Can Clorox kill roaches? Here is a list of what to expect and alternatives you should consider.
Roach issues are pest problems most people want to avoid for good reason. These pests pose a wide range of problems and are closely associated with filth.
On seeing these pests, the natural response will be to take immediate action. However, the results you get are determined by the type of action taken.
Apart from its laundry use, people have found extra uses for bleach including pest control.
There’s no definite proof about what types of pest bleach kill or doesn’t. As such, a lot of speculations have been made about that.
This article seeks to find out if bleach kills roaches.
Roaches will easily rank among the most detested pests. This is understandable due to the risk of disease spread among other things.
They’re basically associated with filth, and every homeowner will want to rid their surroundings of pests such as these. Are you having a roach problem?
Are you seeking for remedies to try out?
Bleach for roach control could be a treatment you should try out. While this idea might sound cool, we’ll need to first determine if it does have any exterminating effect on roaches.
Will Bleach Kill Roaches?
Of particular interest to us is bleach. A lot of people seem to trust this product as an effective roach exterminator at home, however, is that really the case?
For those with questions and doubts about its efficacy on roaches, this article provides all the definite answers needed.
Why Roaches Are Considered Enemies
Roaches are carriers of diseases like typhoid fever, diarrhea, cholera, dysentery, and salmonellosis.
Others include listeriosis, leprosy, plague, and campylobacteriosis. None of these conditions is pretty and you’ll need to take urgent action to have them expelled before they touch your food.
These pests will enter just about anywhere they can in search of food and shelter. Examples include drainages, sewers, bins, trash, and even food storage and open foods.
With such action, it’s easy to see why you need to have them expelled from your home.
Bleach Isn’t an Insecticide
Bleach is designed for laundry use and has as its active ingredient sodium hypochlorite. This product can be used for whitening certain fabrics (preferably white), and removal of stains among others.
However, one thing you won’t find on its label is how to use it for roach or pest control.
This raises questions on efficacy as well as the possibility of such a product to provide the needed exterminating effect on roaches. Most of the claims you’ve seen or heard aren’t that reliable.
At best, they’re anecdotal experiences that a lot of people have pushed back on or countered.
It’s highly unlikely that you’ll get desired results when you try out bleach use as a roach treatment. At best, these pests might be repelled, but will never get killed.
You’ll have to drown every roach you find which is impractical.
Will Bleach Work For Roach Extermination?
As one of the readily available cleaning and sanitary products in homes, bleach is applied to a wide range of cleaning tasks.
A few of them include whitening of tile grout, removal of stains from whites (clothing), mold and mildew removal, as a toilet cleaner, for sanitizing plastic toys among several other uses.
The question now is; will bleach serve as a roach killer?
It does kill roaches.
This is evident when they’re drowned in it, they hardly survive.
Plus, when ingested by roaches, bleach will definitely take its toll by poisoning them. However, it’s clear that drowning roaches or having them ingest bleach isn’t practical or effective.
A more reliable treatment alternative is needed. Thankfully, there’s never a lack of effective treatment alternatives as shown below.
It begins with the best method which is prevention.
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Making Roaches Ingest Bleach will be Difficult
Bleach will kill roaches only if you can have them ingest it or have every single one drowned in a solution. This is tall order especially when drowning is involved.
In other words, it’s impractical to get a hold of every single roach to have it drowned in the bleach solution.
Will bleach kill roaches on contact? We’re sorry to disappoint you if you’d hoped to use a bleach spray on roaches. At best, such spray might repel these bugs but won’t do more than that.
In other words, roaches cannot be killed by spraying them with bleach.
We stated that one of the two ways roaches can be killed is either when they’re made to ingest bleach or drowned in its solution.
In terms of bleach ingestion, it’s quite hard to prepare suitable bait laced with bleach for roaches to ingest. In a nutshell, it will be quite challenging to kill roaches this way.
If Bleach Doesn’t, What Else Works?
As seen so far, you might have some luck killing these bugs by drowning them or making them ingest the bleach. However, it isn’t practical.
In a nutshell, bleach isn’t an effective way of roach extermination. This method can be overwhelming as it will require having to find every single roach and having it killed.
Instead of wasting further time on ineffective roach treatments, it’s best to go with proven strategies that work. Since we’re talking about a home remedy treatment, you might want to look for those that work.
So, are there other home remedies for roach extermination? Let’s find out.
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Find Something that Works
The primary goal is to have roaches killed. Since we’re discussing home remedy treatments, such remedies will be our focus here. There are lots of these treatment alternatives you should apply.
You can try out baking soda & onions, boric acid, and peanut butter, as well as the use of diatomaceous earth.
Other remedies that can serve your roach extermination needs include the use of borax, cornstarch & Plaster of Paris, petroleum jelly, and coffee traps.
There’s no 100% assurance that any or all of these remedies will give you desired results.
A more comprehensive approach to treatment will require prevention. This, coupled with actual treatment will go a long way in giving you the relief you seek from these filthy pests.
