What animals eat cockroaches. What are black and red cockroaches most afraid of? Who eats insect cockroaches

Cockroaches in an apartment are one of the most common problems (bugs are much less common in an apartment, but getting them out is much more difficult). Residents of high-rise buildings and owners of private houses are also confronted. There are plenty of tools in stores that are designed to deal with unplanned colonies of many-legged residents. Their variety allows you to choose an option for any wallet. And the media and the Internet will provide all the necessary information on the effectiveness and safety of the means chosen by the person.

Waging a full-scale war against insects at home, few people think about where unwanted insects came from and what exactly attracted them to this living space. And it should! Knowing the habits of cockroaches allows you to more effectively fight against them and successfully avoid their appearance.

Behavioral Features

A cockroach is a creature, albeit not a reasonable one, but always looking for the most comfortable conditions for life. And comfortable for them are all warm, dark places inaccessible to most large creatures. Ideal conditions for them will be if there is food and access to water near such dwellings.

Cockroaches, although omnivores, are non-aggressive and rather cowardly insects. They can show aggression in the very last resort and only to smaller creatures. The assertion that cockroaches eat bedbugs does not have any serious justification. Such a situation can only arise when the cockroach is hungry for a long time, and there are no sources of other food within reach (which is really rare, since their omnivorous nature allows you to find food almost everywhere).

Bedbugs and cockroaches have almost no intersection points, they have nothing to share, so they are able to coexist quite peacefully on the same territory. Although cockroaches are natural enemies of bedbugs, in everyday life they are often found together and do not suffer too much from this. But getting rid of bedbugs is sometimes much more difficult.

Omnivorous pests

In order to understand the reason for the attractiveness of a human apartment for insect colonies, one should know what they eat. The fact that a cockroach is an omnivore has already been mentioned, almost any organic matter can serve as food for it. Left unattended food in the open - favorite treat prussians. In the absence of available human food, insects will search for leftovers on unwashed dishes in the sink. They feed on crumbs spilled on the floor during a meal, any kind of organic matter in the trash can is a feast for cockroach colonies.

In an apartment (much more often in basements), insects brought to severe hunger are able to taste human skin(provided that a person is sleeping, the Prussians are too cowardly to attack active creatures). There is a species of insect that can feed on human eyelashes. This type of cockroach lives in Brazil, and most often young sleeping children become its victims.

feed on harmful insects and some types of fabrics, as well as, if necessary (extreme hunger), leather products. Cases of cockroaches feeding on synthetic materials have been noted.

Precautionary measures

To prevent the appearance of unwanted settlers in the apartment, all necessary precautions should be taken.

It is not enough to clear the table and hide uneaten food in the refrigerator. It is mandatory to carry out general cleaning at least twice a week. Don't let unwashed dishes stagnate in the sink, they are the Prussians' top priority. People living in an apartment are advised to outline special ventilation holes in order to prevent unwanted insects from entering neighboring apartments. It is allowed to put a certain amount in them. Mandatory fine mesh on the air ducts.

Not only ready-made foods should have a closed view, it is imperative to ensure that all ingredients, including spices, are tightly closed. Putting them higher does not make sense, insects run great on walls and ceilings, and some are able to fly!

The main rule is not only the fight against cockroaches, but also the prevention of their appearance - the lack of water in a form accessible to insects - water spilled on the floor, located in open containers for settling, digging from poorly closed or faulty taps. Water is one of the most important resources for insects. They can get food almost anywhere, and even in its absence, cockroaches are able to feel good for more than a month, while finding available water is a much more difficult task, and they can live much less without it.

At home, it is very difficult to deal with colonies of multi-legged pests, regardless of what kind it is, so it is recommended to protect yourself in advance by trying to observe all the necessary precautions.

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 the 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.

The 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.

A cockroach is a nocturnal insect, and it 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 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. The cockroaches are hunted by the comb anole lizard, 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, and in extreme cases 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 a large body size: from 3.5 to 5 cm. Like the Prussians, american cockroaches are able to 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, cereals 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 breed?

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.

Among pets, there are those who eat cockroaches, because these insects are satisfying and very versatile food. Some breeders even buy special lizards to rid their home of these whiskered pests. Indeed, the inhabitants of terrariums are very fond of cockroaches, these insects are specially bought and bred. In the countries of Asia and Africa, even people use them, and in terms of taste they exceed all expectations. Red, black and Madagascar cockroaches are fried or pickled. Sometimes even cats and dogs are not averse to profiting from insects.

