How To Keep Cockroaches Away At Night (9 Methods, Products)

As soon as you see a cockroach in your home, you need to move fast to prevent an infestation.

How to Keep Cockroaches Away at Night

One of the reasons you need to act quickly is that the average female cockroach can give birth to around 200 offspring throughout her lifetime.

If those babies grow and have babies of their own, it won’t take long to have a serious problem on your hands.

Luckily, there are several methods you can use to kill or repel cockroaches from your home.

Here are nine methods you can use to keep cockroaches away at night.

How To Keep Cockroaches Away At Night (Methods, Products To Use)

1. Citrus Scents

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According to Contractor’s Best Pest Solution, cockroaches aren’t fond of the smell of citrus.

Perhaps the scent is too acidic for their tastes.

Maybe it interferes with their ability to smell or sense food.

Whatever the reason, cockroaches don’t like it.

That means you have several ways that you can deter cockroaches from your home at night.

One of the best ways is to use some form of household cleaner that contains a citrus scent.

For example, you can find many floor cleaners that have lemon added to them.

Mopping your floors with the cleaner can keep your home clean but also drive cockroaches from your home.

Before you go to bed, do a quick mopping of your home, particularly in the areas where you’ve seen cockroach activity.

The scent will drive them away.

You can also increase the potency by using fabric sprays that contain some sort of citrus scent.

Whether it’s orange or lemon, you can spray it on your furniture to ensure the cockroaches don’t move in there instead.

While you sleep at night, the cockroaches, hating the smell, will leave your house to get away from it.

Using some sort of cleaner that has citrus in it won’t kill cockroaches, but it is a great way to deter them.

2. Baking Soda and Onion

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Cockroaches are omnivores, so they’ll eat anything they can get.

You can use that against them.

Since most cockroaches come out at night to find food, it’s the best time to lay out a trap.

To do this, you’ll need baking soda and an onion.

First, chop the onion up into small pieces.

Then scatter it on a paper plate or something that can stay low on the ground.

Then sprinkle baking soda all over the onion and plate.

With the trap ready, you’ll want to place the plate in an area where you’ve noticed the cockroaches being active.

This ensures that it’s easy for them to find it.

When the cockroaches come out, they’ll have an interest in eating the onion.

However, by eating the onion, they’ll also be consuming the baking soda that you sprinkled on it.

Baking soda and cockroaches don’t mix well.

It causes gases in their stomachs which make them explode.

If you want to kill cockroaches during the night, then this is an effective and natural way to do it.

Keep in mind that most pets can’t eat onion.

As such, you’ll want to ensure that they can’t access the plate of baking-soda-covered onions.

Otherwise, this method is great for killing cockroaches at night.

3. Boric Acid And Peanut Butter

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Another great way to get rid of cockroaches during the night is with boric acid and peanut butter.

Boric acid is a natural product in the world.

It’s created when water mixes with boron.

It’s something that plants, in particular, produce.

The great thing about boric acid is that while humans and pets don’t mind it, it’s extremely deadly to cockroaches.

To use boric acid to get rid of cockroaches during the night, you’ll need some boric acid, a paper plate, and some peanut butter.

Boric acid kills cockroaches by sticking to their legs and wings.

It keeps them from being able to fly or move easily.

When they eat the boric acid, it causes havoc in their digestive and nervous systems.

They die very quickly after consuming it.

To encourage them to eat boric acid, you’ll need to entice them.

Start by adding a bit of peanut butter to the middle of the paper plate.

The scent is strong and will attract cockroaches quite quickly.

Then sprinkle the boric acid around the peanut butter in a relatively thick layer.

You want to spread it enough that the cockroaches will be coated in it as they make their way to the peanut butter.

You can also sprinkle a bit of boric acid onto the peanut butter, itself.

When the cockroaches take a bite out of it, they’ll die very soon afterward.

Place the paper plate in an area where the cockroaches seem the most populated.

After a few nights, you should get rid of your cockroach problem.

4. Diatomaceous Earth

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Diatomaceous Earth, or DE, is a proven insecticide.

Some professionals even use it to kill bed bugs.

You can use DE to get rid of cockroaches at night, too.

DE consists of algae that have become fossilized and pulverized.

It contains sharp particles that have an extreme effect on cockroaches.

In particular, when cockroaches eat it, the particles dehydrate the cockroach until it dies of thirst.

It also damages their exoskeleton which makes them more vulnerable to attack.

To use DE effectively, you’ll need to keep an eye on the cockroaches first.

You need to know where their nests are or where their primary paths are.

If you put DE where they don’t typically go, then it’s not going to be very effective.

Once you’ve located those areas, you can sprinkle DE all along the floor or counter in those areas.

You’ll want to use food-grade DE to encourage the cockroaches to find it.

If they don’t seem interested, then you can always trick them by sprinkling it onto some peanut butter.

This method is a bit messy, and you’ll likely have to do it for a few nights to get all the cockroaches.

However, once they all dry out and die of thirst, your infestation problem will no longer plague you.

Sprinkle some DE in high-traffic cockroach areas before you go to sleep to get rid of them during the night.

5. Borax

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Another way to dehydrate roaches to death is with borax.

Borax is a laundry product that helps get rid of stains and odors.

You can also find it in special kinds of toothpaste.

It’s the same compound as boric acid, but it has a different effect on cockroaches.

While boric acid will target the digestive and nervous system of a cockroach, borax just dehydrates them.

It makes them so thirsty that they eventually die of thirst.

Since borax is commonly used in laundry, it’s relatively safe to use around the house.

That said, you should supervise the area if you intend to use it during the day.

