How do cockroaches reproduce and what are their sexual preferences?

Peculiarities of cockroach reproduction

Having figured out how cockroaches breed, the owner of a living space may become depressed. This is explained by the fact that cockroaches do not have a clearly defined time period for reproduction. The appearance of new individuals is observed throughout the entire 12 months.

If you miss the moment and don’t start fighting them in time, then it will be very difficult to get rid of such “tenants” later.

How do they reproduce?

There is nothing special about how cockroaches reproduce. Like most other living things, they do this sexually. The process of reproduction is preceded by mating games of sexual partners, after which they perform sexual intercourse.

One intercourse is enough for the female to self-fertilize several times in the future without the participation of a male.

Small cockroaches develop as follows:

1. The female cockroach lays an ooteca (cockroach eggs are placed in a special leathery sac). Red and black representatives of this family of insects carry eggs on themselves, while other individuals lay them in hard-to-reach places.
2. 14-21 days after laying, new individuals emerge from the abdominal sacs in the form of larvae.
3. Larvae or nymphs (miniature copies of adults) molt several times during development and eventually transform into mature adults.

A female black cockroach carries up to 10-20 larvae in one egg, and a female black cockroach carries 20-30. At most, a female cockroach can produce up to 40 new larvae at one time. This number of new young individuals is enough to completely fill the apartment in the shortest possible time.

What determines the rate of reproduction?

If the female carrying the ootheca with future offspring is in favorable conditions (there is free access to food and drink), then the entire cycle of larval maturation occurs in 5-7 weeks.

But if food supplies are weak or the temperature in the room is too low, then the pregnant individual does not give birth, but wears the capsule on herself for several months, since the development of the larvae under such conditions slows down significantly.

The most active breeding season for cockroaches occurs at night. In the absence of daylight or artificial light, they begin to lead an active lifestyle.

While the owner of the home sleeps peacefully, insect mating takes place in his kitchen, leading to a rapid increase in the number of colonies.

The rate of reproduction of Prussians directly depends on the ambient temperature in the room. If the temperature is reduced to 10 °C, then some of the parasites will die immediately, while others will lose the ability to further develop normally.

Some consider temperature changes as a good method of controlling parasites. With the help of cold it is possible to exterminate entire colonies.

How does fertilization occur in females?

Cockroaches reproduce through sexual contact. After the individuals mate, the cockroach is able to become fertilized 1-3 times. Moreover, during subsequent fertilization she will not need the help of a male individual.

This is due to the fact that a female is capable of retaining reproductive cells of the opposite sex in her body for a long time.

After fertilization, the female insect lays eggs enclosed in a special protective shell. The life of new individuals, separate from the mother, begins in the form of larvae, which go through 3 molts throughout their lives and eventually turn into an adult female or male.

How often does a cockroach reproduce?

The lifespan of such a parasite can vary greatly. In order for the pest to live longer, the most comfortable conditions must be created for it. Most of the life of cockroaches occurs during the period when they are already sexually mature individuals.

The larvae develop quite quickly and become adult females and males in 4 weeks. This reproduction rate is considered quite fast, and the population of cockroaches can be replenished very dynamically.

These creatures do not have specific seasons for breeding.

The process of emergence of new individuals is observed throughout the entire 12 months, which greatly complicates the fight against them.

If there are cockroaches in the apartment, then you need to understand that during their life cycle, females of black or red members of the family can lay from 4 to 9 ootheca, and this implies the birth of about 450 new individuals.

Video

The birth of cockroaches

How cockroaches reproduce and useful tips for preventing rapid reproduction

Nobody likes cockroaches; no one wants to share their food or home with them. He poisons them, kills them, but they don’t care! If there is water, a warm, secluded place, he will find something to eat and begin to reproduce.

Let’s look at this process in more detail, namely, we will find out how domestic cockroaches reproduce, how many cockroaches hatch from one egg, what does a pregnant cockroach look like?

