How to answer the question, what are cockroaches afraid of? Folk remedies that repel insects are essential oils, dry herbs, boric acid and much more. But it seems that it is difficult to scare them with anything at all, pests can go without food for several days, and it seems impossible to find a safe island where it seems impossible to survive. They even live for several days without a head. Despite the fact that cockroaches are very tenacious creatures, there are things that they try to avoid - various odors, extremely low and high temperatures. To effectively combat insects, it is important to know what cockroaches are afraid of in the apartment and use this knowledge in practice. We will tell you which grass cockroaches do not like, the smell of which plants will scare them away, and much more.
Are cockroaches afraid of cold and heat?
Yes, cockroaches are afraid of cold, frost and high temperatures. Since ancient times, pests in homes have been controlled by freezing them out. It is difficult to freeze an apartment, because the temperature should not be higher than 10 degrees Celsius. And at this temperature there is a risk of damaging the heating and plumbing systems. Insects feel discomfort already at 0 +5 degrees, their life processes slow down.
What else domestic cockroaches are afraid of is extremely high temperatures - steam treatment, boiling water. Using high temperature, you can get rid of not only adults, but also eggs. There are cases where cockroaches left the house when the temperature in the premises rose to +35 degrees and above.
Temperature effect
Cold against cockroaches One of the oldest ways to remove insects from a living space is to freeze it out.
Cockroaches are afraid of the cold, as they are cold-blooded creatures; at low temperatures, insects die or hibernate. In order for the cold to have a detrimental effect on all insects living in the house, it is necessary to leave the room without heating for two to three days. When this method began, most people lived in private houses. In winter, they moved to neighbors for several days, and simply did not heat their house. The frost destroyed all cockroaches, bed bugs and other pests. After which the owners returned to their home.
Modern residents of apartment buildings with central heating cannot use this method of fighting cockroaches. But if in cold weather you open all the windows in the apartment for at least a day, the cold will scare away arthropods and temporarily rid the room of them.
On a note!
Pests are also afraid of extreme heat. If you pour boiling water along the joints of the wall and floor, insects will not appear there for a long time. But, living in multi-storey buildings, there is a risk of flooding the lower neighbors.
Are cockroaches afraid of “Whiteness”, ammonia, bleach and other chemicals?
Cockroaches are afraid of bleach, ammonia, vinegar, ammonia and other chemicals. This is due to the fact that cockroaches have a keen sense of smell. All these substances have a pungent odor that will scare them away, but will not kill them. If you sprinkle bleach on an insect, it will die (it has no effect on eggs), but a Prussian will not go to certain death on its own if the substance is scattered in heaps on the floor. The activity of pests will decrease if ammonia, bleach or “White” are added to the water for washing the floor, but until the smell disappears.
The aromas of paints and solvents disorient them in space; insects may leave the room, although they may return again later. What cockroaches don’t like is renovation; during construction work, you may notice their disappearance or a sharp decrease in number.
Pests are also frightened by the smell of gasoline and kerosene, but hardly anyone will dare to use flammable liquids in the apartment. What smell cockroaches don’t like are sharp, unpleasant aromas. This is what repels the cockroaches and makes them go away, at least for a while.
Fear of light, ultrasound?
Cockroaches are afraid of light - this fact has been known for a long time. Why? Insects associate bright light with danger, so it is avoided with all diligence. Question “What are cockroaches more afraid of - light or a person with a slipper?” meaningless. The light turned on - a man saw a cockroach and was trying to kill it. So what is a cockroach more afraid of - the light in which it will be discovered and swatted, or the person who will slam it as soon as the light comes on?
Regarding ultrasound, not everything is so simple here. Research shows that cockroaches dislike ultrasound, so they tend to leave rooms with such radiation. Electronic and ultrasonic repellers are available in stores, but few people undertake to prove the effectiveness of such a product.
The situation is completely different with microwave radiation, which is obviously not at all scary for insects, which often use microwaves to create colonies.
