How cockroaches reproduce in an apartment: sexual differences in cockroaches and their development

How cockroaches reproduce in an apartment

Good day! It is not very easy to remove cockroaches from an apartment, also because they multiply very quickly, and often the new generation is immune to the means that poisoned the previous one. In this regard, it is worth understanding the question of how cockroaches reproduce in an apartment.

Jokes aside, if you understand the approximate frequency of reproduction and favorite places for laying eggs, then you can separately fight with adult individuals, and separately with offspring that have not yet appeared. All useful information is below!

How cockroaches reproduce in an apartment

Having settled in an apartment, cockroaches multiply at a record speed; many people guess about this, but only experts know how this happens.

You may ask, why does an ordinary person need such knowledge? The fact is that if you get rid of cockroaches yourself, this will help you quickly deal with the problem and understand how to act in a given situation.

Cockroaches have lived on our planet since time immemorial; they are one of the most ancient creatures that can be found today.

One of the reasons for such “survivability” is reproductive ability, not even high, but the highest. Our eternal companions are the red and black cockroaches, and all because our home is the most favorable environment for them to live - warmth, water and plenty of food.

Sexual differences in cockroaches

Let's first look at the differences between female and male cockroaches. There are only three differences between insects. Males have a more modest body size, they have developed wings and have a genital plate called styli.

Females have wings, although not developed, but they wave them invitingly, inviting the male to mate. In response, like real men, males make sounds (some species of cockroaches are even threatening), fly up and even fight for the right to possess a beautiful lady.

How do cockroaches reproduce?

The fertilization process in cockroaches occurs very quickly, since they live in colonies. They breed all year round if there is warmth, water, food and darkness. Important! And the way cockroaches reproduce, domestic or wild, they all do it in the traditional way - sexually. After fertilization, the female begins laying eggs. Moreover, once is enough for her to “get pregnant” several times. This occurs due to the long-term storage of male gametes in the body of a “female” individual. The eggs are stored in an edema, a special capsule. Cockroaches are caring mothers and carry eggs on themselves until the larvae are completely ready to be born. The ootheca is visible to the naked eye under the abdomen of the insect.

It is impossible to predict how many eggs are in a capsule; Prussians may have 22-50, and their black counterparts 12-18. A female red cockroach makes from 12 clutches during her life, and a black cockroach only makes up to 22.

Females can be “pregnant” from two months to six months, it all depends on the conditions. In the presence of unfavorable factors, the gestation process is delayed and can take 2-4 years.

Cockroach development

A cockroach goes through three stages of development. The female carries eggs from which larvae then appear, and they grow into adults - adults. How long the transformation will take also depends on external environmental factors. Attention! On average, a red cockroach develops in 2-6 months, black cockroaches from 6 months to two years. The larvae are cared for by adult females. Everything is like in humans, a kindergarten with nannies and teachers. While the larva turns into an adult, it molts six times, each time more and more acquiring the features of an adult insect. By the way, in an apartment, the majority of the number of cockroaches is made up of larvae. If all is well, after three months the cockroach is ready to reproduce.

Let us answer the question of how quickly cockroaches reproduce. Cockroaches are sexually mature for 210 days, during which time they acquire a hundred offspring or more. So their number can grow exponentially.

Limiting the breeding of cockroaches

How to make cockroaches breed and reproduce less? Create unfavorable conditions. If they don’t have enough water and food, the females will suffer from swelling for years, and then, lo and behold, they will go in search of a better life. Advice! There is an option to direct all your efforts to destroy pregnant females, but you will simply have to act mechanically and crush them with slippers. But you won’t be able to crush everyone; you will still notice abandoned, no longer needed capsule shells from time to time. They leave them in plain sight.

Since baby cockroaches eat the same things as adults, you can fight them using the same usual methods - poisoned baits, gels, powders. This will not stop them from multiplying, but at least a significant part of the colony will die.

Destruction at the embryonic development stage

The larvae of domestic cockroaches are under reliable protection, staying in the ooteca. Not a single toxic substance penetrates through the durable shell. You can only get rid of a clutch of eggs manually if you manage to find the hidden places of the cockroaches. But you cannot be sure of the complete destruction of pests. Females hide clutches with larvae in the most unpredictable places. It is possible to get rid of nymphs only after they are born. Aerosol, spray, dust, traps, solution, poisonous boric acid bait will be effective.

