Gels from cockroaches and the nuances of their use (Domovoy, Kapkan, Killer, etc.)

Modern insecticidal gels are quite effective and convenient means for fighting cockroaches. Practice and feedback from ordinary people show that gels in general work more reliably than homemade poisoned cockroach baits and sticky traps, and at the same time they are safer to use than, say, dusts (fine powdered poisons) or various aerosols.

At the same time, any cockroach gel has its own clearly defined scope. In certain cases, the drug helps to completely rid the apartment or house of pests, but sometimes it is still rational to combine it with other means in order to achieve maximum results.

Today there are a large number of insecticidal gels on the market: Raptor, Brownie Proshka, Globol, Dohlox, Fumitoks, Magic drops, Kapkan, Exil, Fas, Rubit and many others, and they differ not only in name - they can also differ in composition, both in terms of price and packaging features (for example, a syringe or a plastic tube).

Let's figure out how, depending on the degree of infestation of the apartment with cockroaches, it is correct to use insecticidal gels to achieve maximum efficiency, which one should be preferred when buying and how to combine preparations of this type with other means, if the need arises ...

Review:

“We had to poison cockroaches in a new house. It was simply amazing that they settled here before us. We moved in the summer and already in the first days we began to notice insects. There were not many of them, I decided to poison them with gel. We bought an inexpensive tool Domovoy Proshka, there is one syringe with a translucent gel in the package. My husband smeared baseboards around the entire perimeter of the kitchen. It seems that no one was supposed to get dirty, but then I noticed that the slippers still stick to the floor. It seemed to me that the gel was liquid - if you put a drop of it on the surface, then after a minute it spreads into a liquid spot, although I thought that the gel retains its shape. But it is not important. It is important that the next day we again saw a live cockroach, I was already ready to be disappointed in the remedy. And then a few days later we noticed that the cockroaches no longer caught our eye. My husband got up a couple of times at night, went to the kitchen to check - indeed, there are no cockroaches. It seems that we defeated cockroaches with one syringe of gel. I hope they don't come back…”

Julia, Anapa

 

How do insecticidal gels work?

At its core, insecticidal gel is a poisonous bait that is attractive to cockroaches (and often house ants too) and has a consistency that is convenient to apply to various surfaces.

The bulk of the gel is water and a food base with aromatic additives (attractants), thanks to which insects find the agent and actively eat it. The main active ingredient of the drug is a highly active insecticide, and sometimes a combination of insecticides, which, getting into the insect's digestive tract, quickly lead to the death of the pest.

Thus, the gel works very simply and effectively: it attracts cockroaches with its smell, insects eat it and die.

On a note

Different gels look and smell differently. Some, for example, colorless and transparent, may have a pronounced vanilla smell, others are milky white, and some are dark, similar in appearance to chocolate. In any case, these products are usually more attractive to cockroaches than simple food found on, say, the kitchen table.

In modern cockroach gels, insecticides of various classes can be used: phenylpyrazoles (fipronil), pyrethroids (cypermethrin, deltamethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin), organophosphorus compounds (chlorpyrifos), neonicotinoids, etc. All of them have a nerve paralytic effect on cockroaches, due to which a high the effectiveness of the use of these agents: insects die within a few hours after consuming a lethal dose of the drug, and in practice - within a few days after applying the gel to the surface in the room.

At the same time, the poisoning effectiveness of gels in relation to cockroaches is very high. For example, one drop of Domovoy, Kapkan or Killing Force gel contains a dose of insecticide theoretically capable of killing more than a hundred cockroaches, and one tube of the product is enough to poison about a million insects. However, in practice, such efficiency is never achieved, since each cockroach usually eats more gel than is enough for poisoning, and also a lot of gel in the apartment simply dries up without being eaten by pests.

It should be noted that the insecticides used in the composition of the gels equally effectively kill not only cockroaches, but also domestic ants, silverfish, wood lice - and indeed, any insects that decide to feast on them.

On a note

When testing fipronil on locusts in the area of ​​Lake Baikal, the drug destroyed 87% of the pest population (many millions of individuals) in 24 hours. At the same time, it was used outdoors and applied to fodder plants - this technique is different from the method of applying the gel, but in general the example shows how effective modern insecticides are.

