How does habitat affect what cockroaches eat. Who eats cockroaches at home and in nature? Countries where cockroaches are eaten

Surely, you have met with cockroaches. Are you wondering what cockroaches eat? Although red cockroaches prefer organic food sources, from time to time, insects can be content with non-organic food, including nylon and other synthetic materials. Cockroaches are omnivores, with the exception of the tree cockroach (Cryptocereus punctulatus).

Basically, cockroaches prefer to eat dead or motionless food. Insects look for food sources rich in carbohydrates (sugar and starch), proteins and lipids (fatty and oily foods). Black cockroaches also feed on plants. Organically decomposing substances take special place in the menu of these insects.

It is interesting to note that during periods of food shortage, cockroaches may go for cannibalism and gnaw on the legs and/or wings of their brothers.

What do cockroaches eat in an apartment - food that insects will like

What do cockroaches eat

- Beer
- Meat
- Soap
- Cheese
– Skin
– Dandruff
— Crumbs in the kitchen
— dry cereal
- Wallpaper glue
- Sweet foods
- Decaying organic matter
– Household or organic adhesives
- Paper
- Fruits, vegetables and plant-based fibrous foods
- Nylon garments (e.g. stockings)
- Starch on clothes, they also like book bindings

Cockroaches can digest a huge variety of substances, and their food tract contains a large number of different protozoa and bacteria. Insects are nocturnal. IN daytime red cockroaches hide in cracks and crevices of the wall, furniture, under the floor and in other places in the kitchen and bathroom.

Cockroaches are insects that belong to the order Blattaria. There are about 4000 species of cockroaches. They are found in a variety of habitats, most commonly in tropical and subtropical climates. There are about 30 species adapted to human habitation. Insects generally like warm, humid habitats where food is plentiful.

A cockroach is an arthropod insect from the cockroach-like superorder, the cockroach order (lat. Blattoptera, Blattodea).

None of the versions of the origin of the Russian word "cockroach" has found an exact confirmation. According to some etymologists, cockroaches got their name thanks to the Chuvash word “tar-aqan”, which means “running away”, or the Turkic “taz” (“to run away”).

Cockroach: description, characteristics, structure

Cockroaches are distinguished by a flattened oval-shaped body, from 1 to 10 cm or more in length. The elongated abdomen of a cockroach consists of 8-10 tergites (dorsal sclerotized segments) and 7-9 sternites (abdominal sclerotized segments), 7 in females, 8-9 in males. At the end of the abdomen are long, usually segmented cerci. Males have 1-2 styli on the last sternite. Usually cockroaches have a light body color with elytra of yellowish-brown shades, dark or black color is less common.

The elytra of the cockroach is dense, horny or leathery, with pronounced venation. The hind wings are equipped with membranes and, when folded, hide under the elytra.

In some species, the fore and hind wings are shortened, and wingless species of cockroaches also exist. Some varieties of cockroaches can fly, although their flight does not last long.

A cockroach has 6 legs in total. The thighs and lower legs are endowed with spikes. The legs of these insects with five-segmented tarsi are well developed and adapted for running.

The speed of a cockroach is quite high: for example, an American cockroach covers a distance of 75 cm in a second. In addition, it is almost impossible to catch a cockroach with bare hands, because a nimble insect changes direction about 25 times per second.

The flat head of a cockroach can be triangular or heart-shaped.

The pronotum is almost flat, shield-shaped, rather large, with transparent margins in many species.

The jaws of insects are very strong, of a gnawing type, with many chitinous teeth.

The mouth is turned downward.

The eyes of a cockroach are large, there are 2 simple eyes, in wingless cockroaches they are often atrophied, in cave species they are completely absent.

Sensitive whiskers of insects are quite long, sometimes exceeding the length of the body, bristle-shaped, multisegmented, covered with many microscopic setae.

The external reproductive organs of the male cockroach are represented by the genital plate formed by the ninth sternite.

Females are endowed with a hidden ovipositor and ootheca - a special protein capsule designed for bearing offspring.

A cockroach lives from 4 months to 4 years, the life expectancy of a cockroach depends on the species.

