Cockroaches are a beetle like insect with long antennae, and long legs, from the order of “Blattodea”. The order of “Blattodea” also includes termites. There are many species of cockroaches through out the Earth. Cockroaches are scavengers which are always in search of food stuffs, both meat and plants. About four species in the United States are well known as common pests and invade homes and food service environments. They can even visit your school cafeteria. Common cockroaches in American can be from the following kinds, in addition to possible others.

• American Cockroach
• Australian Cockroach
• Oriental Cockroach
• German Cockroach

Despite their names, these cockroaches which appear to be from all over the world, live and make their homes in America. These cockroaches also live in many other parts of the world mostly due to their traveling habits while hitching rides with shipping lines and other commerce activities. They can sneak in practically anywhere, on planes, trains, automobiles, and on ships(as mentioned earlier). They quickly inhabit any country they go to, even though they are mostly tropical. Cockroaches are also bigger in tropical climates. The modern cockroaches are bigger than the primitive ones, contrary to popular belief. Cockroaches, even though they’ve evolved, have been around over 300 million years. The early cockroaches did not have the internal “ovipositors” as the cockroaches of today have. The “ovipositor” is used for laying eggs. Cockroaches are well known for their eggs which are very visible in kind of like a long case. Cockroaches are avid multipliers.

Cockroaches live practically anywhere. Their survival capacity is amazing. A better question might be, “Where do cockroaches NOT live?”. Cockroaches are very hard to wipe out from harsh living conditions. They seem to survive anywhere, from the coldest of climates to the warmest. This is why they are so hard to eliminate without the help of a professional pest control company. They are a mega pest, indeed.

If cockroaches had a choice of living environments they would definitely pick the tropics and subtropical areas. They can tolerate extremely cold temperatures, though. Cockroaches can even live in the Arctic. They can do this because they produce a sort of natural “anti-freeze” from glycerol which protects them in freezing temperatures. Many think if they live in a place where it gets cold in the winter, that the cockroaches will go away. Well, you had better think twice if you are expecting the winter to freeze the cockroaches out. Of course in places like Phoenix, Arizona freezing widespread cockroaches is not really an option.

Cockroaches not only like to live in your home, they like to live in the great outdoors, too. They like hanging out inside your house on most occasions because they are looking for food handouts. Cockroaches will eat almost anything if there is not a direct food source around. That is how they often survived as they come over the sea in cardboard shipping boxes. They are a very durable creature. Where do cockroaches live? They live most anywhere.

Common hiding places for cockroaches are practically every where. Cockroaches prefer the dark and also like to feed at night time. Many don’t realize that cock roaches can bite, even though their bite is hard to feel, but shows up as skin irritations and such. They crawl on people at night time, when they are asleep. This is why if you have cockroaches you should make sure that your children do not take food to bed with them, or have dirty faces after eating a snack or something.

You have most likely seen at one point in your life cockroaches scurrying for cover as you flip on a light switch. A lot of times you will see a large number of tiny baby cock roaches. They can quickly hide anywhere. They take cover under shoes, under the sink, in cracks, and any place they can.

In the bottom of drawers that have not been opened for quite some time is a favorite place for them to congregate. Cockroaches like hiding out in the back of picture frames and any other area that is most likely not to be disturbed. When you discover by accident, one of their hiding places, it is amazing how many can come streaming out. They run in all directions.

If you are seeing cockroaches in the daytime, it is a sure sign of infestation. The only thing you can really do at this point is to invest in the services of an expert pest control company whom deals with this terrible situation almost everyday. They certainly can eliminate and prevent cockroaches from hiding in your house.

There are four cockroaches that are common to Arizona. They are as follows.

• Brownbanded Cockroach- The “Brownbanded” cockroach is often found in office areas. They love starch type food, and especially go for glues found on envelopes. They are named for the pale bands marking their wings.

• American Cockroach- These are very common looking classical cockroaches which like to infest your home. They are reddish-brown in coloring. They are an indoor /outdoor cockroach usually depending on the weather. On the East Coast they are called “Palmettobugs”. American Cockroaches are a pest all across the United States, as their name implies.

• German Cockroach- German Cockroaches are very persistent and hardy. They too, like the American Cockroach, are typical looking. These are the ones you see with the two darkened stripes running on each side of their brown body. They love infesting your electronics. In addition to common foods, these cockroaches will also eat toothpaste, glue, and soap.

• Turkestan Cockroach- The Turkestan Cockroach commonly lives outside. It also is very hardy like most cockroaches. These outdoor cockroaches are attracted to light, and they can fly. These might get into your house at night time if you have lights on, and they can get in, such as through an open door.

