How to Get Rid of Ants and Roaches for Good

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Speaker 11 Roaches love, and this is a phrase used in the pest control world, is cracks and crevices.

Speaker 11 So a roach is extremely happy if they have their feet on one surface and their back is against another surface.

Speaker 12 I'm Christine Seer-Clissette.

Speaker 13 I'm Kyra Blackwell.

Speaker 14 I'm Rosie Guerin. And you're listening to The Wirecutter Show.

Speaker 14 All right, Kyra and Christine, it's time for us to finish a task we started months ago.

Speaker 11 Ooh, what is it? Well, last fall, you'll recall, we did an episode about how to get rid of mice and rats. Oh, how could I forget? Yeah.

Speaker 14 It was a real skin crawler. This spring, we did one, of course, on combating mosquitoes and ticks.

Speaker 12 Yes, everyone's favorite.

Speaker 14 Everyone's favorite. How to keep those off your clothes in person.
Now

Speaker 14 the trifecta is completed because sadly we have to talk about roaches and ants.

Speaker 13 I don't really like this sequel.

Speaker 11 This is the worst.

Speaker 12 This is the worst of the trifecta, I think.

Speaker 14 Have y'all dealt with them? You both live in New York.

Speaker 12 I've had them, but not like roach infestations.

Speaker 11 I've never had that problem. I have.

Speaker 11 I sure have too. I have.

Speaker 14 This is my second apartment in New York many, many years ago. We had a friend over who came out of our bathroom white as a ghost.

Speaker 14 And she was like trembling, said that she found a giant roach on the head of one of our toothbrushes.

Speaker 14 I thought we were never going to see her again.

Speaker 11 That's horrible. Oh, well, okay.

Speaker 12 Obviously, a roach infestation is disgusting.

Speaker 12 Ants are pretty bad. Ants are gross too.
These are not fun problems to have. And sometimes the solution is pretty simple, just clean up.
But sometimes the answer is not so simple.

Speaker 12 Sometimes it's like pervasive.

Speaker 13 It's really hard to take care of.

Speaker 12 And so today we are going to call our favorite pest management expert, Wirecutter senior staff writer Doug Mahoney, who has also shared with us how to get rid of other creepy, crawly things in your home.

Speaker 13 If you're a regular listener of the show, you probably already know Doug.

Speaker 13 And you might also remember that he lives on a hobby farm in New Hampshire where he has combated rats in his barn, where he's contracted Lyme disease five times from ticks, and he's tested all kinds of bug repellents.

Speaker 13 Doug's going to fill us in on what works and when you should just call it quits and actually call a pro. Because if you're not careful, you can make an ant or roach infestation much worse.

Speaker 14 This poor guy has seen it all.

Speaker 12 He really has.

Speaker 13 We'll take a quick break and when we're back, we'll get into the first steps you should take if you see ants or roaches in your home.

Speaker 11 We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 The Wirecutter Show is supported by Rocket Mortgage.

Speaker 3 Your home is an active investment, not a passive one.

Speaker 5 And with Rocket Mortgage, you can put your home equity to work right away. When you unlock your home equity, you unlock new doors for your family.

Speaker 7 Renovations, extensions, even buying your next property.

Speaker 9 Get started today with smarter tools and guidance from real mortgage experts.

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Speaker 11 Welcome back.

Speaker 13 With us now is Doug Mahoney. He's Wirecutter's senior staff writer covering home improvement and pest management gear.

Speaker 13 In addition to writing our guides to ant and roach traps, Doug has written about mosquitoes, flies, bug zappers, wasps and hornet sprays, and bug repellents, and also why essential oils are not good bug repellents.

Speaker 13 For our coverage, he's interviewed a lot of pest management experts, entomologists, and other bug experts.

Speaker 12 Welcome, Doug. It's so good to have you back.

Speaker 11 Hi. How is everybody? We are good.

Speaker 12 You know, Doug, at this point, you're such a regular on the show. Could we just maybe install a podcast studio in your barn? I feel like you live on this farm in New Hampshire.

Speaker 12 What is the bug situation there? What are the, what do you, do you have ants?

Speaker 11 Do you have roaches?

