Squashing Surprising Cockroach Myths

Squashing Surprising Cockroach Myths

1. Cockroaches Only Infest Dirty Homes

While keeping your house free of clutter, left-over food/crumbs, or general messes definitely helps to prevent roaches, it is not necessarily fool proof. Cockroaches have over 100 olfactory receptors, making them extremely adept at sniffing out food sources even when food is scarce. They also contain 544 gustatory receptors – which is more than any other insect known to be alive today – accounting for their ability to consume nearly anything as sustenance including dust bunnies, rotted foods, paper products, animal excrements, and even some poisonous plants and chemicals. They are virtually the garbage disposals of nature and can seemingly find sustenance anywhere. This unrestricted diet means that, while you’re keeping clean, roaches still may target your home.

2. Cockroaches Can Survive Nuclear Blasts

These extremely resilient insects seemingly could survive anything. They are massively difficult to get rid of and have been known to endure situations that would kill almost every other living being on Earth. However, it’s a myth that they can survive nuclear holocaust. The misconception is partially due to the true and tested resistance that cockroaches seem to have towards radiation. When exposed to radioactive waves in scientific tests, it was discovered that cockroaches are able to survive well beyond the limit for humans and even survive for longer periods of time following the exposure. However, all of the roaches did eventually succumb to the effects of the radiation and some even died during the tests when exposed to more extreme levels of radiation. However… these tests were not deemed conclusive in regards to the survival of the species as a whole, as it was never tested to see if, prior to succumbing to the radiation, the roaches could produce viable eggs that could carry on more generations of the insect. If this is possible, it would ensure the continued survival of the species, thereby meaning that roaches could still potentially survive a nuclear blast… in a roundabout way…

3. All Cockroaches are Pests

There are roughly 4,000 different species of cockroaches in the world today and, out of these vast numbers, only about 30 to 40 of them are actually considered pests due to invading homes and causing health risks for people. In fact, in some countries, cockroaches are even kept as pets, much like tarantulas are here in the United States. The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach is particularly popular as a pet, and is even beginning to be sold in the United States now.

4. Cockroaches Can Survive Months Without Their Heads

Creepily enough, cockroaches can indeed survive without their heads, however, it is a myth that they can survive for months. Roaches don’t have a concentrated set of blood vessels in their heads or necks like we do so, if they lose their head, they won’t bleed out. Furthermore, their bodies breathe without the use of their head so the neck will simply just heal over, allowing the body to continue to live. However, the roach will eventually expire around a week’s time due to the lack of being able to eat food or drink water without a head.

5. All Cockroaches Fly

As stated above in Myth #3, there are approximately 4,000 different species of cockroach. Just like the fact that not all of these roaches are pests, they also do not all possess the ability to fly. Roaches such as the oriental roach, while possessing wings, cannot actually utilize them due to their size in proportion to their bodies. The ability of flight can also be limited due to the age/life stage of the individual roaches – for example, many different types of nymphs may be able to fly as adults but presently lack properly formed wings or wings at all.

Citations

Dovey, D. (2017) Best Pet for Children: Why Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches are Ideal , Newsweek. Available at: https://www.newsweek.com/madagascar-hissing-cockroaches-exotic-pets-724423 (Accessed: October 2020). Kim, G. and Polan, S. (2018) Why Cockroaches Are So Hard To Kill, YouTube. Science Insider. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKYJf2DL1FM (Accessed: July 2020). Potter, M. (2018) Cockroach Elimination in Homes and Apartments, The University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Department of Agriculture. Available at: https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef614 (Accessed: October 2020). Stanton, K. (2019) Could Cockroaches Survive a Nuclear Apocalypse?, Earth Sky. University of Melbourne. Available at: https://earthsky.org/earth/would-cockroaches-survive-nuclear-apocalypse (Accessed: May 2020). Terror in the Air: Can Cockroaches Fly? (2020) Cockroach Facts. Available at: https://cockroachfacts.com/can-cockroaches-fly/ (Accessed: October 2020).