Domestic Cockroaches: How They Look, Reproduce And Grow, Diseases Carried, Harm And Benefit To Humans + Photos And Videos

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 22:26

Cockroaches in the house. How do uninvited neighbors breed and look?

Cockroaches have been living with people for a long time. To get rid of such a neighborhood, find out how insects look and reproduce. And the preventive measures described in the article will help you as little or not to encounter them at all.

Content

• 1 Background: how long do cockroaches live on the planet
• 2 Are cockroaches really so tenacious and other myths

• 3 Features of reproduction

  3.1 Stages of development (eggs, larvae, female with ootheca) - photo

• 4 Varieties of insects: how they look and how to distinguish

  • 4.1 Red cockroach (homemade Prusak)
  • 4.2 Black cockroach
  • 4.3 Periplaneta Americana
  • 4.4 Exotic cockroach species - gallery

• 5 What harm does such a neighborhood bring to a person?

  • 5.1 Diseases from insects
  • 5.2 Do cockroaches bite?
  • 5.3 Small benefits of insects

• 6 Traces of presence in the house

  6.1 How to find an insect nest?

• 7 Frequent visitor to city apartments

• 8 Prevention of cockroaches in the house

  8.1 Why are cockroaches dangerous and how to quickly get rid of them - video

Background: how long do cockroaches live on the planet

Cockroaches on planet Earth live much longer than humans. As much as 300 million years! They survived dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, mammoths. Therefore, attempts to lime insects with Dichlorvos and small "Mashenka" seem pathetic to many. What small thing can we talk about seriously, if it is known that after bullying in this way, 5% of the previous number remain, and after a month the number increases by 15% compared to the original figure.

Cockroaches reproduce very quickly

Are cockroaches really so tenacious and other myths

Most of the myths about cockroach survivability are true.

1. They can withstand 6,400 radians, up from 500 human.
2. They adapt well to poisons. If, nevertheless, a portion of the poison falls, they fall into a stupor, but do not die. Naive people throw the "dead" cockroach into the bucket, and after two minutes he comes to his senses and returns to interrupted business. Possums have the same habit. True, unlike the pretenders of possums, cockroaches really paralyze for a while.
3. They can not breathe for 45 minutes.
4. Cockroaches do without water for up to 10 days, without food for a month.

Falling on its back, the cockroach cannot roll over and dies

But these survival record holders also have an Achilles' heel - the back. If they fall on their backs, they can no longer roll over and die of hunger and thirst. Mutual assistance in this community is not too developed, so the other members of the colony are in no hurry to come to the aid of a comrade who has fallen into a hopeless situation.

Breeding features

Cockroaches live mainly in the tropics and subtropics in the wild. Not everyone lives with a person, but those that move in stay for a long time, or even forever. We create the same tropics in apartments - the air temperature is 25 ºС, there is enough moisture. Excellent breeding conditions: live and be happy!

A female cockroach lays 35-45 eggs at a time, makes 8 clutches during her life, and lives from six months to a year. After a few days, the eggs hatch into larvae under the poetic name "nymphs". Nymphs quickly grow and develop into adults within two months after birth, which means they are able to take on the baton of childbearing from the older generation. From one time fertilization can be multiple. The explanation is simple: the male gametes are stored in the female body for a long time.

Insects of different species can be distinguished by their external features. What unites this diverse fraternity is belonging to insects with an incomplete transformation cycle. This means that they are born in the form of an egg, then become a larva, and only at the third stage of development they turn into an adult. The eggs are stored in an ooteca - a chitinous capsule, which, in turn, is stored on the female.

Insects are unpretentious. Any food (food, glue or soap, paper or skin particles contained in dust), water, warmth and a dark corner - everything that the cockroach family needs to live and prosper. In the old days, a stove served as a penthouse for them, nowadays they have to be content with a corner behind a refrigerator, washing machine, stove or baseboard, but this suits them.

Development stages (eggs, larvae, female with ooteca) - photo

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The first stage of development of a cockroach is an egg

The second stage of development of a cockroach is the "nymph" larva

Eggs are stored in the ootheca of a female cockroach

Varieties of insects: how they look and how to distinguish

There are more than 4500 species of cockroaches on Earth, but only the species described below are found in homes.

Red cockroach (homemade Prusak)

This type of cockroach is popularly called "Prusak"

The most widespread are red cockroaches, which are called "Prusaks" in Russia. Unfortunately, most people don’t need to explain what a domestic Prusak looks like: a reddish-brown back with folded chitinous wings, long whiskers, ranging in size from 1 to 1.5–2 cm. Females drag the ooteca along with them. For the time being, eggs are peacefully stored in it, from which a new generation will one day come out - dung.

Black beetle

The black cockroach has a very hard chitinous coating

The black beetle does not get along with the red-headed beetle, and therefore is not so common. It is much larger in size: the female grows up to five centimeters, and the male - up to three. The male has wings that he does not use, the female does not. Each individual has a hard chitinous coating. It is not easy to destroy such a shell mechanically, that is, to swat it down.

