What cockroaches bite humans and how to treat bites?

Anyone who has lived in an apartment with cockroaches knows the disgusting, disgusting feeling when you go into the kitchen in the evening, turn on the light - and there are these disgusting creatures scurrying around: on the tables, in the cabinets, on the floor, in the sink. You take a mug to drink tea and you don’t know if cockroaches have climbed on it. If you forget an open packet of cookies on the table in the evening, you somehow don’t want to eat them.

Or even worse - you wake up at night because someone is crawling on your body, and you are horrified to discover that a cockroach has crawled onto your bed.

But the trouble is that during the hours of deep sleep a person does not feel insects running over his body, and then you inevitably begin to worry whether cockroaches bite people at night, and if so, how to identify a cockroach bite on a person. You may also have wondered whether a cockroach can get into a sleeping person's ear or nose (if anyone finds this idea funny, don't rush to laugh). Let's thoroughly understand this topic and find out whether domestic cockroaches bite, look at photos of bites, and also find out what to do if a cockroach gets into your ear or nose.

Can cockroaches bite humans?

In the 60s of the last century, American scientists conducted a study to find out whether cockroaches bite under certain circumstances. During the study, it was discovered that longhorned beetles, due to their body structure (gnawing mouthparts and strong jaws), can bite people.

The special structure of the digestive apparatus allows insects to survive in conditions close to extreme. Prussians consume and process almost any food, including solid and seemingly unfit for consumption.

The digestive system of cockroaches successfully copes with paper, leather clothing and shoes, and soap.

Eyewitness stories about how at night cockroaches, emerging from their hiding places, attack sleeping people and leave inflamed wounds on the body that do not heal for a long time, are popular.

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Prohibited Products

Red cockroaches eat any food. Madagascar cockroaches are also omnivores, but some foods are contraindicated for them.

Pets will be happy to eat pizza, a hamburger, and a sweet bun, but this food causes them increased gas formation. There is a list of prohibited products for exotic cockroaches:

• spicy food; salted crackers, chips, salted shrimp, other salty and peppery foods;
• fried foods;
• baked goods: buns, fresh bread;
• confectionery;
• sweets: candies, confiture, jam;
• fatty meat and fish;
• flowers bought in a store; Don't shower your pets with rose petals.

Cockroaches will eat all these products, but this can cause mass death of pets. Spicy and peppery foods cause poisoning in pets. Sweets and baked goods will lead to indigestion. Fatty foods contribute to the development of obesity.

Keeping Madagascar cockroaches is not difficult. Many keepers talk about this. Insects are unpretentious. They are fed 2-3 times a week. The diet is changing. Do not wash food with scented products.

When washing, use baking soda. Chemicals cause poisoning in pets. Insects should receive both succulent food and protein foods of animal origin.

An alien from the island of Madagascar, the large hissing cockroach can hardly be called an average pet - no fur, no affection for the owner. But thanks to his unpretentious disposition and funny habits, he appealed to many lovers of exotic things. Owners of terrariums breed Madagascar cockroaches as food for their pets.

What species bite

Many people are interested in whether cockroaches that appear in the house can bite a person and whether the ability of insects to be aggressive depends on the type of pest. Scientists say there is no direct relationship.

Any representative of the cockroach order can bite, especially if there is no access to food:

• The most common and often found in people's homes, Prussians bite if they are hungry or thirsty. Domestic cockroaches are more likely to bite at night, when humans pose the least danger. Longhorned beetles don’t just bite, they eat the skin around the mouth and eyes. Thus, cockroaches look for moisture remaining in food crumbs or accumulated in the lacrimal glands.
• Black representatives of longhorned beetles are dangerous during times of food and water shortage. In search of food, they, like their red relatives, can bite a person.
• The American cockroach, smaller in size compared to the Prussians, is also capable of harming humans. The consequences of a bite from an American longhorned beetle are worse than the consequences of damage to the skin by a red or black cockroach.
• Harmless-looking Egyptian pests also bite. Egyptian bites often cause severe allergic reactions.

Subtleties of content

Keeping Madagascar cockroaches is not very difficult or troublesome. They do not crap in the home, do not have a characteristic odor, do not harm human health, are quite calm, and lead a lazy lifestyle.

Easily reproduced in captivity

What you need to know

Those people who want to become the owner of an exotic animal are interested in the question: what special requirements do Madagascar cockroaches need, what is the content and nutritional base of insects? Before purchasing this creature, you need to have information about their lifestyle.

Gestation, reproduction

The female cockroach is a very caring mother. Pregnant, she does not lay eggs, but carries them constantly in the so-called genital pouch. There are about 30-40 eggs in one ootheca (cocoon).