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How cockroaches reproduce and useful tips for preventing rapid reproduction

Nobody likes cockroaches; no one wants to share their food or home with them. He poisons them, kills them, but they don’t care! If there is water, a warm, secluded place, he will find something to eat and begin to reproduce.

Let’s look at this process in more detail, namely, we will find out how domestic cockroaches reproduce, how many cockroaches hatch from one egg, what does a pregnant cockroach look like?

How do cockroaches reproduce?

They are designed by wise nature in such a way that, taking little, they give a lot. And therefore it is indestructible. You can only reduce its population. Amazingly generous with the population. Judge for yourself.

Do you know how many cockroaches are born from one egg? From one clutch, 15-50 individuals hatch at a time. The female is capable of making 10 clutches or more during her life cycle.

It turns out that one individual is capable of producing at least one hundred offspring. And they won’t sit still either - they will continue to breed cockroaches. How to win this? Maybe selectively kill females?

How to determine the sex of a cockroach

Size. Boys are smaller.
Wings. In males they are more developed. The male can even fly up if he needs to get to the desired object.
Leads. Males have a genital plate - a growth on the last segment of the body.

This is what domestic representatives do - red ones (Prussians) and black ones (such as crickets). But those that live in nature - Madagascar, for example - their males can hiss and butt with their horns in order to get a female. Girls have wings only for decoration - they can wave them a little, showing their readiness to mate.

Metamorphoses

The type of development of cockroaches is an incomplete cycle of transformation, that is, it skips the pupal stage.

Egg. It takes 120 days (4 months) for an egg to develop into a mature individual.
Nymph is the larva of a cockroach. The imago lives and reproduces for 30 weeks.
Imago is an adult individual. One female can give birth to 300 children during her life cycle.

These figures may be higher - it all depends on living conditions. The more nourishing, warmer and humid, the more intense the reproduction of domestic cockroaches.

Edema like a mortgage

They flapped their wings and mated. Then the fun begins. The female lays eggs. She does not lay these eggs just anywhere, but in a special capsule for edema. This is a leathery pouch that quite reliably protects the eggs from damage and the vicissitudes of the external environment.

The female will keep this pouch with her - behind her body. This swelling looks like a tail and is popularly called “tail”. The female carries the edema with her everywhere and does not throw it anywhere.

And it is freed from it only when the larvae are ready to emerge. If you see such a “tailed one,” then you know that he is the most dangerous for your home.

Because when dying, the female manages to shed her “tail” - she shoots it straight out, catapults it. And she herself, perhaps, will die, but the “tail” will not.

How cockroaches give birth

The time for childbirth will come, and somewhere, under the baseboard, 30 little baby cockroaches will crawl out, completely independent and viable. And you lost this little battle again.

Not myths about the nymph

It is not difficult to distinguish a nymph from an adult. The larval nymph is smaller in size, its wings have not yet developed, and it is darker in color. The larva molts 5-6 times during its growth and sheds its old shell.

The closer the nymph is in age to a mature individual, the lighter it becomes, turning from almost black to red. Nymphs live in a colony with adults and eat the same food. They behave exactly the same, only they do not mate.

10 interesting features that make them incredibly durable:

After mating, the male's gametes are stored in the female's body for a long time, and repeated clutches can occur without the prior participation of the male. That is, it is enough for a female to “communicate” with a male once in her life in order to then calmly and repeatedly leave offspring.
Can live without a head. All his organs continue to function. But without a head, the body will not last more than a week for the reason that it will not be able to drink and will die... from thirst.
Can hold his breath for 40 minutes. Scientists believe that this feature came in handy millions of years ago, when things were not going smoothly with the earth’s atmosphere.
Barbels are very lazy. They spend three quarters of their lives in a state of rest.
Runs very fast. If he runs, it will be very fast - 4.8 km per hour. This is a lot, considering the size of his legs.
Maybe eat once a month. And at the same time, he can eat everything. For this he has powerful jaws.
Impossible to catch. He will feel you with all the hairs on his paws. And when he starts running, he will change direction 25 times per second. You are doomed to fail.
They will withstand an atomic explosion and survive. They have a particularly slow cell division cycle and are not afraid of radiation.
They have two pairs of wings. The upper ones are dense and leathery elytra of the body protection - we see them. And the lower ones - thinner ones - are hidden under the elytra. With the help of them he flies.
The largest cockroach - 9 cm in length - does not live in our houses. He prefers tropical forests.

