Roaches can cause you to become ill if they crawl on you, so in this blog, I will disclose how to keep roaches from crawling on you.
Roaches crawl primarily at night as they are looking for food and can feed on human skin, hairs, eyelashes, and nails.
In this blog, I will provide you with various methods that are authentic, as I have also used all these to keep roaches away, and they work amazingly.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get started without further delay!
How To Keep Roaches From Crawling On you?
The best method to keep roaches away from you is using some natural plant sources that have smelly substances. The smell of peppermint, cypress, and cedarwood generates a toxic stimulus that travels to the brain of roaches; this causes them to move away. Extract oil from these substances and place them near your bed to keep roaches from crawling on you.
You can also find some repellents from your home, like vinegar, lemon, and coffee beans, crush the coffee seeds, convert them into powdered form, and place the bowl containing it near your bed.
How to Avoid Cockroaches While Sleeping?
As I have mentioned, if a cockroach crawls on you, it can cause diseases because it contains pathogens.
But no need to panic as I have listed some methods that can help you to protect yourself from roaches while sleeping.
I have tested and applied all these methods and got the best results, so you will not be disappointed by following recommended methods.
1. Keep Food Away From Your Sleeping Place
Cockroaches are attracted to food containing sugar, starch, fat, and protein.
Mostly they come out of their places at night in search of food, so don’t ever keep food products near your bed.
They can enter your ears or mouth and also cause damage to your hair. So place the leftover food in the kitchen before going to bed and don’t leave any source for them.
The second option is placing the food in airtight glass containers; this will not allow the odor of food to reach cockroaches’ antennae.
2. Clean Your Sleeping Place
Cleaning keeps roaches away because some cockroaches feed on garbage, dust particles, and dirt; this is one of the reasons why they are considered dirty.
Moreover, they are also fond of leftover food particles, so carrying out a thorough cleaning process will help to get rid of these troublesome insects.
If you have some dirty and sweaty clothes around your sleeping place, take them to the laundry room because cockroaches are also attracted to the smell of human sweat.
I suggest you use a vacuum cleaner for cleaning your room because it can suck the smallest food particle on the floor.
3. Empty the Trash Box
As I have discussed earlier, cockroaches are attracted to garbage because they find there a lot to eat. So, do you want to attract roaches to your bedroom?
Obviously, no, so clean the trash box once it is complete, don’t let the garbage box overflow. Cleaning agents can also help to detoxify trash boxes or repel cockroaches.
Besides, cockroaches also feed on decayed food products and fruits like overly ripened bananas, oranges, and others, so be aware if you have one in your room’s trash box.
This method will definitely help you to keep roaches away from your room.
4. Block the Route of Cockroaches
Another method to protect your mouth from cockroaches is blocking their entrance points. Cockroaches can enter your room through doors, windows, and bathrooms.
Besides, they are hidden in small cracks in the walls of your room so they can get easy access to your sleeping place. The solution to this problem is blocking all the entrance points.
So, first of all, close the doors and windows before sleeping; this is not enough as roaches are so small and can even squeeze their bodies to enter through tiny spaces of doors.
Therefore, cover these spaces also, cover any holes present in the room, and repair cracks in walls.
5. Use Odorless Repellents
Cockroaches hate some odors and avoid their interaction with such products, so you can use these to keep roaches away; such products are usually from plant sources.
These are called repellents. Use these instead of insecticides because insecticides contain harmful chemicals and irritating smells that can disturb your sleep.
You can use bay leaves, lavender, cedarwood, peppermint oil, and some other essential oils; these are odorless or have a sweet smell that is poisonous for cockroaches but not humans.
You can use the leaves from these plants or can also crush them and extract oils, pour these oils into glass bottles, and don’t seal them. Place these bottles near your bed or sleeping place.
6. Use Poisons
If you are facing a large population of cockroaches and want to protect yourself from those crawling on you at night, spray insecticides at the corners of your bed.
This is two in one solution as it will not only keep roaches away from you while sleeping but also kill them.
In addition, if you want one more similar method, you can also mix poison with one of their favorite foods. They will smell it with the help of antennae and hairs and ingest the poison unintentionally.
You can also use boric acid for this purpose; this will not only kill the roaches but can also help you to find their living place.
Boric acid is a white poisonous powder; when cockroaches come in contact with it, they will take it with them anywhere they go so you can trace it to find their natural place.
Besides, it also has a poisonous effect on cockroaches’ central nervous system, causing a slow death.
I have mentioned the time taken by insecticide sprays to kill different insects, So let’s have a look.
| No | Insects | Time |
| 1 | Ants | 15 to 30 minutes |
| 2 | Cockroaches | 90 to 120 minutes |
| 3 | Termites | 24 hours |
| 4 | Flies | 7 days |
7. Placing UV Light
According to my research, UV rays from the Sun have an adverse effect on the growth of American species of roaches; it also helps to keep them away.
Isn’t it amazing? Actually, UV rays generate fear responses in American roaches that cause them to move away.
Now you must be thinking about how we bring ultraviolet rays at night, so this is not a problem as you can also buy a UV light source and place it where you want.
How Do Cockroaches Sense You for Crawling?