Nymphs are always close to the female

From time to time, the female either protrudes or hides the ootheca, regulating the temperature. Larvae (nymphs) hatch after 3 months. The nymphs are translucent, only their black eyes stand out. However, after 2-3 hours they become dark brown. Nymphs eat the ootheca and the remains of their shell. After 6-10 months, the larvae turn into adults, going through 6-8 molts. The mother does not leave them, gathering them around her and protecting them from danger. However, many do not live to reach adulthood. Only 80-85% of those who survived are suitable for further breeding.

Treatment of the affected area

If you have marks from an insect bite on your body, before deciding what to do about the bite, you need to find out which insect caused the skin damage. Bedbugs, as a rule, leave characteristic marks in the form of an itchy, intensely itchy stripe.

This effect from a bedbug bite is observed as a result of the influence of special substances in the saliva of bedbugs on the body cells. Prussians leave small open wounds in places where human skin is most delicate.

If you know for sure that a person has been bitten by a cockroach, and the wound does not heal within one day, you need to consult a dermatologist. The doctor will examine the bite site and prescribe treatment appropriate to the problem.

If there is a strong local reaction, allergy sufferers must take an antihistamine.

Sometimes you can’t get an appointment with a doctor. Then traditional medicine methods become relevant. Fresh plantain or raw potatoes, ground to a mushy state, will relieve inflammation. Tea compresses have a similar effect.

First aid after bites

Patients often delay visiting a medical facility for one reason or another. It is important to know what emergency measures need to be taken if a cockroach bite occurs.

First of all, the wound must be disinfected. Hydrogen peroxide, chlorhexidine solution, or another alcohol-containing product are ideal. And an antihistamine taken on time will relieve severe itching after an insect bite.

It is not recommended to apply brilliant green solution to the affected area. Otherwise, the development of purulent processes is likely.

Zelenka complicates further examination of the bite site in order to identify hyperemia and an inflammatory process.

How to treat?

If a cockroach bite is detected, it is necessary to treat the wound with chlorhexidine, hydrogen peroxide (3%) or medical alcohol.

When the inflammatory process is fixed, cockroach bites should be treated with the use of anti-inflammatory drugs, in particular Fenistil, Akriderm, Levomekol. If allergies occur, antihistamines must be used.

It is not allowed to cauterize the wound with iodine or brilliant green; this will make it difficult to visualize the damaged area of ​​skin, and suppuration may develop under the resulting crust.

The danger of cockroach bites

Human skin is a rather dense natural material, but the powerful jaws of the Prussian dog can seriously damage it. It has been proven that the bite force of a cockroach is more than 4 times stronger than that of a human.

It is easy to recognize traces of exposure to the skin of a barbel. Unlike blood-sucking insects, which leave behind only a puncture, or bedbugs, whose distinctive feature of contact with a person is a stripe of bites, the Prussian leaves behind a characteristic wound.

By morning, the damaged area, as a rule, has time to become covered with a crust, and around there is hyperemia of the skin, less often a blister, or swelling. Reactions are especially strong after the bite of “exotic”, American and Egyptian species.

The consequences of contact of the pest's mouthparts and saliva with human skin are not limited to small wounds, but are papular, purulent rashes accompanied by severe pain.

Local reactions of the body are not the only danger of contact with insects. A special protein, tropomyosin, found in barbel saliva can provoke a severe allergic reaction in people prone to allergies. So, after being bitten by a Germanic dog, many patients experienced hives, irritation, and sometimes suffocation.

Cockroaches are notorious for carrying various infections. When barbel saliva comes into contact with human blood, there is a risk of contracting serious infectious diseases, including dysentery and tuberculosis.

It is known that the presence of Prussians in the homes of some people can provoke asthma attacks.

Chemical Substance Database

Cockroaches appeared on Earth about 235 million years ago, and each individual carries with it a store of knowledge accumulated by the cockroach genus during this time. Their DNA is one of the longest among all insects (cockroaches are second only to migratory locusts) and, by the way, longer than humans. Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences learned about this feature of supervillains in 2022.

However, what is important is not so much the length as the large number of semantic DNA sections, that is, the genes themselves: cockroaches have over 10 thousand of them. About 150 of them are responsible for the sense of smell, more than 500 for recognizing tastes. Hundreds of other genes are likely involved in chemical analysis. The accumulated evolutionary experience helps cockroaches accurately recognize food and distinguish safe substances from poisonous ones. In addition, the body of insects produces a large number of antidote proteins that serve as an antidote to a wide variety of poisons.

The fossilized remains of a cockroach that lived 30 million years ago. Found in the Dominican Republic

Prevention of bites

Cockroaches are not just unpleasant neighbors, but also carriers of infections that can bite humans. We must try to prevent insects from appearing indoors.