Speaker 12 Are roaches a thing in New England?

Speaker 11 We have ants, sort of a seasonal summer ant thing, just like a lot of people.

Speaker 11 We really don't deal with roaches. I don't have a ton of firsthand, thankfully, a ton of first-hand experience combating roaches.
But flies are certainly an issue, especially if you have animals.

Speaker 13 I would take a million flies over one roach.

Speaker 11 Yeah, they're aggressive.

Speaker 13 So, Doug, in our mice and rat episode, you quizzed us on our rodent IQ. And I think you've come prepared with another quiz.
So, you're going to test us today about our ant and roach IQ, right?

Speaker 11 Yes, we'll see how you guys do. Okay.
So, the first one, ants do not sleep like humans. Instead, they take a series of naps over the course of a day.

Speaker 11 So, how many naps on average does an ant take in a day?

Speaker 11 A, 25,

Speaker 11 B, 50,

Speaker 11 C, 150, D, 250.

Speaker 14 God, 250 naps is my dream.

Speaker 14 That's actually my dream.

Speaker 13 What qualifies as a nap? Like three seconds? How do you take 250 naps in a day?

Speaker 14 My gut says 150.

Speaker 11 I was going to say that.

Speaker 12 I'm going to go with 150 also.

Speaker 11 The correct answer, ants take 250 micro naps in a day, each lasting about a minute apiece. Oh my God.
Wait, that's really cute. I don't know why.

Speaker 11 Which adds up to about four to five hours of sleep each day.

Speaker 12 And is that just because they are literally working so hard, they have to take these little minute naps?

Speaker 11 I don't know. I think that's just

Speaker 11 how they roll. They just go plugging along and shut down for just a little bit.

Speaker 14 How many micro naps do you think I can fit into this episode?

Speaker 11 Okay, so the second question. How long can a cockroach live without its head?

Speaker 11 A,

Speaker 11 one hour.

Speaker 11 B, one day, C, a couple days, D, a couple weeks. I think it's a couple weeks.
Oh, my God.

Speaker 12 Of these options, I am praying it's number one because that is just frightening if it's any longer than, what did you say? An hour?

Speaker 11 Is the first word? One hour, one day, a couple days, or a couple weeks.

Speaker 14 I think one day.

Speaker 11 I'm going to say an hour.

Speaker 13 I am just praying.

Speaker 12 Like, I want it to be an hour.

Speaker 11 I'm sorry, Christine. It's a couple weeks.

Speaker 11 What?

Speaker 11 That was like the first time.

Speaker 11 I hate this so much.

Speaker 12 Wait, so what do you have to do to actually kill this thing? Like, is it like a vampire? You have to spike it with

Speaker 11 a wood

Speaker 11 spike? You have to kill the whole thing.

Speaker 12 Is crushing it completely with my foot going to kill it?

Speaker 11 That'll probably do it. Okay.
That'll probably do it. All right.
Okay. So we all know about cockroaches surviving the nuclear war.

Speaker 11 So true or false, of insects, cockroaches are the most resistant to radiation. True.
True. False.
False.

Speaker 11 Mythbusters actually did a piece on this. They exposed cockroaches, fruit flies, and flower beetles to different levels of radiation.
And it was the flower beetle that performed the best. After

Speaker 11 exposure to 100,000 rats, a unit of radiation measurement, which is about 100 times what a human could survive, 10% of the flower beetles were still alive. Oh my.
And how many of the cockroaches made?

Speaker 11 No cockroaches made. Thank God.

Speaker 11 Wow, Christine.

Speaker 12 I seem to know more about bugs than I want to.

Speaker 14 All right. So ants and roaches are clearly different.
I would strongly argue roaches are the more disturbing problem.

Speaker 14 Do you treat these infestations in the same way, Doug?

Speaker 11 You basically do. There's certainly behavioral differences between those two bugs, but as far as the products you use and how you use them, it's basically the same.
Okay, break it down.

Speaker 11 So basically, there are four things you want to do. First, you want to observe and identify the bugs.

Speaker 11 You want to find out really what you're dealing with, where they're coming into your home, where they're spending their time.

