Cockroaches are attracted to tight spaces where their bodies and shells can touch. Therefore, they prefer the insides of hollow walls and table legs, the undersides of furniture and even electrical outlets. Once inside the outlets, the secretions from the roaches can corrode your receptacles, damaging your home's wiring and creating the potential for a fire. You can kill cockroaches that are harboring in your electrical outlets and use preventative measures to keep them from coming back.
How to Kill Cockroaches in Electrical Outlets
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Step 1
Apply boric acid dust to every outlet in your home. If you apply the dust to just one area, the roaches can migrate to another. Using a squeeze bulb applicator, apply the dry dust into each hole of the electrical outlet. The dust adheres to a roach's shell, eventually killing it.
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Step 2
Set up bait stations in the infested areas, along the walls and in small areas under furniture, near the affected area. The bait stations contain a food source along with a toxic additive. The roaches will be drawn out of the electrical outlets and towards the bait stations, where they are trapped for ease of removal from the home.
Step 3
Install child-safety outlet covers to unused outlets to prevent re-infestation of the receptacle.
Step 4
Remove sources of moisture, such as pet bowls, leaking pipes and dishes left sitting out. Roaches are attracted to water.
Step 5
Remove sources of food, such as open pet food, open trash cans, discarded food left on the counter and any crumbs on the floor.
Step 6
Seal open gaps to the outside and between floors and walls. Remove electrical outlet covers, and seal around them with foam sealant to prevent any roaches in the walls from migrating room to room. Also seal gaps around pipes, windows and any other penetrations into walls or small holes where a roach can enter.