Mix Cucumber With These Kitchen Essentials To Repel Roaches And Mice From Your Home

Even the cleanest homes can be invaded by pests seeking shelter, warmth, water, and food. There are some clever ways to keep mice from moving into your home in the first place. But if you've been hearing the rustle of mice in the kitchen or seen roaches scattering when you turn on the lights at night, now is the time to start researching ways to repel these pests. Did you know that you may be able to rid your home of a pest issue with a few simple ingredients from your kitchen? You'll need a cucumber, baking soda, sugar, wheat flour, and some water. While this may sound like an unusual ingredient list for a recipe, there are valid reasons for each one. Cut the cucumber into slices, then mix the remaining ingredients (the water should be just enough to make the mixture slightly clump together). Then, place the mixture on the cucumber slices. 

Some of these ingredients are meant to attract the pests, while others have an ulterior purpose — upsetting the digestive systems of the unsuspecting critters who ingest the mixture. According to Latin Kitchen on YouTube, the best places to put this concoction are areas where pests tend to congregate, such as under appliances, near home entryways, and along baseboards. You can also place them in the corners of rooms where roaches and mice are commonly found.

The idea behind this mix of ingredients is that items like sugar and cucumber will attract the pests. Then, once ingested, the baing soda will upset their digestive system and either kill them or make them want to leave your home. However, a closer examination of how this works reveals that it may not be as effective as you might hope. 

Pest control companies note that mice are nibblers, so they may not ingest enough of the baking soda to cause them more than slight discomfort. Even if it does manage to kill a few mice, if you have an infestation, this hack is unlikely to make a significant dent in your issue. However, since roaches are much smaller (in some cases), the baking soda may have a better chance of killing them. Don't completely discount the use of baking soda in your home, though, as there are a lot of cleaning hacks it's suitable for that may make your home less hospitable to pests. Keeping your kitchen clean and other areas of the house where food is kept can help keep roaches out.

So, while there is a chance you can get rid of some of your roaches with this hack, it's probably not going to do much for a mouse problem. For effectively dealing with a pest infestation (both mice and roaches), your best bet is to seal the areas they're entering through, keep food scraps off the floor, use regular traps, and contact a professional pest control company if none of these measures are effective.