Speaker 11 Then, as with any pests in the house, whether it's mice, rats, roaches, ants, you want to really just clean up. Seal up any food, especially pet food.

Speaker 11 When researchers raise cockroaches, they feed them dog food. Hate that.
Yeah, they're particularly attracted to that.

Speaker 11 And you want to clean up things, like you want to make sure that the counters is wiped down every night. The sink is cleaned out too.

Speaker 11 If you've found out where they're coming in your home, you want to seal up any entry points. And then as far as getting rid of the bugs that are in your house, you want to use a bait.

Speaker 12 Okay, so let's start with observing and identifying bugs.

Speaker 13 You know,

Speaker 12 is there any kind of difference in how you approach that with ants versus cockroaches?

Speaker 11 Not really. You want to just see that really, as far as ants, it's sort of a pass-fail test.
You either have ants or you don't.

Speaker 11 Unless you're seeing signs of carpenter ants, and that's going to be little bits of sawdust or small holes bored into the wood of your home.

Speaker 11 If you see that, you should just immediately call a pest control operator. You're basically on the clock already.

Speaker 12 So just to reiterate what you just said.

Speaker 12 Basically, if you're seeing ants and you're seeing like sawdust where you didn't create the sawdust, you probably have carpenter ants and that's when you should call an exterminator.

Speaker 12 Otherwise, you might want to try some DIY methods to get rid of the ants before calling a pest control expert.

Speaker 11 Yeah, there's definitely different types of ants, but the differences between them aren't really going to affect much of the approach that you're going to take to get rid of them.

Speaker 12 And then for the difference between cockroaches, it doesn't matter what type of cockroach it is, you're going to kind of deal with it in the same way. Correct.

Speaker 13 Are there particular places that roaches versus ants like? Dark versus light or wet versus dry, anything like that? Definitely.

Speaker 11 So ants are going to tend to just go where the food is. The telltale sign of ants is ants.
You're just going to see the little trail of ants. You'll see them walking in a row.

Speaker 11 It can be easier to find out how they're coming in. You just sort of trace their little trail back as far as you can and then look around the foundation of your house.

Speaker 11 If they're coming from outside, they may just be in your walls too. Roaches, on the other hand, roaches love, and this is a phrase used in the pest control world, is cracks and crevices.

Speaker 11 So a roach is extremely happy if they have their feet on one surface and their back is against another surface.

Speaker 11 You want to look for them in like tight little spots. So, like, right between the stove and the cabinetry, like a little, a little nook like that.

Speaker 11 They love being around the refrigerator because the fridge actually provides a good water source, too, because there's condensation from the compressor unit, or maybe the gasket on the fridge door isn't really tight.

Speaker 11 So, there might be some condensation there. Cockroaches, they love cardboard too.
They raise them in cardboard when they raise them in labs.

Speaker 14 Why is that?

Speaker 11 Well, because it just provides so many of these little like

Speaker 11 little cracks and crevices, yeah.

Speaker 11 All right, so Doug, how many bugs in this case maybe roaches indicates a problem if you see one do you have an infestation if you see one ant does it mean you have more ants what's the the guidance there yeah i would say if you have one ant if you see one ant you should you should start thinking about doing something about it ants really don't operate on an individual basis um so you're you're not going to have just one and roaches do not live in a colony the way ants do but but still even if you have one one roach, I think it's worth dealing with.

Speaker 12 This might be an old wives' tale, but I have been told as a city dweller that if I see a really big cockroach, it's not as big of a problem as if I see a little tiny cockroach.

Speaker 11 I've also heard this. Really?

Speaker 14 I've also heard this. But I knew even while I was being told, I knew it was like a thing that they tell you so that you can sleep at night.
Is it? I mean, Doug, is it?

Speaker 11 I don't know. I haven't heard that.

Speaker 14 You've not heard that. So I think that's something that you would hear.

Speaker 12 Yeah, I've been told that I had a friend who had a really bad roach infestation in their apartment. And they had all these tiny little roaches.
And it wasn't like big ones.

Speaker 12 It was just like a bunch of little ones.

Speaker 13 I've lived in a roach-infested apartment before, and I can corroborate that.

