Question How do you deal with an ant and roach problem, avoiding unecessary death?

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Hi. I've been vegetarian for nearly three years now. I plan to go vegan when I leave my parents' house for University, as I'm still reliant on them for food. I don't have access to much vegan food, unfortunately.
Anyway, I've convinced my parents to use cruelty-free trap and release mouse traps for our mouse problem. Now we have ants and roaches, and my father wants to lay out poison. Is there a way to deter them without killing them, or is death the only way? How do you deal with pests in your house?
 
Deterrents are really only effective before they come inside. I use peppermint oil in water to spray around the kitchen counters, bay leaves in cabinets, vinegar based cleaners.
In my old house we had a tree infested with carpenter ants. so many people told me not to worry, to just have the tree removed.Well, they found there way inside and I hired an exterminator.
Another time I hired an exterminator was for bedbugs-- I bought things at a garage sale and laid the bag on my bed. Normally I always wash and dry things as soon as I bring them home- this time I did not and suffered crazy itching for days before seeing them-thanks to my cats!

Some times it's best to kill insects that infest and can cause structural harm, disease, or allergies. Certain ants, cockroaches, bed bugs- they multiply so quickly that waiting or trying natural deterrent methods can lead to needing far more of the poisons and kill far more insects later, with neighbors often being affected.

That's my suggestion. I know after I went through those times I learned to keep out!
 
We had ants. When I find ants I first remove the food source, then track back to the entry point into the house and then block up that hole or crack e.g. with soap. In theory that would seem to cause them all to get stranded in the house, but actually when I come back some minutes later they've all vanished somehow.

I also sometimes brushed them up with a pan and brush and then gently brushed them out outside. The vast majority of them looked fine after this. Only a small minority were motionless.

That is just a short term solution though. Long term solution was to fumigate all around the exterior of the house.

I think it's possible with some thought to greatly reduce the number that need to die.

However a number of times I just got frustrated and killed them, although I don't think I should.
 
Some times it's best to kill insects that infest and can cause structural harm, disease, or allergies. Certain ants, cockroaches, bed bugs- they multiply so quickly that waiting or trying natural deterrent methods can lead to needing far more of the poisons and kill far more insects later, with neighbors often being affected.

That's my suggestion. I know after I went through those times I learned to keep out!

I totally agree. Moroever, you can get serious illnesses from cockroaches.