Cockroaches are some of the nastiest pests you can have in your home. These vile creatures can also be the carriers of disease-causing bacteria. But despite the potential health risks caused by cockroaches, many homeowners still try to find cheap and DIY solutions for their cockroach problem. One of the solutions you can find online is bleach. So, can you really get rid of cockroaches with bleach?
Bleach can technically kill cockroaches
Bleach is a chemical product that homeowners use regularly at home. You probably have a bottle of it right now in one of your cabinets. Due to its accessibility, many homeowners wonder if it can be used to get rid of cockroaches.
Yes, you can use bleach to kill cockroaches. You can do this in two general ways – ingestion or drowning.
- You can get rid of cockroaches with bleach through ingestion. Bleach is a very potent chemical product. Upon contact, it can burn your skin. It can even burn your organs if you accidentally ingest some. It’s not surprising that even cockroaches can experience the same burning, and it’s definitely strong enough to kill them. The corrosiveness of bleach can eat away the bodies of cockroaches.
- You can also drown the cockroaches with bleach. You can actually drown and kill cockroaches if you overwhelm them with water. Bleach is just double trouble for cockroaches. It’s a liquid where they can drown. And at the same time, it’s a corrosive product that can destroy them once they ingest some of it.
Disadvantages of using bleach to get rid of cockroaches
Even though you can technically get rid of cockroaches with bleach, it’s not exactly the best cockroach control method. It has disadvantages that are significant enough to convince you to look for other alternatives.
1. It’s not easy to force ingestion and drowning
Tricking cockroaches to ingest bleach and overwhelming them with the stuff to drown them both sound simple enough. But they are actually not that easy to do.
- It has a strong smell that cockroaches may avoid. Cockroaches have been around for so long – for more than 280 million years – that they have had the time to evolve an almost superpower-like sense of smell. Cockroaches have an incredible sense of smell, which they use to find mates and resources. Unfortunately for bleach, it has a strong smell that may naturally repel cockroaches. This will make it very hard to trick cockroaches to ingest the chemical product.
- You have to capture the cockroaches to drown them. You have to get into contact with cockroaches before you can drown them, meaning you have to capture them first or at least know their location. Capturing cockroaches and finding their nest are no easy tasks. Even if you have accomplished them, there are probably more effective ways to get rid of them at that point than trying to overwhelm them with bleach.
2. It puts you at risk of the dangers of bleach
Remember that bleach is a strong chemical product, and getting into contact with it can have negative consequences. Many homeowners are already aware of the dangers of bleach. But since we consistently use the product for many household activities like cleaning, we tend to overlook these dangers.
- It can burn your skin. Bleach has corrosive properties. It can burn your skin on physical contact. This is why it’s important to wear protective gear like gloves whenever you are handling bleach. Also, remember to properly wash after getting into contact with the chemical product.
- It can burn your organs. Bleach is dangerous when ingested because it’s powerful enough to burn your mouth, esophagus, and stomach. This may seem obvious to you. But it’s not to unsupervised children and pets. If you really plan to use bleach for your cockroach problem, make sure to keep it in an area that is inaccessible to those who don’t know any better.
- It can lead to a variety of health conditions. Physical contact, ingestion, and inhalation of bleach can cause burning, coughing, difficulty in breathing, vomiting, and even death. Seek medical attention immediately, especially if the symptoms are severe. While you have not seen medical attention yet, you can dilute ingested bleach by drinking a lot of water. But remember that this may not completely solve your problem. Medical attention may be necessary.
Main advantage of using bleach against cockroaches
Sure, using bleach against cockroaches may have big disadvantages, but it has one good advantage that somehow redeems it – it is an effective cleaning agent.
This won’t come as a surprise to you, but cockroaches love filth. If you get rid of filth, you significantly reduce the risk of cockroach infestations. And you can do this by using bleach around your home.
Bleach is also great if you know where the cockroaches are coming from. If you have discovered their nest in your kitchen cabinets, clean them out with bleach. If you have seen cockroaches crawling out of your sink drains, pour bleach into them. But keep in mind that bleach has corrosive properties. Consistently using bleach, especially in your pipes, may have negative effects on infrastructure.
More effective natural remedies to cockroach infestations
There are other cockroach control methods out there that don’t have the caveats of bleach.
- Clean and declutter your home. Cleanliness and cockroaches usually don’t go well together, especially when there is no food and water available in your home. If there are no food crumbs and water spills to sustain themselves, why would they stay on your property? Declutter your home of useless items that may become breeding grounds for cockroaches too, such as old magazines and shoe boxes.
- Kill cockroaches with baits. Cockroaches are cannibals. They eat their own, especially when the nest lacks resources. You can use this to your advantage with cockroach baits. The cockroaches who eat the baits die, and the cockroaches who eat their dead comrades may die of the lingering baits in the corpses too. There are homemade cockroach baits you can try, such as boric acid and diatomaceous earth.
- Repel cockroaches with natural repellents. Natural repellents are mostly herbs and plants that have properties that “naturally repel” pests like cockroaches. Sure, they may not have the toxicity of bleach and insecticides, but the downside is that they may not be very effective in getting rid of infestations. They may repel cockroaches here and there, but the pests may just move to a different part of your home.
You can get rid of cockroaches with bleach
Yes, you can use bleach for your cockroach problem. But it will put you at risk of its dangerous properties. Putting yourself at risk may not be worth it, especially because bleach is not very effective in getting rid of cockroaches in the first place. There are more effective methods out there.