Resilient Cockroaches

Cockroaches are extremely dirty, hazardous pests. They eat garbage, they spread bacteria like Salmonella and Shigella, and they exacerbate asthma symptoms by the proteins in their saliva and waste. They leave trails of fecal matter wherever they go as a way of finding their way back home. They’re reviled by human beings, but they’re very hard to kill. Roaches have been on this planet for more than 200 million years. They were around when dinosaurs walked the earth! These resilient pests have a few attributes that have allowed them to stick around for so long, making them a property owner’s worst nightmare.

How big are Cockroaches?

For starters, they’re nocturnal and they reproduce very quickly. This allows them to go relatively undetected until a small infestation because a huge problem. Once they are spotted they’re hard to catch, running at speeds of 31 inches per second. In fact, one of the ways they have managed to take over the world is because they are notoriously good travelers. They have spread throughout the world by sneaking their way onto boats, airplanes, trucks, moving boxes, and grocery bags. They only need a hole with the circumference of a nickel to gain entry into a home. They often sneak in via cracks around doors and windows. Another reason cockroaches have managed to stick around for so long is their marvelous ability to adapt to new situations and threats. Some of the earliest cockroach traps involved the use of sugars. Cockroaches eventually learned to find sugar repulsive, helping them avoid the traps. Today, certain species of cockroaches have developed a complete immunity to commercial pesticides. Even their diet is highly adaptable.

What do Cockroaches Eat?

Cockroaches are omnivores and can eat almost anything in their path; human food, pet food, wallpaper glue, envelope glue – almost anything you can find your house, a cockroach would find delicious! Not only is it hard to restrict their food source, but even if you manage to do so, they can go for weeks on end without eating anything anyway. Finally, they are, quite possibly, the only animal on earth that can live for weeks after being decapitated. Cockroaches have an open circulatory system, so if their head is cut off, they can continue breathing through their spiracles and clot the blood at the wound site. And, of course, since they can live for weeks without food, so there’s nothing stopping them from continuing to live for a while longer. With so much on their side, it’s no wonder that fighting a cockroach infestation in your home or business can be overwhelming.