Actually, cockroaches have long, thin hairs on their legs and a pair of antennae on their head that help them to sense and feel things.
Cockroaches also have three compound eyes with 2000 mini lenses that help them to see at night. Moreover, they can also feel the smell of human sweat.
Cockroaches are more efficient at night because it is their working time, as they look for food during the night time, so their senses work intensely.
In addition, roaches can also sense the smell of our clothes, especially if they are dirty and have food stains on them.
Do Roach Repellents Keep Roaches From Crawling On You?
Cockroaches are known as genius insects because they have well-developed brains; these insects have a particular relation to odors.
Have you ever thought about how a roach detects food? Cockroaches have a pair of antennae on their head that help them to smell food.
Moreover, roaches also communicate by using odors, they release a secretion that has a specific smell, and the receiver roach interprets this odor and can understand the message.
So cockroaches have a portion in their brain that stores the memory of different odors. Cockroaches can also detect danger by smelling toxic scents.
Some smells attract cockroaches, while others repel them. You must be desperate to know about these repellents. So let’s have a look.
- Dried bay leaves
- Peppermint oil
- Oil from cedarwood
- Cypress oil
- Coffee beans
- Citrus fruits
- Lavender
- Vinegar
- Garlic
- Lemon
- Pandan leaves
All the above-mentioned oils, along with coffee beans, are the products that are hated by cockroaches due to their irritating smells.
The scents we love may be toxic for cockroaches, so I prefer using these ingredients in my home, near my bed, kitchen, and bathroom.
Cockroaches recognize the smells of repellents, and their brain generates a response of fear, due to which they avoid coming near.
Does Light Keep Roaches From Crawling On You?
As you know, cockroaches are one of those insects that love to hide. Therefore some people think that light can keep roaches away.
Unfortunately, this is not a practical solution; as I have discussed earlier, cockroaches avoid repellents, and the reason is they hate their smell and consider them toxic.
On the other hand, roaches aren’t afraid of light, and they don’t consider it harmful. They avoid coming out during the day because they don’t want to be apparent to their predators.
So, roaches prefer to take no risk and, therefore, usually leave their shelters at night, but they can also come out during the day if there are large numbers of roaches competing for food.
What Happens If a Cockroach Crawls On You?
Cockroaches are included in pest groups as they carry disease-causing pathogens with them, and if a cockroach crawls on you, it can transfer these pathogens to your body.
Some people are allergic to roaches; they have a severe allergy to a protein present in the digestive system of cockroaches.
People that are allergic to roaches are at higher risk of asthma and skin allergies when interacting with them.
Cockroaches crawl on humans at night for the sake of food, and they are attracted to human hair, especially if they are oily.
They also feed on peeled skin and can bite there, causing red bumps and irritation. They may also cause swelling in the ears if they crawl inside the ears.
So if you are fighting against roaches, apply methods to remove them as early as possible.
Do Traps Keep Roaches From Crawling On You?
If you experience a cockroach crawling on you at night, this means there are some more roaches hiding anywhere in your house.
Large infestations force cockroaches to crawl on you. So I suggest you find the hidden roaches first. For this, I am going to share a reliable method that is 100 % applicable.
- Buy glue traps having sticky material inside from the market.
- Place roach traps near the bathroom, kitchen, basement, bedrooms, and places that are at higher risk.
- Mark the traps.
- Check all roach traps after one to two days.
- Count the number of roaches in each trap.
- The trap placed near cockroaches’ homes will get the most significant number of roaches.
The traps also cause the death of roaches by stealing their moving ability; the roach cannot run away to find food and water and die after some days due to lack of moisture.
How Does Cool Temperature Keep Roaches From Crawling On You?
Cockroaches feel comfortable in warm temperatures, so there are more chances of finding cockroaches crawling on you in summer as compared to winter.
Large populations of cockroaches also give rise to competition for shelter, so small roaches that are not powerful enough to win against giant roaches choose humans for the sake of comfort.
Moreover, our body also releases heat during sleeping that may attract roaches so if you don’t want to provide a favorable temperature to them, use an air conditioner.
Cockroaches avoid relaxed environments as low temperature affects their activity.
Final Thoughts:
In this blog, you have learned how to keep roaches from crawling on you. Roaches can crawl on you at night for the sake of shelter and food.
They can also transfer disease-causing pathogens to your body, causing different diseases like asthma, skin allergies, dysentery, typhoid, cholera, and much more.
So, if you find a cockroach crawling on you, take it seriously and follow all the above methods to keep them away or call some professional person to get rid of the infestation.
FAQs:
Do Roaches Get on You When You Sleep?
Cockroaches avoid humans during day time as they are afraid of them because we humans are much larger than cockroaches, so they get a chance while we are sleeping.
Why Are Humans Naturally Afraid of Cockroaches?
Some humans are afraid of cockroaches because they don’t want to become ill as cockroaches are diseases causing pests, while others consider them dirty and terrible as they move fast.
Do Cockroaches Find Humans Disgusting?
Cockroaches don’t want to interact with humans as they see humans as their predators; moreover, if you touch a cockroach, it will find it disgusting and clean the oil transfer by your hands to its antennae.
Also See: