It is useful to keep in mind that you can kill cockroaches in an apartment not only on your own, but also by the forces of special pest control services. However, both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages.
The first option is good because it usually allows you to save a considerable amount of money - and this factor turns out to be decisive for many. However, at the same time, people often overestimate their strength, believing that it is enough to sprinkle a little Dichlorvos, sprinkle boric acid on the baseboard - and voila, most of the hated cockroaches are destroyed, and the survivors fled to their neighbors ...
However, in practice, everything is far from being so smooth, and there is a serious risk of wasting considerable time and effort on self-disinsection, if there is no understanding of how to kill cockroaches to achieve a really high effect and how to do it correctly. We will consider these questions in more detail below.
Calling professional exterminators saves the owner of the premises from most of the hassle of destroying cockroaches, but requires certain financial costs. Moreover, if somewhere in the province the amount saved is not too significant, then, for example, killing cockroaches in Moscow or St. Petersburg can already cost a lot of money, especially with a large apartment area.
And what a sin to hide, in the market of pest control services today there are a lot of fraudulent one-day firms that provide frankly inefficient services.
Review:
“Terrible office ***, a complete lie - just like cockroaches crawled along the walls in the kitchen, they continue to crawl. Disgusting attitude towards customers, the dispatcher calls one amount, the handler demands another, but it’s not clear for what. They promised to treat the whole apartment, but only sprayed the kitchen and a little floor in the hallway. Now they need more money for re-processing. The reviews on the Internet are all wonderful, but this is a natural fraud, I do not recommend this company.
Olga, Moscow
In any case, no matter what option you choose to deal with cockroaches (on your own or by professionals), it is useful to first understand some important nuances, knowledge of which will immediately save you from typical mistakes and many problems.
If you want to kill cockroaches on your own - please, but keep in mind that some people have been “fighting” with these insects for literally years, and all because they have not figured out the basic approaches to solving this problem. If you want to call the pest control service - great, but choose the right company - we'll talk about this too.
So, as you already understood, for an effective fight against cockroaches it is often far from enough just to buy some kind of remedy and apply it in an apartment. A more competent approach to the destruction of cockroaches is as follows:
- The ways of possible penetration of cockroaches into the apartment are determined, neighbors are interviewed for the presence of these insects in them - this will be required in order to subsequently prevent cockroaches from entering the room again and again;
- The reasons of a general nature that led to the reproduction of cockroaches in the apartment are determined (the regular presence of leftover food on the table, a leaking tap that regularly supplies insects with the water they need, etc.);
- Effective remedies for cockroaches are selected and bought, and not one, but several remedies with a different mechanism of action;
- The main places where insects prefer to hide are identified, as well as the areas where they can be found most often (when you kill cockroaches, the directed impact on these zones will give the maximum effect, and it makes no sense to “scatter” the insecticide throughout the apartment or spray it a little whether not on the ceiling, as some do);
- The actual use of the purchased funds in the premises is carried out;
- Preventive measures are being implemented to protect the apartment from the re-penetration of cockroaches into it.
Let's consider these points in more detail.
We assess the general situation with cockroaches in the apartment
If there are a lot of cockroaches in the apartment, then it is sometimes better to kill them according to a special strategy. A typical example: insects constantly catch the eye not only at night, but also during the day, run around in bedside tables and cabinets in the kitchen, when cleaning in a scoop, there is a large amount of remnants of their chitinous covers after molting. It is in such a situation that it is better to kill cockroaches in a complex way, since selective measures to combat them can only give a partial effect.
When there are very few cockroaches in the apartment, it can be easy to kill them even using insecticidal gels alone, it is only important to choose and use them correctly.
For a very rough estimate of the degree of infestation of the room, you can conduct the following simple test: turn on the light suddenly at night and try to count all the cockroaches you see. If during the course of three such tests the number of cockroaches exceeds 10 each time, then we can congratulate you: your apartment is a real paradise for cockroaches.
Usually in such cases, cockroaches of various sizes come across on shelves, bedside tables, walls and tables - from very small larvae (nymphs) to large, well-fed females carrying so-called ootheca full of eggs. Sometimes you can even meet white cockroaches that have just shed.