The cockroach is one of the most enduring insects, able to starve for a whole month without compromising health. But at favorable conditions and thanks to the peculiarities of the oral apparatus, cockroaches feed on everything that is poorly hidden. A female cockroach eats from 30 to 50 g of various foods per day, males are not so voracious and eat 2 times less.

The cockroach is a nocturnal insect, and goes out in search of food after dark, and the “feast” continues until dawn, to a greater extent because cockroaches do not eat as much as they bite various foods, finding the most delicious for themselves by sampling.

The favorite food of cockroaches is any bakery products, sugar and all kinds of sweets, meat products and cereals are in third place, and various vegetables and fruits, of any freshness, complete the list of preferences. With absence food products cockroaches are content with paper, carpentry and shoe glue, book bindings, fabrics, various garbage and any organic matter.

Where do cockroaches live?

Cockroaches are distributed almost everywhere and inhabit almost all parts of the world, with the exception of icy Antarctica and other polar regions. The most numerous populations live in the tropics and subtropical latitudes, although these insects feel no less comfortable in the temperate zone. Cockroaches live in Northern and South America, in Europe, in Russia, in Africa and Asia, in Australia. In countries with a rather cool climate and frosty winters, synanthropic species mainly live in heated human dwellings.

In nature, cockroaches prefer to settle in shady places with constant high humidity: hide in the thickness of fallen leaves, under half-decomposed wood, "feast" where there is a cluster of rotting fruits or vegetables, often live in rotten vegetation along shallow water bodies. Synanthropic cockroaches often equip their nests in ventilation shafts and sewer lines. multi-storey buildings, in basements, in the cracks of the walls and behind the baseboards, they are chosen by city dumps and garbage chutes.

How to distinguish a female cockroach from a male?

Below are photos that will help determine the sex of the cockroach.

Argentine cockroach (Blaptika dubia) - male on the left and female on the right

Marble cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea - male from below, female from above

Is there a white cockroach?

Sometimes in ordinary apartment among typical cockroaches you can see rather non-standard albino cockroaches. Many people ask: is the white cockroach a separate species? Not at all. An insect can have such a color during the molting period, when the old shell has already been shed, and the new chitinous shell has not yet acquired pigmentation. Another reason for the "whitening" of a cockroach may be pest control using toxic chlorine, which destroys the coloring pigment.

What animals eat cockroaches?

Although the cockroach is an insect almost indestructible due to its amazing fertility and adaptability to the most uncomfortable living conditions, they also have enemies. Some species are happy to eat cockroaches (for example, Centruroides gracilis, Euscorpius germanus And Hadrurus arizonensis), will not refuse to taste the centipede cockroach Scutigera coleoptrata, house spiders and. Cockroaches are hunted by the lizard comb anole, shepherd tree frog, northern leopard frog, coastal toad. The cockroach is a favorite delicacy for the home, and dead cockroaches are eaten. Eulophid insects lay their eggs in cockroach ootheca, and the hatched eulophid larvae eat everything inside the cockroach capsule.

Types of cockroaches, names and photos

The modern classification includes 500 genera, including more than 4640 species of cockroaches. Below is a description of some varieties:

• (Prussian) (lat. Blattella germanica)

It got its name due to the erroneous assumption that the insect was brought to Russia from Prussia. The Prussian cockroach is one of the most common synanthropic species, whose life takes place in close interaction with humans. The body length of an adult cockroach is from 1 to 1.6 cm. Individuals of both sexes have developed wings, thanks to which they can plan, but cockroaches cannot fly for a long time. Males are distinguished by a narrower body, females have a fairly wide body with a rounded abdomen, covered with wings. The color of the red cockroach suggests different shades Brown color. There are 2 characteristic dark stripes on the dorsal part of the prothorax.

The red cockroach is omnivorous, and in addition to its traditional food - the remains of human food, the cockroach can eat paper, shoe leather, textiles, last resort even eats ordinary soap.

In fact, the Prussian came to Europe and North America from South Asia, therefore, a heat-loving insect in a harsh climate survives only in rooms heated all year round.