Are cockroaches afraid of wormwood, mint, the smell of bay leaves, and garlic?
Another thing that repels cockroaches is the aromas of certain herbs. As we have already said, the sensitivity of insects to odors is to blame. What smell are cockroaches afraid of? Smells that repel cockroaches are anise, mint, wormwood, eucalyptus, tansy. Aromatic herbs cannot destroy pests, but they can become a preventative measure: it is enough to spread herbal bunches in places where insects are likely to enter the house to repel cockroaches.”
People often ask, what grass are cockroaches afraid of, what plants do they not like? The most popular plant that repels cockroaches in the house and apartment is mint. Some people grow mint on the windowsill, thus expelling insects and preventing them from entering the apartment. What other plants are cockroaches afraid of? Prussians do not like the smell of pine nuts, honeysuckle, red elderberry, tansy. But when laying out bouquets of tansy inflorescences around the apartment, make sure that the plant is inaccessible to pets and children.
Essential oils are often used to control insects. The oil that cockroaches are afraid of is tea tree, eucalyptus. To repel pests, just drop a few drops of oil into the cleaning water. Before you diffuse the essential oil, you need to dilute it in water. Aroma lamps are popular.
Now that you know what smells cockroaches are afraid of, you can fight them using these folk methods. But remember that even if the pests leave the apartment, they will have time to lay eggs, from which offspring will appear, adapted to the aromas. And adults, being hungry, will ignore even the most irritating odors. The odors that cockroaches are afraid of still tend to fade, so alternate folk remedies and do not forget to renew herbal bunches.
What smells repel cockroaches
Many would agree that cockroaches are a nuisance in residential areas. They live in all regions, as they adapt perfectly to any natural conditions. The worst thing is that it is almost impossible to get rid of them forever unless the neighbors in the apartment building fight them. After all, sooner or later cockroaches may return again.
There are a number of chemical and natural substances that have a strong and unpleasant aroma for insects, forcing cockroaches to move as far away from the source as possible.
Advice! To quickly and permanently get rid of cockroaches, you should simultaneously use repellents and insecticides.
Herbs
It is clear that cockroaches cannot tolerate the smell of certain herbs. Not all herbs are suitable for repelling insects, but only those that have a sharp, specific aroma. These herbs include:
- laurel leaves;
- peppermint;
- chamomile flowers;
- sagebrush;
- wild rosemary;
- honeysuckle;
- tansy and some others.
Wormwood can be collected and placed around the house so that the smell spreads as much as possible. When the grass withers, you should not throw it away - the smell of dry wormwood is also unpleasant for cockroaches. You need to put the stems in bags and put them in shelves and cabinets. You can prepare a decoction of wormwood and wipe furniture surfaces with it, especially in the kitchen.
Dry chamomile inflorescences, collected and dried yourself or purchased at a pharmacy, should be placed in textile bags and placed in places where cockroaches are most concentrated.
Peppermint has an unbearable odor for cockroaches, and refreshes a person's home with its aroma. Both fresh and dried mint will help get rid of insects. You can also use it in the form of an infusion to wipe furniture surfaces.
Bay leaf is a true insecticide that repels cockroaches and does not harm pets. A bag of bay leaves (200 g) is poured into 1 liter of boiling water and left to infuse for 2-3 days. After this, the surfaces are wiped with the resulting liquid.
Tansy is one that has recently been picked or has already completely dried out. You need to collect it when the first flowers appear - their smell has a strong effect on cockroaches. You can spray the room with tansy infusion.
Elderberry is very toxic to insects, as all parts of this plant, except the flowers, are highly poisonous. Elderberry branches are usually placed in hard-to-reach places.
The smell of garlic and fresh cucumber is very unpleasant for cockroaches. The garlic is peeled and the cloves are placed in the house. After a few days, the cloves can be changed. The smell of fresh cucumber is terrible for cockroaches when combined with aluminum. Therefore, the chopped cucumber should be placed in small aluminum containers.
