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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re talking about cockroaches. Join our creep crew by subscribing, and thank you to Resident Crockhead for today’s request. Remember when we talked about termites and mentioned that they’re related to cockroaches? Well, now we can talk about these termite relatives. Cockroaches and termites belong to the same order. It’s believed there are somewhere around 4,000 living cockroach species, give or take a few hundred! Out of these 4,000 species, only a few dozen are the ones that we label pests, the other 3,950 are just doing their own thing on their own turf. The ones that are considered pests are labeled as such because they may be able to pass on bacteria to us from the food they eat, but in nature they act as decomposers. Cockroaches eat basically anything. They’re the epitome of omnivores. They eat plant material like rotting fruit as well as paper, and they also eat animal material such as decaying flesh and bat poop! In turn, cockroaches are eaten by other arthropods like wasps, as well as birds, frogs, lizards, rats, and more.

Cockroaches are generally oval in shape, though some like sand cockroaches may look a little more circular. They have long, laid back antennae and chewing mouth parts. Cockroach heads are bent downwards and are typically covered by a plate called the pronotum. Some species may come with wings, others have partial wings, and some don’t have any wings at all such as females in certain species. They don’t usually use their wings to escape. Cockroaches are made for running and scuttle away at the sign of danger. They detect this danger via sensory organs on their rears that pick up vibrations around them.

Cockroaches generally prefer the dark and hide under logs, in leaf litter, or in the crevices of caves during the day. They are most abundant in tropical and subtropical areas, but they can be found worldwide with the exception of polar regions. Sorry again, Antarctica. Though most people associate cockroaches with human settlements, the vast majority of them are found outside our enclosed spaces. There are cave cockroaches, some who live with ants, sand cockroaches, and others who are just happy living on the forest floor.

Cockroaches undergo incomplete metamorphosis, so the babies hatch from their eggs as smaller versions of the adults. These are called nymphs. Female cockroaches usually develop an egg case called an ‘ootheca’. There are a few ways a female cockroach may handle her ootheca. In some species the female retains the ootheca in her body and thus gives birth to live young once they’ve hatched inside her. This is similar to the hissing cockroaches we’ve talked about previously. A female cockroach may also hold the ootheca on her rear giving her rump an extended appearance. She may also drop it and leave it behind in a safe place such as under a rock or inside a rotting log. Most oothecas contain fifty or fewer eggs, but female cockroaches can produce many egg cases in their lifetimes.

The adult stage of a cockroach may last a year or less... or more... it just depends on the species. Eggs and nymphs will live for varying lengths of time, too, with some lasting longer than a year, meaning some cockroach species can end up living years on average. Once hatched from eggs, nymphs will shed their outer shell and grow until they reach adult size. In size cockroaches may be as short as 3mm (0.1 inch) or longer than two and a half inches (63.5 millimeters). Some can even have wingspans almost doubling their length! When they’re young, cockroaches may appear white, but as they grow and their external skeleton hardens, they’ll develop their adult colors. Cockroaches can also be kind of stinky either from releasing pheromones to attract a mate or to let other cockroaches around know they’ve found a yummy meal, but they’re just born that way!

For more facts on cockroaches, check out the links in the description. Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files.