Cockroaches

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About Cockroaches

Cockroaches are closely associated with the human environment and have become pests worldwide.

Cockroaches are attracted to buildings where there is food, moisture and, in colder climates, warmth. They feed on a wide range of human foods and also organic materials such as cardboard, glue, faeces, dead animals and fellow cockroaches. They can pick up diseases from the filth in their surroundings and readily transmit them onto food and surfaces.

A professional service is usually the most reliable means of cockroach control. Only professional products and solutions are powerful enough to eliminate all stages of their lifecycle.

The three main types of cockroaches commonly found in homes and businesses in Australia include the German cockroach, Australian cockroach and American cockroach.

Identifying the cockroach species will help deal with an infestation more effectively.

The cockroach is divided into three sections; the body is flattened and broadly oval, with a shield-like pronotum covering its head. A pronotum is a plate-like structure that covers all or part of the dorsal surface of the thorax of certain insects. They also have chewing mouth parts, long, segmented antennae, and leathery fore wings with delicate hind wings. The third section of the cockroach is the abdomen.

Lifecycle of a Cockroach

Fascinating Facts about Cockroaches

A cockroach can live for a week without its head. Due to their open circulatory system, and the fact that they breathe through little holes in each of their body segments, they are not dependent on the mouth or head to breathe. The roach only dies because without a mouth, it can't drink water and dies of thirst.
A cockroach can hold its breath for 40 minutes, and can even survive being submerged under water for half an hour. They hold their breath often to help regulate their loss of water.
Cockroaches can run up to three miles in an hour, which means they can spread germs and bacteria throughout a home very quickly.

Newborn German cockroaches become adults in as little as 36 days. In fact, the German cockroach is the most common of the cockroaches and has been implicated in outbreaks of illness and allergic reactions in many people.

A one-day-old baby cockroach, which is about the size of a speck of dust, can run almost as fast as its parents.

The American cockroach has shown a marked attraction to alcoholic beverages, especially beer. They are most likely attracted by the alcohol mixed with hops and sugar.
The world's largest roach (which lives in South America) is six inches long with a one-foot wingspan. Average cockroaches can vary in size from ½"- 2" long.
Cockroaches are believed to have originated more than 280 million years ago, in the Carboniferous era.
There are more than 4,000 species of cockroaches worldwide, including the most common species, the German cockroach, in addition to other common species, the brownbanded cockroach and American cockroach.
Because they are cold-blooded insects, cockroaches can live without food for one month, but will only survive one week without water.

Types of Cockroaches

Australian Cockroach

A common species of tropical cockroach, with a length of 23–35 mm (0.91–1.38 in). It is brown overall, with the tegmina having a conspicuous lateral pale stripe or margin, and the pronotum (head shield) with a sharply contrasting pale or yellow margin.

It is very similar in appearance to the American cockroach and may be easily mistaken for it. It is, however, slightly smaller than the American cockroach, and has a yellow margin on the thorax and yellow streaks at its sides near the wing base.

The insect can travel quickly, often darting out of sight when someone enters a room, and can fit into small cracks and under doors despite its fairly large size. It is known to be very mobile; its wings allow it to be quite a capable flier.

American Cockroach

The American cockroach is the largest species of common cockroach, and often considered a pest. In certain regions of the U.S. it is colloquially known as the waterbug, though is not a true waterbug since it is not aquatic. It is also known as the ship cockroach, kakerlac, and Bombay canary. It is often misidentified as a palmetto bug.

Of all common cockroach species, the American cockroach has the largest body size; molts 6–14 times (mostly 13 times) before metamorphosis; and has the longest lifecycle, up to about 700 days.

It has an average length around 4 cm (1.6 in) and is about 7 mm (0.28 in) tall. They are reddish brown and have a yellowish margin on the pronotum, the body region behind the head. Immature cockroaches resemble adults except they are wingless.

Oriental Cockroach

The Oriental cockroach (Blatta orientalis), also known as the waterbug or black beetle, is a large species of cockroach, adult males being 18–29 mm (0.71–1.14 in) and adult females being 20–27 mm (0.79–1.06 in). It is dark brown or black in color and has a glossy body.

The female has a somewhat different appearance from the male, appearing to be wingless at casual glance, but is brachypterous, having non-functional wings just below her head. She has a wider body than the male. The male has long wings, which cover two-thirds of the abdomen and are brown in color, and has a narrower body. Both sexes are flightless.

Smokybrown Cockroach

A large species of cockroach, winged, and growing to a length of 29mm - 35mm (1¼–1⅜ in). Although closely related to the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), the smokybrown cockroach is readily distinguishable from it by its uniformly dark brown–mahogany coloration.

Furthermore, unlike the American cockroach, which possess a light-rimmed pattern on its thorax, the smokybrown cockroach's thorax is dark and shiny.

Brown Baanded Cockroach

Supella longipalpa is a small species of cockroach, measuring about 10 to 14 mm long and the most well-known in the genus Supella. It is tan to light brown and has two light-colored bands across the wings and abdomen, they may sometimes appear to be broken or irregular but are quite noticeable.

The bands may be partly obscured by the wings. The male has wings that cover the abdomen, while the female has wings that do not cover the abdomen completely.The male appears more slender than the female, the female appears wider.

German Cockroach

About German Cockroach

The German cockroach (Blattella germanica) is a small species of cockroach, typically about 1.1 to 1.6 cm (0.43 to 0.63 in) long. In colour it varies from tan to almost black, and it has two dark, roughly parallel, streaks on the pronotum running anteroposteriorly from behind the head to the base of the wings. Although B. germanica has wings, it can barely fly, although it may glide when disturbed.

The German cockroach occurs widely in buildings, but is particularly associated with restaurants, food processing facilities and hotels.

Though nocturnal, the German cockroach occasionally appears by day, especially if the population is crowded or has been disturbed. However, sightings are most frequent in the evening, when someone suddenly brings a light into a room deserted after dark, such as a kitchen where they have been scavenging. When excited or frightened, the species emits an unpleasant odour.