On Earth, cockroaches have existed for about 250 million years, these insects are one of the most advanced organisms. The fact is that an individual is able to withstand the most extreme conditions environment including radioactive radiation. These representatives of the insect world have a complex eye, which consists of several thousand lenses, but the human eye has only one. There are many hairs on the legs - they are responsible for touch, the antennae act as an olfactory organ, and there are also two small "antennae" on the back side - these are indicators of movement. If someone wants to sneak up on this insect from behind, then it will be immediately detected, due to which the individual will be able to sense danger and escape.

Iguanas, snakes, lizards eat cockroaches

It is important to determine who eats cockroaches from animals in order to understand what place these insects occupy in the chain. Terrarium owners are the main buyers of these insects in pet stores. It is an excellent food for rodents, monkeys, snakes, turtles and ornamental birds. The cockroach contains a large amount of useful and quite nutritious substances, however, animals can eat them in in large numbers. The increased interest among breeders is caused by the marbled appearance of cockroaches, it is specially bred at home, and there are no problems with this, since individuals have amazing fertility.

Some owners of aquariums and terrariums refuse such food as cockroaches, because their cost bites enough. Therefore, they are engaged in the cultivation of insects at home. As food, you can use both large varieties, for example, Madagascar and American, and more familiar species, that is, black and red. It should be noted that the pulp is much more nutritious in large species, and the largest cockroaches reach 10 centimeters in size. So we decided which animal eats cockroaches.

If cockroaches are wound up in the house, then many run to the store and buy up all the shelves with chemicals and sticky traps. However, this issue can be approached non-standard if you determine which animals eat cockroaches, that is, you can purchase such a pet, for example, a lizard, or maybe several at once. These predatory animals simply adore cockroaches, both exotic varieties and those that can live in our homes. Lizards are able to exterminate insects up to their complete disappearance. The lizard is an excellent predator that can lie in ambush unnoticed for a long time; in one night, one individual is able to eliminate dozens of insects.

Studies have shown that cannibalism is developed among cockroaches when they eat their dead relatives. This becomes especially noticeable when there is a shortage of food, but this has nothing to do with domestic varieties, because it is not at all difficult to find water and food in apartments.

Almost every animal consumes Zhukov, but not all predators love the Prussians. Cockroach lovers include:

• rodents (hamsters, rats);
• cats;
• dogs.

In the wild, frogs, hedgehogs, lizards, rodents and birds will not refuse this delicacy. These pests are even consumed by monkeys. small size, and ants are able to eat a dead Prusak, they carry dead carcasses to their colonies in order to provide the larvae with useful elements, and the cockroach contains a large amount of such substances. You may notice that cats do not catch insects for food, but just for fun, however, some experts argue that chitin will not be superfluous for felines after surgery, and cockroach meat also contains a large amount of protein.

About twice a week, lizards need to be given cockroaches so that their body receives a sufficient amount of positive components and nutrients. In this case, the individual will develop correctly and will have large sizes, it is best to let the individuals hunt on their own in order to bring their living conditions as close as possible to natural ones.

Lizards eat cockroaches very well, as there are a lot of nutrients in such food.

Among lizards and other inhabitants of terrariums in captivity, obesity is common, because they move little and have plenty of food. Against this background, various diseases appear, primarily with cardiovascular system, as a result of this, life expectancy and the quality of offspring are significantly reduced.

The main enemy of cockroaches is the emerald wasp. This individual is not a victim, but only uses its body, while the insect is subjected to serious torment. The wasp injects poison into the body of the cockroach, it remains alive when she drags him into her hole. After that, she lays eggs in his body, and closes the entrance to the norm so that the prisoner cannot escape. About a week is required for the development of larvae inside the Prusak. Larvae develop from eggs, they begin to eat the insect from the inside. After another week, the larvae turn into pupae, they still remain in the hole for several days, and then crawl out of the shell of the insect in whose body they sat.

When an adult wasp gets hungry, it can eat the same cockroach, they eat the Prusak alive. Due to the poison, he is immobilized, but remains alive. Man also uses cockroaches as food, of course, not as exotic as the emerald wasp does. In Asia and Africa, dishes from large cockroaches are offered in various restaurants, and their cost is quite high. Special institutions grow cockroaches on special farms.

Insect meat is dietary, it consumes small individuals local population frying them in a frying pan. In various establishments, the dish is served with all kinds of sauces, sometimes even raw, but most often they are fried. This is where the list of those who use cockroaches ends. It should be noted that cockroaches are very fast and maneuverable creatures. Studies have shown that if these insects were the size of a dog, they could accelerate to 80 km / h. This figure is close to the fastest animal on the planet, which is the cheetah.

