German Cockroach
Common Name
Scientific Name
German Cockroach
Blatella germanica
Identification:
Adult German cockroaches are ½ to 5/8 inch long and tan to light brown. Although they have fully developed wings, they do not fly. Nymphs are similar in appearance to adults except that they are smaller and lack wings. The German cockroach is best identified by its small size and by two dark parallel lines running from the back of the head to the wings.
Biology:
German cockroaches produce a larger number of eggs per capsule, up to 48 nymphs, and they undergo the shortest time from hatching to reach sexual maturity. It takes the egg about 28 days to hatch, and a new egg capsule is made a few weeks later. In a lifetime of a female, which is about 20 to 30 weeks, she can create up to 10,000 decedents! The reason many nymphs actually survive is because the female carries the egg capsule with her while the eggs develop, also they are the smaller than most cockroaches and can hide themselves in many places inaccessible to individuals of larger species.
Habits:
Most of the time an infestation of the German cockroach begins by bringing in cartons and other materials from infested structures that harbor the roaches or their eggs. Kitchens, bathrooms and other locations that provide food, moisture, warmth and shelter are preferred habitats. German cockroaches are mainly active at night, when they search for food and water.
They do not like motion and usually avoid light, so if you are seeing them in the daytime while you are moving about the room, you probably have a larger population than you realize. They also can occur in attics, wall voids, crawl spaces, foundation cracks, garbage areas and around the landscape.
Because cockroaches tend to frequent garbage cans, sewers and other disease-laden locations, germs attach to their body that can transfer to food contact surfaces such as utensils, surfaces where food is prepared, plates or dishes, and so forth, during the normal course of roach activities. These include disease-causing bacteria: Salmonella, Shigella, E. coli, Streptococcus (pneumonia), several helminthes (hookworm, pinworms, tapeworms), and even viruses.
