Kill Cockroaches With Boric Acid

July 23, 2007 at 10:59 pm · Filed under how to, memories

Permalink |

We used to have a lot of citrus trees and they’d draw rats. It was so bad, we’d be sitting out on the deck and rats would run along the deck railing right in front of us. People would say, “Oh, don’t worry… they’re just tree rats.”

What is it that makes people think “tree vermin” are any less gross??

Careful, Nathan, or you may give birth to the next ComiCon Super Star: Roachman! Once exposed to boric acid, he now scitters across bathtubs and freaks out your wife in the name of fighting crime.

I found that owning a cat helped keep the cockroach population in check while I was living in Mexico. (Although she often took to bringing them inside herself).
Strange that the University of Kentucky would have done a study on cockroach elimination–I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in this state. Maybe that’s why…

The wife and I have been battling roaches, literally, for years now. We don’t know for sure how they came to live with us to start with, but they resisted every formula we researched and tried. Chemicals don’t do the job, either in spray, aerosol, or bait form. They just kept going, and going, and going.

Boric acid is one of the solutions we tried – in gel form, in powder form, mixed with flour, cocoa, sugar, etc. We would ever so carefully place the boric acid in the places we thought the roaches were coming and going from. And, THERE was the mistake.

It’s the boric acid that does the killing. I read an article, which once again stressed that the POWDER sticks to their legs, then kills them when ingested during grooming.

It’s holiday time. I don’t want these little critters running rampant through the house when our sons bring people home for the holidays. I re-read that article, and I grabbed three plastic bottles of cheap store brand boric acid.

Twisted the little tops open, and began SPRAYING the powder all over. Under the kitchen sink, under the counters, under and behind the range, EVERYWHERE in the pantry. Little puffs of air from the plastic bottle, that carried a (mostly) fine powder, which floated everywhere.

I wandered the house, doing the bathrooms, the living room, laundryroom, the hallways. When I got to the central heat and air, I opened the door to it, turned on the blower, and puffed the powder into the air intake. (This may or may not damage the squirrel cage fan – if so, I’ll be replacing that one day, lol)

This fine powder drifted throughout the house, EVERYWHERE.

The roach population was almost depleted. No longer did armies of roaches greet us when we turned on the lights in the morning. Since then, I have powdered the house twice more, and the roaches have become VERY SCARCE. I believe that the few we are still finding are migrating indoors from the yard, or wherever.

If I can locate an outdoor haven, and treat it, then our problems will finally be solved!!

My advice: forget all the high dollar chemicals, forget the mixes, forget everything except the boric acid. Dust your home thoroughly. If you have pets and children, find them a temporary home for the night. DUST!. Get it everywhere! Look for the little nooks and crannies behind cabinets, under refrigerators, and behind loose paneling, and give each one a puff or more. But, puff it out in FINE DUST POWDER, don’t get carried away, and cake it onto anything. You don’t want a roach to be able to walk through your house without getting coated in powder, or at least getting his legs full of the particles.

I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Even though Borax or Boracic acid is only class 5 poison and about as toxic as salt, there are warnings about breathing it in. If you ate a half a kilo it could be fatal, much less for a baby. It is effective elliminator of cockroaches but I make up little pellets with flour. milk powder, peanut butter, water and borax. Then put them in out of the way places.It’s amazing the only roaches you see alive the next day are dying. Warning, not good for buddhists.

Well, my brother and I just got finished nailing every nook an cranny we coul find in the main room affected. First we dowsed the gaps along the baseboards and then I followed with a bead of caulking to seal the gap on top. My exterior wall has been a source of entry and severe hyper vigilance on my part. At first we just kept a gallon of OrthoMax that comes with the convenient squirt gun. That was OK for awhile, until I realized all that was happening was I was chasing these young parents into the walls for a couple of weeks where they would be fruitful and multiply and then come back with the some of the family in tow! We live within 75 feet of 15 acres of asparagas with plenty of irrigation, but June was full of triple digit days and I think they thought we had the only water around. We are dealing with VERY mature Germans, Orientals, Wood and Brown Banded. The Orientals are big (very big at 2″+) but the creepy are the larger Germans as they fly very quietly too! This time we did Boric Acid and the caulking at what we think are entry points. I work into the wee hours online and it’s been freaking me out when I think I’m feeling air circulating around my calves and it turns out to be…one of them making their way up my calf! If you can imagine the site of a bull elephant realizing a timid little mouse has caught a ride!

