I’ve read countless articles and so called ‘guides’ on how to get rid of bugs in homes. While I have learned a lot, most of what I’ve read lead to one thing: “Keep your house absolutely spotless!”. Well, from experience I can say this, “That is absolutely impossible for me!” For most people it is not a viable option, especially if those people have children. Let’s face it, almost all homes will never be ‘absolutely spotless’ at any given time, let alone spotless long enough for all the bugs to go away or to die. When food splatters from the pot on top of the stove, some of that usually goes down that crack between stove and cabinet. Almost always I never clean that up either. No matter how clean your house looks, or how nice it smells there will always be some thing for bugs to eat. If you think about how small a bug’s stomach is, you’ll realize that they can live off a very tiny crumb for a very long time.
There are a few other suggestions from all the research I’ve done that are good, but still requires to much work. I’ll walk you through a simple process that will keep your home mostly bug free. I say ‘mostly’ because I’m not sure if this process works on termites and other not-so-common bugs. I have used this technique for almost 2 decades now and can vouch for it’s reliability. It gets rid of ants, and roaches and also keeps them from coming back. It’s a simple process that you only have to do once every 2 to 4 years. When you see a few bugs running around, then you know it’s time to do perform the process again.
The process doesn’t really have a name, but it’s steps include: create a roach ball; place the roach ball in a VERY safe place, and out of reach of children, and any type of animal that you do not want to die such as a pet; and then not worry about it for a few years.
To start, let’s make the roach balls. The ingredients are as following:
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1 Minced Onion
- 1/4 Cup Shortening
- 12 oz Boric Acid
- Add Water As Needed
The ingredients you can get from any grocery store, and the boric acid can be purchased from any drug store, or pharmacy over the counter. With gloves on, mix the ingredients in a medium bowl, adding water as needed to make the mixture like a soft clay. The mixture should be consistent enough to keep it’s shape, but soft enough to put it in any shape or container you like.
Once you have every thing mixed, and in a doughy state, create several designs of your choosing. Most people uses the ball shape because it’s the easiest and fastest. It is also where this formula got it’s name ‘Roach Ball’ from. I personally put mine in the shape of various anime characters. If I only do this once every few years, I might as well take pride in it.
Once you have your shapes, your now read for part two: Place them in SAFE places. Mostly in high cabinets or on top of the refrigerator, but any where kids, and pets can’t get to is ideal. Every home is different, so I’ll let you make the decision of where to put them.
Once you have them set, it’s time to proceed to step three: forget about them for a few years. That’s right, this process will keep your home clear of roaches, ants, and several other bugs for up to 4 years, even longer if you did not have a heavy infestation to start with. This process isn’t a quick fix, it will take a few days to get rid of all the bugs, and even longer if you have a large infestation, or just some very large bugs. The larger the infestation the more roach balls you want to lay out, to allow for quicker response but the more you have out will not effect the length of time they will keep your home semi bug free. It’s mostly when your roach balls run dry that they loose their effectiveness. As stated though, I have used this technique for almost 2 decades and I have never really had any bugs running around. Every 4 years or so i replace the roach balls and go about my business.
I hope this information helps you!! Also please leave feedback on your experiences with these whether it’s positive or negative.
