Content

• To step
• Part 1 of 3: Prevent cockroaches from entering your room and bed
• Part 2 of 3: Creating an unattractive environment
• Part 3 of 3: Repelling and killing cockroaches
• Tips
• Necessities
• Prevent cockroaches from entering your room and bed
• Creating an unattractive environment
• Repel and kill cockroaches

Cockroaches are nasty little insects that no one wants to roam around the house, especially your bed. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to keep cockroaches out of your bed and even your entire house.

To step

Part 1 of 3: Prevent cockroaches from entering your room and bed

1. See where roaches can enter your bedroom. Take a few minutes to search your bedroom for areas where the cockroaches might enter from the outside. Take a good look at the areas where the walls merge into the floor and ceiling, as well as the corners, ventilation channels, and areas around your windows.
   • Keep in mind that cockroaches can crawl through cracks and holes that are only 3 millimeters high.
2. Close the cracks with a caulking gun. Buy a simple caulking gun at a hardware store near you. The caulking gun should come with instructions, so read them carefully before using the caulking gun. If you find cracks in your bedroom that you think cockroaches could crawl through, hold the nozzle of the caulking gun in front of them and run it along the cracks while pressing the handle and filling the cracks with sealant.
   • Let the kit dry for as long as stated on the packaging.
3. Check the grids for your ventilation ducts and replace them if necessary. The grilles for the ventilation channels are the only thing that prevents access to your bedroom. If you see holes in the grilles in your bedroom, replace the grilles as soon as possible.
   • If you find a very small hole or just want to fix the problem temporarily, you can cover the hole with one or two pieces of thick, strong tape such as duct tape.
4. Apply draft strips to your doors. Your bedroom door probably only gives access to the rest of your house, but cockroaches entering the house through other doors can also enter your bedroom and even your bed. Apply draft excluders to all exterior doors to prevent cockroaches from entering your home through the gaps between the door and the door frame.
5. Make sure there are no bedding on the floor. If it's difficult for you to keep cockroaches from entering your home and bedroom, you can still keep them from crawling into your bed. Tuck in your sheets and swap an oversized duvet for a smaller one that doesn't hang on the floor. That way it will be more difficult for the cockroaches to climb into your bed.
   • Cockroaches can also crawl up on a bed skirt. If you have one, take it off your bed and put it away.
6. Wrap silicone tape around the bottom of your bed legs. Purchase non-adherent silicone rubber tape from a hardware store or online. Wrap the tape around the legs of your bed from just below the box spring to where the legs are on the floor. For example, you should be able to prevent cockroaches from crawling into your bed should they enter your house.

Part 2 of 3: Creating an unattractive environment

1. Tidy up your room and get rid of clutter. Cockroaches are attracted to junk because it is where they can hide and live without being noticed and disturbed. Make two piles of the clutter in your room: a pile of things to throw away and a pile of items you want to keep. Discard the first pile of items and clean up the items in the second pile.
   • Cockroaches are particularly attracted to cardboard and newspapers, so throw out all old newspapers and replace cardboard boxes with plastic storage boxes.
   • Put all your dirty laundry in your laundry basket and keep your clean laundry folded in your chest of drawers or hanging in your wardrobe.
   • Remove all wallpaper and cabinet paper as cockroaches will eat the paste on the back of it.
2. Keep your bedroom and house clean. Cockroaches do well in dirty environments, so it's very important that you regularly clean your bedroom and the rest of your home. Sweep, mop, vacuum, dust and clean surfaces about once a week with all-purpose cleaner and a cloth. It is also important that you wash dirty dishes immediately and throw away waste. Cockroaches love to eat, so a full sink and trash cans can get them to your house.
   • Also, throw away anything containing glue, starch, soap, fabrics, and wood, and make sure there's no water for them to get to. Cockroaches eat a lot of different things.
   • If possible, leave food outside of your bedroom. If you do want to keep something in your room, put it in boxes or bags that you seal tightly.
   • Make sure your fridge door seals are intact, as younger cockroaches can otherwise get into your fridge.
3. Clean up clutter in your garden. If you also make your garden an unattractive environment for cockroaches, you are much less likely to have cockroaches in your house, bedroom and eventually in your bed. Cockroaches like to spend time among messy piles of wood and dead leaves. Rake up and dispose of dead leaves. Pile up all the wood in your yard neatly, especially if it's close to your house.