Cockroaches are a very hard pest to eradicate. Keep tract of the common cockroaches that live in your area and use pest control services as needed to eliminate and prevent them from infesting your living space.

Cockroaches inflict a lot of psychological damage to homeowners They get in your electronics and stuff as they make their homes inside the screens of your televisions and tablets.

Cockroaches do not actually chew on the electronics and the wiring, but can take over inside of them. Everywhere they go they leave little black flecks which is actually their feces.

You would be surprised how many cockroaches can actually fit in electronics. The worse part is if they end up dying in the viewing screen of your electronic devices, such as your brand new “Smart T.V.”, you are stuck with a dead cockroach in clear view which you cannot reach to remove.

You can also carry the cockroaches to school, college, and other places in some of your phones, backpacks, and tablets. This is a very easy way to spread them and cause an invasion elsewhere. When you have cockroaches you cannot leave out any food even for a second. If you drink a cup of coffee, they might be there, causing you to quickly spit it out if you accidentally get one in your mouth.

Cockroaches can be in your child’s clothing drawer, and in your baby’s diaper bag. They get everywhere. It is not such a problem today with vaccinations and such, but in the past it was proven that they carried viruses such as the “Polio Virus”. Cockroaches can spread diseases, if they are exposed to them, such as salmonella, staphylococcus, and streptococcus. They are also a common source of allergies. Cockroaches can be a vehicle to inflict damage on you and your family.

Cockroaches do not sting, but little known to many, is the fact that they do bite. They are “omnivores”, which means they eat both meat and plants. They really go crazy over a piece of lettuce left laying on the counter top, which seems highly unlikely because greens are associated with health.

You can’t leave anything laying around when it comes to food and cockroaches, not even a crumb. This also goes for milk left on a baby’s face. You don’t really feel a cockroach biting, but they can cause irritation, both serious and not quite so serious. You can even get lesions from them, and suffer infections, and swelling from repeated exposure to cockroach bites.

If you are living in an environment with a cockroach invasion you need to eliminate them as quickly as possible with the help of a professional pest extermination and control company. Sometimes what appears to be a rash on your child’s face can actually be cockroach bites. Always make sure your children go to bed with clean faces and no food stuff.

Take especially good care with bed ridden seniors and young babies who cannot really protect themselves, or brush away the offending matter. Always make sure all areas are free from food and food residue when dealing with cockroaches.

Most cockroach bites will not be noted as occurring. If you believe you or a family member has been bitten by a cockroach, or cockroaches, wash the area and keep it clean and dry, applying a little soothing ointment if desired.

On the average cockroaches are not dangerous for your pets. If there is a severe cockroach infestation in your home, they could bite your pets, especially if your pets are sleeping in unclean bedding that is also infested with cockroaches and their babies. The bites don’t really hurt, but could get infected, and sometimes cockroaches can carry certain bacterias.

The fact that your pets usually have fur is a plus for them protection wise, as far as getting bit. Pets, such as your dog, do have areas of their bodies where the skin has hardly any fur. Many do not know that a dog’s skin is actually thinner than a humans. The bad thing about cockroaches is you can hardly feel them climbing on you. They are active at night when even pets might be sleeping. You do not see the full extent of a cockroach infestation in the day time.

Around your pet’s feeding bowls and water a problem could arise with an excess of cockroaches. Cockroaches can carry viruses, but they must be exposed to them first. Usually cockroaches will cause your animals no harm but it can be very pitiful as they infest feeding and sleeping areas. They might even crawl on your pet’s face and around their eyes.

The best thing to do if you or your pets are suffering from a cockroach infestation is to seek the help of a pest control company who will help you with a suitable plan for exterminating the cockroaches.

Preventing cockroaches from invading your environment can be a never ending job, especially if you are doing it alone. The only way to completely eliminate one of the most common of all pests is to seek the help of someone who does this for a living. Sure, you can have people come in and spray around the baseboards and in corners, but the cockroaches will quickly come right back after a few days. It just sends them into more secluded hiding places.

People also try using “insect bombs”. These do not reach everywhere either. The best thing to do if you are suffering from a cockroach invasion is to get your house or business exterminated, and then follow up with the services of pest control. You have to work sincerely to keep the pests from re-infesting your environment.

Boric acid works really well in maintaining an environment free of cockroaches. It comes in powder form and is carried to all areas we can’t see on the cockroach’s feet as they walk through it. You apply it with it’s applicator in areas where children and pets can’t reach it, like behind your refrigerator.

It only takes a few cockroaches to start a vicious cycle all over again. If you are seeing even a few cockroaches, you are on the way to serious problems, which need to be eliminated right away. Don’t hesitate in your battle with cockroaches and preventing them from invading your environment.