For this it is enough:

• keep the house clean;
• store food in containers with walls inaccessible to damage by insects;
• eliminate stagnation of water in flowerpots;
• if necessary, treat the barbel penetration routes with special means.

If prevention does not help, cockroaches appear inside the house, it is better to contact a specialized company engaged in pest control of premises. Exterminators, using professional insect control products, will clear the house of uninvited guests quickly and effectively.

You can try to get rid of cockroaches yourself, using traditional methods of fighting barbels. The most popular is a solution based on boric acid, honey and sugar. Poisons sold in stores are effective - gels, aerosols (Raptor), special crayons, powders, smoke bombs.

Preventive measures

In order to avoid becoming a victim of arthropods or being bitten, it is important to fight them in time and take preventive measures:

• do not allow people to live together in the same territory;
• keep the room clean, not leaving food crumbs on the kitchen cabinets, hiding food away at night;
• prevent penetration from neighboring apartments through vents and water supply compartments;
• seal cracks in the floor and walls;
• periodically check the plumbing for serviceability and eliminate leaks;
• treat housing with insecticides around the perimeter;
• set traps for sockets.

Unpleasant neighbors cause disgust in some people, real panic in others

It is important to fight cockroaches as soon as they are noticed. These insects are truly dangerous to humans because they are omnivores. Cockroaches are carriers of many infectious diseases

Moreover, they can bite repeatedly, because they will stop at nothing in their quest for food.

Cockroaches are carriers of many infectious diseases. Moreover, they can bite repeatedly, because they will stop at nothing in their quest for food.

Answers to popular questions

Longhorned beetles are insects whose appearance inside the house causes panic and fear. People often have a lot of questions about cockroaches and the dangers they pose. Below are the most popular questions from netizens regarding cockroach-like insects.

In what cases can a cockroach bite?

Longhorn beetles rarely bite. This is due to the fact that it is often not difficult for insects to provide themselves with food and water. In addition, cockroaches are able to survive without a food source for a month or more. But still, cases of bites are not isolated, so you should know why cockroaches can bite a person.

This only happens in the following cases:

• Acute food shortage. However, it is known that cockroaches are able to digest paper, leather goods, fabrics, and it is extremely rare to talk about this insect feeling hungry. However, during a long absence of a food source, Prussians can bite a person.
• Lack of water. But again, it is not difficult for a cockroach to quench its thirst. Condensation on the pipes, drops of water in the washbasin, wet soil in flowerpots, and this insect is the last person to go to as a source of moisture.
• A huge number of cockroaches inside the home. In such situations, the insect may go to other rooms in order to find food for itself, and the risk that the Prussian will crawl into bed with a sleeping person and bite him is great.

From the above it is clear that cockroaches prefer to avoid people. In modern houses, insects always have something to eat, and they don’t want to attack people at all.

What does a cockroach bite look like?

The consequences of contact between the jaws of a German and human skin depend on the type of insect.

• Black cockroaches leave serious damage. After contact with them, an allergic reaction is possible. The damaged area, as a rule, does not itch or bleed.
• The bite of red cockroaches leaves a small, uneven wound on a person, which after a while becomes covered with a crust. Sometimes in people prone to allergic reactions, the bite site becomes inflamed and red, but itching, as a rule, is not observed.
• Regarding the American relative of the Prussians, contact with this type of insect can provoke not only a small wound, but also a rash in the area of ​​skin damage, the appearance of blisters and ulcers. The bite site may be very painful.

How do cockroaches bite?

Insects eat almost everything thanks to their powerful oral apparatus: Prussians have strong sickle-shaped jaws with jagged teeth, with chitinous teeth located in them, with which cockroaches bite.

In the absence of normal food, paper, leather goods and other materials become suitable for consumption. Human skin is no exception. By acting on it with jowls with teeth. A cockroach pinches off pieces of human dermis.

If there is a shortage of food, it will not be difficult for the pest to gnaw human skin.

The place from the bite looks exactly gnawed, and not, for example, pierced.

Reviews

Dear readers, you can leave your feedback on whether domestic cockroaches bite in the comments; your opinion will be useful to other users of the site!

Olya

I didn’t know that cockroaches could attack people. When a neighbor's child had such a problem, I was very scared. Now I constantly monitor the house, I think that there is a risk of parasites entering our apartment from the neighboring one.

Vladimir

When I served in the navy, an incident happened to me. A cockroach bit my ear. It was very painful, the wound was treated with antiseptics and a bandage was applied. Thanks to strong immunity, the wound healed quickly. But after this, I can frankly say, I am terribly afraid of cockroaches.