• (lat. Blatta orientalis)

In the past, a fairly common species, significantly displaced from its usual biotopes by the red cockroach. The length of an adult is from 2 to 8 cm. The color of the cockroach is black-brown or tar-brown with a metallic sheen. Males are distinguished by longer elytra than females, but neither of them can fly, but they run very fast.

Black cockroaches live throughout Europe, Asia and Africa. They prefer to settle in heated rooms, sewers, adits, greenhouses, as well as in the wild, not far from the main source of food - food waste.

• (lat. Periplaneta americana)

It looks like a red cockroach, but has big sizes body: 3.5 to 5 cm. Like the Prussians, American cockroaches can fly. The wings of males extend beyond the abdomen by 4-8 mm, due to which males appear longer than females. The shiny body of the American cockroach can be red or chocolate brown. A light brown or yellow stripe runs along the edge of the pronotum. In the wild, American cockroaches live in wooden piles, rotten wood, in the bark of palm trees, in sewers and ventilation tunnels. Due to the flattened shape of the body, they easily penetrate into people's homes through the smallest cracks and gaps, where they hide in attics and basements during daylight hours.

Cockroaches eat absolutely everything: any organic matter, garbage, hair and dead insects, fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, nuts, sweets, cereals, paper, pieces of shoes and clothes. In the 17th century, they were brought from Africa to North America, and later to Europe, where they successfully took root and spread everywhere.

• Madagascar hissing cockroach(lat. Gromphadorrina portentosa)

A very large tropical cockroach, growing in length up to 55 mm (males) - 60 mm (females). Some individuals can reach a length of 10 cm. The weight of a cockroach is about 60 g. The back of the body is painted in Brown color, pronotum brown-black. Madagascar cockroaches do not have wings. At the moment of danger and during mating games, they are able to make loud sounds, reminiscent of hissing. What is interesting: the female cockroach hisses only to scare off enemies, and the louder the male cockroach hisses, the more chances he has for the favor of the female. Some individuals, in addition to hissing, can whistle.

The Madagascar cockroach is an endemic species whose range is limited to the island of Madagascar. Hissing cockroaches live in the branches of trees and shrubs, feeding on fruits and other vegetation. They are actively used for breeding at home, as live food and in cockroach races.

• Marble cockroach (ash cockroach, naufet, neofeta)(lat. Nauphoeta cinerea)

It is of African origin, but due to its unpretentiousness and fertility, it is widely distributed throughout the globe. The insect also has the name naufet. Females are larger than males and grow up to 3 cm in length, males - up to 2.5 cm.

Marble cockroaches eat raw vegetables and fruits, oat flakes and sprouted cereals, bread, protein feed, grass, paper, can easily gnaw through thin plastic. In the absence of protein feed, cases of cannibalism are observed. The ash cockroach is a versatile and most popular food insect for house hedgehogs, amphibians (and) and tarantulas.

• Turtle cockroaches(lat. Corydiidae)

This is a family of cockroaches with pronounced sexual dimorphism: females are wingless, large, massive, grow up to 3-4 cm in length. Males have wings and grow up to 2.5-3 cm in length. Due to the structural features, they are somewhat reminiscent of wood lice.

Cockroaches live in dry areas North America, Central Asia and Africa.

Chess cockroach (lat. Therea petiveriana). Photo credit: noexcuse4you

• Sarawak cockroach (lat. Rhicnoda natatrix)

It lives on the island of Kalimantan.

An amazing feature of this species is the ability of cockroach larvae to swim well. Under normal conditions, the larvae prefer to hide in leaf litter near small streams, puddles, or shallow tropical forest lakes. However, at the first hint of danger, the larvae bravely rush into the reservoir, rushing to the bottom and waiting for a calm situation on land there.

The heaviest cockroach in the world is the Australian rhinoceros cockroach or giant burrowing cockroach (lat. Macropanesthia rhinoceros) , whose length is about 9 cm, and the weight reaches more than 30 g. The same dimensions reach cockroach Blaberus giganteus . These 2 species are very popular among lovers of domestic cockroaches.

The longest cockroach in the world is found in countries Latin America cockroach Megaloblatta longipennis , whose length reaches 9.7 cm with a width of 4.5 cm. And the cockroach has the largest wingspan of 18.5 cm Megaloblattablaberoides .