How to stop reproduction

In order to prevent cockroaches from reproducing, you need to deprive them of the main thing they love:

Warmth. Let your home cool down for a while. In the old days, this is what they did - they cooled the hut, the insects died, unable to bear human deceit. These were the folk methods.
Water. They can't help but drink. That’s why in apartments they stick to the water supply, the kitchen, and the sinks.
Food. Elevate cleanliness into a cult. No crumbs, leftovers, or overflowing trash cans. Although in this case the cockroach will move onto the paper. He is practically omnivorous.

In addition, measures should be taken to expel uninvited guests from the house. There are many different products, ranging from crayons like Mashenka, FAS dusts, Clean House, ending with Kombat, Foresight traps and Raid, Raptor, Get, Executioner aerosols.

In general, in the old days it was believed that cockroaches were a sign of prosperity. If there is nothing for people to eat in the house, then there is no place for people with mustaches. This means that we should not be too harsh towards such a talisman of our well-being.

Features of Prussians that help them survive in various conditions

When cockroaches, a male and a female, mate for the first time, the gametes of the male are stored in the body of the latter. This allows her to produce offspring independently and not depend on the “male” half. That is, in her entire life it is enough for her to meet a male once in order to lay eggs herself in the future.
Life without a head. If a barbel's head is torn off, the body continues to function normally and continue to live, only water and food do not enter it, as a result of which it dies from hunger.
Don't breathe for 40 minutes. Scientists have hypothesized that this helped them survive in ancient times, when the atmosphere on Earth was underdeveloped.
Pests are lazy. They don't move 75% of their life.
They move quickly. Despite their small limbs, cockroaches can run at speeds of 5 km/hour.
Eat food once every 30 days. They eat any food thanks to their powerful jaws.
Difficult to catch. When a Prussian runs away from a person, it changes its trajectory several times.
Don't be afraid of radiation. Because of this, they are able to survive an atomic explosion. This feature is achieved due to slow cell division.
Protected wings. This allows them not to lose mobility and fly short distances.

How do cockroaches reproduce?

Many people are interested in 3 questions at once: how cockroaches reproduce, why cockroaches appear in the apartment and how to deal with them. Important! The first 2 questions are directly related to the third, because most of those who are forced to share living space with these insects dream that these small tenants will “move out” as soon as possible.

Life of cockroaches in nature

Cockroaches live only where it is warm all the time and there is no winter. Their main food is detritus, that is, organic matter that has begun to decompose. Under natural conditions, these insects live mainly among fallen leaves on the soil surface. There are caves in the world, the inner surface of which is littered with cockroaches.

This is due to the fact that a huge number of bats hang under the arches of such caves. Feces come down from these bats, which are the food of huge non-flying cockroaches. At the same time, the bodies of their dead relatives are also eaten. Attention! Cockroaches only at first glance seem like stupid, fussy boogers. In fact, they are distinguished by complex social behavior. They live in organized groups, except in situations of excessively high density, for example, in clusters at the bottom of a cave. Under normal conditions, including in human dwellings, these insects are necessarily divided into strata, each of which occupies a certain space, protecting it from the penetration of other representatives of its species. Like all well-organized animals, cockroaches engage in fights with their own kind for territory and females.

In the tropical zone, where these insects are especially numerous, our locusts and black cockroaches are not so competitive.

Their advantage is that they are very mobile, they run well, and the Prussians also fly. Large non-flying cockroaches like the Madagascar giants, reaching a length of up to 10 cm, fill with their dense mass all the space suitable for habitation, preventing every little thing from reaching the food supply.

A high level of mobility and complex behavior helped domestic cockroaches occupy a vacant niche that had not previously been occupied by any of their fellow cockroaches - human housing.

Perhaps there are no large wingless giants among domestic cockroaches, because living freely next to a person is a great art. Advice! Here you need small size, the ability to hide and run away. Madagascar cockroaches are unlikely to be able to hide in the kitchen. But their small and nimble red-haired relatives live well not only in the best place at home - in the kitchen, but for some reason they also love to relax in electronic equipment, basking in the rays of ionizing radiation.

