American Cockroach

Description: Large, Red-brown in colour which have a yellow border around the head.

The American cockroach is one of the largest cockroaches you will find measuring at 3.8 cm and live around houses or utilities. These pests prefer moist areas but can survive in dry climates as long as they have a readily available amount of water. American cockroaches diet consists of leaves, fungi, crumbs, algae, pet food and wood particles. Adults can live around 6 to 12 months producing up to 50 egg cases with around 16 eggs in each case per female.

But it takes 6 to 12 months for a nymph to become an adult to start breeding. Prefers to live inside. Their droppings are quite small and are normally found in hiding spots which is normally mistaken for mouse droppings to the general person. To distinguish the difference between the droppings you will notice that the American cockroach has bumps on the sides and rounded on the ends whereas the mouse droppings have hair inside, are smooth and have pointy ends. If you can smell a musty odour that doesn’t go away that is a good indication that you may have a cockroach infestation.

Prevention measures

To best control or stop the American cockroach, a few easy steps can be taken which include:

• Cleaning any food scraps after eating.
• Zip lock or put food into containers including flour, cereals, meats and so on.
• Clean pet bowls regularly.
• Wipe down benches after daily activities.
• Lowering the amount of water, they can come into contact with, by drying out containers and fixing any leaky pipes.
• Seal garbage tightly before and after use.
• Fill any holes where they might be able to come in from.
• Vacuuming shelves and cupboards can help as well by lowering food particle build up.

Call Infinity Pest Control on 1300 17 10 77 for your personalised control program.