Flying cockroaches, names and photos

Despite having wings, not all cockroaches can fly. And even representatives of flying species do not know how to plan in the air, but only make small and short-term flights. Flying cockroaches:

• (Prussian) (lat. Blattella germanica)

It has a brown-red color and a body length of 1-1.6 cm.

• Lapland cockroach (lat. Ectobius lapponicus)

A species that lives in Europe and the United States. Males are 1.3-1.4 cm long, females - 9-10 mm. Individuals are painted in gray-yellow and brown-yellow colors.

• Asian cockroach (lat. Blattella asahinai)

It lives in the tropics and subtropics of hot Asia, as well as in the southern states of the United States.

• (lat. Periplaneta americana)

It looks like a Prusak, but it is longer - from 35 to 50 mm.

• Megaloblatta longipennis And Megaloblattablaberoides

They live in Central and South America. The length of the insects reaches 9 cm, the width is 4.5 cm. The wingspan is 18-20 cm.

• Blaberus giganteus

A species found in the South and Central America. Males grow up to 6.5-7 cm, females - up to 7-8.5 cm.

How do cockroaches reproduce?

Cockroaches are characterized by an incomplete development cycle, consisting of 3 periods:

• egg;
• larva (nymph);
• imago (adult).

Cockroaches are distinguished by sexual and parthenogenetic reproduction, but, in any case, for the reproduction of offspring, the female still needs to mate at least once. The male gametes are capable of long time remain in the body of the female, and subsequent clutches occur without prior copulation.

A certain breeding period is not observed in cockroaches, but mating games in certain types are somewhat different. Female cockroaches invite males to mate by slightly flapping their wings and emit an odorous substance - a special secret produced by glands located in the back of the body. In some species, mating is preceded by a lengthy courtship process.

The male cockroach impregnates the female with the genital plate, and then the partners separate. After some time, the female lays 30-40 eggs and carries them in the ootheca, which is located at the end of the abdomen.

Female and cubs

Most species of cockroaches are ovoviviparous, some are distinguished by live birth.

The incubation period lasts from 2 to 5 weeks, at the end of which the female sheds the ootheca in a secluded corner, after which fully developed nymphs hatch from the eggs, which differ from mature individuals in their smaller size, lack of wings and darker color.

Nymph (larva) of the Australian cockroach

The development of nymphs can last from several months, like a Prusak, up to 4 years, like a black cockroach.

Cockroach larvae molt 5-9 times during growth, increasing in size after each molt.

After the last molt, the cockroach acquires a hard shell. Depending on the species, a female cockroach can produce from 20 to 90 ootheca during her life.

Cockroaches in an apartment are a problem that is familiar to many firsthand. These insects are the most common pests in apartments, residential buildings and business premises. And although cockroaches do not harm a person directly, they are extremely undesirable insects in the house, contributing to the spread of diseases and generally deteriorating the sanitary condition of the home.

Let's see where they come from in the apartment ...

How and where do cockroaches get into the room

A little more about the reasons for the appearance of cockroaches in the house

If everything is more or less clear with where the cockroaches come from in the apartment, then the reasons for their successful “fixing” and reproduction in the room are not so obvious to most of us.

Cockroaches are insects that require a certain area to settle the population. If there are already too many cockroaches in an infected apartment and there is not enough food for everyone, some of them go to neighboring rooms in order to master new territory. This is the reason that after a while the entire entrance or house suffers from cockroaches.

Sometimes cockroaches populate a room from a previously accidentally introduced female or a pair of cockroaches. Most often, this problem occurs in people who travel a lot or go on business trips, staying in various hotels and inns. Sometimes cockroaches get into the house with food bought at the supermarket.

An example of an apartment infested with cockroaches

Cockroaches in the house - a sign of unsanitary conditions

Regardless of the reason for the appearance of cockroaches, the preservation and increase in their population is possible only if there are a number of favorable factors:

If cockroaches appeared at home, you need to carefully study possible ways their penetration. Be sure to close up all the cracks in the walls and floor, equip ventilation holes special nets that will not allow other insects to enter the apartment.

