Protect Your Home or Business Against Cockroaches

• Color: Adults are easily recognized by their light brown or tan coloration with two black horizontal stripes located on the pronotum immediately behind the head, The young, or nymphs, are darker, almost black in color, also with the black stripes behind the head.
• Size: Adults grow to a length of 13-16 mm.
• Wings: While adult German cockroaches have wings, they rarely fly, preferring to run.

German cockroaches are well-known indoor cockroaches with a distribution that is world-wide. Smaller than other types of cockroaches, the pests can hide in small spaces and hitch rides in bags, boxes, and many other infested items that are brought inside the home. In multi-unit apartment buildings, they can easily move between units, using the shared plumbing and pipes as a highway.

• Length: Adults can be slightly more than 50 mm (3 inches) long.
• Color: Adult American cockroaches are reddish brown or mahogany colored. The area behind their heads is outlined with a yellow band.

The American cockroach prefers habitats where food and water supply are plentiful and they are generally found outdoors. Roaches communicate with one another through the use of pheromones to decide what location is best to settle in.

They are known to settle among family, and it is not uncommon for multiple generations of roaches to live within the same area. They particularly enjoy environments above 70 degrees Fahrenheit and despite its name, the American cockroach is found all over the world. When they do go insdie, you can find them in crawl spaces. But they're generally found in places like wood piles, dead logs, hollowed-out trees and other outdoor locations (especially in Southern states).

Reproduction:

Female American cockroaches make protective cases for their eggs. These cases are capsule-shaped. After forming a capsule, the roach deposits it in a warm, humid area. An average American roach egg capsule contains about 16 eggs.

When the eggs hatch, the tiny nymphs come out of the capsule. As they grow, the baby cockroaches shed their skins. If there is plenty of food, American cockroaches can develop from egg to adult in as little as 5½ months.