How to Get Rid of Cockroaches in a Dhaka Kitchen — Properly

Cockroaches are the most common pest complaint we get in Dhaka, and the most commonly mishandled. Almost everyone starts with a spray can, which is exactly the approach most likely to entrench the problem.

Why spraying usually fails

Aerosol sprays kill the cockroaches you can see. The ones you can see are a small fraction of the population — the rest are behind the cabinets, inside the hinges, under the sink and in the wall voids. Worse, repellent sprays scatter the colony into new harbourages, spreading a single-room problem across the flat. A week later the visible numbers return, and the nest is now in two places.

What gel baiting does instead

Gel bait is placed in tiny amounts exactly where cockroaches travel: cabinet corners, hinge recesses, behind and under appliances, along pipe entries, inside the sink cabinet. It is not repellent, so the colony keeps using its normal routes. Cockroaches feed on it and carry the active ingredient back to the harbourage, where it passes through the population. It works slower than a spray for the first two days and far better by the end of the second week.

It is also considerably safer in a kitchen, because nothing is aerosolised across the surfaces where you prepare food.

The kitchen conditions that feed them

Cockroaches are not attracted to visible crumbs so much as to the grease film that builds up on every surface in a kitchen that cooks daily with oil. That film coats the backsplash, the cabinet exteriors, the chimney hood and the floor edges, and it is a food source. This is why kitchen degreasing and pest control belong together: treating the pest without removing the food supply gives you a shorter reprieve than it should.

What you can do yourself

• Degrease properly — hood, filters, tiles, cabinet fronts and floor edges, not just wiped surfaces.
• Fix dripping taps and clear the sink trap. Cockroaches need water more urgently than food.
• Store dry goods in sealed containers rather than opened packets.
• Empty the bin nightly and wash it out weekly.
• Seal gaps around pipe entries under the sink and behind the cooker with silicone or steel wool.
• Do not leave wet cloths, sponges or standing washing-up overnight.

What not to do

Do not spray insecticide over an area where gel bait has been placed — it contaminates the bait and stops them feeding on it. Do not use chalk, which is unregulated and largely useless. And do not treat one flat in isolation in an apartment building where the infestation is clearly shared; the colony simply moves back through the shared risers.

When to call a professional

If you see cockroaches during the day, that indicates a population large enough that the harbourages are overcrowded. If you find droppings or egg cases in cabinets, or if the problem returns within weeks of every attempt, it is time for an inspection, targeted baiting and a follow-up visit. In apartment buildings the honest fix is often a coordinated treatment of several flats at once.

Realistic expectations

A well-executed gel baiting programme substantially reduces the population in one to two weeks and clears it over the warranty period, provided the kitchen conditions change too. Any company promising same-day permanent elimination is selling you a spray and a short reprieve.