work?
Most bug sprays don’t have any powder forms, so you might be wondering if spraying the boric acid directly onto the bugs works. Well, that’s a yes and no answer. If boric acid is one of the bed bug spray active ingredients, then the spray can potentially kill a cockroach. The acid will still get onto the roaches, and it will be cleaned off whenever they clean themselves. When they ingest it, the acid will enter their stomachs and kill them.
However, spraying a cockroach can be much easier said than done, and in some cases isn’t strong enough to be enough to kill a roach on the first go. You might end up spraying bug spray everywhere while attempting to hit a moving target, and that’s not ideal.
While you can rely on bug spray as a last resort, it is not the best thing to kill cockroaches. Instead, taking preventative measures to not only kill the cockroaches but also to make sure they stop coming into your home is the best way to clear your home of pests.
Keeping Yourself Safe With Boric Acid
If you are using boric acid, know that it is extremely toxic to bugs, not very toxic for humans. However, you should still try to use it properly and avoid using the acid on countertops or anywhere you are preparing food.
Additionally, boric acid can be dangerous to pets, but only in very large quantities. You keep your pets away from areas where boric acid has been applied.
Other Natural Remedies for Cockroach Control
There are plenty of other ways to get rid of roaches, and these include the following methods. Plus, you can make most of them out of items you have lying around the house!
Baking Soda & Sugar for Roaches
You can use baking soda, boric acid, or borax inside of a sugar mixture as bait. The cockroaches will come to eat the mixture and eat the sugar without realizing there is baking soda inside. Then the baking soda inside their stomachs expands and kills them from the inside out, just like how the boric acid would have killed them.
If you want to repel the cockroaches without killing them, mix water and baking soda with peppermint oil and spray it outside of any windows, doors, cracks, and crevices. The peppermint oil will repel the roaches and prevent them from crossing the threshold, and they’ll take the baking soda back to their nest, eat it, and then die.
Using Catnip to Repel Roaches
You can also make a tea out of catnip and spray that tea around areas where the cockroaches will enter your home. Don’t do this if you have a cat because it will attract them, but the nepetalactone inside the catnip is an element that can make cockroaches run in the other direction.
Using Citrus to Repel Roaches
Citrus can also be an effective way of dealing with your roach problem. Not only do you love the smell, but roaches can’t stand it! So you can fill your home with the smells of lemons, oranges, and limes and know that you are keeping roaches away.
Conclusion
Getting rid of cockroaches is a huge problem for many people. However, if you follow the tips listed above, you will be able to make your home roach and pest-free. Then you can turn that bug spray on your bed bugs and use the spray on its intended targets. You might even be able to get a real good night’s sleep too!
If the bed bug and cockroach infestations in your home are out of control, it is best to get in contact with a pest control professional as soon as possible.