I sure hope this has some effect. I made sure there was enough powder for them to ski on in their baseboard freeways! The only side effect are the fumes from the silicone I used (ammonia) which will be present for 24 hours. Maybe then I can finally sleep… My next move might be to mix boric acid with penut butter and maybe a little crusteaz pancake flour and leave some treats around the rest of the house.

I have also read that a large butter tub with inside wall rubbed down with vaseline, a triple folded paper towel sheet inside dowsed with wine and a little boric acid and a ramp to get in, makes for a pretty handy motel. They smell the wine, see the ramp, take the plunge, get drunk and can’t crawl out making them drop dead inside the container. I will try one, just for the satisfaction of seeing the deception avenge me…LOL!

Hi
Where can i buy that acid in South Africa.

Obaas – I have never been to southern Africa. And, as for Northern Africa, I only learned where the bars and the good food were – at that time, anyway.
If you have any major grocery chain, you should be able to find it on the shelves. As has been pointed out, it’s a poison, but it’s not an extremely lethal product that is restricted here in the US. Aside from the grocery store chains, I’ve seen it in hardware stores, and department stores.
Try Google – put your favorite store name and boric acid together as search terms. Just for fun, I ran a search on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/BORIC-ACID-142Grams-BOTTLES-ROACH-BUG-ANTS-KILLER_W0QQitemZ160401472173QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2558ac3aad
Depending on import restrictions, you may just order the stuff from that dude in Philadelphia, or run your own search to see if anyone in S. Africa might be selling on Ebay.
Good luck!

i have had similar problems my wife and i live in North Carolina and in a townhouse complex. we have a neighbor on either side which makes things a bit worse. when we first moved in we were using clr on them , this worked for awhile then mysteriously stopped working( we believe they adapted over 4 months and 40-50 generations ) well after that i bought a 20$ vacuum cleaner called a scorpion by dirt devil and a free cat this has worked moderately well to fend off the hordes. during all this time we had had small roaches which get to about a quarter of an inch long with wings i was contented with fighting off these as we were until about a week ago when i woke up in the middle of the night for on apparent reason other than what i thought was a roach on steroids it was approx 2-3 inches long and an inch wide i freaked and couldn’t sleep that night. so I appreciate this advice of boracic acid and calk

I’m sold!!!! trying it tonight. tired of being bombarded late night and stuck in the car. cuz the suckers are staking out the front door :( laughing at me freak out in the car by myself!!

I am SO GLAD to know I am not alone. I actually burst into tears, yesterday, after I had killed the fourth one because I am so tired of them scurrying around. I am about to go on vacation, and I think what I will do is get some boric acid and turn on the fan in every room and let it get all over everything right before I leave. That way, most of it will have settled by the time I get back. I have already treated the areas under the sinks, etc. Maybe a good light covering all over EVERYTHING will get rid of them once and for all. At this point, I am desparate!

oi! I’ll have to remember this, I moved to texas almost 3 years ago, and no one warned me that the roaches I was so scared of back home were mutated XD and about 20x the size O_O I’ve lived in a house and 2 apartments, my first apt, never had one come in, the house well needless to say they took to using that as their home also, moved out of there into my present apartment where I seen the fist one here, took off running while looking behind me, and of course being careless ran face first into a door (at full speed while video calling my sister) she called me a baby lol. I have arachnophobia, and now a fear of roaches lol. but he was dying, and i caught him in a bowl off the celling and released him outside(too many guts to squish)
I’ll have to remember boric acid if they decide to come back, thinking about the fruit deal, id have to place it away from the house :P
thanks!

Obaas, I live in SA and you can find it at a grocery store like Spar or PicknPay. It will be called Borax and will be in a little tub. Good luck!

The cockroaches had really become a BIG nuisance to my house. whenever we swithced the lights off, they would take over, esp in the kitchen. Having tried all means available, I decided to go online, and landed the University of Kentucky, that highly recommended the boric acid. On visiting other sites, only boric acid was best known. I also was not sure if I would get it in our market, Kenya in East Africa, but fortunately I got in in the first agrovet I checked. I mixed it with some baking flour, milk, sugar and pasted it in hiding places all-over, I mean they were all-over, even in the bedrooms. After three days, the swarm that used to crowd in the kitchen sink are no longer, and since this is my first week, I believe they will eventually disappear.

Dear Mumbu:

Can you tell me what your exact recipe is so I can make it. I am in Calfornia in the USA. I am having a terrible roach problem as well. I have tried many chemicals and the roaches are immune to them now. I am embarrassed when visitors come over then roaches appear. I am so frustrated and desperate to get rid of the roaches. Thank you.