The presence of cockroaches of different sizes and ages means that pests have settled in the apartment for a very long time and are actively breeding.In such situations, as one of the stages of sequential control, a thorough complete treatment of the infected premises with powerful insecticides in the form of sprays or aerosols will be preferable.
If cockroaches are caught in very small numbers - for example, no more than 1-2 individuals during each test described above - then it may be sufficient to use insecticidal gels and glue traps, which will completely destroy insects in a few weeks and protect the room from new ones.
It is also very useful to communicate with neighbors. If they also have cockroaches, then with a high probability they move into your apartment in one quantity or another, and in addition to just killing them, it will be necessary to prevent the penetration of cockroaches into housing in the future.
Choosing a remedy for cockroaches
Very effective remedies for cockroaches are some concentrated insecticidal preparations that must be diluted with water before use. Many of these are used by professional pest control services. These funds, when used correctly, allow you to kill cockroaches in a relatively short period of time, even with a huge number of them in the house.
Here is a short list of some fairly effective drugs:
- Get (Get) - practically odorless, very effective, acts on treated surfaces for several weeks. The drug contains a microencapsulated insecticide, therefore it reliably poisons cockroaches that simply crawl on the treated surface (insecticide particles stick to the paws and body of the insect). The price of Get insect repellent is approximately 800 rubles per 100 ml bottle.This volume is usually enough to handle the kitchen and another room.
- Delta-Zone and Lambda-Zone are also highly effective, odorless microencapsulated preparations (Delta-Zone contains the insecticide deltamethrin, and Lambda-Zone contains lambda-cyhalothrin). Both cost about 650 rubles per 50 ml, one bottle is enough to process 100 square meters. m. surfaces.
- Xulat Micro, also an odorless microencapsulated preparation, whose high efficiency is based on the use of three fairly powerful insecticides in its composition at once (they can even kill those populations of cockroaches that have developed resistance to certain poisons). The price of Xulat Micro is about 450 rubles per 30 ml bottle, which is enough to treat surfaces of 40 square meters.
- Perhaps it is also worth noting the obsolete and strongly smelling Karbofos (aka Malathion), which is sold in bottles, canisters, ampoules and in the form of a powder for dilution with water. Quite effective and inexpensive, but has a strong unpleasant odor.
Somewhat inferior to these preparations in terms of economy, and sometimes in efficiency, aerosol insect repellents are ready-to-use solutions of insecticides in spray bottles. For example:
- Raptor;
- Raid;
- Combat;
- Dichlorvos Neo;
- Dichlorvos Eco
…and many others.
Small aerosol cans are easy to use, and when used correctly, they also give a good result. It is best to kill cockroaches with them in cases where the exact location of their predominant deployment in the room is known.
The above types of agents are highly desirable to be combined with additional drugs that have a different mechanism of action.
For example, it is also possible to effectively kill cockroaches with means in the form of gels - these are, in fact, gel-like baits with poison that are applied in places where cockroaches move, attract them with their smell and leave no chance of survival after they enter the stomach. The gel is easy to apply on both horizontal and vertical surfaces.
Examples of insecticidal gels effective against cockroaches:
- Globall;
- Raptor;
- Storm;
- Fas;
- Dohlox;
- Brownie Proshka.
On a note
Gels from well-known manufacturers are safe for children and pets. They contain bitterness that cockroaches do not feel, and in a child (or animal) they will immediately cause a desire to spit out a drop of the product.
Gels, unlike aerosols or sprays, do not destroy cockroaches quickly, but they systematically reduce their population. In addition, the use of gels is not associated with the mandatory need to spray “chemistry” in the apartment, which some tenants are sometimes so afraid of.
We move on. The so-called traps for cockroaches are good with a small number of insects in the apartment, as well as with occasional ingress of individual individuals from neighbors (that is, for use for prevention purposes). With a high number of insects with the help of traps, it is also possible to catch the bulk of them, but this will take a considerable amount of time.
And further: We tested Phenaksin powder on cockroaches - and these monsters, at least henna ...
