How Do I Get Rid of German Cockroaches? (In Just a Single Day!)

A fully inclusive guide on the pesky German cockroach and how to get rid of it quickly – even as fast as in just a single day!

We don’t want any sort of pest nest in our home, now, do we? But there is one we often hate the thought of above all others, is a nest of German cockroaches.

Why? You might well ask. They’re stinky. They’re nasty. They’re unhealthy for the people in your house. And worst of all, they’re really difficult to get rid of.

However, getting rid of them, although difficult, is absolutely not impossible, and if you can learn to get rid of them all on your own, you could skip, not only having to wait for, but having to pay the cost of an exterminator.

Today we’re gong to be providing you with a fully inclusive guide on the German cockroach and how to get rid of it efficiently, once and for all – even as quickly as in a single day!

Read on to find out more.

How Difficult is Difficult?

Okay, so we’ve stated that getting rid of the German cockroach is difficult, but how difficult is difficult, really?

Well, we hate to be barer of bad news, but they’re actually renowned for being difficult to control. So yep, pretty difficult.

German cockroaches not only breed, but spread around at a worrying speed. They can also survive on a very little amount of food, and don’t give up their newly appointed homestead without putting up a pretty tough fight.

They’re happy to infest your home regardless of the season, and once they’re there, they’re reluctant to leave. Plus, they destroy just about anything they can get their creepers on, which is another reason why finding them in the home is such bad news.

Heard the rumour that even a bomb won’t kill them? Unfortunately not just a rumour. One hundred percent true.

Seen cockroach sprays advertised? Forget about it. They’ll barely scratch the surface of the problem.

The longer your solution takes to work, the more the roaches are going to continue multiplying, and the worse the problem is going to get.

The good news is, we have a solution! The solution we’re providing you with isn’t necessarily the only working one, but it’s the one we prefer. It’s the one that’s proven to work, and quickly at that.

Read on to find out more!

Identify the German Cockroach “Hot Spots” in Your Home

The first logical step in getting rid of a nest of German cockroaches, is to identify the “hot spots” in which they are most commonly located within your home. Think of this as the first step in a more complex battle plan.

A professional exterminator will not go into the home and start spraying around immediately – that would be senseless. Their strategy is based on the information they have regarding the German cockroach infestation at hand.

It’s the core of the plan, and it begins with an inspection in your home. It will show you:

• How bad the problem in your home actually is.
• Where the roaches in your home are at their most active.

This will help you to decipher whether you can actually handle the problem yourself, or whether it’s gotten so out of hand you might need to call in a professional. Fingers crossed for the former!

It will also help you to focus in on where the problem is.

You could start by going room – by – room in the home, and recording where the sighting of cockroaches was. You could also gather this evidence by placing sticky traps strategically around the home and seeing which room the most of them show up in.

Below we are listing our top inspection tips for you. 

Do the Visual Inspection

As we stated above, a visual inspection can be useful to begin with.

Of course, this is a free method of inspection, and you can do it immediately without needing to purchase any kind of specialist equipment. Remember, they won’t sit idly by while you go about collecting what you need, so immediacy is key!

In order to do the inspection properly, you should use:

• A flashlight.
• A hand mirror.
• A step stool.
• A note pad and pen – to jot down your findings!

Which hopefully you have to hand. 

Start by Looking in the Kitchen

You’ll want to begin your investigation by looking in the kitchen of your home.

This is because of the sheer volume of food, warmth, and water here which could be happily utilised by the German cockroach. Yuck.

Start by looking in the fridge area, and be thorough by pulling it out, shaking it, and checking any little nooks and crannies in the surrounding areas. Trust us.

You should be looking out for the following signs:

• Droppings.
• Tiny cockroach corpses.
• Living cockroaches.

Jot down your findings.

Now, you’ll want to repeat the same procedure in following areas within the kitchen:

• The stove.
• Under the sink.
• In cabinet drawers.
• The dish washer.
• Under dish mats.
• Under pet bowls.
• In trash cans.
• Behind pictures, calendars, etc.
• In ceiling light fixtures.

And anywhere else you think they could creep in.

You should then be certain to do the same thing in other rooms within the home.

Think about rooms that offer the most ready access to food, water, and warmth (cough, cough, bathroom), and prioritise them in order of importance depending on this.

Repeat the same thorough process we have detailed above!

You could also accompany this by laying traps in the said locations, as we stated.

Eliminate Them Through Several Attacks

Next up, you’ll want to keep the element of surprise on your side, by targeting German cockroaches with multiple different methods of attack.

We’re going to be listing our favourite, and most effective combination of attacks just below. Although you may need to purchase some equipment for this, it’s worth it to rid yourself of roaches.

Use the Suction of Your Vacuum Cleaner

When it comes to cockroaches you can actually see, you can start by sucking them up into your vacuum cleaner.

Once you know their preferred locations, visit them with your hoover and clean up everything you can see that isn’t clean, or may attract them – and that’s right, any cockroaches scrambling to get away too.

You should then dispose of the debris from inside of the vacuum in a tightly sealed bag. Any chance of them ripping it? Stick it in the freezer for an hour or two. 

Apply Gel Bait

Now, you’ve used the hoover. What next?

Use gel bait to attract the remaining roaches – saying as you’ve already hoovered up everything else that they were interested in – and once they eat it, they will die.

Again, you should use gel bait by returning to those “hot spots” you noted down. Cockroaches will actually take the poison from the gel back to their nest, and spread it around.

The effects might not be absolutely immediate, but will begin to wipe through the nest of German cockroaches inhabiting your home. 

Put Down Some Insecticidal Dust

Okay, gel bait is good, but it might not be quite enough to get rid of the critters once and for all. This is why you should be sure to pair it with some insecticidal dust.

This is because the roaches actually depend on their hard exterior – their exoskeleton – for survival. If you can damage this, then you’re a definitive step closer to killing them.

Insecticidal dust is effective in penetrating their exoskeleton, as it not only poisons, but abrades them also. Remember when we said attacking from several different angles was effective? Now you can maybe see why.

In order to use this effectively, you should be sure to apply it in cracks and crevices within the home – particularly in those hot spots we discussed a little earlier on.

So by the time you’ve reached this point, there’s every chance you’ve killed the final cockroach – hurrah! However, there is one step left to follow which will ensure you’re rid of them, and rid of them for good. 

Stop German Cockroaches from Reproducing with an Insect Growth Regulator

Last of all, but by no means least, stop German cockroaches from coming back and reproducing altogether with an insect growth regulator.

These are also referred to as IGR’s, and interfere with the cycle of roaches reproducing. Using this alongside a gel bait and insecticidal dust is effectively your insurance policy that the problem will be solved once and for all now that you’ve taken this final step.

You only need to apply this, again, in the “hot spots” where it is needed the most. The great thing about IGR’s is that they don’t have to come into direct contact with the critters or even be digested in order to work, as they work through the air vapour. It’s as simple as that!

Thanks for reading today!