Got Cockroaches? Kill Them With Coffee

Posted on: 31 May 2017

If you have a small cockroach infestation in your house and have ever left grounds in your coffeemaker overnight, you may have inadvertently discovered that they are drawn to coffee. If so, use their attraction to the grounds to your advantage by using the guide below to make a cockroach-killing coffee can death trap.

What You Will Need

Before you begin making your cockroach trap, gather the ingredients and supplies listed below.

  • Metal coffee can with a lid
  • Utility knife
  • Two cups of water
  • Two tablespoons of vegetable oil
  • A quarter of a cup of boric acid
  • Used coffee grounds

The coffee grounds are used as the bait for the trap. While the coffee will not kill the insects, it attracts them to the other ingredients that make the magic happen. When the roaches enter the trap, the vegetable oil coats them with a film that makes it difficult for them to crawl out and causes them to slip into the water.

Once in the water, they could drown. However, since this does not always happen, the boric acid gives the trap an extra line of defense. Boric acid is a poison that dries up their exoskeletons and kills them when they eat it.

Use care when using this ingredient. This poisonous powder can have harmful effects on you, your children, or your pets. Wear gloves while mixing the ingredients, and place the trap where your kids and animals cannot get to it.

Directions For Making And Using Your Death Trap

Now that you have what you need, follow the directions below to make and place your trap.

  1. Using the utility knife, cut three or four one-inch by quarter-inch slits in the plastic lid of the coffee can. These serve as the entrances to the trap.
  2. Pour the water into the can, and mix in the oil and boric acid. 
  3. Slowly add the used coffee grounds to the mixture so that some of them float on the top of the oil. 
  4. Secure the lid onto the can, and place the trap where you have seen the most roach activity.
  5. If you want to make more traps, repeat the steps above for each one.
  6. Check the traps every day to make sure it has not become overcrowded. If so, tightly tie the trap in a plastic bag, and throw it away outside of your home. Then, replace it with a new trap.

The above roach trap can help you kill off small populations of cockroaches. However, if you have more cockroaches in your home than you can handle, you may want to contact an insect control service, like simplicity pest control, to have them inspect your home and discuss with you options for eradicating your roach problem.

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