The thought of cockroaches crawling on your bed is not only creepy but also appalling. Roaches are nasty tiny nuisances that no one wants wandering around their home—particularly in their bed.
How to keep roaches away while you sleep? Some of the best ways to ensure keeping the roaches away while you sleep are by cleaning your bedroom, as these tiny menaces love to stay in dirty places. In addition, make sure all the entry points in your room are blocked, such as the small gaps on the skirting boards, cracks in your bedroom wall, etc.
In this article, we will present to you the causes of roaches’ invasion, the reason behind they keep coming into your bedroom, and how to deal with them. So, let’s get into it!
Table of Contents
What Causes Roaches in a Cleanroom?
So, we’ve discussed earlier that roaches are attracted to a dirty and messy room, the reason why they keep coming to your space. But why do they keep on coming even if your room is clean?
To answer that question, we have selected some factors below:
Presence of Food
The presence of food in your space is among the primary reasons why cockroaches enter your home. These pests aren’t picky eaters and eat whatever they see on your kitchen counters or in your room.
For instance, if you have left your late-night snack in any area of your room, roaches will be drawn into it, no matter how clean your room is. So, your best way to ensure they won’t be coming into your room is to keep foods tightly sealed in their containers.
Aside from regular food, roaches also feed on other things typically found in homes, such as books, cardboard, other paper-based items, etc. This suggests that you need to clean up clutter in your home to make your place less gracious to roaches.
Roach-Infested Items You Carry Into Your Home
Unlike bedbugs, roaches don’t typically attach themselves to clothes or furniture. That being said, you may have unknowingly brought in cockroaches within your home if they’re hanging out in appliances, such as computers, microwaves, toasters, video game systems, or cardboard boxes.
This is especially true if the objects are used or were stored in a basement or garage.
Dampness and Darkness
After tightly sealing the food to their containers, putting them all into the fridge, and cleaning all kitchen counters and floors, this isn’t a guarantee that your house will be roaches-free. Factors like dampness and darkness in your place are another thing to look out for to prevent roaches’ infestation.
These pests love to stay in places where they can hide and survive. So, if you have damp and dark areas in your house, it’s likely that they will breed in that place that may cause serious problems, affecting your family’s health.
Cockroaches can survive for weeks without food as long as they have an ample water supply. During this time, they conceal themselves in the dark, damp, dingy, well-hidden parts of your house.
So, even if the food is out of their reach, it’s still possible to see cockroaches scampering around in the basement, garbage bin areas, garage, and commonly in any other hidden spots of the house.
Appealing Outdoor Environment
As a homeowner, it’s best to consider all the possibilities as to where these roaches are coming from on your property. This is because the problems usually start outdoors.
Your outdoor environment could be appealing to the roaches due to its warm, damp, hidden areas in your yard, providing perfect breeding conditions for these nasty pests.
Areas near leaky outdoor faucets, heavy vegetation, a compost bin can entice roaches to your premises, making it effortless for them to enter your home.
Hence, cut off that dense vegetation in your area, repair outdoor leaking faucets, and ensure the compost bin is clean and sealed, making the outdoor environment less appealing to these nuisances.
How Do Cockroaches Get Into the Bedroom?
Cockroaches are attracted to warm, damp, and dark areas. To them, the warmer and darker the place, the better.
However, they can also adjust to cold temperatures, given sufficient time. These pests can get into the bedroom by fitting into the small gaps or cracks on your wall.
They’re able to cram into extremely tight openings by flattening themselves. This makes them able to hide behind baseboards and within wall outlets.
If your bedroom is full of overlooked hair and dead skin, you can expect these pests to squeeze themselves into tiny openings to get into your room.
Will Roaches Crawl on You While You Sleep?
Roaches are nocturnal insects, so if you have an extensive infestation, there’s a high probability that they’ll crawl on you while sleeping.
To lessen the chance that this would happen, make sure that your bed doesn’t have any crumbs or leftovers, enticing these insects from disturbing you in your sleep.
Will Cockroaches Crawl in Your Bed?
Cockroaches seldom live in bed as it’s too risky for them. However, they feed off bodily fluids, dead skin, food crumbs, and loose hairs, which are usually found on top of or within mattresses.
That’s why you’ll likely not see a random roach creeping over your bed stand at night. If you ever see a cockroach in your room, consider doing the following:
- Cleaning up your room and get rid of the food, water, and shelter sources within your room or in surrounding areas of the house.
- Use sticky traps.
- Put baits to lessen the roaches entering your place.
- Spray a pesticide.
What Time Do Roaches Go to Sleep?
Research shows that nighttime cockroach activity transpires mainly four hours after dark and proceeds into the immobility period, considered their form of sleep. Since they’re nocturnal, they stay alert overnight and start foraging for food.
Will Roaches Keep Away When Lights Are Turned On?
Keeping lights on while sleeping won’t keep them away. However, they’ll try their best to hide and avoid the light as it will put them in a vulnerable situation.
Why Do Cockroaches Keep Coming Into My Bedroom?