Aroma oils
Oils have a wide range of uses, and correctly selected aromas will create a high-quality repellent against cockroaches. This is a cheap, easy to use product.
Important! Aromatic oils are successfully used in the fight against ants, bedbugs and moths.
Oils should be used with caution. With prolonged use, some of them cause allergic reactions, excite the nervous system, and increase blood pressure.
Oils from plants such as mint, eucalyptus, fir and many others can be used as cockroach repellents.
Recommended reading: How to use peppermint and meadow mint oil for hair
For example, tea tree oil repels not only cockroaches, but also other domestic insects. The oil will be much more effective if you add lavender or any citrus oil to it. Can be used after mixing with hot water, spraying or wiping surfaces.
Fir oil has antibacterial properties. It cleanses the indoor air well from various microorganisms and has an effect on insects, including cockroaches. Prepare a composition by combining 0.5 g of water, 50 g of alcohol and adding 30 drops of fir oil. The premises are sprayed with this mixture. But it is better not to use where small children and pregnant women live.
Geranium is well known as a plant with a scent that repels insects. Rose geranium has the most pungent aroma. You can buy oil or prepare it yourself. To do this, the top part of the geranium is poured with alcohol and left in the sun for a couple of weeks. Next, the liquid is filtered and stored in a dark place. Treat the room by spraying the areas with the largest concentration of cockroaches.
Mint contains menthol, which affects the taste and gives the mint smell. Peppermint oil is diluted with water and used by sprinkling the room.
You can use oils by applying a few drops to small pieces of bandage or gauze and placing them indoors. Sometimes it is effective to oil the surfaces of walls, furniture, doors in the bathroom and kitchen. Often it is enough to fill the aroma lamp with oil.
Pharmacy drugs
The drugs used to kill cockroaches are based on toxic substances. These include drugs with a pungent odor - ammonia solution (ammonia), sodium tetraborate solution (borax).
Borax is mixed with sugar or vanillin, and then, using starch, the mixture is brought to the state of a liquid dough. This mixture is applied to the substrates and placed around the house. Cockroaches are attracted to the sweet smell, but after feasting on the mixture, the insects die as the poison enters their body.
You can do wet cleaning using ammonia. Take a teaspoon of ammonia per liter of water, mix it and wipe all surfaces with the resulting solution. The effect of the solution does not stop even after the pungent odor disappears.
Another poisonous mixture is pyrethrum. This powder is included in some insecticides. It is made from medicinal chamomile. You can simply sprinkle the powder along the baseboards, but more often they prepare bait. The powder is mixed with a boiled egg and sugar is added. Balls from the resulting mass are laid out around the house. The product does not have a sharp, unpleasant odor for humans and is absolutely harmless to children and pets.
Chemicals
The most disgusting smell for cockroaches is the smell of insecticides. It is considered the most effective remedy against any domestic parasites. For convenience, they have different release forms:
- aerosols;
- gels;
- crayons;
- traps.
They all have both advantages and disadvantages.
Aerosols are very convenient to use and act as quickly as possible. However, they can be dangerous for people with allergies and cause poisoning if handled carelessly. In addition, they quickly disappear.
Gels are also easy to use and effective. But unlike aerosols, they have a mushy base, preventing the product from drying quickly. Based on contact and food exposure, therefore safe for humans. Food flavorings are added to the gels to attract insects.
Crayons, like gels, do not immediately begin to affect insects, but they have long-term effectiveness. As a rule, when a room is extensively infested with cockroaches, crayons do not have the desired effect.
The traps are very easy to use and safe for people and pets. They allow you to get rid of the entire population of cockroaches at once, which, by eating poison, infect other relatives.
Other smells that repel cockroaches
Other unpleasant odors include the smell of gasoline, kerosene, and mothballs. When using such substances, you need to dilute them with water and place them in small containers around the house. Housewives often use ordinary table vinegar, washing surfaces with it. Cockroaches react negatively to bleach and chlorine-containing substances. They are very afraid of white, which many people use to clean floors.
