Cockroaches clean themselves after touching a human, but it's not because they find people filthy. You won't see a cockroach frantically trying to clean off a human smell or avoiding us because of some dreaded human bacteria. Instead, they'll clean themselves after contact with any predator.
When most pests invade properties they do so in an obvious manner. Flies, for instance, buzz around living areas, land on TV screens, and seem to not care if you catch or kill them. Cockroaches are a bit different. These invasive home pests do not like being seen and are instinctively afraid of humans.
Cockroaches Like to Be Touched
Roaches are thigmotropic, meaning they like feeling something solid in contact with their bodies, preferably on all sides. They seek out cracks and crevices, squeezing into spaces that offer them the comfort of a tight fit.
No matter how clean your home is, if there's some excess moisture somewhere, it could very well be an attractive invitation for your neighborhood roaches. This is one of the reasons why you'll commonly find roaches hanging out in your bathroom and laundry room or around an appliance that produces condensation.
Myth #3: They can see me coming…
Cockroaches can see humans, and that is why they tend to run in fear when we are in their line of sight. The eye of the cockroach is like a compound lens, made of over 2,000 mini lenses that are photoreceptors and allow them to see in complete darkness.
Flies are the most common and dirtiest of the restaurant pests. These small bugs can carry billions of harmful microorganisms, including E. coli and Salmonella, which can lead to serious illnesses in humans.
Cockroaches can be a menace, to say the least. However, nothing is worse than cockroaches disturbing your sleep by crawling all over you or your bed. Just the thought of these creatures scampering and crawling on your bed is enough to make anyone's skin crawl.
Cockroach Droppings Appearance
Cockroach feces are easy to identify. Droppings from small cockroaches resemble ground coffee or black pepper. Larger roaches leave behind dark, cylindrical droppings with blunt ends and ridges down the side.
It's a fact that cockroaches are afraid of humans and other mammals or animals that are bigger than them. They see us as predators and that fear triggers their instinct to scatter away. However, they dislike strong and distinctive scents such as citrus, peppermint, lavender and vinegar.
Cockroaches are omnivores that eat plants and meat. They have been recorded to eat human flesh of both the living and the dead, although they are more likely to take a bite of fingernails, eyelashes, feet and hands. The bites may cause irritation, lesions and swelling. Some have suffered from minor wound infections.
Why Do Flying Cockroaches Fly Toward You? If you think flying cockroaches are flying right toward you, they actually aren't. Most cockroach species aren't good "flyers," and what you take as them flying toward you is actually just them being startled and gliding uncontrollably in a certain direction.
Cockroach brains are considered primitive, as are most insect brains. Cockroaches are not capable of the same level of thought and consciousness as humans.
Cockroaches can learn -- like dogs and humans
“Understanding the brain mechanism of learning in insects can help us to understand the functionings in the human brain. There are many, many common characteristics,” said Makoto Mizunami, of Tohoku University's Graduate School of Life Sciences, in a telephone interview.
Cockroaches do sleep and just like other animals and insects, they also follow a specific circadian rhythm. They are nocturnal insects, which means that they rest or sleep during the day. Cockroaches are usually active for four hours after dark and then go into a period of immobility.
Scientists have known insects experience something like pain, but new research provides compelling evidence suggesting that insects also experience chronic pain that lasts long after an initial injury has healed.
Do Cockroaches Like the Cold? Generally, cockroaches don't like the cold one bit. They are cold-blooded arthropods that don't survive very well in either extremely cold or hot circumstances. They're always at whatever temperature their environment is and generally slow down with cooler temperatures.
Raid Ant & Roach Killer Insecticide Spray was found to be one of the most effective at killing cockroaches. A can is helpful for the times when you spot a roach in your home and you don't want to get too close. A roach spray should kill the bug almost instantly.
Cockroach Urine
Just like with their droppings, cockroaches will urinate anywhere, and their urine also contains harmful diseases. If you have a large infestation on your hands then there might be a chance that a lot of items might be contaminated with cockroach urine in your property.
Roach droppings look like specks of pepper, coffee grounds, or dark grains of rice. The size of the feces is directly related to the size of the cockroach. Bigger insects produce larger droppings.
What's Inside Cockroach Droppings
And dead insects, including the carcasses of other cockroaches. Cockroaches don't pee (a not-so fun fact), but instead secrete solid and semi-solid waste. All of which varies in appearance, depending on the size, age, and species of roach you're dealing with.
They also tend to have emotions. Also, when insects, just like most animals, feel that they are being threatened, they tend to protect themselves. Thus, they seem like they are trying to take revenge on you.
Yet given what we know today, logically it does not make sense to fear cockroaches. Unlike mosquitoes, ticks or fleas, roaches aren't disease vectors, and they do not feed directly on our blood, skin or fluids. We don't go screaming when we see a mosquito, even though they are the world's deadliest animal.
First of all, cockroaches like to go around during the night, which coincidentally is when people sleep. So by virtue of just lying there motionless, we become likely victims. Cockroaches also like small, warm, humid places. And ears qualify as all of the above.
Cockroaches love to live in dirty places, and they eat filth. To help control cockroach populations: Clean up around your house. Throw your trash regularly.