How to Kill a Roach Behind My Stove

Clean the kitchen and use bait to control cockroaches.

Cockroaches disgust just about everyone -- and with good reason. These insects have a reputation for scouring through trash for food and spreading germs and disease. Cockroaches prefer to scavenge for food in the dark, so when you turn on the light in the middle of the night, they run for cover under your refrigerator or stove. If a cockroach ran under your stove, coaxing it out is usually difficult. Get rid of the roach with traps and baits that disguise poison as a food source.

Things You'll Need

• Paper towels
• Dish soap
• Sticky traps
• Roach bait traps

Instructions

1. Clean the kitchen thoroughly to remove all potential food and water sources for the roach. Wipe up crumbs spilled in cracks next to the stove. Roaches also eat paper, so remove any paper products from the kitchen.

2. Inspect the floor and walls for roach droppings. Droppings look like tiny dark brown speckles. Clean up droppings with soapy water and paper towels. If you find egg cases, remove them.

3. Set sticky traps under the stove and around the sides of the stove. If the roach crawls over a sticky trap, it is unable to move. Check the traps daily and discard them after catching the roach.

4. Place bait stations under and around the stove. Gel bait stations contain poisonous gel that the roach thinks is food. When roaches eat the gel, they die. Boric acid is a alternative to gel bait stations. To use it, sprinkle it under the stove.

5. Sprinkle silica around and under the stove. When roaches crawl over silica, the dust destroys their outer coating, killing them.

Tips & Warnings

• Remove gel roach traps after a few weeks. Pull the stove away from the wall, if possible, to check for dead roaches. Remove dead roaches promptly to discourage other insects from feeding on them.

References

• University of Nebraska: Least Toxic Cockroach Control
• University of Connecticut: Intergrated Pest Management for Cockroaches