The Two-Ingredient Solution That May Help Keep Roaches Out Of Your Home

Roaches are one of the most common household pests, and if you're like most homeowners, even a momentary sighting can give you a serious case of the willies. It's especially common to see these insects in and around the bathroom and kitchen since they prefer to be close to food and water sources. While standard pesticides and baits can work well for killing roaches, they aren't your safest next step if you're looking at signs of a cockroach infestation. Standard roach killers contain harmful chemicals and can be dangerous to use in your home. Meanwhile, a simple mixture of borax and sugar is a natural alternative that can help keep your home roach-free. The sugar attracts roaches, and the borax kills them once they ingest the combination.

To get rid of unwanted roaches, you simply need to mix equal parts of borax and sugar and spread this DIY roach killer in spots where you've previously seen them or suspect they may be hiding. You can also go further by mixing boric acid and sugar with flour — simply combine an equal amount of each of these ingredients and roll them together into small balls. This will kill any roaches that decide to eat them. Roaches are attracted to the carbohydrates and starch in flour, as is the case for sugar, so using flour and sugar together will do an even better job of getting roaches' attention. These bait balls are also easy to place in areas where roaches frequent.

Pest control may be the most important reason to use borax around the home. Once roaches ingest it, the sodium in borax will consume the moisture in a roach's body and damage its exoskeleton and digestive system. While roaches aren't likely to ingest borax on its own, adding sugar to the mix will attract them to it. This isn't an "instant kill" method like some types of poison. However, it will kill roaches after a relatively small amount of time has passed — usually after a week or two. Once the roaches in your home discover the borax or borax balls that you've created, then your pest problem should go away quickly. 

When using borax to kill roaches, be sure to do it carefully. Always keep borax away from pets and kids to keep them from getting harmed in the process. Borax is a natural mineral, but it can still be dangerous. It can irritate the eyes, throat, lungs, and skin, so be sure to keep it out of the reach of children and pets and avoid inhaling or ingesting it.