Another important component of some gels is specially added bitterness (bitrex).It is added to the preparation so that, in case of accidental detection, the gel is not eaten by pets or children: having taken a very bitter product in their mouth, they will spit it out and will not swallow it. At the same time, cockroaches do not feel bitterness and willingly consume poison with it.

Auxiliary components in the composition of gels are usually preservatives, thickeners (gelling agents) and stabilizers. They provide the consistency of the drug and the ability to not dry out for a sufficiently long time, although these properties can vary greatly for different gels: some dry quickly, some are too liquid.

And in general, gels differ in composition, appearance, packaging and price, and often the differences between individual products are quite large.

 

Brands and types of gels

All gels for cockroach control can be divided into groups according to the active substance and the method of packaging.

Of the active ingredients, fipronil is considered the most effective today. This insecticide was developed specifically to control insects that have developed resistance to some other synthetic insecticides., and to date no populations of cockroaches have been identified that would have resistance to fipronil.

And further: Good old Karbofos poisons cockroaches with a bang - watch our video ...

However, preparations based on neonicotinoids, pyrethroids and organophosphorus also retain high efficiency in most cases. If the situation in the apartment is not very neglected and cockroaches have been living here for decades, withstanding persecution by all possible means, then most likely a gel based on these active ingredients will be quite effective against them.

Some cockroach gels are sold in tubes, some in syringes. Preparations in syringes are generally more convenient for application, since almost all the agent, to the last drop, can be squeezed out of the syringe without additional effort. In the tube, part of the gel will definitely remain, and squeezing out the remnants is not as convenient as from a syringe.

Finally, gels can vary significantly in price, but not always the price is an indicator of the greater effectiveness of the drug.

Let's take a further look at some of the popular and widely sold cockroach gels today.

 

Gel from cockroaches Brownie

Its full name is the gel from cockroaches and ants "Domovoy Proshka", colloquially it is sometimes called "Domovenok". The drug contains fipronil as an active ingredient, and if used correctly in accordance with the instructions, cockroaches in the room die 1-2 days after applying the product to the surface.

Brownie gel is sold in different packaging:

• In syringes with a volume of 10, 30 and 50 ml;
• In tubes of 50, 85, 100 and 150 ml;
• In vials of 50, 100, 150 and 200 ml;
• In plastic buckets of 0.5-3.5 liters (packaging for professional pest control services).

30 ml of Brownie gel cost about 50 rubles, and 85 ml - about 100 rubles. You can find it for sale in the markets, in most hardware stores and in online stores.

One syringe with a volume of 30 ml (approximately 30 grams) is enough to treat one room.

On a note

Domovoy's analogues for the active substance are gels Fumitoks, Taiga, Lethal Power, Arsenal, Kinkila and some others.Interestingly, the first commercial drug for medical disinfestation was also an analogue of Domovoy: Goliath gel was released back in 1993 and contained exactly fipronil as an active ingredient.

 

Gel Kapkan (Sturm-gel-paste)

Gel Kapkan (full name "Kapkan Sturm-Gel-Paste") contains two active ingredients of different classes:

1. Diazinon (0.3%) is an organophosphorus compound;
2. Alpha-cypermethrin (0.05%) is a pyrethroid.

Due to the complex composition, it is almost always effective, since those rare cockroaches that are resistant to cypermethrin are etched with diazinon, and vice versa.

The gel is sold in tubes of 30, 50 and 75 g. A 30 g tube costs about 50 rubles.

Arsenal gel can be considered an incomplete analogue of Kapkan, containing only diazinon as an active ingredient.

On a note

There is also a gel from cockroaches "Kapkan" of Russian production (LLC "Victoria Agro") with 0.05% fipronil in the composition. Judging by the reviews, it works well.

 

How effective is Rubit Zindan for cockroaches?

Rubit Zindan is another fairly effective gel based on a complex of insecticides. Its active ingredients include the neonicotinoid imidacloprid and the organophosphorus component chlorpyrifos, which ensures the effectiveness of the drug in almost 100% of cases.

According to test results, cockroaches die on average 2-3 hours after eating the gel.

Rubit cockroach gel is produced by the Krasnodar company TPK Rosti LLC, a 30 g syringe costs about 100 rubles.

