Roach tablets are made in different compositions, depending on what brand or type you buy. They are mostly a mix of boric acid, flour sugar, and a component that will draw roaches out for a bite.
Roach tablets are relatively safe, so you don’t have to worry about accidentally harming your kids or a pet. However, you should do your best to keep them out of reach.
They can stay potent for over a year, depending on their composition. This makes them an excellent long-term roach fix.
Roach tablets are effective when used the right way. However, when you use anti-roach tablets without prepping your home, it reduces their efficiency.
The job of roach tablets is to reduce the presence of roaches. But the tablets would be a waste if your home is still in conditions encouraging them to thrive.
- Roaches are pretty resilient, so you need to go all out when dealing with them.
- Roaches can squeeze their bodies through the tiniest holes and remain in hiding for long periods.
- Roach tablets can reduce the number of roaches in your home, but that number will increase if they keep finding ways to enter your home.
The subsequent heading will briefly explain the steps you should take before using roach tablets and answer commonly asked questions about roach infestation.
Step-by-Step Guide to Using Roach Tablets Efficiently
Using roach tablets properly goes beyond reading the instructions on the label. You must first ensure that your home is ready for the tablets.
This includes ensuring that roaches can no longer find your home conducive and that new ones will not find their way in. Here are some tips to help you put your home together for its roach-free era.
1. Clean Corners and Potential Roach-Hiding Spots
Roaches like to live around dirty places. This is because they like to hide in darkness and under the debris and feed on junk.
So it would be best if you took care of all potential places roaches can hide. Doing so makes it easy to track the success of your roach tablets. However, if your home is dirty and has different particles littered around, you may find it hard to determine whether the tablets are working.
Also, if roaches have enough food to eat around the house, the chances of them biting into your roots tablets become lower.
2. Fix Leaking Pipes and Eliminate Sources of Moisture
Since using roach tablets eliminates roaches, it makes sense to make your home less conducive for roaches. They like to dwell where they can easily access moisture or water.
Examples of such places include leaking pipes, drains, and bowls of water left unattended. So before you put out those tablets, fix your leaking pipes, clear out your gutters, and empty those bowls of standing water.
Starving out the roaches is a fair strategy for leading them to the tablets.
3. Fit Your Garbage Cans With Tight Lids
Raccoons, coyotes, and rats are not the only ones who enjoy eating leftovers from your garbage can. Roaches also do. Not only do roaches go in search of rotten food to eat, but open garbage cans are bright flashing lights calling them to fill their bellies.
So, you should tie up your garbage neatly and keep it sealed so roaches will not sneak in or hide underneath the dirt.
The goal is to eliminate all food sources for roaches so that their attraction to tablets can be more potent.
4. Seal Cracks and Holes
If you still have cracks and holes in your home, you give roaches the freedom to continue to exist. Roaches can squeeze themselves into holes that are smaller than their bodies.
Once they find suitable spaces that give them reasonable access to moisture and particles to feed on, they usually remain in such places. An effective way to use roach tablets is to toss the tablets into holes and seal off such holes.
The roach would either die of hunger or be poisoned by the tablet. In any case, leaving cracks and holes unsealed would also invite more roaches. You want to avoid dealing with a new set of roaches right after you conquer old ones.
5. Eliminate All Food and Water Sources
If you have been leaving food out on your countertops, tabletops, or cabinets, now is the time to stop. This extends to living food items or living pet food loosely wrapped. Also, leaving sources of water open or available for roaches to feed from is doing more harm than good to your home.
While roach tablets can help reduce roaches, they will only be as effective if they can find good nutrition around your home.
6. Use Your Roach Tablets
Roach tablets contain all the properties you need to repel rats. So, you don’t need to drizzle tea tree oil or peppermint oil over it.
For effectiveness, place tablets in all the sites where roaches are likely to hide. There are roach spots in bedrooms, kitchens, closets, and attics, so place your tablets in those corners. Examples are underneath chairs, refrigerators, washing machines, cabinets, and behind old furniture.
It would be best if you also stuck a couple of cracks and holes around your home. It could take a while to see results, but two weeks is an excellent time to observe changes.
Conclusion
Roach tablets are quite effective, mainly because they are long-term measures. Even if you have successfully eradicated the roaches in your home, they will deal with any strays or leftover roaches.
However, I would like to point out that these steps are essential to prep your home for a good roach sweep. In addition, these steps are necessary for the tablets to work as efficiently as they should, and roaches will continue to share your home and resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Does It Take for Roach Tablets To Work?
Each tablet packet will state how long you should wait before expecting visible results. So you could work with the timeline that was said.
On the other hand, one week to two weeks is a good time to wait to see if the roaches roaming around your home have reduced. If you discover that the tablets have reduced or disappeared, it’s a sign that the roaches are eating them.
How Long Do Roach Tablets Last?
Roach tablets can last for up to two years. However, different brands have varying lifespans.
You should change tablets yearly if roaches haven’t taken the bait. However, if you need to replace them often, that’s an indication that roaches are eating the tablets and dying out.