How cockroaches get into homes

Most of these insects arrived in Europe and Northern Asia from Central America as illegal immigrants.

Active trade in fruits and vegetables, which took place between the countries of the Old World and new overseas colonies, helped cockroaches to appear in new regions.

Despite their apparent frailty and vulnerability, the cockroaches not only survived long journeys safely, but also managed to actively reproduce upon arrival and spread further.

Now that the definition of “domestic” is firmly attached to some species, their migration from continent to continent has ceased to interest people. It is much more important to answer the question of where cockroaches come from in those homes where they have not been found before.

The reasons for the appearance of cockroaches in an apartment are always the same. This:

resettlement of young individuals who can no longer live in the same home with their parents;
excessive proliferation of cockroaches in the apartment due to unsanitary conditions;
actions to exterminate cockroaches.

In other words, cockroaches appear in the apartment because there are too many of these insects somewhere nearby, and they need to develop new territories. Important! In a private home, these insects can appear when moving with things. In addition, since domestic cockroaches fly (at least red-haired cockroaches do), in the summer, when it is warm and humid, some individuals fly out the window in search of new spacious homes. So the answer to the question of where cockroaches come from can consist of two parts: firstly, they actively spread, and secondly, they reproduce no less actively.

Reproduction as the basis of survivability

Cockroaches reproduce at high speed, and this is the basis of their survivability in such extreme conditions as human homes, where people constantly fight with them. The ability to reproduce quickly is based on a whole complex of adaptive reactions of these insects.

A female cockroach, once fertilized, then no longer needs the services of a male. Throughout her life she constantly lays eggs. Attention! The better the food in the house, the faster the cockroaches appear. This ability to constantly reproduce after fertilization is characteristic of many insects. For example, a female ant, once fertilized, establishes an anthill and lays eggs throughout her life, maintaining the number of workers in the anthill. When cockroaches settle, reproduction plays a major role for them in establishing themselves in a new territory. The fact is that one pregnant cockroach that comes into an apartment can become the founder of an entire population of these insects.

These seemingly primitive insects have pronounced sexual selection. Cockroaches not only engage in fights over females, but also court them beautifully.

For example, the large and winged Mexican cockroaches do not fly, but dance, using their wings in the same way as a peacock uses its tail. Prussians are not so lyrical, but sexual selection is also characteristic of them. Advice! Their sexual relations are not promiscuous. Females choose males, who try in every possible way to attract the attention of future mothers. It is sexual selection that makes these insects such tenacious invaders of our homes. These small creatures are characterized by caring for their offspring. This does not mean that little cockroaches spend their entire childhood under the vigilant supervision of their mothers and fathers. Caring begins with the packaging of the eggs and where they are placed.

Have you ever noticed what cockroach eggs look like? They are densely packed, in several rows, in a special chitinous case called ootheca.

In this case, the space between the eggs is filled with frozen foamy protein material. Thanks to this packaging, each cub is reliably protected from desiccation, low temperatures and even from exposure to pesticides.

Caring for the offspring is also manifested in how long the females carry the ootheca. In some species, the ootheca is located at the end of the abdomen until the time comes for the small cockroaches to hatch.

The Prussians have this strategy. Other species shed their ootheca long before the time comes for new offspring to be born. This is what black cockroaches usually do.

Caring for offspring is also reflected in where cockroaches lay their eggs. Each newly hatched cockroach should be somewhere warm and humid enough.

Moreover, cockroach larvae must immediately have access to food and water. This means that caring mothers give birth, that is, they deposit their oothecae, primarily in the kitchen.

So, no matter how many cockroaches initially come to you, they will soon be found in the kitchen, in the bathroom, under the baseboards and - get ready for this - in the computer, scanner, etc.

Reproduction rate

So, it is clear that cockroaches multiply quickly. The rate of reproduction depends on how long it takes from conception to the first egg, how quickly the larva becomes a sexually mature individual, and how many ootheca the female can lay during her life. Important! After a cockroach hatches from an egg, it takes about 4 months before it can reproduce on its own. In good conditions, when food is full of vitamins, fats and proteins, this insect is ready to reproduce within 3 months. This means that from the moment cockroaches appear in your apartment until the massive addition of their families, about a month passes. This is the case if grown-up larvae come to you. If sexually mature individuals with pregnant females arrive, you have no more than 2 weeks left to live before their numbers explode.

