Australian Pest and Termite Control Blog

Most of us think of cockroaches as nasty pests that invade our homes. However, there’s a lot more to them than that. These insects are some of the oldest creatures around, are incredibly hardy, and exist in some really severe climates. They can squeeze into incredibly tiny spaces, live on almost nothing, and are extremely fast. Here’s a look at a few facts about these creepy little insects that you might not have known about.

Did you know that cockroaches have been around for much longer than the dinosaurs? It’s true – the earliest fossil we have of a cockroach is over two hundred and eighty million years old. That’s eighty million years before the first dinosaur fossils. Earlier insects that eventually developed into cockroaches have been found, too. They date back as far as three hundred and fifty million years ago.

There are also lots of different kinds of cockroaches, from the tiny kind that infest houses to the largest species – six inches in length and with a wingspan of over a foot. About five thousand species of cockroaches exist in the world, and most of them don’t have much to do with people. Instead, they’re tropical creatures that spend their lives far from humans.

In some cultures, large roaches and their relatives are considered a delicacy. Like other insects, they may be battered, fried, and served with spicy coatings and condiments. To European descended people, this might seem gross, but it’s perfectly normal in many places. Roaches are an exotic food in Japan, are eaten fried in Thailand, and are consumed in many other countries, too.

Roaches are nimble, too – as anyone who’s ever tried to catch one can attest. A cockroach can change direction up to twenty-five times a second and run at three miles and hour. However, they spend about three quarters of their time resting.

These animals can also survive for incredible lengths of time without food or water – a month in the case of German cockroaches. If ordinary food and water aren’t available, they can live on the glue in cardboard boxes and magazines, and drink condensation on walls and pipes. Cockroaches have incredible recovery abilities, too. If they break a limb, they may regrow it.

These insects can even make decisions in groups. In one study where fifty roaches were placed in a dish with three shelters, each of which could hold forty insects, they split up two of the shelters evenly and left the third empty. When the shelter capacity was increased, they all sheltered together. This kind of cooperation may help them survive. There are even cockroaches that are kept as pets. The most famous is the Madagascar hissing cockroach.

So, do these interesting cockroach facts mean we’d love to have these insects in our homes? Not unless they’re safely in a glass aquarium! For most of us, a roach infestation still means calling a professional Sydney exterminator. After all, for a pest that can live through anything means you need to hire a pro.

If you’re concerned about any of these common pests and need some help exterminating them, you can contact Pink Pest Services for professional pest control in Sydney or call 02 9529 5222 for immediate assistance.