 

Gel Legion

Another interesting Russian-made gel is Legion (manufactured by CJSC NPO Garant).

The Legion's main active ingredient is deltamethrin, which has an acute toxic effect on cockroaches.

An auxiliary insecticide in the composition of the product is diflubenzuron, an inhibitor of chitin synthesis. Its action lies in the fact that the substance disrupts the development of the chitinous cover in cockroach nymphs, due to which the insects die at the molting stage. Thus, diflubenzuron supplements the action of deltamethrin in cases where the cockroach eats too little of the drug for poisoning - even without being poisoned immediately, the pest will die later.

Practice shows that indoors Legion continues to work effectively against cockroaches up to 2.5 months after application to the surface.

The gel is sold in tubes of 125 ml, the price of one tube is about 100 rubles.

 

Killer and its capabilities

According to some reports, the Killer cockroach gel (packaging with a syringe and the inscription “Killer”) contains an insecticide under the strange name “chloronidisalone” (0.9%) as an active ingredient. If you dig deeper, it becomes clear that such a substance is unknown to chemists and, most likely, was simply invented by marketers so as not to disclose the composition of the drug.

Be that as it may, this Russian-made remedy poisons cockroaches quite well, not inferior to other gels.

Gel Killer is sold in 20 ml syringes - to process a large apartment, you will need to purchase 2-3 syringes at once.

Review

“After the wedding, my husband and little daughter moved out to a rented apartment and faced a problem - cockroaches. Once at home, my mother poisoned them when I was little, but for me this problem was new. My mother-in-law immediately brought Tigard gel to us, she said that it was just magic drops. We installed them in the kitchen and on the balcony along the baseboards. And sure enough, after a few days, the cockroaches stopped noticing.Recently I was looking to buy such a tube, but I did not find it, I bought a similar Antius gel. I think they work the same. No scent, low price. I'll keep it in stock."

Oksana, Kharkiv

 

And further: Aerosol Raptor poisons all cockroaches not very quickly, but effectively - see the results of our experiment...

A little about the Great Warrior gel

Gel from cockroaches and ants Great Warrior contains two organophosphorus components as active ingredients: diazinon and chlorpyrifos. Theoretically, it is possible for cockroaches to exist that can be resistant to both of these substances, but in fact the likelihood of this is negligible, and with the correct use of the remedy, cockroaches in the house are poisoned quite effectively.

Gel Great Warrior is sold in syringes with a capacity of 30, 50 or 80 ml and is used in the same way as other similar products.

 

Features of the effective use of gels in the fight against cockroaches

There are two main ways to use cockroach gels:

1. The product is applied to various surfaces in the apartment, where cockroaches can find and eat it. As a rule, these are skirting boards, the perimeter of the walls of cabinets and nightstands in the kitchen, the back wall of the refrigerator and stove, the spaces inside the nightstands, the underside of the kitchen sink, walls and corners under the ceilings. Here the gel is applied with a dotted line - a 1-2 cm strip of the product alternates with an interval of approximately the same length. If there are few cockroaches in the room, then the line can be made from individual drops. This option is preferable for those cases when it is not known where the main cockroach shelters are, or such "nests" are scattered throughout the room;
2. In the second option, the gel is applied to a substrate - a piece of cardboard or polyethylene film, and then such a substrate is placed where cockroaches are most likely to hide and move. This approach is optimal if you know where the insect shelter is located. In this case, it does not matter at all how the gel is applied to the substrate - with dots, lines, or just one big spot - the cockroaches will definitely find poison and feast on it. According to the instructions for some products, 5-30 ml of gel can be applied to one substrate - this will poison a huge number of cockroaches.

Gel application sites should be checked approximately every 3-4 days. Where the product is clearly eaten up by insects or is almost dry, it should be updated. Substrates are checked and updated in the same way.

On a note

As the gel dries, it is recommended to renew it, although cockroaches may well eat an already dried product. However, when wet, the gel will work much more efficiently. It should also be borne in mind that often a cockroach, having run through the gel, then cleans itself, eating poison particles adhering to its paws, which increases the effectiveness of the product. The dried drug does not have such an effect.

