This is the most comprehensive guide on how to kill a cockroach without touching it.
So, in this guide you’ll find out eight ingenious, easy, and best ways to kill a cockroach or a bunch of them far away from a distance.
There’s also a hidden trick that you can use to kill a cockroach if you don’t have a cockroach spray like raid in your home.
Keep reading.
8 Ingenious Ways To Kill A Cockroach Without Touching it
These eight methods of killing a cockroach without touching it also include homemade cockroach killer recipes.
You can make these roach-killing-recipes with products that are right there in your home.
With a little bit of caution, it’s safe for you, children, and pets.
Squish The Roach Under Your Shoes
This is brutal.
If you don’t feel yucky with the roaches’ guts spilled out on the floor, then there’s no better way to kill roaches without touching them than by stomping on them.
But there’s a catch
When you crush a roach, pheromones and oleic acid splash out of the roach’s body.
And that makes the dead cockroach attract more roaches. It’s because both the oleic acid and pheromones signal other roaches that there’s food available. And the roaches are cannibals.
They eat their dead. So, you might see dead cockroaches disappearing in your home because other roaches and bugs are eating them.
Freezing The Roaches In The Freezer
Roaches can’t survive extreme cold and heat. At temperatures below 40°F roaches become inactive.
And at subzero temperatures roaches will die.
Hence, putting a roach in plastic bag and putting the plastic bag in the freezer for 3-5 hours will kill the roaches.
For freezing the roaches, you may need to use a pincher to pick up the roaches and putting it in plastic bag.
Spray A Mixture Of Listerine And Water On The Roaches
Does Listerine kill roaches? Yes, it does.
But remember, it works on roaches when you spray it on the cockroach.
It means that the Listerine and water mixture only works on contact.
It has a ton of other homemade roach-killing recipes made from Lysol, vinegar, and essential oils.
Use Boric Acid – The Tried And Tested Roach Killer
If there’s one thing that humans repeatedly used, for centuries, to kill roaches, it’s Boric acid.
It doesn’t repel the cockroaches. It means that the roaches wouldn’t avoid it.
And how to use it?
It’s easy.
Mix boric acid with equal amounts of sugar and keep it in places that are possible hiding places for roaches.
Some of these places are kitchen cabinets, basement, wet rooms like laundry room and bathroom.
The sugar will attract the roaches. They’ll feast on the mixture.
Boric acid will dehydrate the roaches from inside, and it’ll kill them.
The best part?
The mixture will stick with the roaches’ body. And when they get back to their nests, the infected cockroach will spread it on other roaches.
So, you’d be killing multiple roaches without touching them.
Use Diatomaceous Earth – The All-Round Pest Killer
Every home should have diatomaceous earth.
It’s because it kills many pests that invade homes, like bed bugs, termites, and worms.
All you’ve to do is to scatter diatomaceous earth in your home, especially in the places where roaches hide.
Diatomaceous earth works by penetrating the body, and like boric acid, by absorbing the fat from the roaches’ body.
The result is that the exoskeleton of the roaches breaks, causing them to die.
When the roaches with diatomaceous earth get back to their nests, they spread it on the other cockroaches.
The habit of roaches cleaning each other becomes their menace.
When the roaches in the nest clean cockroaches with diatomaceous earth on their bodies, it enters their system, causing them to die too.
Pour Mixture Of Bleach And Hot Water On The Roaches
Drains are the most unlikely places that roaches can enter your home.
And many homeowners don’t know it.
These roaches are commonly known as sewer roaches, but they’re American roaches.
It’s not only in your yard where roaches hide. Cockroaches also hide in drains.
Cockroaches can make nests inside the drains of your bathroom sink, kitchen sink, and even in places like catch basins.
Pouring a mixture of hot water and bleach in these places will kill the adult roaches, roach eggs, and infant roaches.
Bleach is a lethal roach killer. But there’s a downside to it.
Using this method often will damage your drains as bleach is corrosive.
Use this method, not more than once or twice. Else it can damage the pipes in the drains.
A word of caution – always wear a glove while using this recipe. Bleach can give you serious irritation on your skin.
Apart from bleach, there are many other things that you can pour in the drain to kill the roaches hiding in the drain.
Use A Roach Spray Like Raid
Sprays like Raid are instant roach killers. And it comes in handy when you don’t want to get too close to the roach.
Spray it on the roach, and it’ll die instantly.
But we strongly recommend not using a roach spray in your kitchen, especially near your food pantry or where you keep your utensils.
Before using, please read the spray bottle’s instructions and keep it away from children and pets.
Use A Cockroach Bait
Cockroach baits are not instant killers, but they’re slow poison.
To use roach baits effectively, you need to keep them in the right places.
Keep them in the middle of the room, and they won’t work well to attract roaches.
So, keep them in the dark corners of your home.
Places like the attic or basement, or at the top of the kitchen cabinet and near the kitchen sink are common hiding places of roaches.
The bait attracts and lure the roaches out of hiding. On consuming the bait, the roaches die.
