ONE of the most unwelcome sights in life is a scuttling cockroach (beaten only by a flying cockroach).
These tenacious pests are found worldwide and are notoriously hard to get rid of – they can hide in the smallest of crevices, are known to be able to survive without food for up to a month, are resistant to nuclear radiation, and can even live for up to a week without their heads.
There is a reason why the ‘roachoid’ family has remained relatively unchanged over hundreds of millions of years – their biological design is shockingly effective. If there’s any animal that will make it through an apocalypse unscathed, it is probably the cockroach.
However, an unexpected and common household item might be the cockroach’s Kryptonite.
Does soap really spell doom for the resilient roach?
Verdict:
TRUE
Did you do a double-take? “Cockroaches live in drains and can even eat soap, so surely soap can’t kill them,” you might be thinking.
Well, as much as roaches might be known for their survival capabilities, they are still like many other insects in that they breathe through their spiracles – small openings located on their body.
This is why soap, a substance readily available in most households, can indeed be fatal to cockroaches when used correctly.
The mechanism is straightforward: when soap is poured on a cockroach, it has the capacity to clog up the insect’s spiracles, inhibiting its ability to respire and effectively suffocating it.
However, the caveat is that the efficiency of this roach-eliminating method hinges on the concentrations used and the method of application.
Straight soap or a highly concentrated mix of soap in water can thoroughly coat the cockroach’s body and increase your chances of effectively killing the pest. The trick is to ensure that the soap covers the insect comprehensively and enters its spiracles.
Lightly misting a cockroach with diluted soap and water will not do anything except make you scream when it flies at you.
That being said, the cockroach will still take some time to die as it will not suffocate instantly. As such, the most effective roach killer for those who can stomach it is still the tried-and-true method of smashing the bug with a shoe.
The aforementioned methods are, of course, completely ineffective against infestations unless you want to soap down or squish hundreds of individual roaches. Please call a professional exterminator if you suspect that your pest problem is getting out of hand.
Still, this home remedy is a potential quick fix for those who find themselves entering a sudden showdown with a cockroach, are too squicked out to squish it, and so happen to have soap on hand.
References:
1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.
2. https://mandmpestcontrol.com/
3. https://www.syfy.com/syfy-