People can also eat cockroaches, but such a delicacy is not for everybody.

Recently, the popularity of cockroaches as pets has been growing, of course, breeders do not acquire ordinary Prussians, but exotic varieties. large sizes. Such pets are suitable for those people who do not like to bother much with caring for animals, because insects can eat any food, and you don’t need to clean the terrarium often.

The oral cavity of a cockroach is able to distinguish not only taste qualities but also the smell of food. During its development, the insect sheds several times outer shell replacing it with a new one. A pest can hold its breath for 40 minutes, for example, under water, and it spends 75% of its life in sleep mode, in other words, it just rests. The largest individuals live in South America - they grow up to 15 centimeters in length, and the wingspan is 30 centimeters.

During the mating period, there are no courtships between representatives of different sexes, if the female is ready for fertilization, then special pheromones are released, which attracts male representatives. There are such females that it is enough to fertilize once, and they will reproduce offspring throughout their lives. Some varieties of females during the period of childbearing age reproduce about 7-8 capsules, which are called ootheca, each of which can contain up to 28 eggs.

Among animals, situations are common in which serious poisoning occurs after eating this insect. The fact is that now special poisons are used to fight cockroaches, which slowly poison the insect's body so that it brings toxic substances into its colony and poisons other family members. This is a fairly effective and potent substance. If an animal eats an infected insect, then it can also be poisoned, often even fatal. Some terrarium owners, when they see a pet cockroach in the kitchen, catch it and give it to the lizard, or even let the pet catch the victim on their own, which is a serious problem.

- This is a nutritious food, the meat of which contains a large amount of protein and other useful trace elements. This is a wonderful natural food for lizards and other inhabitants of terrariums, however, such insects cannot be given daily, the ideal option would be twice a week. But the serving size is already determined by a specialist in a veterinary clinic or a consultant in a pet store.

Cockroaches, no matter what species they belong to, are one of the most picky insects. In addition to food, they, of course, need warmth, a source of water, and hiding places. But still the most an important factor to appear at your home is a violation of sanitary standards and improper storage of food.

Crumbs on the floor and simply forgotten food on the table will be regarded by cockroaches as an invitation to dinner. If you do not want to become a neighbor of an unpleasant insect, then you need to prevent open storage food.

If you are inattentive to the observance of sanitary standards, then be prepared for the appearance of uninvited guests. Cockroaches don't just eat leftovers from your food. Their diet may include soap, leather, paper, starch and different kinds fabrics. If you have already managed to attract this undemanding species to your home, then know that they can swallow anything.

The main threat posed by the Prussians is infections. Having first been in the garbage can, the Prussians will begin to examine your table, on which they will leave traces of pathogenic bacteria, helminth eggs, etc. These insects can even cause a specific type of allergy.

What do they eat in apartments?

As already mentioned, the diet of cockroaches is very diverse. But it is worth mentioning that these insects can bring indirect benefits to humans. The fact is that they are carnivorous, and with pleasure they devour the eggs of bed bugs, keeping their population under control. However, you should not think that the Prussians are a reliable assistant in the fight against bloodsuckers. They cannot completely destroy the nests of bedbugs - the habitat of these species is too different.

The menu of cockroaches includes most of the food that a person consumes. It:

• flour;
• Sweet;
• Protein products;
• Cereals;
• Fruit;
• Vegetables.

During the day, one individual can absorb up to 5 mg of food. It is especially annoying that insects do not know anything about saving. They don't just eat your food, they randomly bite one or the other product. Given that they carry infection, worm eggs and dangerous viruses, you are at great risk of getting sick if you do not get rid of harmful neighbors.

If a few years ago the townspeople were racking their brains over how to get rid of hordes of cockroaches, now they are thinking about the opposite problem - where did the unpleasant companions of our life go?

Have they fled like rats from a sinking ship, anticipating a global danger? Nobody knows the exact answer to this question. But there are several of the most popular versions - scientific and household. True, so far none of them has been recognized as the only true one, writes AiF.

From premonition of trouble to GMOs

Without cockroaches, of course, life has become more pleasant. But it is somehow alarming: the insects that survived the mammoths suddenly seem to have evaporated? These are the conclusions that the best minds of mankind have come to in this regard.

