If your laundry has a lot of white garments, you must already know what bleach is. But if it’s the other way around, bleach is a solution that removes colors from clothes. It’s essential for laundry, but can it work against cockroach infestations? That’s what we’re going to find out.
Cockroaches can turn your home into a battlefield anytime. You may be enjoying your favorite movie and see a cockroach crawling on the side of the television.
What options do you have in such a situation? Simple, go to your basement, pick the bleach bottle, and spray it all over the cockroach-infested area. However, that’s not it. Instead, you need to know the right way of using bleach to kill roaches.
Let’s learn more about this method to understand its effectiveness better.
Can You Kill Roaches With Bleach?
You can kill roaches with bleach. However, not all of them have the same formula that kills cockroaches. For instance, the bleach you use in your laundry may not work effectively against roaches.
Generally, there are two types of bleach:
- Oxygen Bleach. It is soft in nature and protects the original color of the fabric. This is why it is known as a color-safe bleach.
- Chlorine Bleach. It takes away or removes almost any color from the fabric. Thus, it is mainly used for whites.
So, which bleach is powerful enough to kill cockroaches? Yes, you guessed it right, chlorine bleach. It consists of chlorine as an active ingredient. Chlorine in gaseous form is quite poisonous to inhale.
When chlorine interacts with proteins (bacteria, fungi, and molds), it is released. This chlorine comes in contact with the chemical bonds responsible for giving color to fabric and tears them apart.
When it comes to acting on pests, chlorine breaks down the same chemical bonds. So, it destroys the germs and pests while fading the fabric’s color all along.
Thus, chlorine bleach can kill roaches as it works effectively on pests and germs.
How to Kill Roaches with Bleach?
Although bleach can help you kill roaches, it’s not a permanent solution. So, if you want an easy and temporary solution, bleach is the way to go. However, you should be careful while handling it.
Here are some methods you can use to kill roaches with bleach:
Bleach Baits
Bleach has a very potent and toxic chemical composition. When it comes in contact with a person or animal, it can cause severe damage. Even worse is ingesting it. If someone drinks bleach, it could result in instant internal bleeding, organ failure, and eventually death.
Of course, cockroaches don’t have any sort of rebate against it. You can make bleach baits and put them near the cockroach-infested areas. Here is how you can do it more effectively:
- Soak food crumbs in a bowl of bleach and put them in corners and cracks
- Mix water with bleach and set the solution in the suspected areas
Remember that this method may not give you desired results. That’s because cockroaches have a great sense of smell, so they tend to smell everything before ingesting them.
Unfortunately, bleach has a very potent smell. So, it may not matter even if you mix bleach with cockroaches’ favorite food; they will detect its smell either way. Of course, they may fall for the bait on rare occasions, but usually, the chances are quite low.
Drowning Roaches in Bleach
Drowning the cockroaches in a big tub of bleach is an effective way of killing them. But how will you catch and transport them to the tub? That’s the main problem with this method.
Since cockroaches are small and run fast, they are almost impossible to catch. Moreover, these bugs are covered with harmful bacteria, and they can bite too. Thus, there is no chance you can grab and hold them by hand.
Besides, if you have to catch roaches yourself, you can simply kill the trapped ones with other methods rather than opt for bleach.
A cockroach can die in literally any substance. It could be a tub of hot water as well. So, you don’t necessarily have to choose the corrosive bleach in order to kill the roaches.
Bleach Sprays
Now, you may be wondering: “Can bleach sprays kill roaches?” Sprays are, by far, the easiest and safest method to kill cockroaches with bleach.
Make a bleach spray, pour it into a bottle, and spray it in the infested spaces. Keep in mind to:
- Use diluted household bleach. Non-diluted ones can damage your bottle.
- Opt for a glass bottle. Bleach can damage bottles made of plastic or similar material.
- Never leave the bleach solution in the bottle for several days. Instead, pour it out and transfer it into a glass bottle after a few days.
Always use a sufficient amount of spray on roaches as you’ll have to drowse them completely.
Does Bleach Eliminate Cockroaches Entirely?
Bleach helps you eliminate cockroaches entirely, but you can’t locate their eggs easily. However, if you’ve luckily spotted the cockroach nest, spray a potent insecticide on it to remove the infestation.
If you use the bleach spray directly, it may scatter the nest, which will reform at any other place. In other words, using bleach directly on cockroach infestations may cause the nest to break into multiple pieces and spread everywhere.
Anyway, you can soak the cockroach nest in a tub of bleach after spraying insecticide on it. Leave it soaked for about half an hour, and then get rid of the mess.
Do Cockroaches Repel From the Smell of Bleach?
Bleach deters cockroaches due to its powerful smell.
Using bleach in cracks, drains, under the furniture, kitchen, and bathroom can prevent the cockroaches from entering the home.
When you clean your home with bleach, it’s unlikely that you’ll leave leftover food or litter at any corner. This way, you’ve eliminated the nutrition source for cockroaches and replaced it with a smelly, damaging component — bleach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some common questions that people ask related to bleach and cockroaches:
Do Roaches Like the Smell of Bleach?
No, roaches don’t like the smell of bleach. Instead, bleach alarms them up about danger whenever they smell it. So, bleach actually repels cockroaches.
Can Cockroaches Survive Bleach?
It depends on what type of bleach you’re using. If you’re using chlorine bleach in sufficient amounts, cockroaches can’t survive it. In contrast, they may not die as quickly if you use regular oxygen bleach.
Will Bleach Spray Keep Roaches Away?
Yes, bleach spray can keep roaches away. However, remember to keep spraying on them until they get drowsy.
The Bottom Line
Getting rid of cockroaches can be quite daunting and exhausting, especially when you don’t know what to do about it. The easy way is to use chlorine bleach on the roaches’ infestations and eliminate them entirely.
However, bleach is corrosive. So, you may need to handle it carefully, or else you’ll cause harm to yourself. Bleach baits, drowning in bleach, and sprays are the best ways to get rid of these bugs.
You can always seek professional help from a pest control company when you believe the infestation is getting out of your control.