Have you ever met someone who is incredibly scared of cockroaches. Like I mean the kind of fear that said person can change his/her route if a cockroach is seen on it. Well I'm said person and I'm proud to admit it 馃榿.
The common household pest Roaches are sometimes simply overlooked as miniscule and invalid.
Harmless insects that only stay in places that are dirty.
This popular presumption about cockroaches have really made parents give children an earful.
Well in this post I'll educate you about our unwanted neighbors and exactly how harmful he is.
For me to differentiate the myths from facts, I'll have to first identify our insect of study.
Behold your hidden roommate馃憞
Ok this is a bit too graphic for me馃槰馃
Much better 鈽猴笍
Class: Insecta
Kingdom: Animalia
Order: Blattodea
Phylum: Arthropoda
Superorder: Dictyoptera
Cockroaches are a paraphyletic group of insects that belong to the order Blattodea. They are so vast that they alone are classified into that order well they and Termites. To find out more about their vast and fascinating taxonomy click here.
There are upto 4600 different species of cockroaches although only about 30 are comfortable with living with humans. Out of these 30, I'm sure the most common are these two
The German Cockroach
The American Cockroach
The American cockroach, is what I see mostly, hence I have a great phobia respect for it馃檪.
Now I started this post saying there are a lot of presumptions made about Cockroaches. Some are probable while some are simply outrageous. So what I'll do is simply tell us about the abilities of this Superpest because Yes.... Cockroaches do have some incredible abilities and weapons which we should really fear.
As the Superpest it is, I'll rank it's weapon's based on Defense, Attack and Tolerance
Have you ever been in this position where you would sight a roach from afar, run and build momentum, then jump and stomp on that squiggly bastard. See him flattened on the ground and you feeling genuinely happy with your achievement, go and get yourself a broom and dustpan to dispose of it's body, but he's gone.
Well the reason is that cockroaches aren't squiggly bastards but their squishy bastards. Believe it or not, a cockroach is like the insect version of elastic man. Their unique exoskeleton which are extremely flexible, makes them almost impossible to squish. Meaning they can withstand some of the hardest stomp or the toughest paper, spoon, car.. whatever your killing tool may be. They can also flatten themselves with this exoskeleton to fit into tight holes or crevices, making a swift spiffy getaway.
Not a cockroach feeling like Houdini馃
This is also thanks to their exoskeleton. It allows them to be able to withstand upto 900 times their weight.
A cockroach is one of the fastest insects around. Moving at 1.2 metres a second, it's no wonder their so hard to stomp on.
Normally we know most insects are known to have nice jawlines and jaw power, but did you know about the cockroach jaw though?
According to scientists not me (for God forbid I'm ever seen poking around a roaches jaw)
The cockroach bite is surprisingly strong. If we were to relate bite force to body weight, a cockroach bites is 5 times more powerful than the average human chomp.
Apparently some UK and German scientist decided to try and measure the extent of these insect attack factor. To read more on this click here
Although this isn't the cockroaches main attack. Not for a long shot, a cockroach only uses this mighty jaw on humans when cornered, spooked or your just unlucky.
Although this is already well known, but Cockroaches carry a lot and I mean a lot of bacteria and diseases. One particular disease that follows the roaches is Leprosy.
Nope that wasn't a typo, you read it right馃檪
A cockroach does carry leprosy. They are known vectors of bacillus Mycobacterium leprae and apparently it's passed in their faeces. Source
This isn't the only disease that this Superpest has in it's arsenal, not for a long shot. For if you don't get leprosy, you could get Cholera, Dysentery, Giardia, e.t.c
So we can see that the Cockroaches attack truly is powerful, now we move on to it's third rank, Tolerance.
One would think that Mother nature would really hold some privileges from the cockroach. You know letting him be a bit more easier to kill. Well let me break it you now.. She didn't 馃様
The cockroach has a long list of abilities that make him tolerant and hard to kill. Note I didn't rank these abilities with defense because they just don't seem normal, although their true.
Yes again, our Insect roomies can do perfectly fine without a Head. At least for a week馃槀. Apparently roaches don't need their head to breath like we normal organisms, they breath through little holes in each of their body segments.
Sources say that the only reason they do die, is because they can't drink water without their mouth.
So in case you see a headless roach scurrying around.
Chill... Death is coming for it so it's probably settling debts and accounts 馃槀.
A cockroach can stay without food for a month. What about you?馃槒
Apparently they are able to stay so long without sustenance because they are cold-blooded insects. Although they can't survive fro more than a week without water. Explains why they are commonly found near humid or moist areas around the home.
These infallible creatures can even hold their breath under water for upto 30 mins. Apparently it's a regular practice of theirs so they can regulate their loss of water.
Cockroaches can regrow lost limbs, you think you've paralyzed one? Just give it 3 days to get back on its feet馃槀. This is done during their molting stage.
A cockroach is known to be very smart. Having memory of places and events, does allowing it to remember it's threats in such instances and allowing it to be more careful.
Infact some claim a cockroach could be trained. A report was written about it. Claiming that cockroaches are trained using their ability to remember smells.
So there you have it, cockroaches are also learning.
There are much more things a cockroach can do and a lot more reasons to be scared of them. Yet this is all I'll talk about today, so as not to bore or frighten you too much.
Naturally if you're as infamous as a cockroach, some stories about you would be passed around that even you'll be shocked of them. Let's look at some of the myths;
Okay this is pretty much false. Yes, Roach may be the Clark Kent of the insect world but he can't survive a nuclear missile. The heat would kill him and even if he survives that the nuclear gas would kill them.
Although 20% of Roaches can withstand radiation levels of up to 10,000 rad.
Please don't allow this myth to deceive you, a cockroach doesn't care if your house is clean or not. As long as it's warm and there's food, to them it's home.
Although it is still advised to clean up your dishes馃.
I know it may seem stressful to kill and you may feel like their immortal but they are not, I know this for a fact. A roach could still be killed by stomping, although you'll have to stomp multiple times and be patient, watch your target. If it moves again continue stomping, although that's my method of killing them. They also have natural predators like lizards, so if you're comfortable with a lizard scurrying around, get it for your cockroach killing needs.馃
I hope I've been able to convince you as to why we should fear the cockroach. Not that these aren't all though 馃槀. They have a whole lot of different abilities that help them survive. Next time you see a cockroach at home, don't just shrug and say
Oh well, I'll bring up the insecticide again.
Sometimes insecticide don't work because Cockroach build toxins in thier body, that helps them get rid of toxic substances to them. It's best to kill naturally 馃槈.
Now I know we have some insect lovers out there who'll think I'm too vile or I'm a brute. In my defence I don't go on the hunt for cockroaches, and I try my best to make my house as unsatisfactory for them as possible but this doesn't mean, if I see one scurrying around. I would give it way and be all cheerful like.
After I come off the beginning shock of seeing a cockroach, I would creep gently and give it a nice good stomp, just to prevent an infestation. It's also nice to clean surfaces regularly, just in case 馃檪.
If you read to the end of this post I thank you鈽猴笍. Don't forget to upvote and I'll love to hear your comments below 馃
