Cockroaches

Cockroaches have been around since the time of dinosaurs! A cockroach can live almost a month without food. A cockroach can live about two weeks without water. Some female cockroaches only mate once and stay pregnant for life!  Do cockroaches sleep? A: Yes, cockroaches do sleep, if you define it that way. Cockroaches have activity rhythms, i.e. regular times in the day when they are quiet and hide away from the rest of the world as well as wakeful times when they are active, seeking food, water and a mate. The subject of cockroach activity rhythms is well represented in the scientific literature (see my cockroach bibliography). In general, most pest species of cockroaches are active (i.e. awake) during the four hours after lights-out. That is why they are often visible when you go to the refrigerator for that midnight snack or come home late from the movies. They cue on that time when you normally shut off all the lights and go to bed. That ensuing four hours of activity is enough for them to get all their important business done without the high probability of running into you. I showed, in my first published paper, that one four hour stretch of food availability was enough to get them through an entire molting cycle of about 6 days. In a high density cockroach infestation the population may be forced to come out at other times to find food. If you have lowered the population down by using insecticides, whether that is a commercial insecticide or your boric acid application, the remaining few cockroaches will be satisfied with the four hour stretch after lights-out and you will rarely see them. While we sleep they are active; while they sleep we are active. How convenient!  What do cockroaches eat? The cockroach is an omnivore, that is, it eats everything edible, animal and vegetable. So if we do not move around too much while sleeping they might be inclined to nibble on our earlobes at night. They are rarely aggressive enough to attack us while we are awake. When visiting Tulane University in New Orleans many years ago I slept in a dormitory room and cockroaches were flying down from the ceiling onto my head. I would guess that these large American cockroaches, _Periplaneta americana_, would be capable of taking a good bite out of me.  Only the larger species could take a bite through our skin. Of course the skin of children is much more tender and vulnerable to a roach bite.

A cockroach can live for up to one week without its head! Cockroaches can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes! Cockroaches can run up to 3 miles an hour.