Boracic acid is really effective material to eliminate Cockroache. In this connection I would like to add that try to keep your kitchen clean and do not left any food in the kitchen , it will force the cockroache to eat Boracic acid mixed material. Also fill up all gaps.
s n verma

People – if you read my longish post above, there IS NO MIXING required. You need no other ingredients – just the powdered boric acid. All the boric acid I’ve ever seen comes in those 1 pound plastic bottles. Simply cut the tip off the application spout, and practice squeezing the bottle to get a fine cloud of dust that floats on the air, and settles slowly. This is very much like old-timey hand operated crop dusters, which were strapped over your shoulders, and cranked by hand.

Understand that you need not entice the roaches to consume this powder. Despite everything I’ve ever seen, thought, or understood about roaches, they are a rather “clean” animal. That is, they don’t like to have dirt on them. To them, the acid is dirty. So, after a hard day’s work finding food, they groom themselves, and clean that nasty, dirty powder from their legs. It is AT THIS TIME that the roaches ingest the acid!

So – it is your intent to ensure that the roaches must walk through an area that is “dirty” with this boric acid dust! The roache’s nature will take care of all the rest!

Please, read my post above, again. I’ll summarize:
1: empty your home of children and pets

Oooops – accidentally hit “post” to soon, so I continue here:

Please, read my post above, again. I’ll summarize:
1: empty your home of children and pets
2. cut the tips off 1 or more bottles of acid
3. practice puffing a fine powder “mist” from the bottles
4. spray that powder into cracks, crevices, behind doors, under furniture and appliances, behind mirrors and wall fixtures, into closets and cabinets. The trick is to coat ANYTHING and EVERYTHING across which the roaches are likely to walk. You want them to feel “dirty”, with dust on their feet and legs. Nothing more is needed, because just like you or me, after a hard day’s work of “bringing home the bacon”, they want to wash up and relax. It is this grooming that kills them!
5. sit back, yourself, and relax for a few days. If you still see roaches after a week, then look around your home, and try to find the places where those roaches are walking. Are they getting into the kitchen from a loose electrical fixture? Spray that powder into and behind that fixture. Did you miss the holes under your sink, where the pipes come through the floor (or the wall)? Spray that powder into those little holes, getting it into the space between the floor and the floor joists. How about a gas line, for your kitchen range? Again, stick that spout into that wall or floor penetration, and spray.

DO NOT MIX THE BORIC ACID WITH ANYTHING!!

After treating my home, way back when I posted my original post, WE HAVE NO ROACHES!!

Occasionally, on a very rare occasion, we will spy a single roach. It has to have come indoors from the yard. We see it, then we never see it again. I have probably sprayed a total of 5 pounds of that acid into our walls, floor, behind door frames. Total cost of about 7 dollars. ROACHES NO LONGER SURVIVE, because they MUST walk through this stuff to get into the house!

just bought a box of 20 Mule Team Borax, will it do the same as boric acid?

I was helping a friend with a computer “bug”(no pun intended) and noticed a small cockroach crawling on the keyboard, I wrapped up the computer in plastic but as you can guess within a small amount of time my house had become infested! I HAVE NEVER had a cockroach. I was beside myself. I ran out and brought the black traps and foggers (put down the traps, decided not to use foggers) and my husband was demanding I contact an exterminator. I went online and read about boric acid and we got some (ok,we got a lot!- way more than we needed) and put it down in every crack, crevice and under appliances in kitchen. Within a few days, I noticed dead roaches on their backs (I think they came out looking for a water source?) It’s been a week and a half and they are GONE! I can’t believe how great this worked. I have taken back my kitchen from the nasty cockroaches! I left it under the appliances and under the sinks (never want to deal with this problem ever again. Boric Acid really WORKS!

@ Joy, I don’t think that borax and boric acid are the same thing. A quick search on google indicates that they are NOT the same thing. It seems that borax can be used to get rid of ants, from a couple of posts I’ve read – but I see no indication that it will work on roaches. Use the borax for cleaning – it’s great for that. Get boric acid to get rid of the roaches!

@ Infested – those roaches will surprise you. One of my sisters brought roaches home in her groceries! Those little things like to squeeze into the vacancies in the cardboard boxes. You bring the box home, empty it, and sit the box aside. When the lights go out, so do they – out into your home! I’m glad things worked for you! No mess, no fuss, no mixing, nothing. Just spray or puff it anywhere and everywhere!

Use the Bait Gel

Roaches carry it back to the nest and kill off the whole colony.

Just don’t use any sprays when you are using the bait. Baits will eliminate the whole problem

Check out the video on this website.

http://www.allpestpro.com/products/alpine-cockroach-gel-bait.html

@ Paul. After you put down the boric acid everywhere, how long did you wait before wiping down everything and putting stuff back (dishes in cabinets, etc.)