The roaches takes the bait to their nests and share it with other roaches. All the cockroaches that eat the bait, die within 2-3 days.
There are also sticky roach baits available that makes the roach stick on the bait.
You put something on the bait, that roaches eat, like cheese or a small piece of meat.
The roaches will step on the bait and will get stuck.
You can then spray an anti-roach spray on them to kill them.
But don’t forget that roach baits are poisonous. Ensure that your pets and children cannot access them.
Roach baits are effective in killing roaches in cluttered places like basement, attic, and garage.
Does Raid Attract More Roaches?
No, raid spray kills roaches and it doesn’t attract more roaches.
When you use a roach spray like raid, the cockroaches react abruptly to the lethal chemical in the spray. That makes them run around randomly. Some even come out of hiding, especially when you’ve sprayed raid on a tight gap where they were hiding.
After reacting to the spray, some roaches might disappear.
They’ll sneak inside the gaps and tight corners to escape more spray. But if the raid spray has made enough contact with their bodies, the roaches will die.
However, if you’re using a roach-killer spray then you must seek out the hiding roaches and spray more on them till you’re sure the spray has made enough contact with their bodies.
Some roaches might survive the spray didn’t touch them enough.
How To Kill A Cockroach Without Raid?
Have you just come across a cockroach, and you don’t have raid in your home?
Don’t worry. There are things right there in your home now that can kill the cockroach. And you don’t have to touch the cockroach to kill it.
First is hair spray. Hair sprays are the most underrated cockroach killers.
Spray the hair spray on the cockroach. Hair spray will freeze the roach when it dries, just like it does to your hair.
The roach will go somewhere, like underneath the furniture, or inside a gap or crack, and after a while, it’ll freeze.
Second, use a deodorant spray on the cockroach.
Yes, deodorants can kill roaches, especially when you spray the deodorant directly on the cockroach.
Deodorants have triclosan, which is a strong antibacterial agent. It’s also used in antiperspirants, cleansers, and hand sanitizers.
And triclosan is lethal for bugs like roaches and other soft-bodied bugs like termites.
As the amount of triclosan is in limited quantities in deodorants, you’ll need to spray a lot on the roach to kill.
Triclosan is so strong that it is classified as pesticide by the FDA and it’s also in the list of carcinogens by Environmental Protection Agency.
Triclosan is one of the reasons you must avoid wearing deodorants.
How To Kill A Flying Cockroach Without Touching It?
Flying cockroaches are a menace in homes. Cockroaches avoid light. So, these flying cockroaches will always fly away from the light source.
That’s why many people wonder why flying cockroaches fly towards them.
But there’s an easy way to kill a flying cockroach without touching it.
And that’s with the help of a good old fly swatter.
If you’re uncomfortable with it, then make a flying cockroach trap by mixing baking soda with sugar.
The sugar will attract the flying cockroach and the baking soda in the mixture will kill the flying cockroach when it consumes the mixture.
How To Kill A Cockroach On The Ceiling Or Wall Without Touching It?
It’s easy. Take a long stick and poke the cockroach. You can even hit the cockroach hard with the stick.
On hitting, the cockroach will fall off the ceiling or the wall. And then, stomp hard on it multiple times.
Don’t forget to hit the tip of the cockroach’s head multiple times.
It’s because a cockroach can remain alive even after you squish it multiple times unless you completely crush it’s head.
Long Term And Permanent Roach Solution – Hire A Pest Controller.
Let’s face the cold hard truth. Roaches are tough pests to kill.
And roaches do come back, time and again, unless you exterminate them at their source, which is their nests.
You need to destroy roach nests and roach eggs to eliminate cockroaches from your home.
And to do that, you’d need a licensed and experienced pest controller.
The above methods work for sure.
But if you use these methods, if your home has severe roach infestation levels, then using these methods will like scratching the surface.
Your home would need a thorough examination of roach infestation and the applicable pesticides to kill them.
That only a reliable pest controller can do.
Summary
Here are the seven easy ways to kill a cockroach without touching it.
- Squish the roach under your shoes.
- Freeze the roaches in the freezer
- Spray a mixture of Listerine and water on the roaches.
- Use a mixture of boric acid and sugar to attract and kill the roaches.
- Use diatomaceous earth.
- Pour a mixture of bleach and hot water to kill roaches hiding in the drains.
- Use a roach spray like Raid on the roaches and in their hiding places.
- Use a cockroach bait to lure the roaches. It’ll kill them after 2-3 days.
Also, hiring a pest control company is a long-term and permanent solution to make your home roach-free.
If you see roaches even using these methods, it means cockroach infestation runs deep inside your home.
There are roach nests, eggs, and baby cockroaches hiding inside your home that you must eliminate to make your home roach-free.
To do that, you’d need the help of a roach exterminator who can eliminate roaches from your home right at its source.
Nang Chen is an Entomologist and Arachnologist who is associated with Vienna’s museum of natural history. He’s also a consultant with real estate groups, insecticide conglomerates and law enforcement groups as a forensic entomologist. Nang Chen holds an M.S. from South China University and he’s a regular contributor to our site.