This large, brown, winged cockroach can grow from 1 ¼ to 1 3/8 in length. It is cousin to the American cockroach, but has features that set it apart. This roach is a huge pest in the United States. Its speed and size make it a very unpopular uninvited guest. Smokeybrown cockroaches like to fly from trees onto houses. They also ride in on fruit and plants.
Smokeybrown Cockroach Identification
Smokeybrown cockroaches are a dark brown mahogany color. They have dark, shiny thoraxes. (The American cockroach has a light rimmed pattern on the thorax.) Both sexes of adult smokeybrown cockroaches have wings that cover the abdomen. Female smokeybrown cockroaches have broader abdomens than males. Females lack the styli (vestiges of abdominal legs) that males have. Younger nymphs have white marks on some segments of the antennae, abdomen, and thorax. Older nymphs are dark brown all over. Adults do not have any light markings on the pronotum or wings.
Smokeybrown Cockroach Habitat
This pest likes warm climates and cannot tolerate cold weather outdoors. It can survive in colder climates indoors. This cockroach thrives in wet conditions and likes damp hidden places. It can be found around the perimeter of structures and is commonly found outdoors in the southern U.S. The smokeybrown cockroach lives in Japan, tropical climates, and the southern United States—Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and along the southern bank of the Mississippi River. Coastal areas are especially susceptible to smokeybrown cockroach infestations because of high humidity.
When outdoors, this pesky roach lives in holes in trees and palm tree canopies. In the home, the smokeybrown cockroach likes warm, protected, moist, dark areas without drying air flow—damp attics, block walls, flower beds, mulched areas, moist basements, and dark, poorly ventilated places. Smokeybrown cockroaches are plant feeders and like to harbor in greenhouses.
Smokeybrown cockroaches eat lots of different kinds of organic and decaying matter. This pest is a scavenger. It needs water every 2 or 3 days because it dries out faster than other types of cockroaches. Smokeybrown cockroaches come inside to find food, but will move outdoors in warm weather.
Smokeybrown Cockroach Life Cycle
The female smokeybrown cockroach glues the large brown egg capsule or oothecae to objects in a harborage. Each smokeybrown cockroach contains 17 to 26 eggs. Smokeybrown cockroach nymphs hatch within 50 days. Nymphs take 6 to 12 months to develop into adults. Adult smokeybrown cockroaches live for 6 to 12 months. The female smokeybrown cockroach produces 17 oothcae during her life. Smokeybrown cockroach populations experience a large adult die-off every fall.
Smokeybrown Cockroaches and Humans
According to the Center for Disease Control, smokeybrown cockroaches carry salmonella typhimurim, entamoeba histolytica, polioyelitis virus which result in outbreaks of salmonella poisoning, amebic dysentery, and polio. Smokeybrown cockroaches contaminate food and household items. The dust made of dead, dried-up, pulverized carcasses triggers asthma in people who are prone and not typically prone to the disease.
Smokeybrown Cockroach Control
Smokey-Brown Cockroach Identification: Call in a pest control professional to help aid in identify which type of roach has infested your home. An exterminator will look for shiny, dark, mahogany colored insects that are less than 2 inches in length.
Bait and Insecticide: Bait can be used in places you want to avoid using insecticide. An exterminator can spray the outside of a building, cracks and crevices, entry points, around windows, doors, vents, and in weep holes of brick veneer with a synthetic prethroid or cypermethrin which will kill cockroaches and last for several weeks. Tree trunks from the ground to the crotch of a tree under six feet as well as mulched areas should be sprayed with the same insecticide. Dust containing deltamethrin can be sprinkled in hollow blocks, behind brick walls, and along plumbing lines.
Removal of Smokeybrown Cockroaches: A professional can help you vacuum up carcasses, skin casts, and eggs and then sanitize the area.
DIY and Green Solutions for Smokeybrown Cockroach Control
Keep it clean! Clean up food particles and spills in the kitchen. Roaches love grease so keep the stove especially clean.
Seal it up! Do not leave food sitting out. Keep it in plastic or glass containers with airtight lids. Caulk cracks and crevices, baseboards and walls on the first floor to block easy access for pests. Use weather stripping around doors and windows to prevent pests for gaining entry to your home.
Do the dishes! If you have to leave unwashed dishes in the sink, let them soak in soapy water. Better yet, do the dishes right away.
Take out the trash! Make sure to keep compost and garbage away from the house. Take out the garbage on a regular basis.
Dry it up! Oriental cockroaches need a lot of water to survive. Fix those leaky faucets and mop up standing water. Make use of a dehumidifier to dry out your house.
Yard work! Take any trash or wood away from the house. Roaches like to hide in debris, when the weather gets cold, smokeybrown cockroaches will move from the woodpile inside. Trim bushes and tees so that they do not come in contact with the house. This eliminates possible access indoors.