Cockroaches are a headache if you already have them. They get into everything and multiply readily. They even get into your electronics. Their hiding places are immense, and they move very quickly. They can even invade your automobile, and be brought home from grocery stores in paper bags and other carrying containers.

Don’t throw in the towel, there is help. Once you have cockroaches they are hard to eliminate without the help of a professional exterminator or pest control company. They are specialists with such pests as these. A cockroach invasion is a very common problem for one to have when getting invaded with pests. They will also work with you giving you advice and tips to help prevent them from becoming a problem again.

Something that works fairly well in eliminating cockroaches, and keeping them away is “boric acid”. You must read the directions before using it and follow them precisely. Keep it out of the reach of pets and children. Place it only in places that are inaccessible to humans on a daily basis, such as behind your refrigerator, kitchen range, and cracks and crevices.

“Boric acid” is usually powder form and can be bought most anywhere. It takes awhile for it to work. The cockroaches walk through the powder and carry it back to the nests and in places that can’t be reached except by a professional pest control person with the tricks and the “know-how” they have up their sleeves. Once again if you already have cockroaches, your best bet is to use the services of a professional pest control service.

Cockroaches are the most active at night time, in the dark, when you are asleep. If you are seeing them in the day it is a sure sign of an infestation. Cockroaches can be a problem all year long, especially in Arizona. If you were in an area where it got extremely cold in the winter months, they would still survive.

Cockroaches especially like hot and humid places. The bath area and kitchen can often supply this. Where there are humans, there will be cockroaches, it seems. A lot of them have came over the seas and attempted to invade really nice places, even cruise ships. Many aren’t aware that they are there because they are so adapt at hiding in even the smallest of places.

Cockroaches are avid travelers, they like to travel in luggage and in cargo. You just never know where they will show up. You can even be in the most fancy of all restaurants and one might be in the restroom crawling up the wall.

There are mainly four types of cockroaches in America. One is the “American Cockroach”, and then there is the “Oriental Cockroach”. The other two are the “German Cockroach” and the “Australian Cockroach”. They all got here from their active traveling lifestyle.

It is said that cockroaches originated in Europe and Africa, but now it appears as if they might of came from North America, too. Not long ago fossils of the “Ectobius” cockroaches were discovered in the Colorado mountains. Cockroaches have certainly made their rounds in active travel habits, by staying unseen in the daytime.

The birthing cycle of cockroaches happens really rapidly. Once mating has begun, it takes only four to seven days, or so, for the female cockroach to make eggs. Their eggs are contained in a pouch like case known as a “oothecae”. The “oothecae” can contain anywhere from 14 to 40 eggs, on the average. It takes fairly long for these eggs to incubate, depending upon the species. The least amount of time is around 24 days, and this is by the “German Cockroach”. The “German Cockroach” is common to the United States, and the female lays anywhere from 20 to 40 eggs at a time, or per egg case (“oothecae”).

The “oothecae” is made of structural proteins, which are naturally hardened by tannins making the egg case durable, and kind of like a fairly see through thin shell casing. In a female cockroach’s whole life time she might produce as many as fourteen of these.

If conditions are perfect for the female cockroach, which they hardly ever are, she could live as long as two years. The length of her life also depends upon her species, some live longer than others. Female cockroaches live longer than males in common circumstances.

As cockroaches grow, after they are hatched, they are called “instars”. Their development time before reaching maturity depends upon the species and kind of cockroach. The birthing cycle of cockroaches can vary as far as their life span and how many eggs they lay.

Cockroaches are classified as belonging to the order of “Blattodea”. They are insects which are also deemed as “pests”. Their name is Spanish, and comes from the word” “Cucaracha”. It is really interesting to note that their scientific name comes from the Latin term of “Blatta”. “Blatta” refers to an insect that stays away from light. This is true of the common cockroach. They like to stay in dark places.

In North America you will find four common types of cockroaches. They are the “American”,the “German”, the “Australian”, and the “Oriental”. Even though three of these names seem like they are from elsewhere, they are common to the United States. Cockroaches are world class travelers and very adept at it. Although there are four common types of cockroaches (as mentioned earlier) which invade our homes and businesses, the United States is home to about 55 different species of cockroaches. There are approximately 4,600 species of cockroaches known to man through out the entire earth.

Termites, which we are all familiar with as destructive pests, are actually related to cockroaches and belong to the same order. There is such a cockroach that eats wood, like the termite, from the genus of “Cryptocercus”. The earliest recorded evidence of cockroach type creatures are from the “Carboniferous” period, over 300 million year ago, as fossils. Cockroaches are also depicted in primitive cave paintings. The history of cockroaches has been long in the making as they evolved into the pests we know today.