#german cockroach

by Janell Cannon, from Crickwing (2000)

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TODAY'S FACT IS

Did you know that the German Cockroach (Blattella germanica) is one of the most prolific domestic pests in the world?

Often identified for its pair of racing stripes, these roaches are smaller and cannot fly but do like cramming themselves into tight spaces. That thigmotactic behaviour combined with the mother roach carrying her ootheca (egg case) until the eggs are about ready to hatch and their quick development to adulthood (egg to sexual maturity in less than 60 days) makes them very difficult to eliminate from a home.

These roaches are renowned for the chemical resilience. Developing alongside humans has helped them get more and more resistant to many chemicals, especially those in typical pest control formulas.

Even though they have an extreme dislike of the cold they like being near us even more. Reports have seen them as far north as Alert, Nunavut, the most northern continually inhabited community on the planet (only July and August average temperatures above 0⁰C).

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this picture of #her i took at mcr mexico city night 2…,..

woe. roach (Blattella germanica) upon yee.

I've got a couple false windows this year, most notably Jezebel here (she got her name on day 2 because I caught her with 3 males in her web). She's cleared out over a dozen moths in the space of a few weeks, which hopefully means she's got babies on the way. If they all perform this well, I'll be in good shape.

Max lives by the lamp, and as you can see, also loves moths. They're just terrible this year, for whatever reason.

And finally, this tiny fellow came in with a food shipment at a friend's workplace. I was asked to identify him, and as he's a German roach (and a male, so no risk of infestation), his name is now Oskar, and he lives in a small enclosure in the front room.

Amazingly, he managed to not only escape while I was transferring him into the larger setup, but survive for two weeks in a house crawling with predators (and two cats) before coming out of nowhere on the living room floor and dashing right at me. Ultimate survivor, indeed. I intend to keep him well fed and as happy as I can, then preserve him after death. I'm guessing he has a month or so left. But hey, anyone with sense would've killed him outright, so he's doing pretty well for a warehouse roach.

Is it me, or is he kinda small for his breed?

Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia: vol. 2 - Insects. Written by Dr. Bernhard Grzimek. 1984.

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