Speaker 11 They're always the small ones.

Speaker 14 I have also lived in a roach-infested apartment, and they were small, and they were medium, and they were big.

Speaker 11 Well, lucky you.

Speaker 14 My poor brother, his old house, they were big and they were bigger and they were biggest.

Speaker 14 And it was an infestation. And it, so, I don't know if I buy that.

Speaker 14 I do like, I like this idea of like the individualist rose.

Speaker 11 Oh, yeah.

Speaker 14 Yeah, the Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Speaker 13 Okay, so once you figured out how the bugs are getting in and what you're dealing with, then I'm guessing it's time to clean because that usually seems to be the right answer.

Speaker 13 This is also an important step in getting rid of rodents, but what's more important here? Are you cleaning out crumbs in your kitchen or putting food in airtight containers?

Speaker 13 Like, what's the order of operations here?

Speaker 11 I would recommend both. You know, you want to give your kitchen like a really good cleaning.
And then at the same time, you want to make sure that your food is protected, especially roaches.

Speaker 11 If you keep like a little honey jar on your counter, that's going to be highly targeted by ants. So I would find a new way to store that.

Speaker 12 To this cleaning point, going back to my friend who lived in this roach-infested apartment, they kept things really clean and they could not get rid of this problem.

Speaker 12 After a while, they discovered that their landlord was keeping all of the yard trimmings in the basement. And it was just creating this area for all of these roaches to just chat down.

Speaker 12 So keeping things clean in your entire home is kind of key here, right? Yeah.

Speaker 11 And that's the difficulty with living in an apartment or a condo. You're only as good as the as the entire structure, really.
Yeah. What do they eat or what do they like to eat?

Speaker 14 You mentioned dog food is what they feed them when they're growing them in a lab, but are they going to essentially eat anything and drink any water source they can find?

Speaker 11 Yeah, ants typically have more of a sugar diet.

Speaker 11 It actually can change over the course of a year, but during the summer, ants typically have a sugar-based diet, and they may switch to more of a protein-based diet in the colder months, but roaches are more consistently a protein-based diet.

Speaker 12 They're little weightlifters.

Speaker 14 They are. And then what about water? I mean, you mentioned the refrigerator.
Is this also why you're finding roaches in and by a sink and in and by a shower tub and drain, that kind of thing.

Speaker 11 Yeah, roaches, they can go quite a while without eating. I think they can go weeks without eating, but they can only go a few days without drinking.

Speaker 11 So they're going to definitely focus in on a water source, which again, like I said, it's why refrigerators provide a good opportunity for them because they not only get those small cracks and crevices, but they typically can get water there too.

Speaker 13 But what about your sink? Like when you finish doing the dishes at the end of the night, are you supposed to wipe it down dry too? Like how do you keep them out of sources like that?

Speaker 11 You could try and do that. I mean, you just really got to do the best you can.
I mean, if that means squeegeeing down your sink, I guess you could give that a shot. Yikes.

Speaker 14 So the next step is to seal up holes. What is the best way to do that?

Speaker 11 Well, the best way to do that, like I said, with ants, if you can, you can often find the trail of ants and you can sort of trace it back, maybe if you're lucky to where they're getting in the house.

Speaker 11 It's a matter of going around the outside of your house, looking at the condition of your foundation. Usually where the framing, where the wood meets the foundation, there can be gaps there.

Speaker 11 Or if you have a fieldstone foundation, like I do, that actually can be very, very difficult to patch up. But you want to just take some heavy-duty caulk and just kind of fill the holes best you can.

Speaker 11 A good silicone caulk will be good, especially if it's on the outside of your house.

Speaker 11 That's going to provide more flexibility for the freeze and thaw expansion contraction that your house goes through.

Speaker 14 So to recap, What you're going to want to do here, and this goes for roaches, this goes for ants, observe what the bugs are identify them and identify where they're coming from find where they're coming into your home where they're spending their time at least you will know the source and this can be much easier said than done but that's kind of going to be your first step the second step clean up clean clean clean food put food away airtight seal it seal up your cracks that you can see And finally, what you're going to want to do is use a bait.

