Everything Waco Residents Should Know About Brown-Banded Cockroaches
The German cockroach is often considered the main household cockroach pest in the country, and the one you will hear about most when it comes to keeping these pests out of your home. However, there is another cockroach species that homeowners in Texas need to worry about invading their homes. The brown-banded cockroach is another species that loves to take up residence in human homes. Here is everything a resident of Waco needs to know about brown-banded cockroaches.
Brown-banded cockroaches are similar in size to German cockroaches, with males being 13 to 14.5 mm long and the females 11 to 12 mm. Females cannot fly and have a much broader and round abdomen than males. Males, on the other hand can indeed fly and have wings that cover their entire abdomen, as opposed to the shorter wings of the female that never quite cover their abdomen. They tend towards dark brown to almost black in color with two bands of pale brown at the base of their wings and another ⅓ of the distance from the base, which is what gives them a “banded” appearance. Females tend to be a good bit darker than males, with wings that are reddish brown to very dark brown, compared to the males’ wings, which are dark brown at the base, but turn gradually lighter in color as they fan out from the base.
Brown-banded cockroaches are particularly fond of the hotter temperatures in Texas, with the optimum temperature for their development being above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This makes it less of a pest for most of the country, but a pain in particular for those living in the south. After carrying their capsules containing their young, also known as ootheca, for around 24 to 36 hours, the females attach them in clusters to an object inside your house, such as the kitchen sink, furniture, walls, shelves, behind pictures on the walls, and other convenient hiding places. This practice of attaching the ootheca to different objects throughout a home helps to easily disseminate the cockroaches over large distances and throughout an entire home. As you can probably imagine, this can make them quite the nuisance invader when it comes to houses and apartments. They are often distributed throughout the house, with them being most abundant in kitchen areas.
Have you ever had an infestation of brown-banded cockroaches?
