COCKROACHES

Scientific Name: Blattaria

Lifespan: 200 to 700 days

Problem: Odor, invades food, allergic reaction, and generally gross.

​

Cockroaches have been long despised by homeowners due to their creepy appearance. Cockroach pest management is important for health and safety reasons, because cockroaches are known to cause allergic reactions and trigger asthma attacks, especially in children. They also spread nearly 33 kinds of bacteria including E. coli and Salmonella.

Cockroaches are most active at night, leaving their harborage to find food and water. They remain hidden in dark, secluded harborage areas, such as under cupboards, behind cabinets, in wall voids, and around motor housings in appliances where they spend up to 75% of their time. At most, only about one third of the population forages at night. Observation of foraging cockroaches during the day is a good indication of an overcrowded population situation. This overcrowding will force some to relocate to other parts of the structure.

In many parts of the country, the sighting of a single cockroach by a health inspector could automatically shut down a food service operation. Customers and employees alike perceive their presence as a sign of unsanitary conditions, negatively impacting their decision to purchase from the business.

Because cockroaches are associated with dirty, unsanitary environments, news of cockroaches seen in a business can quickly spread by word of mouth or via social media sites. Stories of cockroach sightings and restaurant closures can quickly spiral out of control and cause a public relations nightmare, doing irreparable damage to the establishment’s reputation and brand.

COCKROACH TRIVIA

• Cockroaches have inhabited the earth for more than 250 million years.

• The average roach-infested household contains more than 20,000 cockroaches.

• Cockroaches can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes and spend almost 75% of their time just resting.

• Cockroaches can live up to 20 days without food and up to 14 days without water.

• Cockroaches can flatten their bodies and crawl through a crack as thin as a dime.

• Cockroaches will eat anything, including leather, hair, and glue in book bindings.

• Cockroaches can live off the toothpaste residue on your toothbrush even after being cleaned.

• Cockroaches can survive radiation levels equivalent to that of a thermonuclear explosion.

• Cockroaches have been implicated in the spread of tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera, dysentery, and typhoid.

• Cockroaches are startled by the smallest of air movements and can run for cover in less than 0.05 seconds.

• Cockroaches can move at speeds up to 2 miles per hour and can make up to 25 body turns in a second.

• Cockroaches are cannibals and can also take a liking to each other’s excrement.

• In extreme cases, cockroaches will feed off people.

• Under ideal conditions, two cockroaches who begin mating on January 1 will have 575,000 offspring by December 31.  Each cockroach lays 30 eggs per egg capsule; 30 days for each capsule to hatch; 60 days to maturity when the new cockroaches can begin to breed.

​

​
 

​