Speaker 11 We're going to get into that with Doug after a break.

Speaker 14 And we'll also ask about why people should avoid certain pest treatments and if it's time to stop faffing about and call a pro.

Speaker 11 We will be right back.

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Speaker 11 Welcome back.

Speaker 13 Doug, before the break, we talked about the first steps in combating an ant or roach infestation, but now let's talk about bait traps, which is what you'd recommend for both ants and roaches, right?

Speaker 13 So what exactly is a bait trap and how does it work exactly?

Speaker 11 So a bait, a bait is a mixture of food and a slow-acting poison.

Speaker 11 And the theory behind it is that in the case of ants specifically, they'll collect the food and then they bring it back to the colony and they distribute it.

Speaker 11 So that ultimately kills all the other ants and then eventually the queen. The model's bait comes in a bunch of different forms.

Speaker 11 We prefer the ones that are, they're called bait stations, which is like a little box that the bait comes in.

Speaker 11 The one unusual part about baits is that if you start seeing more ants, it might be a good thing because that means that they've found the bait station.

Speaker 11 The toxin is mixed with an extremely attractive food. So, once they find it, they'll just usually start lining up to get at it.
Oh, poor little guys.

Speaker 11 And so, roaches, like I said, they don't live in colonies, but they share the bait amongst themselves using other ways. So, what roaches will do is roaches might vomit and another roach will eat it.

Speaker 11 Poor little guys. They weren't appealing enough to begin with.
Roaches, they may eat each other's feces.

Speaker 11 Poor little guys.

Speaker 11 Or they may just die and be cannibalized by another roach. Poor little guys.
It's like the road out there.

Speaker 11 It is kind of like the road in Roach World.

Speaker 12 So it sounds like, okay, ants and roaches, they live in different types of communities.

Speaker 12 Are the traps themselves the same or are they different? Because it sounds like they eat slightly different foods.

Speaker 11 A bait station made for ants is not really going to attract roaches. So it's two different products.
There's two different toxins and two different food sources.

Speaker 11 The general theory is the same, but the details are not. So ants go for a sweet diet.

Speaker 11 So the food that's mixed with that poison is sweet almost, but it seems like it's like a honey or like a maple syrup. It's a very liquidy, very, very sweet thing.

Speaker 11 And then the roach one, it's more of like a paste. It's more of like a protein-based like muscle milk.

Speaker 12 That's right. Muscle milk for those little weightlifters.
And what do you what what traps do you like? What bait stations do you like for ants and roaches?

Speaker 11 We like the ones from Tarot. Tarot makes liquid ant baits and they also make roach baits.
Their liquid ant baits are notable.

Speaker 11 There is in all the product reviewing and testing I do, it is rare to find as much consensus as there is about how well the tarot ant baits work.

Speaker 11 When I was looking at all these ant baits, I set maybe five or six of them out. when we had our own ant problem and all of the ants they went right to tarot and they cleaned that one out.

Speaker 11 And all the other ones, all the other bait stations were like right next to it. So I'm not sure what they put in their little sugary mix, but whatever they do, it is highly, highly effective.

Speaker 11 We have a number of colleagues who have had really good experience with tarot ant baits too.

Speaker 12 Okay, so you've gotten a little bit into how you test these. Can you tell us more? You said you don't have cockroaches.
So how are you testing those?

Speaker 11 We test when it comes to all sort of our ant and pest control, for the most part, we don't test for efficacy. We test for usability.

Speaker 11 So we'll get the products in our hands and we'll use them as anyone would use them, see which ones, in the case of bait stations, which ones are easier to monitor, which ones are easier to open, which ones are just generally easier to use, how many you get in a pack, that sort of thing.

Speaker 11 But it just does not make sense for us to do efficacy testing on this.

Speaker 11 There's just too many variables involved as far as what season it is for the ants, which ants you're trying to get rid of, which roaches you're trying to get rid of, what their specific diets are.

Speaker 11 So there is a huge body of literature already out there as far as the effectiveness of different toxins.

Speaker 11 So we look at that and then we also speak with pest control operators, we speak with entomologists, we speak with people at extension offices and get their input as well.