There are various reasons cockroaches keep coming into your bedroom, and some of them are that it’s untidy, damp, or there are messy dark areas in your room.
There could also be crumbs of food in your bedroom, making it attractive to the roaches.
How to Keep Roaches Away While You Sleep?
To keep them away while you’re asleep, make sure to keep your sleeping room free from food and moisture. On top of that, regularly throw your trash out of your room and reduce the clutter.
Furthermore, seal all the openings from the outside, including those small cracks and gaps.
Do Roaches Infest Beds?
Cockroaches rarely infest mattresses and are more likely to conceal themselves behind bedside furniture or headboards.
Can Roaches Lay Eggs in a Mattress?
As discussed above, roaches lay their eggs in dark, warm, and small spaces to preserve their offspring. That being said, they may hide their eggs under the bed or between the mattress.
So, if you’re purchasing a second-hand mattress, ensure to check any rips or splits that pests can enter through. Check for roach signs and sanitize as needed.
What Are Roaches Afraid Of?
There are a few things that roaches are afraid of, and that includes:
- Light
- Sudden movement
- Loud vibrations
- Abrupt light level changes
Moreover, they’re also terrified of the scents of bay leaves, peppermint, citrus, vinegar, and lavender. They also fear humans and other animals as they consider them predators.
What Kills Roaches and Their Eggs?
If you want to kill roaches without applying chemicals, like foggers, spray, and bombing, you can opt for some effective home remedies. Here are a few of them:
Diatomaceous Earth
Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is the best natural insecticide, composed of powdered, fossilized algae that can cause dehydration to algae. It impairs their exoskeletons and drains them to death once it touches them.
Make sure to buy some food-grade DE and scatter a light layer on any surface where you witnessed roach movement.
Baking Soda
Baking soda is your other effective option. This works fast and is among the easiest methods to eliminate roaches.
To make a baking soda DIY roach bait, chop a small cup of onions and spatter them with baking soda. Place the finished product in a shallow dish to places where you saw roach activity.
When these insects ingest the baking soda, it forms gasses in the cockroaches’ stomachs, forcing them to burst.
Boric Acid
Boric acid is a deadly pesticide for roaches and other pests, such as mites, spiders, bedbugs, and many more. When these pests consume the powder, it’ll affect their digestive and nervous systems, killing them quickly.
What’s good about this solution is that—although it’s toxic to roaches and other pests, it’s not harmful to people and pets. To use:
- Sprinkle some dusting on a paper plate.
- Put some orange peel or a spoonful of peanut butter into the center of the plate.
- Once done, put the plate in the area where you spot roach activity.
Borax
Borax is a laundry item ideal for killing roaches. For the best result, mix equal parts of white table sugar and borax and after that, put the mixture into the area where you’ve seen roach activities.
Citrus
Citrus is an excellent repellent to cockroaches. The scent of lemons, in particular, deters roaches.
To make a solution out of citrus, add a few drops of lemon juice to the water and use it to clean your floors. The scent won’t be noticeable, but it will send roaches away.
Essential Oils
Essential oils are another great natural cockroach repellent. For the best result, buy lemongrass or peppermint essential oil.
After that, get a clean spray bottle, put some water in it and add a few drops of the essentials you’ve bought. Once done, spray the mixture in places you’ve caught roaches hanging out.
What Other Things Can I Do to Keep Cockroaches Away?
Looking for more traditional alternatives to solve your roach issue? Here are some of the quickest ways to eliminate roaches:
Caulk all the entry points.
While bait stations and glue strips are suitable to use, they won’t accomplish much good if new cockroaches are frequently infiltrating your home. In this situation, it’s practical to use caulk to seal potential entry points.
As much as possible, pay immediate attention to crevices between the walls or gaps in window seals or doors.
Use glue strips to determine problem areas.
Glue strips are a valuable way to pinpoint roach problem sites. The scent of the trap attracts roaches in, and once they stride on the glue strip, the glue entraps them.
For best outcomes, place the strips in places where you’ve detected roach movement, including under the kitchen sink and behind the refrigerator.
Set bait stations.
If you want to kill cockroaches right away, one of your options is to set bait stations. Bait stations typically arrive in a long tube and are placed anywhere where roach activity is observed.
The fragrance of the bait lures roaches to eat the poison. Once these nuisances ingest the bait with poison, they’ll eventually die.
Hire a pest control professional.
Last but certainly not the least option is to hire a pest control professional. This way, you don’t have to do extensive work and ensure treatment efficiency.
Pest control experts know how to locate and eliminate cockroach infestations effectively and safely. So, you’re ensured that you’re going to get rid of roach problems without potential harm to your family, pets, and household in general.
Summary
Roaches are a menace to the household, so you have to deal with them right away when you notice them roaming around your home. Clean your home spaces, get rid of the clutters, and ensure there are no damp areas within or outside your house.
If cleaning isn’t enough and you’ve tried several methods but didn’t work out, reach out to a pest control company and let their expert personnel deal with the issue.