Description and features of domestic cockroaches

1. Cockroach reproduction rate
2. Main features of domestic cockroaches
3. Size information
4. Natural color
5. About the mustache
6. About wings
7. Why do owners feed cockroaches themselves?
8. What to expect from cockroaches: benefit or harm

The number of species of cockroaches living on the planet, according to the latest data, is about four thousand. Most of them, almost 80%, choose to live in places that are directly close to people. Although there are also those that live in tropical or ordinary forests.

The appearance of cockroaches in an apartment makes a person want to find out where they came from and how to quickly get rid of them, since at the sight of this insect a completely justified feeling of disgust arises.

It is important to understand that today there are practically no areas left in cities and beyond where there are no cockroaches. Therefore, more and more means of combating cockroaches are being produced.

They are now everywhere, and most of them are in sewers, garbage chutes and even wooden and stone buildings. The most favorite place is apartments and country houses, because cockroaches prefer to settle closer to food and warmth, so there is no need to be surprised by their appearance and panic, this is a common occurrence.

Moreover, you can always find a bit of humor in this if you read one of the jokes on the topic of cockroaches or remember that they used to be called “stasiks”, and it is not known for certain why this was so.

Cockroach reproduction rate

Knowing with what frequency and in what way domestic cockroaches give birth to offspring, you can prevent their reproduction and, over time, eradicate all these insects. Since apartments have the most comfortable conditions for their existence, cockroaches can reproduce throughout the year, and they do this almost with lightning speed.

In more than four months, their numbers can increase several times, with thousands of new individuals counting. This is due to the fact that all cockroaches, without exception, are capable of laying eggs, because they are representatives of both sexes, and in one clutch there are usually over sixty insects.

Both male and female cockroaches will lay approximately 22 capsule-like eggs during their lifetime. Less commonly, cockroaches reproduce in the traditional way - by copulating with each other.

Cockroach as a food resource

In some countries, cockroaches are a real delicacy. Interestingly, they contain 3 times more protein than chicken meat. Recently, more and more establishments have begun to appear in European countries where visitors can see cockroach dishes on the menu.

For example, in England, in restaurants, people often order Madagascar cockroaches fried in oil and seasoned with garlic and pepper. They are said to taste somewhat like bacon.

There are many farms in China where cockroaches are bred. They are not only delivered to various cafes and restaurants, but also canned. Insects are a real delicacy in countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and some countries in South America.

It follows from this that, at least in these regions, people do not have a question as to why cockroaches are needed.

Interesting fact

Nutritionists advise people who want to lose weight to eat cockroach pate. It contains a large amount of protein, while there are no fats.

Size information

Among cockroaches there are both small and large individuals. The former usually live longer than the latter, since it has been scientifically proven that the largest animals at all times die out before the rest, this also applies to cockroaches.

By standard standards, some of the largest such insects are those living in Colombia, Cuba and Australia; on average they reach 5 cm in width and 10 cm in length. For Russian regions, there is no larger cockroach - the Prusak, which can also grow up to 10 cm, if conditions permit.

He is harmless, and is often destroyed only because he has nowhere to hide. But small representatives fall into crevices where they are difficult to notice, so they are able to reproduce for a long time, creating entire colonies. Here we can say with confidence that the Prussian, in comparison with them, is not the worst enemy.

The role and importance of insects in nature

Many books clearly demonstrate how different species are interconnected. If people completely exterminate one of them, the populations of the others will decline. The balance of the ecosystem is also disrupted if cockroaches are exterminated. In order to understand why mustachioed cockroaches are needed in nature, you need to familiarize yourself with some data.

Scientists have identified about 4.5 thousand species, not all of which are synanthropic. Some arthropods are eaten by birds and insectivorous fauna, which, in turn, are important in human life.

Understanding why mustachioed cockroaches are needed in nature, you need to pay attention to the species that live in the forest. They settle under the bark of trees that dry out. The remains of vegetation and animals are used as food. In the process of consuming organic residues, they also absorb nitrogen. Together with excrement, this chemical element enters the soil. If you do not take into account the importance of these cockroaches, and also exterminate them, then in 10–20 years, nitrogen deficiency will affect the development of vegetation. This, in turn, will lead to a decline in animal populations.

Many scientists who are involved in interpreting the significance of arthropods understand the role of exotic cockroaches in nature. Therefore, they prepare exhibitions so that people can understand the benefits of cockroaches.

Why do owners feed cockroaches themselves?

Cockroaches spend most of their time in the kitchen, eating the remains of any food: vegetables, fruits, meat, bread, sugar, salt, and that's not all. Their jaws are designed in such a way that insects can chew through anything that comes their way.

It's surprising how they don't bite, but it's a fact. It rarely happens when a cockroach is able to “grab” its owner’s finger, but, most likely, he will not even feel it.

What diseases do cockroaches carry?

It has been established that baleen parasites are carriers of a large number of serious diseases. The harm that representatives of the cockroach order cause to human health has even received a separate name - blattopterosis .