Speaker 14 So again, are roaches and ants going into these little poison homes and that's how they're getting the bait and then taking it out and then coming back and doing the same thing over and over?

Speaker 11 Yep, that's exactly it. Fun.
And in the case of ants, you'll just have a line of ants going across your kitchen right to the bait, and then a line of ants right next to it going back to the colony.

Speaker 14 And so then where are you meant to put the traps? Particularly if you don't, I mean, obviously, you put them where the source is, but if you don't know, how do you figure that out?

Speaker 11 Well, you really want to put them sort of where you see the bugs. It's not going to make much sense to put them like in the middle of your room.

Speaker 11 So along like the baseboards would be good or on your counters if that's where you see ants. With roaches, you can put them around, like I said, around the refrigerator.

Speaker 11 You can put them in places where there are those sort of cracks and crevices.

Speaker 14 You mentioned the countertop. Do these bait traps pose any risk to kids or any risk to pets? Should people be careful where they're placing them for those reasons?

Speaker 11 Well, as with any of, you know, handling any kind of toxin, you definitely want to be aware with kids and pets.

Speaker 11 I will say the ant baits, their active ingredients is borax, which is commonly used as a laundry detergent.

Speaker 11 So that is about, it's about as benign as it gets, but it can spill out and you don't want your dog eating it up. You don't want your kids drinking it.
So it comes in different forms.

Speaker 11 We like the bait stations because it's a little more contained.

Speaker 11 Roach baits, they use a stronger active ingredient, but it's a thick paste and it doesn't easily fall out of the bait station.

Speaker 11 So that one is a little safer as far as if a kid goes over and just like picks it up or if a dog knocks it over.

Speaker 13 From your reporting, Doug, I know that there are other types of pesticides that you could use, like gels and powders, but when would you go for one of those?

Speaker 11 Well, what we've been talking about are bait stations. And so that is when, like I said, the bait comes in the little compartment.

Speaker 11 But most manufacturers, they'll sell the same bait, the same mixture of the poison and the food, but they'll sell it in just a different format. So you can often get them in a powder or in a gel.

Speaker 11 And that can work depending on the situation. So especially with cockroaches, the gel is like sticky.

Speaker 11 So you could kind of like smear some maybe kind of on the side of a cabinet that's near your stove. Or it's just not a place where you want to put a bait station.

Speaker 11 You could do a little bit of the gel, the powder, it comes in, you could just puff a few little bits of this powder like underneath the refrigerator.

Speaker 11 We find that they're harder to use, they're harder to monitor, and they're a little tougher around kids and pets. So we prefer the bait stations.

Speaker 14 I remember when I had a roach infestation, I remember feeling like anything that has any kind of review, I want to get it and I want to pour it all over the apartment and I want to do everything at once.

Speaker 14 Is there any detriment to doing more things, you know, reaching for more than one type of bait or type of solution at once?

Speaker 11 No, not really. I mean, I think

Speaker 11 it's a fact that there's no one product that's always going to work all the time.

Speaker 11 And I think one of the things to keep in mind in approaching this is to always have the flexibility flexibility to switch to a different product, a different active ingredient.

Speaker 11 There are times when the bugs will sort of have just sort of an aversion to a bait for whatever reason.

Speaker 11 But that doesn't mean that they'll also be averse to one that comes from another company or one that uses a different active ingredient or has a different recipe.

Speaker 14 But by the same token, whatever you choose, you want to give it the time to work.

Speaker 11 Yep. Maybe like a week or two and see how it's going.
The tarot bait station, one thing we like about them is that they're clear, so they're really easy to monitor.

Speaker 11 So you'll usually, if they're working, you'll see some ants that kind of drown themselves in there. So you should know if it's working.
You'll be able to see.

Speaker 12 Okay, so we've talked about bait stations. We've talked about gels.

Speaker 13 We've talked about powders.

Speaker 12 There are other types of products you can treat ants and roaches with, right? What are some of those and why don't you advise using them?

Speaker 11 Yeah, so there's the kill-on contact sprays. Those are not going to do any good because you're just going to be killing the ants that are right in front of you.