Part 3 of 3: Repelling and killing cockroaches

1. Spray cypress and peppermint oil under and around your bed. These essential oils naturally repel cockroaches. Mix 8 drops of cypress oil with 10 drops of peppermint oil and 250 ml of water in a spray bottle. Spray this mixture on all the places where you have seen cockroaches. When in doubt, spray the mixture under and around your bed.
2. Repel cockroaches with ground coffee. Coffee can be bad for cockroaches, so they stay away from it. Sprinkle some ground coffee into some open containers and place them under or near your bed to repel cockroaches.
   • With ground coffee you can also repel other insects such as ants, because of the caffeine it contains.
3. Use leftover cigar to repel cockroaches. The nicotine in cigars is what repels cockroaches. If you smoke cigars or know someone who does, collect the scraps, put them in some lidless containers and place them on the floor near your bed to help repel roaches.
4. Alternatively, crush and spread some bay leaves to repel cockroaches. Bay leaves are also a natural repellant, as cockroaches hate their smell. Use a mortar and pestle or other tools to crush and pound some bay leaves into a powder. Sprinkle the powder into some lidless containers and put them in your bedroom and near your bed.
5. Make your own insecticide with baking soda and sugar. You will not completely solve the problem by killing the roaches, but there will be fewer roaches living in and around your house. If you want to kill the roaches, mix equal amounts of baking soda and sugar in a bowl. Then sprinkle the mixture in your bedroom. The cockroaches will be lured by the sugar and killed when they eat the baking soda.
   • After a few days, sweep or vacuum up the mixture and dispose of the dead cockroaches.
   • This mixture is safe to use if you have pets and children.
6. In case of a persistent infestation, use boric acid. Boric acid is one of the most effective means of killing cockroaches, ants and other pests. Buy boric acid from a supermarket near you or online if you have a persistent roach infestation in your home. Sprinkle a thin layer of boric acid on the floor of your bedroom. When the cockroaches walk over it, they will get the powder on their body and die later when they wash and swallow the product.
   • Keep pets and children away from boric acid as it is poisonous and can be very harmful if swallowed.
   • Don't forget to wipe up or vacuum up the boric acid after 1-2 days.
   • Boric acid will not work if it is wet or if you use a lot of it.
   EXPERT TIP

   

   Hussam Bin Break

   
   
   Executive manager at Diagno Pest Control Hussam Bin Break is executive manager at Diagno Pest Control. He has worked in pest control in the Philadelphia area for over four years, first as a technician and now as an executive manager.

   Hussam Bin Break
   Executive manager at Diagno Pest Control

   Try bait to get rid of a pest. Diagno Pest Control's Hussam Bin Break: “For tackling small cockroaches, I don't recommend using a repellant like Raid. It kills on contact, but other cockroaches can detect the chemical and move to another room or into your devices Instead, put bait for the roaches and replace it every other week until the problem is manageable.

   
   

Tips

• Call a pest repeller if you have been trying to keep cockroaches out of your bed, bedroom, and house and are unable to get rid of them.

Necessities

Prevent cockroaches from entering your room and bed

• Caulking gun
• Draft strips
• Silicone tape

Creating an unattractive environment

• Broom
• Mop
• Vacuum cleaner
• Feather duster
• All-purpose cleaner
• Cloth
• Lockable boxes and bags
• Rake

Repel and kill cockroaches

• Cypress oil
• Peppermint Oil
• Water
• Atomizer
• Ground coffee
• Baking
• Cigar leftovers
• Bay leaves
• Mortar and pestle
• Baking soda
• Sugar
• Come on
• Boric acid