8 Best Roach Killer for Apartments

If you care about the environment as much as you hate cockroaches, EcoSmart Ant and Roach Killer is for you.

Employing all-natural plant oils instead of harsh chemicals, the 100% organic product won’t contaminate groundwater or hurt animals, birds or fish. Non-staining and pleasant smelling, it’s safe enough to use inside apartments, yet still strong enough to kill roaches.

Five-star Amazon reviewer Kindle Customer writes, “This spray works great to kill roaches and leaves a nice minty smell. I like that it is safe to use around pets and myself.”

What to Consider When Buying Roach Killer for Apartments

Here are the key things to consider when buying roach killers for apartments:

• Safety: Roach killers often contain harmful chemicals. So if you have kids or pets, baits, traps and dusting powders that go into voids and cracks are safer than sprays. They’re also a better choice for those suffering from respiratory problems because they don’t leave airborne residue. Note: Whenever using pesticides, read and follow directions on the product label.
• Effectiveness: Roach sprays can exterminate bugs fast, but relying on pesticide sprays alone may provide only temporary relief. As part of an integrated approach, Rachel Maccini, an urban entomologist and pesticide safety education program coordinator at the University of New Hampshire Extension, recommends a combination of traps, desiccants (substances like diatomaceous earth that dry roaches out) and insect growth regulators, all easily available and effective.
• Ease of use: Setting out baits and traps makes less of a mess than sprays, gels or powders.
• Cost: If you’re a renter, eliminating a minor roach problem with store-bought pesticides offers an affordable and immediate solution, especially since landlords aren’t always as responsive as they should be. However, it’s important to notify your landlord, apartment manager or building superintendent at the first signs of roaches. Odds are that if you have cockroaches in your apartment, others living near you probably do, too. In that case, your landlord may want to call in a professional exterminator.

Best Roach Home Remedies

Food-based organically derived compounds like baking soda, boric acid and diatomaceous earth are popular DIY ingredients to combat roaches without man-made chemicals.

Make and spread diatomaceous earth or a mixture of baking soda and sugar in thin layers where cockroaches like to hide, like behind or between cabinets, under appliances and along floorboards. When ingested, these substances dehydrate roaches and damage their exoskeleton — important to their survival.

You can also create a dough combining boric acid, powdered sugar, flour and a small amount of water. Roll the dough into little balls and place them around the apartment, especially in kitchens and bathrooms where roaches like to gather. Lured by the sweet-tasting marbles, they feed on the boric acid, which attacks their nervous systems and kills them.

Prevention

When all is said and done, cockroach control starts with prevention.

“The first thing a person and/or company should do before reaching for a pesticide is to reduce water, food and eliminate harborage [cracks, crevices, clutter] for cockroaches,” says Manccini. This means following good sanitation practices — vacuuming, removing garbage frequently and wiping up food spills and messes as soon as they happen.