Houston, Texas, is home to many wonderful things and people. Unfortunately, it’s also home to cockroaches. Among the different types of roaches native to Houston are American cockroaches, German cockroaches, oriental cockroaches, and brown-banded cockroaches.
Cockroaches often enter through cracks within the foundation, through holes like vents and pipes, or even drains. Like all other bugs, they are always looking for food and water and are attracted to homes where these are available. They are also drawn to areas with excessive moisture or humidity.
Roaches carry diseases and bacteria because of the places they hang out — the sewer, the garbage, unsanitary areas, etc. When they enter your home, so do the bacteria, disease, and risk of sickness to residents.
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Traps and Bait
Image via Flickr by avhell
There are many ways to kill cockroaches. The first option is baited traps. If you go to any sort of hardware store, you’ll find traps that you can set up on your own.
Traps combine food with insecticide to lure the roaches in. Some traps have adhesive bottoms, while other traps are considered bait traps, using a combination of food and water to lure the cockroaches to ingest the bait. Once they ingest the bait, the roaches die. There’s also gel bait, which works the same way but can applied directly to cracks and crevices around your home through which cockroaches may be entering.
- Positives: You don’t have to come in contact with the roaches. Instead, you can plant the traps and let them do their job. A “roach motel” trap will trap the roach and cover it so you don’t have to even see it. Bait traps are said to be effective in eliminating cockroaches carrying eggs as well. The gel bait is a great tool to use outside as a preventative measure on or around the foundation of your home.
- Negatives: Traps may take a few days to work. Once you remove the traps, you may still see bugs coming back because you didn’t get to the root of the issue. You are also essentially leaving cockroach poison wide open in your home and potentially exposing children, guests, and pets, which could cause anxiety or accidents.
A Natural Remedy
A more natural solution to removing cockroaches from your home is using diatomaceous earth, an all-natural mineral. This is a powder-like substance that you can use on surfaces where you’re seeing roaches. The roaches will be attracted to the smell, step in the powder, and ultimately be dehydrated to death.
- Positives: Diatomaceous earth is generally a safer option for people and pets when the instructions are followed.
- Negatives: This natural remedy can be a bit of a time-consuming process, and the powder can be a bit of a mess.
Seek a Professional
Your safest bet for ensuring you solve the entire problem once and for all is to seek a roach exterminator in Houston.
- Positives: Professionals know the safest and most effective way to solve the problem.
- Negatives: Hiring a professional will likely cost more than DIY options.
While cockroaches are native to the area of Houston, Texas, that doesn’t mean they need to be native to your family’s bedrooms, kitchen, or living room. Take the actions to keep your family safe… and less grossed out.