Home cockroaches - the scourge of a modern metropolis!

Domestic cockroaches are perhaps one of the most unpleasant insects ever to plague humanity. The sight of these insects alone is disgusting. They spoil our food, crap, and bacteria. It is very difficult to get rid of them on your own, and in an apartment building it is almost impossible. And yet, nothing is impossible. However, in order to defeat the enemy, according to a well-known saying, one must know him by sight, or, to rephrase, recognize him at a meeting.

Types of Domestic Cockroaches

In total there are about 4000 species of cockroaches, of which only 3 are called home cockroaches. Varieties of these insects differ from each other in the color of the chitinous cover, in size and habitat.

The following species have adapted to life in a human home:

• redhead
• the black
• American.

Prusak

Most often in city apartments there is a red cockroach. His second name is Prusak. This is a small insect with a size of 1 to 1.5 cm with long sensitive antennae and fast paws, capable of traveling long distances in a relatively short time. The legs of the Prussians are equipped with spikes, and at the ends there are tenacious claws with suction cups,

Helping the insect to move on an inclined surface. Red cockroaches are equipped with fairly well-developed wings, covering almost the entire surface of the back, however, they practically do not use them, since they do not know how to fly. The Prussians are only able to plan for some time, falling from the wall.

Black beetle

The second most common is black home cockroaches. In appearance, they are very similar to prusakovHowever, they have a darker color and significantly exceed their size. An adult insect of this species grows up to 3 cm in length. Compared to red relatives, black cockroaches have shorter legs and small wings. On the walls, these insects move with difficulty, since their suction cups located between the claws of the paws are not able to stay on a vertical surface for a long time.

American cockroach

American cockroach lives mainly in the countries of North and South America, however, recently it began to be found in Europe. The size of these insects is impressive. An adult insect can grow up to 5 cm in length. For the rest, they are very similar to the Prussians, except that they have a more elongated body shape. They can also be distinguished by the pattern located on the upper body. For red cockroaches, these are two stripes starting from the head and lost under the wings, for American ones, two spots resembling a pattern on a cobra's hood.

Life features

All cockroaches are insects with an incomplete development cycle. This means that their larva looks very much like an adult stage and must shed its skin several times before it reaches maturity. As a rule, they molt 6 times within 2-3 months. In total, the life of an insect rarely exceeds one year. Black individuals live no more than 6 months.

These insects are good for food, from which they can gnaw off a piece and that they can digest their strong stomachs. It can be food leftovers from a person’s meal, paper, skin, tissue, and even hair and pieces of the epidermis. These unpretentious creatures will be able to soak everywhere. Much more important for them is the presence of a source of moisture. Without water, they can survive no more than a week, although they can survive at least a month without food.

Home cockroaches, despite the presence of developed wings, do not fly, although they are able to plan with their help in the event of a fall from the wall. They do not like sunlight and leave their shelters only at night when people sleep.

Are home cockroaches biting? This question worries many people whose house has been invaded by these insects. They can calm down, the mouthpiece of the impudent invaders is too small to do any harm to humans. Although in the absence of food, they can bite off pieces of the epidermis from the skin. Most often, small children are subjected to such an attack.

How do they breed?

In terms of reproduction of their offspring, these insects are very prolific, so how domestic cockroaches breed much more intense than their wild relatives. One female lays up to 40 eggs at a time, which she drags after herself in the edema - a capsule covered with a durable shell. In total, in her entire life, she is able to put up to 10 such bags. To fertilize a female, it is enough to meet the male only once. In the future, she uses the seed material preserved in her body from the first copulation.

Larvae, or as they are also called - nymphs, hatch 2-4 weeks after the female laid eggs in the ooteca. Their chitin shell is very delicate and practically does not contain pigment. Over time, it hardens and becomes increasingly darker. After 2-3 months., Having passed a certain number of stages of molting, nymphs acquire wings and are already capable of reproduction.

Interesting fact! Cockroaches practically did not change during 300 million years of their residence on the planet. This is confirmed by the found fossils of ancient insects in pieces of amber.