If children consume borax, it can lead to nausea, vomiting, and even diarrhea.

If they consume a large amount of it, then it can even cause kidney shock.

The same goes for pets.

There are two ways to use borax.

The first is to simply sprinkle it in the areas where you notice cockroach activity.

There’s a chance that they might eat the borax on their own.

If they don’t, then you’ll want to use the second way.

Sprinkle borax in with some household white sugar.

The cockroaches will consume the borax as they eat the sugar.

You’ll likely need to do this a few times to force them to die of thirst.

It’s best that you use borax just before you go to sleep at night.

When you wake up, you’ll find some cockroach bodies around the area where you sprinkled the stuff.

6. Glue Traps

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If the natural methods aren’t as effective as you would like, there are a few conventional methods that may better suit your needs.

The first conventional method you should consider is glue traps.

Glue traps are great because you can get them in several different sizes.

This ensures that you can them in small areas like cracks or between appliances and the wall.

They’re also easy to get rid of once they’re filled with cockroaches.

A glue trap works by emitting a pleasant odor.

The odor attracts the cockroach to it.

When they step onto it, the sticky substance prevents the cockroaches from moving off of it.

They remain stuck there until they die of either starvation or thirst.

If you want to use glue traps to get rid of cockroaches at night, you’ll first need to identify areas where cockroaches tend to roam.

Then place the glue traps in those areas before you go to sleep.

When you wake the next morning, you should find some cockroaches stuck in your trap.

Glue traps tend to work slowly, so they might not be ideal for a large infestation.

However, they can start to decrease the number of cockroaches in your home.

You also don’t have to worry about touching any cockroach bodies.

You can simply pick up the glue trap and throw it away when it gets filled with cockroaches.

7. Bait Station

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Another effective way to get rid of cockroaches at night is with a bait station.

A bait station is similar to a glue trap in that it’s usually some sort of tube.

The cockroach has to walk into the station to reach the bait.

It’s encouraged to do so by releasing a pleasant odor that attracts them.

Unlike a glue trap, however, cockroaches don’t get stuck in the bait station.

Instead, it has some poison for them to eat.

After the cockroach eats it, they die.

Depending on how quickly the poison works, the cockroach might die before it even leaves the station.

Otherwise, it might die on its way back to its nest or at the nest.

Sometimes, you can find products that combine a bait station with a glue trap.

This traps some cockroaches and poisons others that make it to the center of the box.

If you’re more concerned with killing cockroaches, using bait stations is a great method.

To use them to get rid of cockroaches at night, you’ll need to place the bait stations in the areas where cockroaches travel the most.

If you can even find the entrance to their nests, that’s the best place to put some bait stations.

It’s also worth placing more than one.

If you have a large infestation, the cockroaches might eat all of the poison, and you’ll still have a large number of them roaming around.

By having multiple bait stations scattered around, you increase the chances of killing them all in one night.

You’ll also want to deploy the bait stations right before bed.

This ensures the odor and poison are at their most effective just before the cockroaches come out.

8. Starve Them Out With Caulking

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If you happen to know where the roaches are coming from, you can lock them into their nest and starve them to death.

The best way to do this is with caulking.

Most cockroaches like to live inside of walls.

It’s a safe place for them and allows them to travel throughout the house with ease.

All they need is a gap for them to squeeze through to get somewhere.

Using caulk, you can fill the gaps and keep the cockroaches from entering your home.

In time, they’ll either leave the way they came in to find food, or they’ll starve and die.

This method is ideal for those who know exactly what hole the cockroaches are coming in through.

It isn’t ideal for those who have several entry points that cockroaches can use to get in and out of their nesting area.

Caulking holes can also ensure that cockroaches can’t get inside your home in the future.

To get rid of cockroaches at night, you’ll want to caulk the holes closed before you go to bed.

Since it doesn’t take too long for the caulk to harden, the cockroaches will be unable to get into their preferred areas that night.

If you still have a roach problem after caulking, you know they’ve found another way to get inside of your home.

You can continue to locate and caulk these openings, or you can use one of the earlier methods to get rid of them at night.

Caulk is a good way to get rid of cockroaches at night as long as you know where they’re coming in from.

9. Roach Bomb

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A final method that you can use to get cockroaches away at night is to use a cockroach bomb.

This is a last-ditch effort to take care of a cockroach problem.

A cockroach bomb releases a fog and coats the area with a pesticide.

It’s extremely toxic, and you’re not allowed to be inside the house when it goes off.

It’s effective because as soon as the cockroaches leave their nests, they’ll come into contact with the pesticide and die.

However, because there’s a layer of toxic chemicals everywhere, it isn’t safe for humans or pets to be around.

As such, if you plan on using a roach bomb, there are a few things you should do to make it safe.

The first is to ensure everyone is out of the house when it goes off.

That includes pets.

The best time to set off a roach bomb is at night.

You and your family can stay in a hotel or with family or friends while the pesticide works its magic.

When you return the next day, your cockroach problem should be either completely or mostly taken care of.

Second, it’s worth hiring a cleaning crew afterward.

You’ll want to inform them about the roach bomb to ensure they don’t accidentally light your house on fire.

That’s because roach bombs are highly flammable.

Third, even after the cleaning crew finishes, you should do one more wipe-down just in case.

A roach bomb should be your last resort for getting rid of cockroaches at night.

However, it is an effective one.

Conclusion

Cockroaches can carry diseases and are generally unpleasant to see in your home.

Since they’re nocturnal, the best time to get rid of them is at night.

You can use the above methods to get rid of cockroaches at night.