In a sexually mature state, a cockroach lives for about six months, so that from one egg of this insect, under favorable conditions, hundreds of individuals can be born.

Thus, the owners of an apartment burdened with cockroaches are always concerned with two questions: why do cockroaches appear and why are there suddenly so many of them in the apartment? Attention! The answers to them are simple and unambiguous. Actively migrating individuals, arriving from places with high density, move into any dwelling. The outbreak in numbers occurs due to the excellent capabilities of these insects to reproduce offspring quickly and in large quantities. Knowledge of the life characteristics of cockroaches allows you to determine a strategy to combat them. If they are simply actively treated with poisons, then the opposite effect can be achieved - after the death of adult individuals, larvae will appear from the ootheca, which, in conditions of reduced density, will begin to reproduce with redoubled energy.

But if you influence reproductive functions, then sooner or later the moment will come when cockroaches will disappear from the apartment completely and for a long time.

Reasons for the appearance of Prussians

Red cockroaches are synatropes, their lifestyle is closely related to humans. They live in homes all the time and actively spread with the help of humans. In fact, these animals are domesticated on their own.

Have you encountered cockroaches in your home?

Not really

Among the most common causes of pests in the house, it is worth noting:

unsanitary conditions - dirty floors, unwashed dishes, scattered food;
dysfunctional neighbors - pests enter through a ventilation hole or crack;
faulty water and sewer pipes - a humid environment promotes active reproduction;
accidental entry with things.

How do cockroaches reproduce?

Knowing how cockroaches reproduce, you can achieve their complete disappearance from your home in a short time. Most often in a city apartment you can find Prussians, or red cockroaches.

Sometimes their black relatives also coexist with humans. In any case, these unpleasant insects appear suddenly and in large numbers. Why is this happening?

What is ootheca

Literally translated, this word means “egg storage.” This is true: a small chitin capsule reaches a size of only 10-12 mm (in domestic red cockroaches), but inside it can contain 30-40 cockroach eggs filled with a protein substance. This mass reliably protects future insects from adverse external influences. Advice! When apartment owners poison cockroaches, only the larvae and adults that come into direct contact with pesticides die. Deferred oothecae are invulnerable to many of the agents that are currently known. They can retain their contents even when insects are frozen: the dense shell and the filling mass are able to provide a temperature acceptable for the life of the eggs for a long time.

After the owners have finished treating the apartment and are quietly enjoying the absence of harmful neighbors, a new colony of cockroaches is preparing to be born somewhere in a secluded place.

The maturation of eggs lasts for 14-30 days from the moment they are laid in the capsule. But the female cockroach carries it on herself for some time, leaving it only in an ideal place for this. Therefore, it is impossible to predict for sure when the birth of cockroaches will occur.

Growth and development of cockroaches

The larvae (nymphs) are born very small. Their size before the 1st molt is only 1-2 mm, and they are not very similar to their restless parents. The main difference is the absence of wings. The larvae will acquire them only at the stage of transformation into an adult.

Nymphs practically do not leave the place where they hatched, feeding on the remains of the contents of the capsule and possible crumbs of other food that fall into the nest.

After molting once, they become larger and more mobile, begin to explore the kitchen area and actively search for food. At this time, only a very attentive housewife can notice them, but it is still difficult to identify impudent domestic cockroaches in small brown bugs.

And only 1-1.5 months after birth, in harmless-looking bugs, it will be possible to guess the traits that domestic red cockroaches possess. And after another 1-2 weeks, the larvae will molt for the last time, and the owners of the apartment will only have to contemplate in surprise the newly appeared disgusting neighbors.

The intimate life of parasites

Sometimes you can come across the statement that a cockroach is a hermaphrodite. This is not so: like all insects, the red neighbors of humans are dioecious. Both males and females are required for reproduction. But the secret of how cockroaches multiply in an apartment, getting there in a single copy, lies in the characteristics of the female. Important! After intercourse with a male, she can retain his seminal fluid for almost her entire life. During this time, she will have time to lay about 10 oothecae. About 30 new cockroaches are born from each. Reaching sexual maturity at the age of 4 months, red cockroaches (domestic, or Prussian) are able to reproduce exponentially in a short period of time.