Cockroach Harm

The harm caused to humans by cockroaches seems to be small, but their presence should be disposed of as soon as possible.

Reasons why you need to destroy cockroaches:

1. They are carriers of microbes and helminth eggs.
2. These insects spoil things, leaving their excrement on their surface and climbing inside the equipment.
3. Having closed the wiring with your body, they can cause a fire.
4. In search of food, they can climb into the nose and ear of a person and cause inflammation.
5. They are a common cause of allergies.

For the time being, while there are few insects in the apartment, the damage they inflict is invisible, but it increases in proportion to the growth of the colony. In the end, there comes a moment when their presence becomes simply unbearable and then the question arises sharply about how to get rid of them.

Interesting fact! Cockroaches emit gases in the course of their life. Even after death, they stand out for another whole day. Therefore, taking into account their multiplicity, we can assume that they are another culprit in climate change on the planet.

Ways to get rid of cockroaches

So, what do home cockroaches do not like and how to get rid of them? Let's try to figure it out and choose the most optimal methods of struggle.

What do cockroaches dislike?

First of all, you should know that they most often take a fancy to places where the sanitary situation leaves much to be desired. Where they have more opportunity to hide and profit from something edible, so it is advisable to do the following:

• keep the apartment clean;
• promptly remove food debris;
• block their access to water;
• throw out the old trash;
• disassemble cabinets.

Cockroaches do not like smells of chemicals.By wiping all surfaces in the house every day using detergents, it can significantly complicate their living in the apartment. You can also lay out bunches of odorous herbs in the apartment - wormwood, valerian, chamomile.

Perhaps the unscheduled repair started will force these aliens to clean up, as their favorite habitats will be ruined - lagging wallpaper, the space between the baseboards, cracks and cluttered cabinets. And the smell of paint and putty is unlikely to please them.

Also, these insects do not tolerate subzero temperatures, so it makes sense to try to freeze them out of the house in winter. However, in the conditions of a city apartment with central heating, it is almost impossible to realize this method.

Interesting fact! Cockroaches die in 30 minutes. at a temperature of -10 0C. This feature was used in villages before, freezing huts in winter.

Cockroach Control

Perhaps the use of chemicals is the only reliable way to get rid of uninvited guests. Now in stores you can find many drugs designed specifically to combat these insects. These are all kinds of gels, aerosols, powders and solutions. They are applied or sprayed to the places of accumulation of insects according to the instructions, and then cleaned with a damp cloth after a while.

The most commonly used insect repellents are:

• Raptor
• Kombat
• Clean house
  
• Karbofos
• Dichlorvos
• Dohlox
• Global
• Get

Crayons containing substances that kill or repel cockroaches are used for the same purpose. They encircle the entire apartment along the perimeter, door trim and thresholds. Often on sale you can find traps for cockroaches. They are flat-shaped containers, on the sides of which there are holes so that insects can penetrate inside, and in the center is a poisoned bait. Often, these traps come with adhesive tape at the bottom, which allows them to be used on vertical surfaces.

Advice! In order to achieve maximum effect when getting rid of cockroaches, their further penetration into the house should be prevented. To do this, find out the reason for their appearance and take further measures.

Folk ways of struggle

In addition to the already mentioned method of freezing, at home, you can use boric acid. This is an affordable and fairly safe tool that has proven itself in the fight against cockroaches. It is important that insects do not develop immunity to it, because it acts on their integument. Sprinkle with boric acid all the habitats of uninvited guests, and also prepare baits with her participation. Pieces of poisoned food are brought by cockroaches to their nest and thus distributed.

You can try to catch insects using traps. It is known that cockroaches are not indifferent to fresh beer, therefore, as a bait, you can use pieces of bread soaked in beer. They are placed at the bottom of bottles or jars, the neck of which is smeared with Vaseline on the inside. Such traps they set up apartments in different places at night, and in the morning they catch a catch.

An interesting video about cockroaches and the features of their life can be seen in the video below, as well as read in the article: Appearance, photo and structure of cockroaches.