It also makes sense to apply the gel in closed lines in those places through which cockroaches can enter the room - along the perimeter of ventilation ducts, doors, windows, sewerage and heating pipes (insects can squeeze into the gap between the wall or ceiling and the pipe). In such cases, the gel is used to create a barrier: even if the cockroach climbs into the room from the outside, first of all it will feast on an easily accessible poison and die.

When it becomes clear that there are no cockroaches left in the house (they stop eating the bait and do not catch your eye), the gel can be washed off from all surfaces with just a damp cloth. All modern gels do not leave marks at the application site, so any special surface treatment after them is not required.

Review

“We poisoned cockroaches in a hostel. From the first day I saw how many of them there, I thought I would move out. A nightmare! They were everywhere, even during the day they ran along the ceiling. We just didn’t try anything, no poison worked on them. In the end, they etched them with gel, they were still very surprised, because it costs a penny, but it worked more reliably than expensive products. The gel was called Tarakanoff and was sold in a syringe. I smeared all the skirting boards, the walls of the tables and the legs of the beds with one syringe. And when the cockroaches disappeared, the girls from the neighboring rooms also bought several syringes and poisoned the cockroaches in their rooms. Then the commandant thanked us for the fact that we were able to put things in order ... "

Irina, Yaroslavl

 

Safety of insecticidal gels for people, pets and furniture

No matter how much advertising praises the “complete” safety of a particular drug in circulation, it should be borne in mind that all insecticides that make up the gels are to some extent toxic to humans and pets.

However, with the correct use of gels, the dangers from them can be minimized. Here are some nuances to pay attention to:

1. It is advisable to use products with bitterness in their composition - then neither a cat, nor a dog, nor a curious child will be able to eat the gel. Even if by chance one of them licked off a drop and swallowed it, such a quantity would not cause poisoning;
2. It is advisable to apply the gels themselves mainly in hard-to-reach places - behind the furniture in the kitchen, on the back walls of bedside tables and cabinets, inside them, that is, where the product does not accidentally fall into the eyes of a child;
3. Gel pads should also be installed in inaccessible places - for example, under the bathroom, in bedside tables, under the refrigerator;
4. Pets should not be allowed to eat dead or disoriented (recently poisoned) cockroaches.

If a child or pet still managed to swallow a significant portion of the gel, you need to give a few tablets of activated charcoal and consult a doctor, without waiting for the victim to feel worse.

On a note

Pyrethroid gels are the most dangerous for cats - it is cats that are most sensitive to substances of this class. But organophosphorus compounds are approximately equally toxic to cats, dogs, and humans.

 

The importance of an integrated approach in the fight against cockroaches

Finally, it is important to remember that gels work passively. That is, in order to get poisoned, the cockroach needs to find this remedy and feed on it. For this reason, gels do not allow you to poison pests quickly and immediately, as aerosols do (in the case of a strong infestation of the premises with cockroaches, pest control with just one gel can drag on for several weeks or even more). Therefore, in rooms with a large number of cockroaches, it makes sense to first destroy the main population with aerosol insecticides, and then use the gel to poison the surviving insects.

In addition, even after successful pest control, the apartment must be protected from the re-penetration of cockroaches.With a high probability, insects also live with neighbors or in the entrance, and if the pests have the opportunity, they will enter the room again. If it is problematic to completely block the penetration paths, it makes sense to apply a gel near them in order to poison all insects that enter the room. Also, in addition to the gels, you can use glue traps for cockroaches and special bait houses.

At the same time, you need to understand that the most reliable way to block the insects from entering the room is to block all the “entrance gates”. Something can be puttied, something can be sealed with mounting foam. And when there are no more such paths left, the insects living in the apartment can be calmly and systematically poisoned with gel.

Review

“I could not even imagine that in the 21st century cockroaches could start in an apartment! And yet they got on. Apparently, the constant leftovers in the cat's bowl did their job. A friend advised me Blockbuster gel, it is sold in syringes and is quite inexpensive, something around 20 UAH. I just took a few sheets of paper, tore them into small pieces, squeezed out a few drops of gel on each piece and laid them out wherever possible in the kitchen - under the refrigerator, under the bedside tables, behind the stove, under the sink. I didn’t see dead cockroaches after that, but in general they disappeared - for a month I haven’t seen any of them. ”

Alena, Vinnitsa

 

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