How do cockroaches reproduce?

They are designed by wise nature in such a way that, taking little, they give a lot. And therefore it is indestructible. You can only reduce its population. Amazingly generous with the population. Judge for yourself.

Do you know how many cockroaches are born from one egg? From one clutch, 15-50 individuals hatch at a time. The female is capable of making 10 clutches or more during her life cycle.

It turns out that one individual is capable of producing at least one hundred offspring. And they won’t sit still either - they will continue to breed cockroaches. How to win this? Maybe selectively kill females?

How to determine the sex of a cockroach

• Size. Boys are smaller.
• Wings. In males they are more developed. The male can even fly up if he needs to get to the desired object.
• Leads. Males have a genital plate - a growth on the last segment of the body.

This is what domestic representatives do - red ones (Prussians) and black ones (such as crickets). But those that live in nature - Madagascar, for example - their males can hiss and butt with their horns in order to get a female. Girls have wings only for decoration - they can wave them a little, showing their readiness to mate.

Metamorphoses

The type of development of cockroaches is an incomplete cycle of transformation, that is, it skips the pupal stage.

1. Egg. It takes 120 days (4 months) for an egg to develop into a mature individual.
2. Nymph is the larva of a cockroach. The imago lives and reproduces for 30 weeks.
3. Imago is an adult individual. One female can give birth to 300 children during her life cycle.

These figures may be higher - it all depends on living conditions. The more nourishing, warmer and humid, the more intense the reproduction of domestic cockroaches.

Edema like a mortgage

They flapped their wings and mated. Then the fun begins. The female lays eggs. She does not lay these eggs just anywhere, but in a special capsule for edema. This is a leathery pouch that quite reliably protects the eggs from damage and the vicissitudes of the external environment.

The female will keep this pouch with her - behind her body. This swelling looks like a tail and is popularly called “tail”. The female carries the edema with her everywhere and does not throw it anywhere.

And it is freed from it only when the larvae are ready to emerge. If you see such a “tailed one,” then you know that he is the most dangerous for your home.

Because when dying, the female manages to shed her “tail” - she shoots it straight out, catapults it. And she herself, perhaps, will die, but the “tail” will not.

How cockroaches give birth

The time for childbirth will come, and somewhere, under the baseboard, 30 little baby cockroaches will crawl out, completely independent and viable. And you lost this little battle again.

Not myths about the nymph

It is not difficult to distinguish a nymph from an adult. The larval nymph is smaller in size, its wings have not yet developed, and it is darker in color. The larva molts 5-6 times during its growth and sheds its old shell.

The closer the nymph is in age to a mature individual, the lighter it becomes, turning from almost black to red. Nymphs live in a colony with adults and eat the same food. They behave exactly the same, only they do not mate.

10 interesting features that make them incredibly durable:

• After mating, the male's gametes are stored in the female's body for a long time, and repeated clutches can occur without the prior participation of the male. That is, it is enough for a female to “communicate” with a male once in her life in order to then calmly and repeatedly leave offspring.
• Can live without a head. All his organs continue to function. But without a head, the body will not last more than a week for the reason that it will not be able to drink and will die... from thirst.
• Can hold his breath for 40 minutes. Scientists believe that this feature came in handy millions of years ago, when things were not going smoothly with the earth’s atmosphere.
• Barbels are very lazy. They spend three quarters of their lives in a state of rest.
• Runs very fast. If he runs, it will be very fast - 4.8 km per hour. This is a lot, considering the size of his legs.
• Maybe eat once a month. And at the same time, he can eat everything. For this he has powerful jaws.
• Impossible to catch. He will feel you with all the hairs on his paws. And when he starts running, he will change direction 25 times per second. You are doomed to fail.
• They will withstand an atomic explosion and survive. They have a particularly slow cell division cycle and are not afraid of radiation.
• They have two pairs of wings. The upper ones are dense and leathery elytra of the body protection - we see them. And the lower ones - thinner ones - are hidden under the elytra. With the help of them he flies.
• The largest cockroach - 9 cm in length - does not live in our houses. He prefers tropical forests.