The fatality of events is the least scientifically substantiated version. But, they say that in history there were cases when cockroaches “evaporated” by the whole clan on the eve of any cataclysm. Some sources claim that cockroaches disappeared on the territory of Ukraine before the famine of 1932-1933, in some countries - on the eve of World War II, and in 1976 - in Chinese city Tangshan, where the largest earthquake in the 20th century took place, claiming, according to official data, 250 thousand human lives, and according to unofficial data - 600 thousand. Are we on the verge of disaster again? The version, of course, has the right to life, but there is not enough exact evidence in its favor.

It's all about cell phones and the internet.. There is an opinion that cockroaches could not stand the radio frequency radiation. Nowadays, mobile phones, Wi-Fi, computers, microwave ovens are in almost every home. Perhaps, hardened by various life tests for millions of years, cockroaches could not resist the attack of radio waves? But why then are people alive? After all human body much more vulnerable than cockroaches. Also doubtful. Although it is interesting.

They were afraid of renovations. Adherents of this version were divided into two camps. Some argue that the ancient insects, who like unsanitary conditions, were afraid of the cleanliness that flooded the apartments of the townspeople after European-style repairs - after all, expensive repairs oblige to maintain an appropriate sanitary level. And the latter believe that everything is much simpler - the cockroaches were frightened by the deadly modern Construction Materials, in particular, plastic in very large quantities, drywall and various mixtures. Although even here it is debatable. At the expense of cleanliness - it is doubtful that renovation so radically changes a person's attitude to cleaning the premises. And at the expense of the harmfulness of materials - after all, European-style repairs are not done in absolutely all apartments, therefore, if desired, cockroaches could escape through known cracks and “moves” to their neighbors, who still have their usual conditions. But with the disappearance of cockroaches in some apartments and their invasion in others, it was not observed.

Run away from GMOs. This theory is sometimes even discussed by scientists, who suggest that the third generation of these former domestic insects, grown on GMO foods, loses the ability to reproduce, and the entire colony is doomed to extinction. This version does not yet have scientific justification studies have not been conducted. Therefore, it is too early to talk about its reliability. Although some particularly ardent minds predict the same fate for humanity. And this despite the fact that for the time being the very harmfulness of GMOs has not been scientifically proven.

About poisons and cockroach war

There are two most scientifically substantiated versions. And both of them claim that the cockroaches have not disappeared anywhere, but only left us - for a while. And will definitely return. After all, where else will they find such comfortable conditions as in our apartments?

Persian chamomile killed them. Approximately 20 years ago, in the 1990s, imported cockroach control products began to appear en masse. What the ornate hieroglyphs reported in the instructions remained a mystery to most of us. But scientists say that these were the so-called synthetic pyrethroids - pesticides from Persian chamomile, which were used in the 19th century, are practically harmless to humans. At first it was crayons, then they were replaced by traps, pastes and gels. Having eaten the poisoned bait, the cockroach became dangerous for all his relatives, who ate his excrement.

But scientists remind that the body of cockroaches is accustomed to adapt to different conditions, even unpleasant ones. And it is possible that over time they will become addicted to these poisons. And in five years they will again return to their former habitats - to our apartments.

Blacks against reds - an invisible war. Another version says that now there is a global war between the two most common types of cockroaches - black and red. It seems that the blacks will turn out to be the winners, and soon they will come to us en masse, taking places that until recently the Prussians considered theirs.

“For many years, the most common type of cockroach in our country is red or Prussian. They were brought to us on army carts during Seven Years' War back in the eighteenth century. At that time, only black cockroaches lived with us. But since redheads are smaller, reproduce faster and more actively, they have forced out native competitors,” says Anatoly Kotenko, senior researcher at the Department of Ecology and Sociobiology of Insects at the Institute of Evolutionary Ecology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

Both of these types of cockroaches are tenacious and adapt well to any conditions. But for a redhead, a temperature below +17 degrees is uncomfortable, and below +10 degrees is generally unacceptable. Black withstands such temperatures. And when we started having problems with energy carriers, they began to heat houses more sparingly, the Prussians became cold.

In addition, they need water to live. And because of the increase in tariffs, people began to use water more economically. These two factors, according to the entomologist, played a fatal role in the life of cockroaches. Redheads or Prussians began to disappear, and blacks, who had once been banished to cellars and non-residential premises, are slowly starting to return to more comfortable conditions for themselves - closer to people. Now they are already cautiously beginning to develop hospitals, hostels and the outskirts of the residential sector. The hour is not far off when they will massively begin to populate our homes.

Meanwhile, some "green" activists in Europe are already putting forward demands for the inclusion of cockroaches in the Red Book. But they seem to be in a hurry. After all, the question of the return of cockroaches to us is most likely only a matter of time.