It often remains unclear where cockroaches came from, because there can be many options. However, these insects can continue to live and reproduce only in favorable conditions for them.

Usually, cockroach infestation begins with a few individuals, which become the ancestors of an entire population that occurs in just a few weeks. Unsanitary conditions in the apartment - the main factor comfortable life cockroaches.

By the way, after disinsection, cockroaches can return only if the owners do not care too much about the cleanliness of their home.

See also our experiments on cockroaches:

We catch cockroaches and test for them different means- See the results...

What to do if there are cockroaches in the house

It is important for every person living in an apartment building or a private house to know where cockroaches come from. This will remind you of the need preventive measures: maintaining order, eliminating gaps in the walls and closing ventilation ducts.

But if cockroaches have already appeared in the house, you need to urgently start fighting them:

1. Put things in order in the apartment. The appearance of cockroaches may even be a reason for a small repair, but if this is not possible, then spring-cleaning- required. Eliminating deposits of old garbage and eliminating openly lying food will make the fight much more successful and speed up the result.
2. Use special means and traps. The industry offers a lot for the destruction of cockroaches chemicals: insecticidal crayons, aerosols, powders and gels. In addition, you can use folk recipes or put

On the territory of the CIS, the most famous are red (Prussians) and black cockroaches. It is they who give residents a lot of problems: from nighttime anxiety due to their ubiquitous presence to the need for medical help as a result of crawling into the ears.

Where do cockroaches live in an apartment

These insects prefer to live in dark and damp places with a close source of water and food. Therefore, their favorite habitats in the apartment are the kitchen and bathroom.

Most often, they hide in groups under baseboards, in cupboards for dishes or food, under the ventilation grill, sink, bathroom, behind the stove and refrigerator. During the day, insects sit in their shelters, they are active at night. If they often run around the apartment even during the day, it means that their population is already numerous and it is urgent to take drastic measures.

You can determine the nest of cockroaches by a large number their excrement, the remains of moulted parts of the body and empty ootheca, as well as the presence of larvae.

Life cycle of cockroaches

A cockroach goes through three stages of development:

1. 1 The eggs are in the ootheca, a leathery capsule that protects the offspring from external factors in particular, poisons. Larvae develop inside for several weeks, after which they come out already adapted to life.
2. 2 A cockroach larva is not much different from an adult: a little smaller, darker in color and has no wings.
3. 3 Adults have wings and sex organs. Many have scent glands that attract mates for reproduction. This smell can also negatively affect people with allergies.

Having reached puberty, females attract males by emitting an odor. Males produce fertilization with a genital plate at the end of the abdomen. After some time, the female lays from 15 to 60 eggs in the ootheca, which she carries with her behind the abdomen for several days or weeks. Having found a secluded and dark place, the female leaves an ootheca, from which small cockroaches hatch after a couple of days. Larval development varies by species. For redheads, this period is about 4 months, and for blacks, it can last up to 4 years.

These pests are also characterized by parthenogenetic reproduction, in which the female is able to lay eggs without the participation of the male. But for this, the female must first mate with the male at least once.

Many types of cockroaches can fly, but not those that live in apartments. Black cockroaches do not have wings at all. Redheads have them, but they are underdeveloped. Sometimes, they can use wings in a jump, lengthening it for a short distance, but they do not know how to fly fully.

The life expectancy of a red cockroach is 8-12 months. Without food, he can live for about 40 days.

Differences between black and red cockroaches

Ordinary cockroaches are large insects 2.5-3 cm long and 3-6 mm wide. The flattened body in the dorsal-abdominal direction allows them to penetrate into narrow cracks.

Most often there are two types of synanthropic cockroaches:

• Black (they are often called basement, according to their habitat) - without wings, 1.5-2 cm long with a shiny body surface. Such cockroaches run fast, have an unpleasant appearance and smell. Large cockroaches are commonly found in the bathroom in ground floor apartments at night or in the early morning.
• Red or Prussian - 1.5-2 cm long, has a dark brown body and wings. The latter can help a little in the jump, but the cockroach cannot fly. There are many more of these insects in the apartment.

