Black Sewer Cockroaches

Sewer cockroaches are not a separate species from the genus Blatta. This is the household name of large black cockroaches species Blatta orientalis. Literal translation of the Latin name "eastern cockroach". Due to their lifestyle and appearance, these insects have two other names in the English language: water beetle and black beetle.

Appearance

Large insect growing up to 29 mm: adult female 20–27 mm long, male 18–29 mm long. Sexual dimorphism is well expressed. General color: black or dark brown. The chitin cover is brilliant. The female has a wider body than the male. But the real difference between male and female in black sewer cockroaches is wings. This sign allows at a glance to determine what gender the insect. The male has long wings covering ⅔ of the abdomen. The color of the wings is dark brown.

Short-winged female. In the photo of sewer cockroaches, it looks like nymph. The wings are completely invisible. “Alive” will also have to look closely to find her wings. If the photograph shows a cockroach with well-developed wings and an edema at the end of the abdomen, this is a different species, of which there are more than 4,000 in the cockroach squad varieties. And it is unlikely that this long-winged female will ever meet in real life.

Interesting!

Both sexes of black cockroaches cannot fly. The female of the eastern cockroach is very similar to the Florida forest ones, but the latter are distinguished by a brighter red-brown color.

Habitat

The initial range of the sewer cockroach is the Crimean Peninsula, the Black Sea and Caspian regions. This species settles more slowly than others and is unlikely to have achieved great success on its own. But thanks to close trade contacts and conquerors, the southern endemic went beyond the original habitat. Today, its range is all of Europe. It is found in Asia and Africa. Introduced in the USA.

A black cockroach is relatively frost-resistant. They fought with them, trying to freeze them in the winter. But the insects did not give up. And now they can be found in nature in the south of Ukraine, Russia and throughout Kazakhstan. Although everywhere in these areas, subzero temperature is the norm in the winter.

On a note!

Since the mid-twentieth century, the range of the eastern cockroach has been declining due to competition with a more heat-loving red-haired prusak and the emergence of new insecticides.

The habitat of the eastern cockroach is moist, dark places. In nature, it can be found in the bushes, under the fallen leaves, under the mulch in the garden. He is attracted to places with decaying organic matter.

A sewer cockroach is in contact with a person, settling in anthropogenic structures:

• greenhouses;
• mines;
• basements;
• entrances;
• sewers;
• under the trash cans.

This species is the main pest in the northwest, midwest, and southern United States.

Lifestyle

Sewer cockroaches are nocturnal, so they are difficult to detect. In the house they can be found next to leaks of water utilities, in the sink drains, sewer pipes.

On a note!

Signs of the appearance of an oriental cockroach in the house are the detection of swelling and small black dots: feces of insects.

The length of the edema in the sewer cockroaches is 10 - 12 mm. The shell contains 16 - 18 eggs. Ooteks form one day after mating, and fall off 1 to 2 days after formation. The female can discard the ooteca even after a week. Usually she lays eggs in a sheltered place, but sometimes attaches them with saliva to the substrate.

Sewer cockroaches become sexually mature a year after hatching. During this time, they manage to survive 7 links. The adult Blatta orientalis lives from 34 to 180 days. Representatives of the species mate at any time of the year. During the life of a female, an average of 8 otek is postponed.

In residential premises, sewer cockroaches appear if the housing is in an unsanitary condition. They are attracted to the smell of rotting organic matter. Until the middle of the twentieth, these very insects should not have been in the hut of a clean housekeeper.

Than dangerous

Any kind of cockroach can be mechanical. peddler of infection. But a black cockroach is more dangerous than the usual red prusak. In urban dwellings, an eastern cockroach prefers sewer communications. It is warm, dark, humid and there is always food. Getting out of the sewer into the apartment, the insect can bring any infection on its legs, including dysentery and worm eggs.

In villages, this type of pest in the summer often lives in cesspools, and in winter it moves into the house. The danger from the rural population is no less than from the urban one.

Ways to get rid

It is difficult to get rid of sewer cockroaches, since most often a person does not see these insects. In the afternoon they can be seen only in the case of a very high density in the population.

If a cockroach appeared in the sink, then the insects begin to relocate and can soon occupy the apartment. With a high degree of probability, they will settle in the kitchen or in the toilet. Insects need water to drink. The discovery of a cockroach in the toilet is very likely to be due to the fact that he was looking for water. Rats usually climb through the toilet from the sewer, not insects. It is not difficult for a rat to go through a water lock while holding his breath. But the toilet bowl for insects is an inexhaustible supply of drinking water. Deprived of drinking, they will disappear even without additional measures, so you will have to put a tight-fitting lid on the toilet and always keep it closed.

It is also necessary to block possible the way insects enter the apartment:

• check sewer, water pipes and eliminate leaks;
• repair leaking taps;
• to find places of cockroaches in the apartment and process it insecticide.

Chemical methods of destruction on sewer black cockroaches do not work well, because the drugs quickly decompose due to high humidity. Use concentrated products Sinusan, Cypermethrin, Dichlorvos aerosols, Kombat, Raptor, raid traps, gels.

Folk methods

Folk remedies does not work. Trying to scare off this kind of aromatic substances is useless. The only working method was used back in the Middle Ages in the northern regions. This is freezing. It is inconvenient that in the south it will not help, and in the north you have to leave the apartment for the whole day.

Boric acid

An old way to control insects at home. Boric acid can be scattered in places of accumulation of cockroaches, but there is a risk that it will quickly dissolve in a moist place.

Another option for its use: mix boric acid with egg yolk. For Prussians, this tool is ineffective, as it dries quickly. For black, it can work, because the mixture will dry for a long time if it is laid out in damp places.

Interesting!

In Western countries, there is growing interest in the use of analogues of juvenile hormones (JHA). These drugs have low toxicity to vertebrates.

Private house protection

It is more difficult to remove sewer cockroaches from a private house than from an apartment. Too many nooks.But subject to certain conditions, pests can not be allowed into the house:

• the external surfaces of doors, windows, openings for pipes and ventilation openings should be treated with good insecticidal spray;
• eliminate all leaks in the plumbing and make ventilation in wet rooms;
• repair cracks at the ground level in the foundation;
• remove fallen leaves and other organics from windows and doors;
• keep garbage bins in a dry place;
• drainage holes must be closed.

Prevention of the appearance of cockroaches in the apartment

In addition to maintaining the plumbing in good condition, to prevent the appearance of this type of pest, it is enough not to leave organic residues in the garbage overnight, to maintain cleanliness in the kitchen and to deprive insects of any access to water.