Speaker 11 And that, as we know, is not going to affect the colony. And it's really not going to change the behavior of the ants.

Speaker 11 What's more is I've been told that you can, if you use those kill-in-contact sprays, that you can actually split the colony. And so then it'll make the infestation worse.

Speaker 11 There's also bug bombs, which are those foggers, which you sort of set a bunch of them off in a room and then you vacate the room or you vacate your house. Those don't tend to work.

Speaker 11 They don't tend to get into the cracks and crevices where cockroaches live. And then there was even a story where somebody set a ton of them off.

Speaker 11 And they use butane as part of the mixture in the aerosol can.

Speaker 11 And then I think it might have been, there might have been a spark from the stove or from the fridge or something, but I believe the entire house blew up. Oh, my God.

Speaker 13 Oh, my God. I mean, they solved the infestation problem.

Speaker 11 That is dark.

Speaker 13 So are those...

Speaker 14 kill on contact sprays not good for roaches either?

Speaker 11 It may not get all of the roaches. I think the bait, it's going to be a more passive way and have a better chance at getting all of the roaches.

Speaker 14 I'll tell you what, I was walking around the house like with a holster and keeping like raid in my pocket.

Speaker 14 And I was just like, because you see one of these in the daytime and you're not going to be like, well, I guess I'll just take myself. into another room and hope that the bait works overnight.

Speaker 14 You're like screaming and then spraying this thing until it flips over on its back. So I don't know.
I don't know what my question is.

Speaker 11 I'm clearly still haunted.

Speaker 11 They can certainly be added, added to your arsenal, but I think that they would be in conjunction with a bait. Got it.

Speaker 13 So Doug, on TikTok, I sometimes see quote-unquote non-toxic ways people can deal with bug problems, like things like tea tree oil, vinegar, and I even saw something called diatomaceous earth, which is like this white, chalky substance made from fossilized sea creatures.

Speaker 13 I don't know why I bought this, but it's supposed to be one of those natural remedies that keeps ants and roaches away. I want to know your thoughts on that.

Speaker 11 Yeah, there are definitely with essential oils. There's definitely a lot of essential oils that have bug repellent capabilities.

Speaker 11 The problem with essential oils is that their effectiveness does not last very long. Diametaceous earth can be very effective.
It's a very, very, very fine powder.

Speaker 11 It's often just sort of like a messy alternative to deal with. They have to actually walk through it and get it on their bodies for it to work.
It's just a little trickier.

Speaker 11 I know anecdotally there's a lot of people who swear by diametaceous earth and I'm sure that it works to a certain degree. I believe it dries them out.

Speaker 11 But again, it's just sort of a messier option where I think a bait is probably a little just easier to deal with.

Speaker 12 So if you are dealing with bugs, you want to do what we talked about in the first part of this episode. You want to identify, you want to clean, and and then you want to seal up any holes.

Speaker 12 And then you want to turn to bait traps. And you want to get different kinds for ants and roaches.
Bait traps are generally going to be the most effective.

Speaker 12 You can also use gels and powders that have some of the same insecticides in them. But Doug, you recommend avoiding...

Speaker 12 instant kill aerosol sprays for ants because it can make the infestation worse if you split the colony.

Speaker 11 You might want to consider using them for roaches if you're looking for an extra little gung-ho treatment there.

Speaker 12 You recommend avoiding these like total release foggers, these bug bombs, because they're not that effective and they can also be dangerous.

Speaker 12 And then also you might try some of these natural treatments, but they're not going to be as effective as the traps.

Speaker 11 Probably not. I mean, baits are really the standard, especially with ants.
I would say with cockroaches too. It's a very reliable and it doesn't really get you in contact with the bugs.

Speaker 11 It's actually a fairly clean way to go about it.

Speaker 14 So you've done all of these things that Christine just mentioned.

Speaker 14 It's not working. When is it time to call an exterminator, Doug?

Speaker 11 Well, that's sort of your call, your comfort level. Like, if you want to keep trying something else, but you don't want to let it get even further and further out of hand.

Speaker 11 So, I would say once a couple baits are out, I'd monitor them for a couple weeks or however long you can handle it. Definitely don't be afraid to just call it quits and call a pest control operator.

