Cockroach Bait

Summary: Just because you buy cockroach bait doesn’t mean you are going to control cockroaches. Most homeowners don’t understand cockroach habits and even fewer actually read the product label.

So, you found some roaches and you ran to the store and purchased a package of cockroach bait stations. They usually come as individual stations or up to four stations in a package. However, when you start to understand cockroach biology you start to understand how many bait placements it is really going to take to get your problem under control.

For example, if you are unsure where your roaches are coming from you can start by assuming they are near a moisture source since water is so critical to their survival. That means you need to position a station under the toilet and under the sink. That’s two stations.

Cockroaches like heat and they need to be near food. Let’s head to the kitchen. We need to put a station under the sink, under and at the lower rear of the refrigerator, around and under the stove and dishwasher and inside each kitchen cabinet. That’s at least a dozen traps, right there.

Don’t forget the laundry room. Put a couple of traps behind and under the washing machine and the dryer. That’s four more traps. While you’re down in the basement you better position a trap near the floor drains, trash cans and hot water heater. Let’s call it another half dozen cockroach traps.

We haven’t even begun to talk about other rooms in the house where you may have found roaches. Regardless, we’re talking about two dozen bait stations just to get started. Once the roaches start feeding on the bait you need to increase the number of bait stations to be sure you are feeding all the roaches you can. The one main fault professionals find when taking over a roach control program is that not enough bait has been put out to get the problem under control quickly.

There are two more major reasons for failure. Homeowners have no patience. They put out the roach bait, then grab the cockroach pesticide spray can as soon as they see a cockroach. Roach baits and roach sprays do not mix. The bait is an attractant and the sprays are repellents. A repellent spray will always win, meaning the roach baits will become contaminated with the repellent sprays and the roaches will never come near the baits again. Do not spray! Let the roaches feed on the baits. Once they do, they will take the bait back to their nests where other little roaches will have access to the bait and they, too, will die.

The other reason for product failure is that no one reads the product ingredients. Everyone is caught up in reading the alluring name and looking at the pictures on the label. Advertising companies know that the consumer does not read the label. Therefore, the product manufacturers produce loads of similar products with different names. What’s the difference between “Roach Killer”, “Cockroach Eliminator” and “Roach Zapper”? Probably not much, but you should read the label for the active ingredients to confirm your suspicion. Don’t get taken in by the name. Understand which active ingredient will do the best job for each situation. Not all cockroach baits are created equal. Some of the baits use materials to which the roaches have become resistant. Personally, I like the Maxforce or Advion baits.

Want to control roaches? Learn about the habits of the roach species you are battling. Learn about the pest control materials that will do the best job and read the entire label. If you ever hope to get the results that the pros get you need to follow these steps.