These two types are in conflict with each other. The period of development of black cockroaches to middle age much longer, as a result, the population of black cockroaches grows more slowly. Colonies of red cockroaches are more common, the period of maturity in Prussians comes almost several times faster than in blacks. Black cockroach eggs are also often eaten by red cockroaches.

In this material, we have collected the most interesting and rare facts about cockroaches, which may be interesting for everyone who decides to arrange a “fun life” for these insects, and also just as an entertaining read. Perhaps, after reading this article, some of our readers will even change their attitude towards these invaders of the residential area of ​​​​the apartment. How many cockroaches live, where they hide, what they eat - we searched for these and many other questions in the scientific literature and received quite interesting answers.

Who is this cockroach?

First, let's look at some basic facts about the life of a cockroach as a species.

flying cockroaches

Anyway, the only thing worse than cockroaches on the floor (or bed) is cockroaches flying around the room. While not all Blattella can fly, Megaloblatta longipennis spreads its wings to an impressive 185mm. This cutie lives in Central and South America, she is not on other continents, so we do not know her. But as for the red-haired German cockroaches familiar to us - although adults have developed wings, they never use them. Maybe they just don't need it yet.

Participation in global warming

Studies have shown that cockroaches release digestive gases into the air every 15 minutes, on average. Even after death, they will continue to release methane for up to 18 hours. Globally, insect flatulence is estimated to account for 20% of all methane emissions. This describes the cockroach as one of the biggest contributors to global warming. By the way, other major contributors against the background of digestive acoustics are cows and humans.

A cockroach can break if it falls from a height

A wild cockroach dies, for the most part, in the stomach of a bird or other small animal for which the insect is a culinary passion. In our homes, however, many of the cockroaches can die from simply not being able to recover from a fall. In the wild, where there are leaves and soft ground, a cockroach can grab onto something and land softly, while in our homes, with their smooth floors, the poor fellow can find himself in a quandary.

In addition, some insecticides work by causing muscle spasms and a general lack of muscle coordination, which can cause the cockroach to fall on its back and never get up again, floundering in exhaustion. Unable to control its muscles, the insect dies without rising.

Where did the word "cockroach" come from?

The name "cockroach" is believed to have come into modern Russian from the Old Russian "cockroach", and there, in their own way, they began to describe the insect, thanks to its ability to quickly run away - "tar-aqan", which means "fugitive" in Turkic ".

By the way, it is quite interesting to call cockroaches in different languages:

• Chinese: zhang or lang.
• Dutch: kakkerlak.
• Hebrew: Jook.
• Japanese: gokiburi.
• Mongolian: Joom.
• Swedish: kackerlacka.
• Turkish: hamam böce.

Do cockroaches have a voice?

The famous hissing of the Madagascar cockroach is believed to be the only time the insect uses its air passages to make a sound. Most other insects make sounds by rubbing various parts body or wings in flight.

The Madagascar cockroach even has some vocal abilities, he is able to produce two separate sounds - one when he is disturbed, and the other when the males go in search of females.

Because these insects are quite large - their body length reaches 5-8 cm in length, and wingless, they can often be seen in films. By the way, these are quite popular pets - many keep them in insectariums, for example, or in aquariums on their desktops. It also seems to be a pleasure.

Does a cockroach die from losing its head?

It is said that a cockroach does not need a head at all to survive. And yet it is true. For comparison and with pure biological point vision, we humans use our heads for three functions:

• We breathe through our nose and mouth, and the breathing process itself is controlled by our brain.
• Head loss can cause severe blood loss, which in turn would cause a drop in blood pressure, which is needed to transport oxygen and nutrients on body tissues.
• We eat with our mouths, so if we are deprived of them, we will simply starve to death.

Let's now compare the above points with cockroaches:

• Insect breathing is also carried out with oxygen, but through spiracles throughout the body, and the brain does not control this function.
• Insects don't have blood pressure, so they don't have to worry about "bleeding out".
• One meal, if the ambient temperature is low enough, can provide a cockroach for a whole month.

Due to these features of its biology, a decapitated cockroach can, in fact, survive for quite some time.

cockroach allergy

Allergy to cockroaches was first reported and confirmed about 50 years ago. It's really real opportunity and may be sufficient. dangerous phenomenon. Allergens in this case are excrement and remains from the decaying body of a cockroach, which become volatile and enter the human bronchi.

