The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture has a couple of helpful suggestions for control of cockroaches, those vile, filthy creatures that infest your home and spread disease: bait stations and boric acid.
You can buy plastic bait stations at any supermarket. The prime places to put such stations are underneath sinks, toilets, dishwashers, stoves, and refrigerators, in cabinets, and close to trash cans. Be sure to place the bait stations in corners and along walls, as these are the pathways that cockroaches tend to travel. The advantage of bait stations to, say, spraying insecticide is that children and pets are not exposed to toxic substances. Put ten bait stations around various parts of the kitchen and two in each bathroom. You should notice a reduction in roach population in about three weeks.
Boric acid has been a tried and true method of getting rid of cockroaches for about a century. Boric acid is available at super markets and hardware stores. It consists of boron and water and requires no mixing or processing before use. It has a low toxicity level for children and pets.
You should apply boric acid by shaking the container and puffing a thin layer on the surface being treated so that it leaves a thin layer. Cockroaches tend to avoid clumps or mounds of the stuff. You should apply the boric acid in places where the pest travel such as kitchen and bathroom floors, underneath cabinets, and so on. Do not apply to countertops or any place where food is stored or prepared.
The cockroach picks up the boric acid when it travels across the treated surface and absorbs it through the skin, legs, and antennae, whereupon it kills the cockroach in short order.
