We all love a pub quiz; its got beer, peanuts and pork scratching’s, and then that random collection of questions which always has me wondering, why do people learn this stuff and when do they get the time to swot up. I don’t know about other people but I’m in complete awe of that person who can get every question right on sports, politics, geography and the world of entertainment. For me, its just rats, mice, rats again, bed bugs and the occasional bit of world history, so this blog aims to redress that balance – its all about cockroach facts! 

 

The cockroach, which is probably one of the most hated pests that we deal with, yes, bed bugs have the yuck factor and cannot be outclassed for that, and we’re all pretty much scared of rats, but cockroaches leave us close to tears, and why? 

 

We naturally associate cockroaches with dirty places and disease and yes, to some extent that’s true however they can be bought into a home and I mean any home, no matter how clean its kept, because our homes will always provide some food, and so the hidden cockroach problem will multiply until, it becomes a visible problem. 

 

We’ll cover some of the basic facts about cockroaches, but there are still a lot more to learn that what’s contained in this blog. As much as we all hate these insects, you have to admit that they are some of the most interesting insects that we’ll ever deal with. 

 

The biggest cockroach in the world can grow up to ten centimetres in length, and fortunately for us, these live in South America and are only found living deep inside caves, so not much chance of meeting them in your kitchen at 3:00 am on a Wednesday morning. 

 

The biggest cockroach that you’ll be likely to meet here in the UK, is the American cockroach and that’s a slightly smaller 36mm in length, these are commonly found all over the UK and they are a serious pest. Coming in slightly smaller, is the Oriental cockroach at 22mm in length, whilst the tiddly German cockroach is a mere 12mm in length. 

 

No matter their size, all cockroaches pose a significant risk to human health and for food establishments, whether a restaurant, take away or just retail, if these are found inside the premises, you’ll face being shut down by Environmental Health and face prosecution. 

 

Cockroaches are incredibly social insects, and just like us they seek out others of their own kind, cockroaches will hide away in small groups, and there’s even a social structure amongst these insects, the baby cockroaches, which we call in the industry, nymphs, don't forage for food but feed on the adult cockroach feces.  

 

Pork scratchings anyone? 

 

It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, you’ve come downstairs for a drink of milk and there’s a cockroach sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor, your scream may not wake your partner up, but the cockroach certainly heard it! 

 

Cockroaches can hear you, so don’t phone for pest control within earshot of one as you’ll tip them off that we’re coming, they don’t have ears like mammals but they have extremely sensitive hairs on their legs and abdomen, which pick up vibrations in the air; these are transmitted to the insects brain(s) and this triggers the escape instinct and so the cockroach runs and hides. 

 

Cockroaches pick up low the frequency sounds that we make, so if you feel the need to scream, scream like you’re one of the Bee Gee’s and you should be alright. 

 

Cockroaches are crazy fast; anyone who’s ever had them as a pest will testify to this, they are proper little sprinters, and they can move up to 50 body lengths per second, which is just another way of saying that they can run at 200 MPH, now that’s what I call fast! 

 

OK, you may well say that they’ve got six legs so they have that advantage but, they can still run as fast on just two legs, and this ability applies to the young cockroaches. The nymphs are as fast as their parents, which is one of the reasons why cockroach infestations can be so hard to deal with. 

 

Apologies for the Viz comic reference but I’m of that age; Johnny Fartpants was a cartoon anti-hero who used his phenomenal farting powers to get out of his scrapes and situations, well it seems that the inspiration for Johnny may have come from cockroaches. 

 

You see, cockroaches produce more weight in farts that their own body-weight; over its lifetime a cockroach produces 35 grams of methane gas which relates to 45 times their body-weight, so whatever you do, keep them off the baked beans! 

 

It seems that its toilet time in this blog, along with all those farts, cockroaches produce a lot of poo, and its this poo that can cause us a lot of trouble. Because cockroach poo comes in the form of small dark grains, almost like dust and this will commonly be found under items where the insects have been hiding. 

 

A good example is the fridge / freezer which sits on the floor, but they'll also be found under things like microwave ovens, which may sit on kitchen work surfaces; the same work-surfaces that you prepare food on. 

 

This is serious; cockroach poo is extremely harmful because of their size; the droppings can become airborne and breathed in the droppings, causing asthma and allergic reactions. If ingested, they can contain salmonella and E.coli which we know as food poisoning, they can also cause skin rashes, honestly, cockroaches in a kitchen are not to be ignored and present a high risk to your health. 

 

It’s not the weight of cockroach feces that creates the risk, it’s the sheer amount of droppings as many of these are tiny in size, no more than dust and because of this minuscule size, the droppings can easily contaminate hands and food. As I stated earlier, as a business found to have cockroaches you will immediately be forced to close, you will be prosecuted and you will have to rectify any findings from the Environmental Health Officer. I have been involved in serious cockroach infestations at takeaways and these will see the premises shut for weeks whilst the infestation is bought under control and remedial works carried out, so prevention is far better than the alternative! 

 

We’ve all been to the zoo and seen the signs saying, “I BITE !” and yes, so do cockroaches, where there is a shortage of food and a high population, cockroaches will become emboldened and are known to bite us. Usually this behaviour is confined to ships, particularly military vessels which is probably down to a lack of professional pest control onboard. 

 

A wonderful diary extract from a Royal Navy ship in 1849 gives us some idea of the problems faced back then and judging on the internet feeds coming in on a search for cockroaches on military ships, they’re still a problem today. 

 

 

 

So that’s it, eight facts about cockroaches that you may not already know and if you file these away inside your head, I doubt that they’re ever be useful, except maybe, at that weird pub quiz; I mean, who asks questions about cockroaches? 

 

But while we’re here lets dispel the one myth about cockroaches that nearly everyone has heard of: 

Cockroaches can survive a nuclear war! 

 

No, they can’t, that would be stupid, mother nature just doesn’t work that way, what is true however, is the fact that cockroaches can withstand more radiation than us, around 40 times the dose that will harm humans, so in the event of an all out nuclear war, they’d be the last living thing on earth, for about 20 minutes. 

 

I don’t think that makes them the winners.