Sensitivity to this dust causes a bronchial allergic reaction known as asthma. Scientists believe that the recent increase in the number of cases of asthmatic manifestations is due to the fact that many urban children who spend large quantity of their free time indoors, are in constant contact with cockroach allergens.

Some studies have shown that almost every urban apartment house has, from 900 to 330,000 insects (wow - the cockroaches were counted). The published results describe that the prevalence of asthma is more common among residents of such houses, with more patients where there are more cockroaches.

Unlike seasonal allergies, asthma caused by cockroach allergy persists throughout the year. By the way, it can be diagnosed only with the help of skin reactions.

simple arithmetic

The well-known German cockroach is cousin black cockroach, which since ancient times inhabited the dwellings of Russian people. During the Russian-Prussian war, the red cockroach came to Russia from Europe, for which he was nicknamed the Prussian. This is probably the most common pest among all species, at least the statement is one hundred percent true for the inhabitants of Russia.

The life cycle of insects is about 100 days, in general they live about 6 months. Each female, after fertilization, grows a capsule on her belly, which is called an ootheca, which contains about 30-40 eggs. During her life, the female can produce 6 or 8 ootheca, which she confidently hides from the rest of the "inhabitants" of the nest. As a result, from 180 to 320 descendants are born. Considering that only 10 of her children become sexually mature females, and this is a very low estimate - the number is still closer to a hundred, then thousands of insects can appear in the apartment in just a few months. But this rarely happens, since active insect control measures significantly thin out the population.

Speed ​​is life

Many studies show that the highest recorded speed among non-flying insects belongs to American cockroach and is 75 centimeters per second. Compared to human standards, this is about 330 km per hour, which is three times faster than the fastest land animal - the cheetah.

cockroach and radiation

There is a lot of talk about the fact that the cockroach will be the only living organisms after the explosion of the atomic bomb. However, there is no clear scientific evidence on this topic, but there are some logical theories as to why this may be true, although not exclusively for cockroaches.

Living cells are especially sensitive to radiation during their division, hence the efficiency of radiation on cancer cells. Cockroach cells divide only during the molting cycle, when the insect's body is growing. This happens from 4 to 8 times, from the moment of hatching from an egg to a sexually mature individual, with a frequency of about once a week. Thus, cockroaches are only "sensitive to radiation" for about 48 hours, or about 1/4 of a week. Humans, and most other animals, have blood and immune stem cells in their bodies that are constantly dividing throughout their lives.

Given the lethal effects of radiation due to nuclear war, all complex organisms would surely cease to exist. As for cockroaches, only one-fourth of all populations would die among them.

Interestingly, one of the radiological laboratories conducted a test to study this very concept and the following result was obtained. Cockroaches can survive ten times more radiation than the amount that kills people, but the excess allowable concentration a hundred times, everything destroyed the insects.

What do cockroaches eat?

Cockroaches can eat any organic food that smells appropriate. Insects love everything that a person eats, including the products of his life. In times of scarcity, the cockroach can feed on soap, paper, and also glue containing starch. Therefore, the answer to the question - what do cockroaches eat, will be the answer - everything. When a cockroach is hungry, it is not itself.

Why are cockroaches dangerous?

Cockroaches can attack a person, but they do it extremely rarely, mainly at night, and on small sleeping children. "Attack" sounds very rude, rather in times of food shortage, the cockroach loves to "eat" particles of dead skin and sebum from the surface skin person.

But the way of life of cockroaches can bring quite more serious harm. They crawl everywhere, including sewers, collecting a huge number of various microorganisms on their body and inside it. And then, when the insect moves along the surfaces to which the person comes into contact, it violently inoculates them with this microflora.

Where do cockroaches hide and live?

As already noted, cockroaches prefer extremely dark, warm and humid places, sheltered from the light, which means potential enemies, including humans. Therefore, if there are cockroaches in the apartment, their nest should be looked for in cracks in the walls, ventilation shafts, blockages of various rubbish and behind bulky furniture.

If our readers know additional facts about cockroaches, we will be glad if they share them in the comments to this article.