Speaker 14 Doug, it's time you get in the hot seat. We're going to test you.

Speaker 11 Really? We started this with you quizzing us.

Speaker 14 It's only fair. We return the favor.
So we're going to play a little round of would you rather?

Speaker 12 Yeah, boy. I'll start.
I've been thinking about this. I've been thinking about how I want to test you.
Would you rather eat chocolate-covered roaches or chocolate-covered ants?

Speaker 11 Chocolate-covered ants. Yeah, they're smaller.

Speaker 11 Would you rather have roaches that could fly or ants that could bite? I would probably go flying. Like really, like a biting ants

Speaker 11 sounds awful. Yikes.

Speaker 13 Okay. Would you rather have a roach infestation or a rat infestation?

Speaker 11 Ooh.

Speaker 11 Huh. I would say

Speaker 11 that's tricky. That's tricky.
I have more experience with rats. So as gross as it is, I would probably rather have a rat infestation because I kind of know.
The enemy.

Speaker 11 I know the enemy. Yeah.

Speaker 14 Okay, so before we wrap, Kyra usually asks all of our guests one final question: What's the last thing you bought that you really loved?

Speaker 14 But because Doug is a regular, and more than that, because Doug famously doesn't buy all that much of anything, we're going to spare him and just say, Doug, you're wonderful.

Speaker 14 Thank you for coming back. Thank you for humoring us and haunting us.

Speaker 11 Well, it's a pleasure to be here. Thank you.

Speaker 12 Well, that was thoroughly disgusting.

Speaker 11 Yuck.

Speaker 14 I'm kind of surprised we made it.

Speaker 12 Yeah.

Speaker 12 I mean, but we're done. We're not going to do any more of these.
We promise.

Speaker 13 Yeah, I'm going to just, like, like all the other ones that we did that are this level of disgusting, I'm just going to blank it out.

Speaker 11 Just going in the vault and never remembering any of this.

Speaker 14 I do feel like we bonded through some shared misery.

Speaker 11 Yeah.

Speaker 12 I know what to do the next time I see the little trail of ants in my apartment or the rogue cockroach. For me personally, I now know that if I see one cockroach, it's a problem.

Speaker 12 I always kind of thought if there was just one rogue one, it had just wandered in.

Speaker 12 But now I know that they might be kind of like nesting around the pipes around my, in my sink and behind my refrigerator and all that good stuff.

Speaker 13 You know what?

Speaker 11 I actually think ignorance is bliss.

Speaker 13 But if I do see another roach or just before that, I think I'm just going to get some bait traps for roaches and ants just to be safe because I actually live in a ground floor apartment. Yeah.

Speaker 13 I've been lucky so far, but I don't want to risk it. Yeah.

Speaker 14 I hope you stay safe out there.

Speaker 14 My, my big thing, it's, it's annoying, but it's clean. It's clean, clean, clean, clean, clean.

Speaker 14 Having said that, when I had the roach problem and actually I had an ant problem too in a previous apartment, we cleaned and it didn't make a difference and we had to call a professional.

Speaker 14 So don't be a hero. That's right.
If it's not working, call someone for help.

Speaker 12 That's right. Give it like a week or two with your bait traps and then call the pros.

Speaker 14 If you want to find out more about Wirecutter's coverage or if you want to check out Doug's recording, head to our website. You can also have a look at our show notes.
That's it for us.

Speaker 14 Sorry for creeping y'all out.

Speaker 14 See ya. Thanks for listening.
Bye.

Speaker 13 The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddie Mazziello and Nick Pittman.
Today's episode was mixed by Catherine Anderson.

Speaker 13 Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Alicia Butt YouTube, and Diane Wong.

Speaker 13 Wirecutter's deputy publisher is Cliff Levy. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's editor-in-chief.

Speaker 11 I'm Kyra Blackwell.

Speaker 12 I'm Christine Sear Clissette.

Speaker 14 And I'm Rosie Guerin.

Speaker 13 Thanks for listening.

Speaker 12 Well, that was gross.

Speaker 11 I was not expecting that.

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