Overview Of The American Cockroaches
The American cockroach (Periplaneta Americana) is believed to be one of the smallest species of cockroaches. Cockroach is a very popular insect all over the world. Cockroaches are not something that is pleasant to see inside your house. Cockroaches have six legs, two antennae and some have wings. The area behind their head has a yellow band around it; they also have fully developed wings and are able to fly. However, most winged cockroaches are not particularly adept at flying. There are 3,500 species of this kind of insect. Cockroaches are timid creatures that will not dare to come near a human when they are still awake. The cockroach is one of main too many insects in our house. It can be found inside our house, buildings and other types of infrastructure. Other cockroaches prefer living in a warm, dark, wet areas just like flowerbeds, sewers and basements. In many parts of the United States people call them “palmetto bugs” because they live on trees.
Cockroaches produce a chemical called an “aggregation pheromone.” The odor of this chemical is the cause why roaches used to stay together in groups. Some people describe the odor of these pheromones as having a “musty” smell. They can easily pass under doors if the weather stripping is damaged. They can spread disease, contaminate our food and cause allergies and even asthma. A matured american cockroach is averaging 50 millimeters or estimated 3 inches. Keeping American cockroaches out of your home is an ongoing process, not a one-time treatment. They discharge a nauseous secretion both from their mouths and from glands opening on the body which give a long-lasting, offensive cockroach smell to areas or food visited by them. If the lights are turned on in an infested kitchen at night the cockroaches will run from dishes, utensils, working surfaces and the floor towards shelter.
Cockroaches are able to fit through a gap as small as a quarter of their body height by flattening their flexible exoskeletons and splaying their legs to the side. The insect damages more material than it consumes and emits a disagreeable odor. That is caused by the multiple birth in one ootheca. Ootheca is a type of egg mass by any member of variety of species including cockroach, mantises and any related insects. During adult life, a period of about 1.5 years, the female deposits 50 or more oothecae, each containing about 16 eggs that hatch after 45 days. One ootheca of an American cockroach can contain an average of 16 eggs of baby cockroaches.
Cockroaches are relatively primitive, having only three stages in their life cycle: egg, nymph and adults. We can see them inside some restaurants, grocery stores and even clean areas such as hospitals. Some of female only mate once and became pregnant for life. They can live for 1 month without eating any food while 2 weeks without drinking water. During the day, they will hide in cracks and crevices in walls and through the home or business they are infesting.
Almost all of us want cockroaches to be out of our life. Homeowners may see these active cockroaches. American cockroaches can run very fast, and they usually scurry into a dark area. If they are startled, American cockroaches may even fly. American cockroaches are also called common cockroach as they are the most common species of cockroaches. We are so afraid of them. Cockroaches can bite us while we are in a deep sleep. They are capable of biting but rarely, if ever, do. We can notice it in the morning when we already awaken. That is a big problem because we need to wear sunglasses just to hide it in public. The main location of a cockroach bite are eyelashes, mouth and sometimes hands. If you could see their target places are the thin parts of our skin. Sometimes their bite can lead to different allergic reactions. The bite of a cockroach often looks bigger than a mosquito bite. These bites could last up to one week. They are almost everywhere. American cockroaches enter home to find water or food. They can live for atleast 1 week because they are not like us who needs to breathe using their mouth or nose instead they use their spiracles (tiny holes) to inhale and deliver oxygen.
Cockroaches are filthy pests. Cockroaches crawl on a dirty place then go to our homes carrying lots of bacteria and germs. Whenever they walk on our food, they contaminate it. They’ll spoil our foods. They don’t transmit diseases directly but by contaminating our foods. They disgorge portions of their partially digested food at intervals and drop feces. The diseases that came from the microorganisms that they may pass to us are: cholera, dysentery, gastroenteritis and lots of bacteria. When they suffer from hunger, they would eat anything like fruit, glues or even feces. They can also eat another cockroach just to relieve their problem. They can run in as fast as 1.5 meters per second when being hunted by a predator. This is one of their defense mechanism. They can only fly and glide a short distance because that’s what their wings can. An egg of a cockroach commonly hatches within 6-8 weeks or 42 to 56 days and requires 6-12 months to mature. The cockroaches were believed to live approximately for just a single year despite the millions of years of their existence in Earth from their ancestors up to present days, and that’s why no wonder their population is much greater than human. Adult American cockroaches are reddish brown or mahogany colored.