@ Tae – the next morning. Except – don’t wipe the shelves. Just put paper shelf liners on the shelves, and put the dishes on top of the paper. Leave the dust under the paper, so that if the roaches haven’t been killed off yet, they will get the dust on them.

Anyplace that you can avoid cleaning, avoid it. Like, the shelf under your sink, or behind the refrigerator, you want the dust to remain. Don’t wipe up around your laundry area, or the area around your garbage cans.

The whole point is that you WANT the dust to stay anywhere and everywhere possible. In my home, with older kids (teenagers at the time) I made no special effort to clean much of anything. If you have younger children, your cleanup afterwards will have to be tailored to your own needs. Toddlers especially have to touch, feel, and even taste everything they possibly can reach. Use your judgement!

Clean your cooking surfaces, of course, and your food preparation surfaces, the table, wipe your chairs down. All the things that you actually use and come in contact with. If you have a “spare room”, a “guest room”, or storage room that is almost never used, just don’t clean it.

Thanks Paul!

I’m searching for paper liners. Any suggestions? I’m reading avoid anything with ashesive because bugs will eat the glue.

No suggestions, really, but I would avoid the glue down paper anyway. Paper gets scuffed and torn, and if not, someday you may get tired of the design. Just use plain paper. It’s not going to go anywhere, unless and until you remove all those heavy dishes and things from the shelf, and pick it up.

I suppose that on average, the wife changes the paper on her shelves at around 18 months. Maybe more frequently in the pantry, where our sons tend to spill stuff, and never clean it up.

I know I’ve seen rolls of paper in WalMart, and at a “dollar store” near my home. Speaking of “dollar stores”, I’ve seen paper in Dollar General, as well.

Just go for something cheap, and pretty. Next year, if you don’t still think it’s pretty, it’s easy to throw away!

Actually, 20 Mule Team Borax will help get rid of roaches. Read the following on a website recently and tried it…IT WORKED!

Cleans, deodorizes, disinfects and softens water naturally. Repels cockroaches, ants and other bugs.

The following except taken from The Bug Stops Here written by Stephen L. Tvedten and courtesy of http://www.safe solutionsinc.com

BORAX, OR SODIUM TETRABORATE, – is a combination of sodium, boron and oxygen, and is mined from the soil in its crude form. Boric acid is a crystalline material derived from borax. Caution: Remember, boric acid and all boron products can act as a stomach poison when ingested. While 20 Mule Team Borax® is extremely effective in controlling or eliminating ants, termites, weeds, lice, fleas, spiders and roaches, the Dial Corporation notes, “This product has not been tested nor received approval from the EPA for use as a 27 pesticide.” Even so if you mop or spray the floors, voids, sill boxes, tunnels, backs of furniture, appliances and other areas where you see insect pests with borax – you will be surprised on how great the material controls virtually all pests. It has been used for years to make cellulose insulation insect free and fire retardant. It also is great for removing stains in carpeting and/or odors in urinals, etc. – so mop to remove odors and to help clean – in doing so you will also control pests “accidentally”.

how safe is the boric acid/20 mule team borax-if you have cats ?

I have read conflicting information regarding how to apply boric acid. One site says put a very thin line down, another says to put the powder all over everything. Which is correct information? Also are there different types of boric acid? If so, which one should I use to kill roaches?

Thank you,
Anna

Use food-grade diatomaceous earth instead. It doesnt have to be ingested, and it has no negative impact on other living organisms, aside from fungi and insects. Have a nice day.

Paul,
ridiculous comment, but I dare say you will help out a guy with fear for the 2 inch ones…
can you PLEASE upload a video of the PUFFING, and do we keep the fan on while puffing the mist in the drawing room and bedroom? do we at all PUFF at bedroom because later we may ourself be affected??

Shubh – a video? Never thought of it. I don’t even have a video camera. About all I can do is describe it. Cut that tip off the conical top, kind of shake your bottle a little bit to loosed the powder up, and just squeeze the plastic bottle, quickly and firmly. If you get nothing, tip the bottle a little bit, and try again. At some point, you’ll see a cloud of dust come out. And, of course, if you tip to far, you’ll get a stream of powder, rather than a cloud.

As for the bedroom and all, I didn’t take any special precautions to prevent dust going anywhere. I left the drawers with underwear closed, and washed the bedsheets before sleeping on them. That’s all.

Feel free to take any precautions that you see fit – but no one in my family suffered any ill effects from coming into contact with this dust. People with allergies and sensitivities may very well be dissatisfied with my casual approach.

Good luck!