Last updated on August 29th, 2022 at 07:40 am
Cockroaches are very revolting pests that are unpleasant to find anywhere in the home, especially eliminate around a refrigerator that holds food items. Now, we understand that cockroaches only thrive in warm places, so it is easy to assume that a refrigerator should be the last place to find a roach.
However, cockroaches can live in the motor compartment of the refrigerator and only need to come out once in a while to scavenge for food. In addition, a refrigerator motor is not usually easy to reach, so it serves as a great breeding spot for the roaches.
Still, we can get cockroaches out of the refrigerator by taking away the things which attracted these pests in the first place. These include their food, water, and hiding places. Keep all food tightly sealed and food particles cleaned properly while clearing the drains and leaks around the refrigerator and the house. Once this is done, you can move on to getting them out of their hiding places.
How to get rid of Roaches in Refrigerator Motor?
We can get rid of roaches in a refrigerator motor by applying some insecticidal dust in the areas around the refrigerator and under it. This dust is capable of reaching into the tight spaces where roaches hide in the refrigerator motor. Insecticidal dust is made up of boric acid, which sticks to the roaches. When the cockroaches clean themselves, they eat whatever is on their bodies, so the boric acid is consumed, killing the roaches.
It is important to note that many of the methods which can effectively get rid of roaches in your refrigerator involve the use of certain products which can be very toxic should they come in contact with the food in the refrigerator.
Thus, it is strongly advisable to avoid using pesticides and other poisons directly in the refrigerator. The following can be done to effectively get rid of the roaches in your refrigerator motor while going about it safely.
1. Prevent Infestation
Check around your refrigerator for how widespread the cockroach infestation is. The refrigerator motor is not the only place the roaches might be hiding.
These pests are resilient, and they multiply very fast so that the roaches might have spread to other parts of the refrigerator like the compressor, coils, condensation pan, and fan.
Also, make sure to check behind the refrigerator and under it as the cockroaches could also be coming from cracks and crevices in the surrounding areas.
Be sure to check for the presence of eggs, as this indicates that the cockroach infestation is more serious than you might expect. Pregnant roaches reflexively lay eggs upon death, so using brute force to kill the cockroaches might not be the best idea.
2. Clean up Properly
Clean the food particles and dirt that must have accumulated around the refrigerator. This action prevents a more unhygienic build-up of food crumbs and particles.
Collect all the eggs you can find and destroy them. Dispose of them in a double garbage bag. Getting rid of those roach eggs would save you the possibility of them hatching after getting rid of the roaches.
Clear the pan that collects condensed water under your refrigerator. Doing this takes away a possible water source for the cockroaches inhabiting your fridge.
3. Close All Entry Points
Seal all small cracks in the walls or floors to cut out a potential or active entryway for these revolting pests. Also, close any openings around electrical outlets and pipes. This step prevents more cockroaches from coming in while you’re trying to get rid of the ones already inside the refrigerator.
4. Use Insecticides
Determine the kind of products you would use to kill the cockroaches in your fridge. Highly toxic products like aerosol insecticidal sprays are not recommended, although this is very effective in killing cockroaches because it reaches deep into the tiniest spaces.
But this also means that the spray can get into any food present in the fridge and poison it. Therefore, products with less tendency to spread are recommended. Good examples include baking soda and boric acid, among others.
4.1 Using Baking Soda
A natural mix of baking soda and sugar has been proven to be deadly to cockroaches. This combination acts as a ‘trap and kills’ because the sugar attracts the roaches, and the baking soda kills them.
Roaches are incapable of releasing gas; however, eating baking soda and drinking water afterward creates gas. This ingestion leads to death due to the explosion of its stomach.
You can use baking soda following these steps:
- Mix equal amounts of sugar and baking soda. If possible add yeast, to make the death trap more palatable to the roaches.
- Dust this mixture under the refrigerator.
- Eating this mixture causes the roaches to go near water sources, ultimately leading to their death.
4.2 Using Boric Acid
Boric acid is very poisonous to roaches, and it causes less harm to its surroundings than other highly poisonous substances. This option is ideal for home pest control. However, the smell of boric acid sends cockroaches away from it instead of towards it, so for this bait to work, you must eliminate the smell.
Here is how to use boric acid effectively:
- Mix Boric acid with raw egg yolk to eliminate the smell.
- This mixture will form a thick paste. Roll this into tiny balls and leave to dry.
- Now that the balls are dry, spread them inside the refrigerator gasket, the back and under it for the cockroaches to feed.
- Boric acid is in powder form, so you can also spread it inside and around the fridge. It would stick to the bodies of the roaches and wipe them out in masses.
Other substances have been proven very effective in wiping out these pests. You are not limited to just one of them. After all, safely getting rid of the roaches in less time than usual is only a good idea for all fridge owners.
5. Use traps
Set cockroach traps around the refrigerator and also in other parts of the house and monitor the progress. With time, the traps would catch fewer roaches till there is nothing left to catch.
These traps can come in the form of a sticky tarp which traps pests immediately just one leg comes in contact with it. Traps are proven to be very effective.
6. Call for Help
In cases of a cockroach infestation, there might be hundreds of roaches hiding in concealed corners of your home. No matter how much you get rid of the ones in the refrigerator, they will always be more.
In this case, you should call professional pest control personnel to exterminate these cockroaches from your entire home. An unskilled individual cannot effectively carry out this exercise. In addition, this removes all traces of roaches in your home.
Conclusion
While getting rid of the roaches in your fridge, precaution is always important. Unplug the refrigerator while cleaning the motor and wear gloves while handling poisonous substances.
Use natural roach repellents like bay leaves and peppermint oil inside the fridge. These cannot poison food. Overall, the cleanliness of the home is very important in making sure the cockroaches don’t return.