Roaches in your toilet bowl or seat come from the house. They use gaps under the door, sink, or open bathroom drainage. Once they get into the bathroom, they look for a dark warm place. Cockroaches hide around the inner edges of a toilet bowl, just below where you seat. This is the place where flushed water comes from.
It is difficult for roaches to climbing into a toilet bowl through the water at the bottom. Cockroaches can only swim by floating but they cannot intentionally dive in water. The Toilet system is designed in a way that they will have to swim underwater before they come into the bowl.
If roaches fall in water at the base of a toilet bowl, they will not drown. They can hold their breath for approximately half an hour and hope to get something to cling on. Cockroaches cannot live in toilet seats because it has a lot of activities with rumbling noise from flushed water. They only crawl on it if has urine and poop stains.
Causes of roaches in a toilet bowl
Generally, a dirty toilet that is constantly used but rarely cleaned attracts bugs. Roaches can eat human poop and a toilet bowl that is poorly flashed and rarely washed will attract them. They crawl on the toilet seat while foraging for urine and stool particles splashed on it.
Spilled pee on the toilet seat is a major cause of cockroaches in toilet. If there is an infestation, baby roaches hide at the joint where the lid is attached to the seat. At times, as you open of close the lead, adult roaches may also pop from those joints.
Urinating on the floor also attracts roaches around the toilet seat. It s a common habit for men and young boys to spill some urine on the toilet seat. This is always done when they are drunk or in a hurry. Whatever it is that makes them do it doesn’t matter, just find how to stop the habit.
Using an old brush to scrub the toilet bowl is another cause of bugs. An old scrubbing brush has weak bristles that cannot remove dirt particles stuck on the seat. Poor cleaning will only invite more roaches in the bowl and they will keep coming back no matter how much you clean.
How to get rid of roaches in toilet bowl
Mix 1 cup of bleach with 1 gallon of warm water in a bucket and use it to clean the restroom by wash all the mats, tiles, and hidden corners. After that, use a toilet bowl cleaner to wash the seat. If possible, get a scented cleaner that will deter roaches.
A clean toilet keeps cockroaches and other bugs away. Even if the bowl is clean and the washroom is dirty, roaches can still end up in it. Roaches hate bleach because it has a strong irritating smell. This can also kill them on contact.
1. Seal the drainage and sinks
Roaches can live in the restroom sink and drainage. They come out during the night to look for food and the first place that can provide that is a dirty toilet. They will crawl on the bowl and leak on urine droplets that are left on the toilet seat and floor.
If you find roaches in a clean toilet, seal find a cover for your drainage and sinks. Find a floating cover for bathroom drains that allows water to pass while remaining in place. Floating drainage covers are available in several shapes and colors and is one of the best ways to prevent roaches from crawling up the drains.
2. Soapy water
If you always find roaches in the toilet bowl at night even when the toiled is clean, mix 1 cup of dish soap with 2 cups of water and pour it in the toilet. Let it mix with the water at the base of the bowl. Roaches can drown to death if they trip and fall in it because soapy water will kill bugs if they are submerged in it.
3. Keep the lid closed
Keep the toilet lid down to ensure that the bowl is covered and protected from roaches and other bugs. However, this should only be done once it has been washed.
Keeping the lid closed while the toilet is not washed can result in a bad smell that can spread into the rest of the house overnight. Since roaches eat poop, the toilet lip should be left down to cover the bowl so that they do not go in.
4 Lower the water levels in a toilet bowl
High water levels in the toilet that rise towards the seating area can make it easy for roaches to leak human waste. In case they trip and fall in the water, they will also have an easy time while trying to climb out.
In case the toilet has extra water levels that exceed the normal, check if there is a blockage. Kids may drop things in the toilet that may cause the water levels to rise. Lower the water levels in a toilet bowl by removing any foreign material at the base or replacing the toilet seat the problem persists.
5 Toilet bowl cleaners
Some bowl cleaners designed to keep the toilet seat sterilized while leaving it with a strong scent that can repel roaches and other bugs. Roaches hate chemicals that block their breathing holes and they will not crawl on the toilet bowl if those cleaners are applied and left overnight.
You may also spray roaches in a toilet bowl to get rid of them. However, the disadvantage of using insecticides on toilet seats is that they can irritate your skin. It is therefore advisable to wash them off after spraying so that nobody seats on them while using the restroom.
To deter roaches from a toilet bowl, clean it with ammonia. Pour 5 ounces of ammonia into the bowl and let it sit for 2 hours. Then use a brush to scrub the grime and flush it once you are done. Ammonia can kill roaches on contact. Its pungent odor will also repel them.
Can you flush a cockroach down the toilet
Flushing cockroaches down the toilet cannot kill them. Roaches can stay underwater without air for 30-60 minutes. If you flush them, they will end up in the sewer system and this may escalate an infestation. They can feed on human waste down the sewer, lay eggs and multiply.
Sewers are dark and warm with a lot of moisture that provides a good environment for roaches to breed. Once they have over multiplied, they look for ways to find new habitats.
Roaches from the sewer can climb trough pipes and get into the house if they find any cracks or openings. This is the worse you can imagine because they are dirty and loaded with all bacterial infections that you can think of.
Flushing live roaches into a toilet is not a good idea due to the fact that they can survive and live in your drainage and sewers. Roaches can play dead and disposing of them in a toilet if you are not sure if they are pretending will not help. However, it is fine to flush a dead roach because it will not come back to life and breed in your sewer.