If you’ve ever had to call a professional to deal with a cockroach problem, you have probably heard of boric acid. The word “acid” may throw some people off, as a warning to not use it around pets and family members. It is not as toxic as its name suggests and is one of the more efficient and safe cockroach elimination methods available when applied correctly.
What is Boric Acid?
Boric acid is a combination of water and boron, which takes the form of powder. Boric acid is a naturally-occurring compound found in fruits and plants. While this mix is highly toxic to cockroaches, it is relatively harmless to humans and pets. You can make boric acid yourself or buy it from local stores and even Amazon.com.
The most prominent drawback to boric acid is that, when misapplied, its effectiveness is greatly diminished and can result in a mess. The powder is best applied to an area where cockroaches are likely to walk through it. Don’t use too much boric powder in one place, as cockroaches will avoid it if they see it. Remember: you’re trying to trick them into walking through it.
How Does It Kill Cockroaches?
When cockroaches crawl through the boric acid powder, it gets all over them, sticking to their legs, arms, etc. When the cockroach preens itself (cleans itself), it ingests the powder. If the cockroach doesn’t clean itself, its body will naturally absorb the powder anyway. Once the acid is inside the cockroach, it makes its way into the nervous and digestive systems, causing death shortly after ingestion.
Boric acid is considered so effective because cockroaches eat other dead cockroaches. As most of us are aware, cockroaches are not picky about what they do and do not each, going so far as to eat other cockroaches if they’re dead. After the cockroaches eat the one that died from the boric acid, the acid gets into their system, and the cycle continues.
You can also sprinkle boric acid on bait or traps, working in combination with each other. The powder clings to the food, and the cockroaches bring it back to their nest and all feed on it. Naturally, this allows ingestion of the acid through multiple cockroaches that will eventually die and be eaten, so on and so forth.
Help is a Call Away
Boric acid can be more effective and safer than other cockroach-killing methods out there. However, if incorrectly applied, you’ll end up with zero dead cockroaches and white dust all over your house. If you aren’t sure you’re applying the powder correctly or have a cockroach problem in general, call us today! No solution works better than having a professional deal with the problem.
