Pet Safe Ways To Kill Pests

[HungryPandaCat]

This is gonna sound stupid but..

I just found a rather large cockroach and I'm wondering how I should go about killing it. I don't want to just whack it cuz I'm totally paranoid that it'll release a bunch of cockroach babies.

There are supposedly 'non-toxic' bug sprays but I'm not sure if they really are safe to use. Would a vinegar spray work?

 

[GoldyCat]

If it's in a place where I can get at it, I usually slam a plastic container (think cottage cheese) over it. Then slide a stiff piece of card stock or thin cardboard under it to trap the bug. Throw it in the toilet and flush. You'll probably have to drop a tissue over it so it actually goes down instead of swimming on top of the water. Good luck.

 

[prairiepanda]

I agree, just flush it. For smaller critters, you can spray the ones you see with soapy water(the soap forms a film over their tracheoles, suffocating them), and you can sprinkle diatomaceous earth along baseboards to take care of the ones you don't see(the particles will get into their tracheoles and shred them inside, again suffocating them). Unfortunately cockroaches tend to be too large for these methods, so you'll have to kill them manually.

Also, I should note that the above methods are cat safe, but not necessarily pet safe. I personally can't use diatomaceous earth in my home because I keep tarantulas and jumping spiders as pets

 

[di and bob]

Cockroaches can come in on almost anything you bring home. Grocery stores are notorious for this, especially bagged potatoes. If you have only seen one that is good, there are pet safe sprays out there, especially sprays made for kitchen areas. My first instinct with cockroaches is to squash them while i have them in sight, and then clean the area with bleach water or antibacterial spray. You can spray it (the area) too with bug spray to make sure. I have never had them in this house, but we have bought several that have had them when we got them to remodel. I would flush them too, But remember, make sure they are dead first, they can swim up through the sewer pipes too and enter a house from the drains.
I don't use sprays often, my cats take care of many bugs that come in, and like the above post I actually like spiders, they eat a lot of worse bugs, so I carry them outside and release them. There are so few poisonous spiders in your house, that the chances of picking one of those up is really remote, I just use my hands and with the thousands I have picked up over 60 years I have never been bit. And yes, my parents have told me that when I was only 18 months old I was picking up spiders, caterpillars, any kind of bug. So I really have almost all my life!

 

[dahli6]

I know it is not supposed to be safe for cats but an 8th tsp baking soda mixed with an 8th tsp powdered sugar seems to work. If you can figure out where the roaches come and go from(under the fridge, stove, sink usually)and place a tiny bit of that stuff where the roaches will get it. The soda will kill the roaches for a couple generations. I used it when i saw an empty egg sack. At the time our house had a roach smell but I saw no roaches. I actually never saw any roaches but after a while the smell went away too.

 

[Ardina]

I hate bugs, so I just let Saipha and Mishka take care of it. As in, hope they catch it and eat it so I don't have to deal with it. And they usually do great! On occasion, if the bug is too high up near the ceiling for them to get it, I'll give it a quick spray of water to make it fall down so they can pounce on it.

 

[losna]

Diatomaceous earth will kill cockroaches. And fleas. And ants. And bedbugs. Anything with an exoskeleton. It's what my vet recommended we use when we had a flea infestation. Just be sure to get food grade.

 

[HungryPandaCat]

The cockroach was hanging out on the ceiling so I couldn't get it. Just sat there chilling the whole day and when I woke up the next morning it was gone. So it was either kitty snack or it left or it hid somewhere to start family. I don't get cockroaches a lot, maybe once a month. With my previous adult cat I just let him eat it (he would torture it first), but my kittens have a sensitive stomach so I rather they didn't eat it.

 

[yamashta]

I've never had a cockroach problem in my home. Even after a started breeding a larger exotic species of cockroach, haha. What ones escape either died or hung around until I found them (dazed, confused) wandering around in odd places. They're a tropical variant though, so they don't do well in the environment here.

As others have stated, the most pet-safe method is TR (trap and release). I do this with spiders, beetles, etc. most of the time. With ants, depending on where they are I use bleach spray/clorox wipes or gel-food pest traps and keep my cats away from the area until I've cleaned up and/or the pest problem is taken care of.

Regarding 'exploding with babies', depending on the species that isn't possible. Most common species of roach that invade homes lay oothecas- basically egg cases. They're kind of reddish-brown and pill shaped, finely ribbed and have little white spots along the sides. If you find those, flush them. Live-birthing roaches will likely die along with their offspring if they haven't been birthed yet, if you squash one. I've never tried, I don't like killing bugs unless they're fruit flies or sugar ants.

Also, newborn cockroaches are incredibly soft-bodied and fragile (and white). If you killed a roach and babies managed to survive and surface, it would be VERY easy to simply kill them too.