Cockroaches are digesting and they definitely do more harm than good but above all they have many negative consequences for human health because certain proteins (called allergens) found in their feces, saliva and body parts can cause allergic reactions or trigger asthma symptoms, especially in children.
Cockroaches can also passively transport microbes on their body surfaces including pathogens that are potentially dangerous to humans. Cockroaches have been implicated in the spread 33 kinds of bacteria, including E. coli and Salmonella species, six parasitic worms and more than seven other types of human pathogens.
E. coli and Salmonella are classic causes of food poisoning, or gastroenteritis. Common symptoms include belly pain, severe stomach cramps and tenderness, diarrhea which can sometimes be bloody, nausea and vomiting. Some people can experience severe diarrhea, which will cause dehydration and may require hospitalization. In rare cases, the bacteria can spread to the blood stream and cause life threatening infections.
Below are a few home remedy to get rid of them permanently in your house.
- Keep your house clean: This might seem like an obvious one, but it’s important to keep a clean house if you want to get rid of roaches or avoid getting them at all. They love food and dirt, which is why you should clean up straight away after meals and take out the trash regularly.
- Sugar and Baking Soda: Mix equal parts of sugar and baking soda in a lid or a dish. Place another dish or a lid close to the first one and fill it with water. Refill the containers with more bait and water when the dead roaches start to appear. Place a couple more dishes around the places, where roaches usually gather.
- hairspray: A bottle of hairspray can go a long way. If you spray the roaches with the hairspray, they won’t be able to move their legs and wings anymore, since they will stick together. They will slowly suffocate and die. If you find this too cruel, you could still use the spray and then squash the roach once it’s immobile.
- Leave our bay leaves: Roaches detest the smell of bay leaves. Crumble up some bay leaves and then scatter them around your house. If you know where the roaches have their nest, sprinkle bay leaves around there. They will most likely up and leave to find a new home without a bay leaf smell.
- Clean with ammonia: This smell is a bit less pleasant, perhaps, so you might want to try the other tricks first. If you don’t mind the smell, however, you could try cleaning your countertops with ammonia. Mix two cups of ammonia with a bucket of water and use that as a cleaning solution. The roaches will hate it.
- Make sticky tape traps: It’s very simple, but also very effective. Buy some sticky tape of good quality, like duct tape. Put pieces of the tape around the house with the sticky side up. Place them near openings the roaches use to enter the house (cracks, floorboards). Since cockroaches come out at night, it’s best to do this before you go to bed.