How to stop reproduction

In order to prevent cockroaches from reproducing, you need to deprive them of the main thing they love:

1. Warmth. Let your home cool down for a while. In the old days, this is what they did - they cooled the hut, the insects died, unable to bear human deceit. These were the folk methods.
2. Water. They can't help but drink. That’s why in apartments they stick to the water supply, the kitchen, and the sinks.
3. Food. Elevate cleanliness into a cult. No crumbs, leftovers, or overflowing trash cans. Although in this case the cockroach will move onto the paper. He is practically omnivorous.

In addition, measures should be taken to expel uninvited guests from the house. There are many different products, ranging from crayons like Mashenka, FAS dusts, Clean House, ending with Kombat, Foresight traps and Raid, Raptor, Get, Executioner aerosols.

In general, in the old days it was believed that cockroaches were a sign of prosperity. If there is nothing for people to eat in the house, then there is no place for people with mustaches. This means that we should not be too harsh towards such a talisman of our well-being.

How to distinguish a male from a female

Many people know what a cockroach looks like, but how to distinguish a male from a female remains a mystery to some.

Knowing the following differences can help with this:

1. Wings. Males have more developed wings, which allows them to fly over minor obstacles in search of food or water.
2. Size. When examining several individuals of such parasites, you will notice that there are large ones, as well as smaller ones. The male is usually noticeably smaller than the female.
3. Leads. The puberty of the male is indicated by special growths on the back of the body. Females do not have such an anatomical element.

Female cockroaches also have wings, but they do not use them for their intended purpose. As a rule, females lure their sexual partners into intercourse with the flapping of their wings.

Behavior of female and male

After fertilization occurs, the female cockroach lays eggs in a special compartment, from which the larvae will subsequently hatch and gradually transform into adults.

But mating of females and males does not occur automatically, but is preceded by a long period of courtship.

Several males can compete for one female. They enter into a real battle, winning their right to reproduction and reproduction. Wings come in handy here. They can wave them in a frightening manner, and also make accompanying sounds aimed at scaring away a competitor.

The fact that the female is ready for intercourse is indicated by certain pheromones, which are secreted by special glands. This smell becomes a signal for the male. Mating itself lasts only a few minutes. The further fate of the offspring largely depends on the conditions in which domestic cockroaches live.

In the wild, the reproduction process usually slows down. If the female has nothing to eat and drink, then dynamic reproduction cannot be expected. If an individual settles in a warm apartment or house and there is always access to food, then new parasites will appear in a matter of days, causing a lot of trouble for the owners of the home.

Sex life of a cockroach?

But not all cockroaches breed alone, but they all grow by leaps and bounds, producing baby after baby in the apartment. Clutch after clutch, birth of brood of larvae after brood and so on without stopping.

Different types of cockroaches have a fairly active sex life and a wide variety of preferences.

Thus, female cockroaches of the species Nauphoeta cinerea do not choose partners with the highest reputation or, presumably, the greatest sexual attractiveness. Rather, they prefer "underdogs" who are constantly suppressed by their dominant counterparts. This is the strange sex life of cockroaches from Tanzania, which have set their own special standards in choosing a partner. One of the hypothetical versions: macho cockroaches do everything to separate “loving” females and males. Another assumption: females seek weak males not out of compassion, but because of the rudeness of the stronger sex. Otherwise, they risk getting hurt during rough lovemaking.

How dominant male cockroaches are can be determined by their smell. Previous research has shown that smaller males produce a veritable cocktail of three pheromones compared to females. If two specific odors outweigh, this cockroach is considered dominant and is not attacked. If, on the other hand, the third one predominates, then everything is bad.