Periplaneta Americana

Periplaneta Americana is the only flying cockroach species

Not to say that it is a very common species in our country, but it is not listed in the Red Book either. This species of insects came to us relatively recently with the gifts of the American continent - sugar, coffee, tobacco. It spread to collectors, greenhouses, and pipe shells in sewers. The main and most unpleasant difference from other species is the presence of active wings, which beetles actively use. It does not get along with other species, which inspires some optimism.

Exotic species like Madagascar, Egyptian, Turkmen cockroaches are rare in our country. They have not received wide distribution, and the place of residence in our latitudes is terrariums, including private ones.

Exotic cockroach species - gallery

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The largest domestic cockroach

This type of cockroach in our latitudes is considered exotic

Almost never occurs in the Middle Lane

What harm does such a neighborhood bring to a person?

Desperate to defeat the red-haired invaders, people reassured themselves that, apart from disgust by the sight, they did not bring other troubles with them. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Due to the fact that their paths of movement pass through sewers, pipes, garbage chutes and other not the most sterile rooms, on their many paws and abdomens they bring various infections into the human house in the form of pathogenic bacteria, worm eggs, fungal spores and much more. …

Insect diseases

Scientists have picked up the name of the harm caused to human health by cockroaches - blattopterosis. This includes a number of diseases arising from the forced proximity to these insects: allergies, asthma, dysentery, salmonellosis, mycobacteriosis, infection with helminths (worms) and even pneumonia and meningitis.

Cockroaches in your home can cause allergies or even asthma.

Do cockroaches bite?

Yes, one more detail worthy of horror style lovers: these beetles bite and are able to gnaw the skin above the lip and on the fingers. But bites are rare enough. In the absence of water, which is vital for them, these creatures do not shun any means of obtaining it.

To avoid all these horrors, in a room infected with Prussians, you need to block them from contact with food and water. To do this, store food in a tightly closed container without any restrictions. If a cockroach is found in a kitchen cabinet or refrigerator, immediately discard all open containers.

Small benefits of insects

In the old days, they were even proud of cockroaches in the house. It was believed that this is a rich house in which there is something to profit from. True, then black individuals were bred in the houses of our ancestors. They did not cause disgust, on the contrary, they were even added to medicinal potions as a diuretic. They also bring benefits for an upset stomach: beetles were fried with garlic and used this remedy. In Asia, beetles are still eaten with pleasure fried, like seeds. There is a lot of protein in them - why not nourish the body?

Traces of presence in the house

Cockroaches are nocturnal inhabitants, but they can not sleep during the day. They go fishing mainly in the dark. It is rather a tribute to tradition, because they are not afraid of daylight. However, this feature of behavior allows them to remain unnoticed for quite a long time. How can you determine that you and your family are no longer the only residents of your apartment?

The answer is the same as in the question of the existence of Bigfoot - you need to find traces of life. If cockroaches have settled in your home, footprints will surely show up, and this is their main difference from the elusive Yeti.

1. Their waste products, in particular brown excrement, can be left near a water source.
2. Where they got into the habit of eating, sometimes you can even find an ooteca - a capsule with eggs.
3. In the cracks under the plinth, there are translucent chitinous sheaths - the skin shed by the younger generation. They do this 5 times during their, frankly, not short life by the standards of insects, and therefore there is a real chance to stumble upon these things and understand that the seizure of the territory has begun.
4. Black individuals exude an unpleasant odor, which becomes noticeable with a large population. So if it smelled disgusting for no apparent reason, there is a reason to attend to the search for possible uninvited guests.

If one of the above was found or you personally ran into nose to nose with a red-headed impudent person, urgently stock up on insecticides and use them without knowing pity.

How to find an insect nest?

The most likely location is near water. Where small individuals appear, beetles breed and feed, traces of their life can usually be found. Where their concentration is maximal, there may be a nest.

Frequent guest of city apartments

Cockroaches are the scourge of city apartments. Indeed, insects have more survival options in an apartment building than in private housing. In the old days, for example, there was a procedure called "cockroach" a hut. She settled down in the winter and was as simple as everything ingenious. In frost, they stopped heating the stove for a day, opened windows and doors, as a result of which the hut was frozen out. The resulting temperature was so far from the tropical that it forced the heat-loving "bakers" to leave their homes and go in search of a more hospitable home.

No matter how you get rid of bugs in village houses, the risk of getting them again there is much lower than in urban apartment buildings, where residents become hostages of neighbors. For experience shows that if dangerous neighbors are brought up in at least one apartment, very soon they will appear in all the others.

Prevention of cockroaches in the house

Regular cleaning in hard-to-reach places is a good prevention against cockroaches

There is a popular saying: "A good housewife has clean corners." I would like to add: if you keep the apartment clean, do regular cleaning in hard-to-reach places, monitor the health of the taps, close the trash can at night and do not keep food in the open, you can count on that cockroaches, if they appear, will not breed for a long time. you won't be late.

Why cockroaches are dangerous and how to quickly get rid of them - video

Even if there are cockroaches, there is no reason for despondency. This is the signal to start action. Use available preventive measures, keep your apartment clean and don't quarrel. It is believed that no insecticides will bring cockroaches out of the house, where irritation and dissatisfaction with each other hang in the air. Perhaps the joint struggle with these shameless invaders will rally the family, and you will emerge victorious from this battle.