Therefore, even clean apartments in new buildings are occupied by these residents very quickly. After this, it is almost impossible to completely destroy them, since they can breed in garbage chutes or garbage cans in the warm season and move to warmer basements and apartments in winter.

Interesting facts about cockroach reproduction

The reproduction of cockroaches is regulated by the external environment. If the apartment is too cold or too hot, there is little food available, or there are other reasons for dissatisfaction with life, insects may lay eggs much less frequently than usual.

The female can also carry the capsule on herself for a long time if there is no suitable place for breeding the cubs. How many days the nymph grows depends on the availability of food, water and warmth. And it would be much easier to deal with insects if they did not consider the same conditions that humans provide themselves as ideal.

In the average kitchen, cockroaches find an abundance of food (crumbs, garbage, food in accessible places, soap, leather goods or paper), and an ideal temperature of about +25 ° C, and access to water sources, and the absence of natural enemies. Attention! This makes it possible for even the smallest larvae to survive, and it also determines how quickly cockroaches reproduce. After all, after each female grows to adulthood, she also finds these conditions suitable for laying eggs, and the process repeats.

Red Prussians, in addition to the difference in growth rate, also do not hesitate to snack on the cubs of their relatives. Thanks to this, the population of black cockroaches in Russia is gradually declining.

Domestic cockroaches have absolutely no seasonality in breeding offspring. Insects can reproduce almost all year round, because the conditions for each small larva to grow quickly are maintained in the apartment both in winter and summer. Both black and red neighbors of a person behave this way. Tip! No less interesting is the fact that female black cellar cockroaches carry an ootheca in their abdomen. When the time comes, they give birth to small, live young. Nymphs are not colored, have a light shade of chitinous body cover and are very vulnerable to adult rufous individuals. How to cope with the invasion of the Prussians and prevent their appearance in large numbers? Considering that the breeding cycle of cockroaches is not regular, and the capsule with eggs remains unharmed during disinfestation, we can only rely on the destruction of already hatched nymphs and adults.

But in order to prevent insects from growing quietly during the period between treatments, it is very convenient to use traps and gels. These products are unnoticeable, harmless to humans and animals, do not smell, but contain either strong poisons or bacteria and fungi that can kill a cockroach within 1-2 days.

Even growing larvae that begin an active search for food can be affected by fatal diseases without having time to grow and give birth to new offspring.

Character and social structure

Prussians are very friendly, they always act harmoniously and have a certain foundation. They have special pheromones that are left by different individuals in the room. They are found in the excrement that the Prussians leave along the paths and in their passages. In the secretions, these substances evaporate and they are oriented this way.

There are several different notes:

where is the food located?
place of danger;

shelter;
sexual signals.

Cockroaches actively reproduce, live in colonies and are considered very sociable. In their society, everyone is equal, both young and old. Their main task is to search for food; they inform each other about the location of food.

Reproduction of cockroaches in an apartment

If people could reproduce like cockroaches, natural population growth would long ago have become the main problem of our planet. High fertility is due to multiple pregnancy of the female.

The pest produces about 30 larvae per offspring. Meetings with a Prussian in the kitchen are the impetus for an unequal fight, where the insect emerges victorious.

You should know how quickly cockroaches reproduce and whether they can live without food and drink, so as not to feel upset when baiting does not produce the expected results.

What insects are called domestic

What does a longhorned beetle that often lives in an apartment look like? Domestic cockroaches are recognized by their special coloring. The apartment is inhabited by red and black individuals.

Black ones are exclusively kitchen pests and differ in size from their red counterparts. The length of the body reaches 3 cm. The large size does not allow one to get into the narrow genital crevices, but the voracious insects live well:

In kitchen cabinets;
Near the trash can;
Sink drain hole.

You will rarely see an even Prussian in the bedroom or living room, of course, if the rest room is not a dining area. The black locust lives in places with an abundance of food and water. When poisoning pests, special attention is paid to:

Cabinets for storing food products;
Garbage bins;
Kitchen stove. Oven;
Plumbing.

What is bad for a person is good for a Prussian! Moisture, dirt and debris are favorable habitats and breeding grounds. They live in the bathroom, behind the refrigerator, under peeling wallpaper and baseboards. Nimble and cunning insects easily overcome obstacles. Important! The narrowest gaps in the floor do not pose a problem for the Prussian. The size of the individual ranges from 1 to 2 cm. The female is larger than the male. Moisture, thermophilicity and abundance of food waste are a favorable environment that affects the rate of reproduction and the period of reaching a mature creeper.