The characteristic body odor, however, also has a disadvantage: it tells females which cockroaches are more likely to be aggressive and should therefore be avoided. A vicious circle results: driven away by females, the dominant cockroaches become even more aggressive, and the weak ones in the colony have to suffer even more.

But another fact struck cockroach researchers: females that mate with a weak male usually have fewer sons than daughters. Perhaps, as biologists speculate, females want to maintain competition in the next generation and thus offer their male offspring a better chance among more females. But perhaps there is also fear behind this: the fear of giving birth to too many weak offspring.

How long does it take for a cockroach to grow?

If we evaluate the entire life of a cockroach, it becomes obvious that most of it occurs during the period when the creature is in the imago stage. Nymphs grow quickly - they become sexually mature individuals in 4 weeks. Cockroaches are insects that have an incomplete development cycle.

The entire process leading to the appearance of sexually mature individuals is divided into several stages:

1. Laying eggs. At this stage, the task of a sexually mature female is to lay eggs in an ooteca (a sac located on the female’s abdomen), filled with a special glue that holds the eggs together. Before the eggs are fully mature, the ootheca is clearly visualized on the female’s abdomen. Over time, up to 40 young cockroaches can hatch from it.
2. The period of maturation of the egg and its transition to the larva can be 2-4 weeks. For the ripening process to proceed smoothly, the ambient temperature should be 30 °C plus. If the ambient temperature drops, then this process slows down, and at 10 °C it stops completely.
3. When the eggs are fully ripe, the female folds back her abdominal pouch and larvae, called nymphs, begin to hatch from it. These young cockroaches have no wings at all and are usually darker in color than the mother. This allows you to distinguish the larva from the adult.

If the nymph feeds well for 8 weeks and the surrounding conditions are suitable, it will transform into an adult female or male. Throughout this entire period of time, the nymph changes its cover several times.

How to prevent mass reproduction

Chemical treatment is perhaps the most reliable and fastest way to get rid of these pests in the house. In this case, the insects die almost immediately, but this does not in any way affect the larvae, which at this moment are still in the ooteca. After some time, they will quietly hatch, and the problem with cockroaches will arise again.

To avoid this, after the first disinfestation, this activity should be repeated after 2 or 3 weeks in order to “finish off” the hatched young.

In addition, it is important to maintain cleanliness in the house: do not leave food open, take out the garbage on time, monitor the humidity in the apartment, and then the chances of unwanted neighbors will become much less.

Cockroaches can release gases, and after death they continue to release gases for another 18 hours, so cockroaches can be called the stinkiest insects in the world, and not bedbugs, as many believe.

How many cockroaches can be born at one time?

A Prussian can have a brood of 25-35 nymphs from one capsule. Other species can boast more numerous offspring. In some, the number of larvae reaches 60. Cockroaches reproduce rapidly, since offspring are born quite quickly.

At first the larvae are white, but gradually they begin to darken and harden. Literally immediately after birth, nymphs can feed on their own, which means that they have become equal members of the population.

How long do insects live?

The lifespan of a cockroach can vary from 4 months to 4 years. The timing and time periods largely depend on living conditions. It has been scientifically proven that Prussians can go without food for up to 50 days, and blacks - up to 70.

Parasites can live much longer without food, but without water they can live only 7 days.

This is due to the fact that water gradually evaporates from the insect’s shell, and if its reserves are not replenished, the insects literally “dry out” and die.

How to destroy cockroaches in an apartment?

Where are the most cockroaches found? In places where the sanitary conditions are poor and in places where you can hide and profit.

Therefore, the first thing to do is:

• clean up the apartment;
• always remove leftover food and wash dishes;
• block access to water;
• get rid of junk;
• go through the cabinets;
• arrange fragrant herbs - wormwood, valerian, chamomile.

If possible it is necessary to make repairs. This will destroy the favorite habitats of insects. In addition, cockroaches do not like the smell of paint and putty. Unfortunately, this does not always help, so to the question of how to kill cockroaches in an apartment, there is only one answer: use chemicals.