Glue and electric traps for cockroaches are very effective.
You can also stain cockroaches with the help of insecticidal powders (they are also called dusts), pencils (for example, everyone knows the pencil from cockroaches Masha) and folk remedies based on borax and boric acid. It is not so important which of these options you choose, it is only desirable that this is not the only tool that you use. Combine powders with gels, aerosols, sprays, traps - and the result will be incomparably more pronounced.
Companies that can be entrusted with pest control
When calling exterminators, it should be remembered that the cost of the service being too low than the market average may also mean the low quality of the services that will be offered to you. At the same time, it is useful to clarify in advance exactly what means the service workers kill cockroaches - there are cases when, after the work of the pest control service, residents had to eventually throw out upholstered furniture, as it retained a persistent unpleasant smell of insecticides for months.
If you want to call the district SES (Sanitation and Epidemiological Station) to process the premises, then keep in mind in advance that it can be extremely difficult to call them to process one apartment. Still, this is a state office with all the ensuing bureaucratic costs. At the same time, SES and small firms should not be confused, which also often like to insert the word “Sanepidemiological station” into their name.
You can kill cockroaches in Moscow using, for example, the services of Geradez, Klop-Control, Klop-Stop, Dezalit, Dezcenter and some others. In the major cities of the country, there are branches of Geradez and Dezalit companies, as well as local services that you should choose on the advice of your friends and relatives.
The cost of pest control services in good companies starts from 2000-3000 rubles for a one-room apartment - and this is with a guarantee of the absence of cockroaches for six months (or they will offer free re-treatment when they appear). If you don’t want a student with a garden sprayer to come to you, but a really professional with appropriate overalls and normal equipment, then choose a company carefully, and not by the first phone or website that comes across.
We kill cockroaches as efficiently and safely as possible
Before you kill cockroaches, you must carefully prepare all surfaces and furniture for processing. For this:
- All dishes are taken out of bedside tables and cabinets, and they themselves are moved away from the walls;
- Shelves are vacated in closets and closets;
- Provides free access to all skirting boards in the room;
- With the preliminary detection of places of shelters of insects, the approaches to them are freed;
- People and pets are taken out of the premises, the aquariums are covered with glass and the compressors are turned off in them.
After that, if required, the preparation itself is prepared (for example, if a concentrate is used, then it must be diluted in accordance with the instructions).
If it is planned to kill cockroaches with sprays and aerosols, the funds are applied to the maximum number of surfaces in the infected room, all places of possible cockroach shelters are processed (remember - it was indicated above that it is important to find such places in advance), baseboards, walls, internal spaces of cabinets and bedside tables, space behind the kitchen stove.
Then the apartment is closed for 1-2 hours, and the handler leaves it. Upon return, the premises are thoroughly ventilated and wet-cleaned.
Gels are applied to the backs of nightstands, refrigerators, and stovetops, as well as along baseboards, behind furniture, and on top surfaces inside cabinets and shelves—anywhere where cockroaches can run around but are rarely cleaned. The tool puts drops at a distance of 2-3 cm from one another in the form of lines. After that, you should try not to wash off or erase such “dotted lines” for at least two weeks.
Traps for cockroaches are placed in those places where insects catch the eye most often. As the traps fill with dead insects, they should be cleaned or replaced.
And you should always remember that the first time cockroaches are sometimes difficult to remove even for professional exterminators. Insects can hide in the ventilation, they can simply come from the neighbors again. Therefore, re-treatment of the premises is a normal phenomenon even in the practice of disinfection stations (that is, you don’t need to immediately think that you were deceived and you spent money in vain).
The apartment owners themselves should take protective preventive measures to prevent the appearance of unwanted guests: periodically treat the ventilation ducts with insecticidal agents with a barrier effect, keep the house clean and throw out the garbage in a timely manner, take care of the high-quality insulation of doors and windows. With such an integrated approach, it is highly likely that cockroaches will never appear in your apartment again.
Good luck with these pests!
An interesting video on how to get rid of cockroaches using the Get tool
Cockroaches filled the apartments: an example of how tenants for years can not remove insects