The difference between a male and a female

You can distinguish a female from a male by characteristic habits and external signs.

The male is smaller in size than the female insect.
There is a stylus on the body of the insect - the genital plate.
There are convex growths on the body of a sexually mature male, but they are absent in the female.
You can distinguish a female from a male by its wings.

Males have developed wings, allowing them to fly short distances. In females, the wings are underdeveloped and smaller. Their only function is a slight waving, indicating the male’s call for mating.

Features of insect reproduction

How do cockroaches reproduce, do they reproduce sexually or otherwise? They do not lay eggs, but carry them around with them. Having received the necessary liquid only once from the male, the female domesticated Prussian subsequently reproduces without his participation. Attention! Cockroaches reproduce sexually. Unscrupulous apartment owners create conditions for favorable mating and reproduction of individuals. Imagine, if cockroaches produce several dozen cockroaches from one egg, then within a couple of months the home will turn into a breeding ground for arthropods.

Before “planning” their offspring, insects practice “mating games.” The male’s sex gametes “enter” the female’s body in reserve. Without a male, a female can become fertilized several times.

The number of cockroaches in one egg reaches 30 larvae in red cockroaches, and 20 in black cockroaches. Small embryos hatch in 15–20 days. The abundance of food and water contributes to an increase in the number of insects by 1.5 - 2 times. Advice! Prussians have about 35 larvae. Small individuals live together with adults. The female helps the babies adapt to external conditions of existence. Considering that about 30 cockroaches hatch from one cockroach egg, the pest leaves 150 babies during its life cycle. There is no seasonal reproduction for domestic insects. In both winter and summer, the fertilization process is no different and the number of larvae is reduced.

Life expectancy and the number of eggs laid are influenced by external factors - food, heat and water. The lack of measures to destroy arthropods leads to lightning-fast reproduction of insects.

Period from egg to adult

During the life cycle, the female lays an average of 5 capsules, from each of which hatch from 20 to 40 larvae. Until a certain time, the individual wears a shell with larvae inside the body, it grows and increases in size.

The deposited sac, covered with a dense shell, contains embryos; after a few days, the larvae are born. Cockroach eggs look like a small oilcloth package covered with a film that is difficult to break.

How many cockroaches hatch from one egg depends on the living conditions of the arthropod. From the moment the eggs are laid until the small crawlers appear, 15–20 days will pass. The stage from egg to adult proceeds according to the following scheme:

The fertilized female carries the embryos until the larvae mature;
After 2 - 3 weeks, larvae hatch from the egg (a sac with a dense shell);
The stage of transition from a larva to an adult is accompanied by molting (change of chitinous cover);
A molting individual is a nymph of a cockroach, vulnerable to insecticides, it is difficult to encounter an insect during this period of maturation;
The transition time from nymph to adult (sexually mature individual) is 45 days.

The incubation period lasts 4 weeks. All this time the female carries eggs in a shell. After birth, molting begins, which can be repeated up to 7 times. The nymph will become an adult insect in one and a half to two months.

Transformation of egg into adult

Prussians have several stages of development:

The duration of the development period varies and depends on several environmental factors - food availability, habitat humidity and air temperature.

The red cockroach reaches adulthood in 3-6 months, while the black cockroaches develop from 6 months to 2 years.

If a red cockroach is raised in a warm environment, it can reach puberty faster (in 3 months). In the opposite case, under unfavorable conditions, development is significantly delayed - 3-4 years.

Little locusts hatch and develop under the care of several female red cockroaches. Adults help the “babies” acclimatize to their new habitat for the first few weeks.

The larva molts 6 times and becomes more and more similar to an adult barbel (imago). Most insects that live near humans are not able to reproduce.

To reach maturity, an adult cockroach must live for approximately 30 weeks. During such a period, one female cockroach with an egg produces at least a hundred babies.

How do they reproduce?

It is known how domestic cockroaches reproduce - sexually. Some parasites are courting - they release a special aroma, to which many may be allergic, some brave ones try to fly, females flutter their wings.

Madagascar cockroaches put on a whole show before mating. Males may begin to fight, push each other with their horns, and hiss loudly and threateningly.