You need to understand that, having been poisoned by the smell, cockroaches weaken the effect of the poisons with the help of water. Therefore, water should be inaccessible to insects. Having successfully repelled cockroaches from your home using odors, do not delude yourself - you will not be able to get rid of their larvae. It would be more correct to first use insecticides, and then use other means as a preventive measure.
Important! If a single individual was noticed in the room, then the rest were hidden somewhere, since cockroaches live only in groups.
Are cockroaches afraid of ultrasound?
As manufacturers of ultrasonic devices assure, as soon as you turn them on, insects panic and flee. Is it really? What smell repels cockroaches has been known for a long time, but ultrasound appeared relatively recently. Experts and scientists have varying opinions on the effectiveness of ultrasonic devices. Tests were carried out and during the experiment it was found that ultrasound at various frequencies does not repel cockroaches. Even powerful devices did not show significant results in laboratory conditions.
What is the chitinous layer?
This is a kind of shell that protects against adverse external influences. Almost all insects have it, and it provides good security, but only by the standards of the microcosm. Not a single cockroach can withstand a blow from a slipper, even if it has three layers of chitin. Its main functions:
- blocking harmful substances;
- protection of internal organs from the jaws of competitors;
- salvation from heat and cold.
But there is one circumstance that makes this shell deadly not only for each individual individual, but also for the entire colony as a whole - it is quite sticky. When an insect crawls over a layer of insecticide, for example, Mashenka chalk, the poison particles will definitely stick to the body. This will end with the entire population becoming infected, which will lead to its extinction.
Are cockroaches afraid of radiation?
Some people wonder why cockroaches are not afraid of radiation. In fact, radiation affects the body of cockroaches, but its effects are not as terrible as for humans. Dividing cells are most vulnerable to radiation, and insects do not have as many of them as mammals. Another version is the weak metabolism of pests, but it has no scientific basis. We can say that cockroaches have increased resistance to radiation, although there are insects that can tolerate higher doses, for example, mealworms.
What other scents can repel cockroaches?
Vegetables and plants that grow in the garden or meadow are suitable as preventive measures. Cockroaches can be repelled by:
- A few peeled cloves of garlic scattered around the house. They need to be changed after 2-3 days.
- Sliced cucumber on the lid of a tin can. The interaction of vegetables with aluminum leads to oxidation and the appearance of an odor that is pungent and repels cockroaches.
- The smell of fresh flowers - chamomile, tansy. Dried plant flowers will also work.
In the fight against cockroaches, information not only about repellent odors, but also about attractive odors, can be useful. It is useful for creating baits and traps. You can lure Prussians using fruit puree, minced meat, banana peel, onion slices, sugar, vanilla and other products with a sweetish aroma.
Strong odors are a good option for organizing a protective barrier and preventive measures. They will help reduce the likelihood of insects appearing in the house. But if cockroaches have already taken a fancy to your apartment, then to destroy them it is better to immediately seek help from professionals from. Experienced specialists will analyze the situation, select the optimal method of combating parasites, and quickly and efficiently treat the premises. You can get advice, check the cost and call an exterminator by phone or email.
Are cockroaches afraid of cats, pets, spiders, relationships with other living beings?
The presence of cats in the house will not affect cockroaches in any way. A cat can play with an insect, but will not hunt en masse. Lizards or spiders are another matter; they feed on insects and are able to slightly reduce their numbers, but no more.
And, perhaps, one of the types of smells that cockroaches don’t like is the pungent aroma from a cage with rats. Those who have kept decorative rats know that they need to clean the cage often, otherwise a strong unpleasant odor appears. This is what will scare away the pests. It is believed that cockroaches do not like the smell of fresh fish, also because of their special sensitivity, although if they are hungry, no smell will scare them on the way to a food source, rats or something else. They will eat fresh fish with pleasure if other products are not available.
