German Cockroach - The Pest Control Store - Home of Do It Yourself Pest Control Products and Supplies

Home > Crawling > Roaches > German Cockroach

German Cockroach

GERMAN COCKROACH - Some of their more common names are kitchen bug, kitchen roach, house roach, and small roach. They are the most common cockroach in houses. They can inhabit the whole house but are usually found in the kitchen and bathrooms where there is more moisture unless the population number is high. They are also a huge problem in food facilities and stores.

BIOLOGY- The adults are pale brown to tan in color and about ¾ inch long. You can tell these from other roaches by the two dark stripes on their pronotum, the front part of the roach which has the head. These insects prefer dark cracks and crevices to hide in during the day and are active at night. If they are active during the day then that is usually a good indicator that there is a severe infestation. They like to hide in refrigerator insulation and motors, in and around appliances, sink cabinets, drainpipes, food service equipment, and any crack and crevice they can find in floors, walls, furniture and belongings. They have wings but rarely fly, so they are usually transported from one place to another in things like grocery bags, bagged potatoes, boxes, food packages, and used electronics. Their young resemble the adults except they are darker in color, almost black. Depending on the stage, they might have a single light stripe running down the middle of the back. Females will produce 4-8 egg cases during her life and each one can have 30-48 eggs in each. The eggs can hatch in about 28 days. It takes from 40-125 days for nymphs to become adults. Adults live for about a year. As you can see their population can reach very high numbers very quickly. From one pregnant female you can get over a million in a year. They can carry organisms that cause disease because of the areas they inhabit like drains and garbage cans. Then when they contact our foods and preparation surfaces they deposit these organisms on to them.

CONTROL - To really control German roaches one of the most important steps is to improve sanitation. Without food and water the adults can die in 2 weeks, and nymphs can die in less time. Try to clean up any spills and crumbs to limit their available food and water. Remember, this helps but will not guarantee extermination or prevent an infestation. Once they move in their reproductive capabilities will normally produce large numbers quickly. Once established, control can be achieved using various baits such as Maxforce FC Roach Gel Bait, DuPont Advion Roach Gel Bait, or Niban FG and Maxforce Granular baits. Baits work well because of the transfer effect. Roaches consume the bait and pass it to other roaches so you get a more of a kill. You can use residual liquid insecticides such as Onslaught, Evercide, Suspend SC, Demand CS, and dusts such as Borid Dust or Delta Dust, crack and crevice aerosols such as Cy-Kick, Invader, Intruder, and PT-565 Plus XLO. You can also use environmentally friendly and safer pesticides such as EcoPCO WP-X, EcoPCO AR-X, EcoPCO ACU, and EcoEXEMPT D Dust. One of the most important things to use is an Insect Growth Regulator called Gentrol. This is basically birth control for roaches; they will grow up to adulthood but will be unable to reproduce thus breaking their life cycle. It is very simple to use, you mix the concentrate with water and the residual insecticide in your sprayer, or if you select Point Source then you break the ampule and place the disc where it is needed. The best approach for an infestation is to use a combination of products such as a bait product, an aerosol, a dust for voids, and a residual liquid.

Geographic Location(s): Found nationwide.