Prevention As An Alternative To Bleach Roach Control
You don’t have to wait to experience roach issues before taking action. It’s best to adopt a preventive approach. Such proactive action seeks to keep your home roach-free.
Basically, you’ll need to step up your hygiene practices such as eliminating food sources and decluttering.
Other preventive measures include cleaning, as well as maintenance or sealing of entryways. To help you better understand, let’s consider each of these points as follows;
i. Eliminating Food and Moisture Sources
Whenever you find roaches around your home, they’re attracted to food sources as well as moisture. These pests will readily feed on leftovers, food crumbs, spilled beverages, and just about anything they can find in your bin.
You’ll also need to look out for moisture sources as these pests love to hang around moist areas. You’re likely to find them hoarded around damp spots.
You’ll need to identify the leaky pipes around such areas and have them fixed.
ii. Properly Store Food
How well do you store your food? Have perishable food stored in your refrigerator while grains and processed food can be emptied into airtight plastic containers.
Any leftovers should either be properly stored in a fridge or disposed of.
iii. Do Your Dishes Before Going to Bed
To keep roaches at bay, consider doing your dishes before going to bed.
Also, the sink and countertops should be wiped clean to eliminate all possible sources of food that could serve as an incentive for roaches.
iv. Consider Emptying Your Bins More Regularly
Keeping bins for too long without emptying is a sure recipe for roach presence. It’s best to have such emptied at the end of each day. Never leave such sit overnight as these pests are mostly nocturnal feeders.
v. Removing Clutter
The more clutter you have around your home, the higher the possibility of roach presence.
As a matter of fact, when roaches find ample clutter around, they mark such regions with pheromones to serve as an attraction to their kind. Before long, your home becomes overrun with their presence.
So, what can be considered clutter? Pretty much anything lying around with no clear use benefit! These range from old magazines, packaging, old newspapers, and cardboard among others.
vi. Cleaning
Cleaning is one effective roach preventive measure that can be easily implemented.
Here, you want to clean all food spills, crumbs, dishes, and anything food-related they might become attracted to. The kitchen and dining areas are places you should target more for cleaning.
vii. Maintenance
Maintenance involves a wide range of actions such as fixing drains and pipes, sealing of possible entrances, and also fixing or repainting shelves.
The moisture in drains and pipes seems to be the major attraction for roaches. These pests flock there to also feed on food sources found within such areas.
You’ll need to clean your drain more often and have all broken pipes replaced or properly sealed.
Apart from pipes, other possible hiding spots used by drain roaches include wall cracks, skirting boards, underneath kitchen sinks and bathroom cabinets.
Have these areas been maintained to keep these pests at bay?
Place Gel Baits
With bleach out of the question as an effective roach killer, you might want to try gel baits. Have these bait stations been placed at strategic points? Areas, where these pests are most attracted to, are targeted.
Before long, you should be able to contain their spread and take back control of your home.
Boric Acid
One home remedy to try out is boric acid. This is best used in conjunction with other pests. When they come in contact with or ingest boric acid, it becomes toxic to them, thus leading to their death.
Finding What Works With Roaches
A full-blown roach infestation can sometimes be difficult to manage. This is quite common with certain roach species like German roaches etc.
To have any luck at exterminating these creatures, you’ll need to use a treatment that works. When it comes to home remedies, there are limitations to certain treatments.
While a lot of people swear by the efficacy of certain treatments like bleach use for roach extermination, others push back on such claims.
This situation can be confusing as the goal is to have these pests out of your home as quickly as possible. So, does roach have any exterminating effect?
Have a Pest Management Professional Help Out
Carrying out DIY roach extermination using assorted methods isn’t as effective as professional treatment.
It’s easy to see why. Trained professionals are knowledgeable about roach behavior and know just what to do to contain an existing infestation no matter how severe.
All you have to do is give them a call to come over to inspect and carry out comprehensive treatment of your home.
Conclusion
Bleach indeed kills roaches. These critters can be overwhelming when there’s a full-blown infestation. But such a situation can be brought under control by using readily available alternatives like bleach.
The downside to its use is the challenge posed by the fast movement of adult roaches.
Another is the fact that these pests are largely nocturnal. So, it’s unlikely that you’d find them during the day.
We’ve established the fact that bleach kills roaches. But the “how” is a bit challenging. You may think of making a bleach recipe to control roaches but this too has its limitations.
This is because roaches will hardly feed on any bait that has a bleach odor. They won’t also drink cups of bleach kept in the open. Plus, this poses a health risk to pets and kids.
The logical way to use bleach effectively on roach is by the use of the spray. This too has its health risks as you’d have to deal with chemical fumes given off during the process.
Roaches are found around pipes and sinks due to water availability. They may nest in drains or pipes.
To get rid of roaches, pour a cup of bleach down the pipe or drainage. This should be followed immediately by several cups of water. It kills them within a short time.
Bleach will kill roaches but is never an effective remedy against such pests. We’ve provided several other alternatives to try out to contain the problem.