So what animals are cockroaches afraid of? People have noticed that cockroaches are most afraid of rats, lizards, frogs, birds, i.e. those animals that feed on insects.
Many people are interested in whether bedbugs are afraid of cockroaches. There is no fear as such, but Prussians can eat bedbug eggs, thereby reducing the population.
Herbs and aromatic oils
The smell of some herbs or aromatic oils prepared from them can scare away cockroaches from settling in a given home. What herbs are insects afraid of?
Among the most commonly used plants is mint. Place dried leaves in dark corners or try to grow a few branches on your window, spray the oil as a fragrance and cockroaches will never approach your apartment.
Prussians and their black brothers do not like the smells of cedar, fir, honeysuckle, eucalyptus, anise, and red elderberry. Lemon or orange peels left on the table as a deterrent will not add comfort to multi-legged pests.
However, you should use essential oils with caution to avoid getting them on the mucous membranes of animals (especially cats), in order to avoid their poisoning.
Are cockroaches afraid of boric acid?
Boric acid is a popular folk remedy for insect control. This is not to say that pests are afraid of boric acid. They move through the powder, clinging to it on their paws, and willingly eat bait with this substance, since the acid has no odor. And then they die, infecting their relatives.
There are two ways to use boric acid - in its pure form and as part of baits. The powder is poured in a thin layer in places where insects accumulate and move; they catch it on their paws and try to clean it, as a result of which the poison penetrates into the stomach. The baits are boron balls with products that the Prussians will not pass by, but will begin to willingly eat the poisonous mixture.
Fear of bay leaves
The smell emitted by bay leaves is intolerable to cockroaches. Aromatic seasoning can be used in several ways:
- it is added to herbal mixtures to repel insects;
- it is practiced to burn bay leaves to fumigate a room;
- lay out the seasoning in the corners of the house, place it under the baseboard.
Many apartment owners prepare infusions or decoctions from bay leaves. With the resulting concentrated solutions, you can moisten a napkin and wipe the surfaces that cockroaches choose for walking. Insects do not die from the pungent aroma of the plant, but prefer to avoid rooms where bay leaves are used as a repeller. The undoubted advantages of this method of fighting insects include low cost, lack of toxic properties, and ease of use. Are cockroaches afraid of laurel aroma - no doubt, but it is worth remembering that in the open air the leaves quickly lose their specific smell.
Are cockroaches afraid of drought and hunger?
What cockroaches don’t like and what they run away from is the lack of food and water. This is, perhaps, the answer to the question of what cockroaches are most afraid of in an apartment. Without moisture, cockroaches live no longer than a week, and can survive without food longer. Use this for pest control. If there is no access to water and food indoors, cockroaches will find your home uninhabitable. To do this, you need to repair the plumbing, make sure that there is not a drop of moisture left anywhere, including in the trays of potted plants, you should wipe the bathtub and sink dry, thoroughly vacuum the floor, take out the trash every day and do regular general cleaning. Now you know what cockroaches are most afraid of.
Of course, cockroaches are afraid of insecticides, bright light and other things. We can talk about this endlessly. On forums on the Internet they discuss why cockroaches are afraid of WD40, soda ash, noise, and even what color they avoid. But many of the pest fears discussed have no scientific basis or evidence. Getting rid of cockroaches quickly and effectively, if there are a lot of them, is possible only with the help of chemicals.
Reasons for the appearance of cockroaches in an apartment
Of course, for the most part, cockroaches cause disgust and hostility in people. Of course, it’s not pleasant when a cockroach runs across the table during your meal! But the reason for their occurrence is mainly one thing – low level of hygiene. Cockroaches love garbage, mold, and mildew, and in order to prevent them from appearing in your home, it is better not to give a reason for the spread of this sewage. Otherwise, this risks infecting your home with these parasites, and you should not expect anything good from this, and we will talk about this below.
