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How Do You Get Cockroaches Out Of Your TV?

Cockroaches love to stay in dark, warm, and enclosed spaces.

Unfortunately, sometimes these places include the electronics in your home, like inside your TV.

So when this happens, how do you get cockroaches out of your TV?

The simplest way to remove roaches from inside your TV is to place poison baits around the TV. After the roaches have eaten the bait and died, you can dismantle the device to remove and dispose of the roaches’ bodies. 

Cleaning Roaches Out Of A Television

A woman wearing a folded long sleeve is wiping the television with a cloth.

Cockroaches are notorious for getting inside tight spaces, which can make them incredibly difficult to get out. 

Once they’ve taken up residence in an area, they typically won’t leave unless they need to find food, or it gets too crowded in their hiding spot. 

To make matters worse, they will usually retreat inside of these spaces any time you enter the room or turn on the lights. 

Seeing cockroaches set up shop inside a TV isn’t uncommon. This particular enclosed space gives them a good place to hide, when the TV is on, it provides them with a warm space to rest and breed. 

Using roach spray is not a good solution for getting roaches out of your TV. The harsh chemicals can damage the internal electronics of the TV, and the active ingredients in these aerosol sprays are highly flammable. 

The safest and most simple option for getting roaches out of a TV is to use poison baits. 

You can use homemade or store-bought baits to kill off cockroaches. 

Homemade baits are made by combining sugar, water, and a poison agent of your choice, such as baking soda, borax, or boric acid. 

When the roach ingests these items, they will kill them slowly, either by expanding inside the roach’s gut or causing it to become dehydrated quickly. 

Store-bought baits are also extremely effective for eliminating roaches. They use chemical attractants that roaches have a hard time resisting, they usually don’t require any mixing on your part, and can work very quickly. 

Regardless of which kind of bait you choose, the application is the same. 

You’ll want to place some of the poison bait or gel on a piece of paper or note card, then set the bait directly outside of your device (in this case your TV).

Once the bait is in place, the roaches should come out from inside the TV, eat the bait, and then return to their nest inside the device. Here, they will spread the poison to the entire colony which will kill off the roaches inside your TV over time. 

Since the roaches will return to their nests, you’ll also need to clean their bodies out from the inside of your TV. 

In order to get inside the TV, you’ll have to take it apart. If you have a larger TVs that has space for roaches, there should be a panel on the back that can be removed by taking out a couple of screws. 

Make sure you remove and dispose of all roach bodies from inside your TV, and then thoroughly disinfect the entire area to avoid disease. 

Alternatively, you do have a few other options for getting roaches out of your TV. 

You can try freezing the insects out by placing the TV inside a large plastic bag and setting it inside a large deep freezer. 

You’ll want to make sure the bag is sealed so no water can get inside your TV when it’s in the freezer. 

Let the TV sit inside the freezer for at least six days to ensure all of the roaches have been killed by the cold. Then remove the TV from the freezer, and let it sit for a day or two to ensure that it’s had time to dry out before removing the roaches’ bodies and plugging the TV back in.

Canned air has also been suggested as a way to force roaches out of your TV, but it’s not a great option. 

It’s best to save this option for cleaning out the tiny crevices of your TV that you can’t reach with your hand.

Be warned that roach guts, body parts, and eggs will fly out when using compressed air to clean inside the TV.

Should You Cover Your Electronics When You Use A Bug Bomb?

Bug bombs or foggers are an incredibly effective method for eliminating insect infestations in your home. 

Generally, this is the last resort option for dealing with large infestations, since bombing your home with any poison gas will make it uninhabitable for humans or pets for days, and the cleanup is excruciating. 

If you do choose to bug bomb your home, there are some precautions you need to take before the poisonous gas is let out. 

All appliances and electronics need to be covered during a bug bomb. The chemicals can cause your appliances’ and electronics’ components to break down, or the devices to fail altogether. 

In addition to covering, your devices also need to be unplugged, especially any gas-powered appliances, since the chemicals contained in bug bombs are highly flammable. 

Why Do Roaches Hide Inside Electronics?

Roaches like to hide inside electronics because they provide warm, enclosed spaces for the bugs to hide and breed. 

Roaches are nocturnal animals and are mostly active at night. They prefer dark spaces and will typically do their best to avoid areas with high levels of light. 

During the day, cockroaches spend most of their time in small, enclosed spaces where they feel safe. 

They also prefer environments that are warm, typically between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius (77°F – 85°F).

Electronics check all of the boxes when it comes to providing an ideal hiding spot for roaches.

The internal spaces of electronics tend to be very small and provide a safe hiding space. 

When an electronic device (such as a TV or gaming console) is turned on, it gives off great amounts of heat. The insides of these devices provide the warmth a cockroach craves. 

Electronics can provide an ideal spot for roaches to hide, breed, and survive. Once cockroaches get inside your home, your appliances and other devices are the exact kind of environment roaches are looking for, which is why they often end up in there. 

Can Cockroaches Cause Electrical Fires?

Unlike rodents, it’s unlikely that cockroaches will chew through the electrical wires inside your devices. 

Even so, unfortunately, roaches can still be the main cause of electrical fires inside your home. 

Whether they end up inside the walls or an appliance, cockroaches secrete oils that can corrode the electrical wiring found around your home. This is especially dangerous around outlets in the wall. 

This creates the potential for a short and electrical fire to start. 

Conclusion

Cockroaches love the warm, dark, and enclosed spaces inside electronic devices and appliances. The best way to get rid of them is to use some sort of poisoned bait they can take back inside your device and spread to the other roaches in their colony. 

Once the roaches have died, it’s important to remove and dispose of all of their bodies, eggs, and debris. You also need to make sure you thoroughly disinfect every surface of the device in order to avoid spreading disease.