As if having cockroaches in your home isn’t bad enough, but now they are in your bedroom!
How do you sleep with a cockroach in your bedroom?
Not very well, I’ll bet!
I once stayed in a hotel on the west coast. As I was drifting off to sleep, I noticed something moving on the ceiling. It was a cockroach.
As I looked around the room, I noticed there were more of them.
Needless to say, I had a terrible night’s sleep!
Let’s take a look at what you can do if you have cockroaches on your bed or in your bedroom.
Why Do Cockroaches Like Your Bed?
Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons why you have a cockroach prowling around in your bedroom in the first place.
Only then can you take action to keep the cockroach away while you sleep
Food
Access to food is the biggest reason you have a cockroach in your home and your bedroom.
Cockroaches need:
- Food
- Water
- Shelter
If you have food in your bedroom, then the cockroach will know about it.
Dampness
As above, you can say the same about dampness and a water source.
If you have a leak or have a spillage, then the cockroach might be in your room to drink from it.
Was Transported In
I once returned from vacation, and as my wife was unpacking, I heard a deafening scream from the bedroom. As I rushed in, I was greeted by my wife standing on the bed, pointing towards the suitcase.
Inside the suitcase was a cockroach!
I had brought it back from vacation. If my wife hadn’t spotted it, the cockroach might well have stayed in my bedroom searching for food and water.
Other Pests
Cockroaches eat various things, including insects!
That means if you have other pests in your bed, then they could be attracting the cockroach.
How to Reduce the Chances of Cockroaches Getting on Your Bed
Now that you know why a cockroach will be near your bed, let’s take a look at some steps to stop them.
There are other methods you can use, such as more natural ways to deter cockroaches. These are the tips I would use to stop cockroaches from getting on the bed while you sleep!
Stop Eating on Your Bed
First things first, and I know it’s tempting, but do not eat on your bed!
By eating on your bed, you are spreading crumbs around the sheets and under the bed. If you suffer from regular cockroach infestations, having crumbs on your bed will attract them.
Search For the Entry Points
There are many cockroach entry points around your home, but this is specifically for your bedroom.
Take a look around your room at these places:
- Bedroom door
- Window frames
- Gaps in the ceiling
- Gaps in the floor
- En-suite drains
All of these offer a cockroach route into your bedroom and then onto your bed.
Seal the Cracks
Please do your best to cover these entry points until you can seal them up completely.
If it were me, I would wedge clothing and other materials over any entry points you find so that I get some sleep!
Search For Water Source
As I mentioned above, a cockroach might be in your bedroom because of a leak or a small pool of water it can drink from.
Find it, and eradicate it!
The idea is that you remove all the things that attract cockroaches to your bedroom.
Install Weather-stripping
Weather-stripping is a great idea to stop roaches from getting into your bedroom!
These can either come in self-sticking foam form or a more solid solution that sticks to the bottom of your door.
Both options work very well and will ensure there are no entry points around your door.
Clear Your Room
Finally, you should clean your room.
Start by cleaning your room and vacuuming up all the debris on the floor. Take away some of the things (outside of food and water) that will attract roaches, such as:
- Cardboard
- Paper
- Other insects
Cockroach Spray
If you feel brave or lucky, you can make up a spray to combat the roach before you sleep.
You have two choices:
- Soap and water spray. Make up a bottle with 1 cup of water and a few squirts of dish soap. This needs to be applied directly to the cockroach to have any effect.
- Rosemary oil. Make up a mixture of 1/2 cup of water and 30 drops of rosemary oil. Again, this needs to be applied directly to the cockroach to have any impact. The good news is that during trials, the researchers found rosemary oil to be very effective against cockroaches! Other essential oils didn’t show as much effectiveness as Rosemary at killing or keeping roaches away.
Traps
It goes without saying that using traps (with gel bait)s is a great way of keeping any cockroach infestation to a minimum.
By having traps near your bed, you will prevent cockroaches from getting in with you.
Lay your cockroach traps near your bed, concentrating on the following areas:
- Behind furniture
- Under the bed
- Near the entrance
- Near any windows
- In the en-suite (if you have one)
Getting Further Help – Pest Control to Keep Roaches Away
If you do not want to take these cockroaches on yourself, you should engage with a pest control company to take them on for you.
They do come at an additional expense, but their experience and guarantees make it worth the initial outlay.
Ensure that you ask about their experience and any guarantees they offer before accepting a quote.
Conclusion
The upshot is that if you want to stop cockroaches from getting into your bed or in your bedroom then you should follow the tips on this page.
Let’s not forget that cockroaches have the potential to share some nasty diseases, and can cause some damage to your home and health. You don’t want cockroaches on bed sheets or your pillows!
Not only that, but you also do not want a house full of cockroaches!
Always ensure that you clean up correctly, and do not leave anything lying around that will attract cockroaches to your home.
If you do not clean up correctly, then you run the risk of a sudden appearance of cockroaches in your bedroom and the rest of your house.
Good luck keeping cockroaches away from your bed!
