Roaches are one of the most common pests that you will find roaming in your house. They are unsanitary, carry diseases, and, worst of all, they multiply quickly.
If you find one roach in the cracks of your house, several others will be wandering around in no time. You will be amazed to know how fast roaches can multiply.
- Each female cockroach can lay up to 200 eggs in their entire lifetime.
- Female roaches don’t need male counterparts to fertilize their eggs.
- Although they reproduce quickly, roaches have a restricted population that depends on the size of their surroundings and the availability of food and water.
The more you know about these nasty pests, the better for terminating them. This post will describe ways roaches multiply throughout your home and how quickly it can happen.
How Fast Can Roaches Multiply?
A stunning discovery was uncovered in 2013 by researchers who were investigating this subject. Roaches have a parthenogenetic reproduction cycle, which explains why they multiply so quickly. Female roaches don’t need male roaches to fertilize their eggs.
Additionally, females have a two-year lifespan and can lay up to 200 eggs. In the Japanese study on cockroaches, fifteen young roaches multiplied into 1,000 adults in three years.
Different kinds of roaches have different breeding practices. There are more than 4,000 species of cockroaches in the world.
However, four types of cockroaches are commonly found in homes, and we will discuss their reproduction rate in detail.
American Cockroaches
American cockroaches have a lifespan of over three years. That exceeds the average roach life expectancy. Therefore, whether or not there are males present, female American roaches produce more eggs.
Sewers are a common place for American cockroaches to breed. They enjoy the wetness and the darkness. You can only wonder about what these creatures bring into your kitchen.
These pests have a wide range of food alternatives since they are omnivorous, eating everything from milk and rotting fruit to cosmetics, glue, and soap. You might find American roaches in your compost, among wood stacks, in your garbage, or even in your basement.
Fortunately, these females don’t spend a lot of time breeding. The average gestation period for females is fifteen weeks. They can generate two oothecae per week at their peak.
The average egg capsule contains sixteen eggs. After the peak period, female American cockroaches lay one ootheca every month.
German Cockroaches
German cockroaches live fast and die young. Females are ready to lay eggs in just three weeks. German cockroaches carry their eggs differently than other roach species; once they are ready to hatch, they drop them.
Typically, females prefer to place their egg capsules in safe areas like crevices. But usually, they carry them until just before hatching, and the eggs occasionally hatch while they are still inside the mother.
This means that German cockroach eggs could be found anywhere these pests go, such as in your kitchen and bathroom, under your sinks, close to your pipes, and behind drawers.
Oriental Cockroaches
In some areas of the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, there are also many oriental cockroaches, sometimes known as water bugs and black beetles. These pests can survive from a few weeks to roughly six months.
Usually, females hold their eggs for a few days before laying them close to a food source. Your kitchen pantry should work just well for the oriental roaches.
Brown Banded Roaches
It was definitely a brown-banded roach if you had the unfortunate experience of coming across a flying cockroach. Although the other three species have wings, they rarely fly. Brown-banded roaches carry their eggs until they’re nearly ready to hatch, just like oriental cockroaches.
Brown-banded roaches, unlike oriental cockroaches, always look for isolated, dark areas, like beneath your furniture, to lay their eggs.
How Do Roaches Spread?
In addition to having a high reproduction rate, roaches also have a variety of methods of moving around that allow them to move throughout a house and even to other places.
Sewer systems are one of their preferred transportation methods. They enter houses through sinks and bathtubs after crawling through the sewer system.
If they aren’t appropriately managed, a single colony can infest not only one household but several homes because they can enter by hiding in suitcases, old furniture, moving boxes, and plants.
Signs That You Have a Cockroach Infestation
It’s all well and good to know what eggs look like, but since cockroaches hide them in dark spots, that may not be of much use in finding those eggs and getting rid of them.
Thankfully, some signs can let you know a cockroach nest is close by.
- Whether alive or dead, cockroaches in your house are a good indicator of a nearby nest. In fact, given their tendency to hide well and run at the first sign of approach, they could be better off dead than alive.
- Cockroaches shed their skins as they develop. How many shed skins can you find? Their owners might be nearby, and they might also be a sign that there are unhatched eggs nearby.
- Have you seen a lot of tiny black marks in one spot? That is most likely cockroach feces.
- If one part of your house smells musty with a strong odor, it’s probably a cockroach’s nest.
Conclusion
Even though cockroaches live for 2-3 years, they can leave behind hundreds of eggs to live a legacy. A handful of cockroaches is all it takes to infest an entire house.
If you suffer from roach infestation, make sure to hire pest control services to eliminate them permanently.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Roaches Lay Eggs When Kill?
It’s a common misconception that cockroaches lay eggs when they die, especially after being squashed. In reality, when cockroaches are stepped on, they do not release their ootheca. They deposit them on solid surfaces to keep their ootheca safe.
The ootheca would continue to develop and hatch even if a female roach died.
Female cockroaches have been observed to release their eggs as they die to preserve their bloodline. However, like German roaches, other cockroach species carry their ootheca around on their abdomens until the nymphs hatch.
However, if you crush a cockroach with eggs inside of her, it’s likely that the eggs won’t survive.
Do Cockroaches Lay Eggs in Clothes?
Cockroaches rarely lay eggs in clothes. But, if you have a box of clothes lying around for a long time or a pile of dirty laundry for weeks, they can lay their eggs in your clothes.
What’s more likely, though, is that the capsule won’t be placed in your clothes but rather tucked away in the back of the drawer, where it won’t be disturbed when you take out your clothes.