So, cockroaches carry the following diseases:

• dysentery;
• salmonellosis;
• hepatitis;
• pneumonia;
• tuberculosis;
• meningitis;
• diphtheria;
• tetanus;
• fungal diseases.

On their legs and chitinous cover, insects carry eggs of helminths (pinworms, tapeworms, whipworms), and therefore can cause helminthiasis.

The presence of cockroaches in preschools and schools is very dangerous. Without proper compliance with sanitary standards, children are at high risk of contracting infectious diseases.

What to expect from cockroaches: benefit or harm

One thing is clear: cockroaches are of little use, in principle, as well as harm, except that the owners of the apartment will experience irritation from their importunity. Still, if there are cockroaches in the house, high-quality sanitary treatment will be required, otherwise they will not disappear anywhere.

Moreover, once may not be enough. They are also difficult to remove with poison, since this insect is surprisingly tenacious. Proof of this is the many examples of a cockroach living without a head, when it doesn’t even notice it, or in conditions of increased radiation, where other creatures die.

To finally get rid of cockroaches, you need to repeat the treatment of the room with special means over time, perhaps more than once.

How are cockroaches useful?

Cockroaches are still used as pest killers. The administration of many worsted factories only feels calm if there are hordes of cockroaches roaming the shops, and the workers are tolerant of them - they try not to accidentally crush them. It is known that the abundance of cockroaches is the best protection against moths, and therefore against damage to woolen products.

Cockroaches have long been included in many medicinal potions. Do not think that the use of these insects is only for witchcraft. The great Russian doctor Botkin studied the possibility of making medicine from cockroaches. He treated patients with such drugs in his clinic. Renal diuretics made from cockroaches have proven especially effective.

They say that cockroaches are not aesthetically pleasing. This is what they think in Europe. The attitude of Europeans towards insects differs from the opinion of residents of other continents. In Russia there was such a belief: girls put a large cockroach under their pillow on Epiphany evening so that they would dream about their betrothed. We even had a belief about the black cockroach that it brings happiness. It is not for nothing that Academician E.N. Pavlovsky once joked that his scientific career and the career of Academician L.A. Orbeli turned out so successfully because the object of their first scientific work was a black cockroach.

In many countries, to this day, dinosaurs of the same age are treated with love. Mexican girls catch large winged American cockroaches immediately after their next molt, when they are dressed in elegant mother-of-pearl clothes, placed on a gold or silver chain and worn on the chest as a spectacular brooch.

Cockroaches are interesting, but it’s still better to get rid of them. Previously, in rural areas they did this: they waited for severe frosts and opened all the windows and doors in the house for two or three days, and they themselves moved in with their neighbors. This was quite enough to freeze the annoying insects.

But given today’s criminal situation, I’m afraid this method of fighting cockroaches is impossible. Therefore, if uninvited guests come to you, buy 2-3 Chinese pencils, just be careful not to buy a fake. Carefully cover the entire apartment with a pencil. Most likely, you will have to carry out this procedure twice, and, if not for good, then at least for six months, your house will completely forget about these nimble creatures.

The following composition also works: knead the dough from one part borax, one part flour, the yolk of one egg and a little butter. Roll it into small balls and place it throughout the apartment in places favored by cockroaches. From this “feeding” the cockroaches simply leave the apartment and forget their way home for many years.

Happy exploration of the natural world!

Tags: moth, cockroaches, insects

Allergy to cockroaches

Cockroaches can cause no less significant harm to humans as sources of allergens in the apartment. A large amount of chitinous coverings remaining after the molting of insects, dry excrement, the remains of dead individuals - all this is mixed with house dust, and when it comes into contact with the skin, in the digestive tract or in the respiratory tract of a person, it sometimes causes serious illnesses:

1. Allergic rhinitis with severe runny nose and conjunctivitis;
2. Bronchial asthma;
3. Dermatitis.

It is important that an allergy to cockroaches is often chronic: encountering their waste products every day in your home, a person is constantly in contact with the allergen, and the symptoms of the disease do not go away at all (this often occurs in children). Severe symptoms of an allergy to cockroaches are usually sneezing, pain in the nose and eyes, and an abundance of clear mucus flowing from the nose.

On a note

Chronic allergic rhinitis is fraught with the development of nasal polyps and is dangerous for complete breathing problems. And asthma, as we know, seriously reduces the quality of life in general.

It should be noted that black cockroaches have a strong unpleasant odor. When there are few of these insects in the room, it is not particularly noticeable, but when the pests multiply in significant numbers, the apartment begins to smell characteristically and unpleasantly.

The only way to get rid of such a smell of cockroaches is to destroy the insects themselves, and then remove their remains, excrement and chitinous coverings remaining after molting (all this “good” can accumulate for years in the corners of the apartment, under baseboards, behind the kitchen stove, refrigerator, behind ventilation grille and in various crevices).