Roaches Escaped In My House - Need Advice

[RS68]

Hello all. I was referred to this forum from a bearded dragon forum and I'm hoping you can help. I saw a couple of recent posts regarding this subject but didn't want to hijack their threads.

I bought a dozen Turks for my beardie last night. Since he's still young I asked the reptile store for smaller roaches. I don't think any of them were bigger than 1".

They were purchased to serve for the next morning's feeding. The store packaged them in a plastic bag which was then placed in a paper bag. When I woke this morning they had chewed a small hole in the plastic bag and all but 4 had escaped. Through an exhaustive search of the room and adjacent rooms I found another 6. Over night I caught another 5 in glue traps and/or duck tape bringing the total to 15 caught.

I called the reptile store and asked the clerk if he could recall exactly how many he put in the bag. His best guess was between 12 and 15. I've also found two pinhead sized roaches (one in the bag and one climbing on my wall). I didn't see the clerk put the roaches in the bag but I assume he shook something causing the roaches to fall in which also caused the babies to fall in as well. As a result, I don't have a lot of confidence in his count.

My obvious concern is that they will survive and start breeding. I live in the Pacific NW. Outside temps today range from 40 - 50 degrees F. Temps are going to be colder over the weekend. Temps inside my house range from 61 - 70 degrees in the basement and between 67 - 74 degrees upstairs (where they escaped). Of course, there are appliances and areas that get warmer.

A few questions come to mind...

1) Is there any risk in them breeding at their current size?

2) If not, what size (and temps) do they need to be to start reproducing?

3) How long can they live in this house considering the current temps?

4) Should I lower the temps inside my house? I could raise the windows and bring the temps down considerably if that would be a quick fix.

I called a couple of local exterminators and neither had any experience with this roach so I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice.

[Matt K]

HERE IS MY 2 CENTS:

(Disclaimer: This is just my personal experience. Everyones home is different and I do not claim to be a professional exterminator nor to know the exact situations affecting your home and its microclimates. I am just a guy who keeps a lot of roach species, not an entomologist.)

A few questions come to mind...

1) Is there any risk in them breeding at their current size?

2) If not, what size (and temps) do they need to be to start reproducing?

3) How long can they live in this house considering the current temps?

4) Should I lower the temps inside my house? I could raise the windows and bring the temps down considerably if that would be a quick fix.

I called a couple of local exterminators and neither had any experience with this roach so I'm hoping you guys can give me some advice.

Good new and Bad news:

1) Yes.

2) Cooler = slower, warmer = faster, but it will happen none the less.

3) Unless it gets to be around 40 in your house for a couple days or REALLY dry, then indefinately.

4) Don't bother.

Now for the Good news:

My home is a great environment for them to reproduce in. I have dozens of species, including Blatta lateralis which I use to feed other bugs. Sometimes I drop one or a couple escape. I have found that lat's are a very hungry roach with a seemingly high metabolism, and will go further to seek out food than other roaches (this is true with native pest species also, which is what makes them a pest). My solution is simple. I buy glue boards (Tomcat brand works best and smells of vanilla). Sometimes when these are left on the floor a lat will get caught anyway, but if you leave a pinch or two of fish food in the middle of the board, you can bet money that any lat's loose in the room will come to it and get stuck on the glue board.

Visit www.tomcatbrand.com for product info. My experience is that they work fantastic and I leave 3 or 4 on the floor in the corners of the bug room at all times, and maybe one or two on a shelf. Zero bugs in my house, and suprising what else gets stuck on the glueboards: gnats, phorid flies, fruit flies, tiny beetles, springtails, and the occasional odds/ends that I did not know got into the house to begin with.

Now aside from that I have several spiders running around in the room, mostly Phippidus sp., I have seen eating bugs but I do not think they are very effective.... just there.

So in short, I find that roaches love to get stuck to glue boards.

[Allpet Roaches]

Less than 1% of cockroach species are pests but that does happen to be one of them. Don't worry too much, however, it's not generally found in homes in temperate environments and a few sticky boards is probably enough to eradicate them.

[RS68]

Thanks for the info. Lucky me to have bought the pest of the group. The store had 3 types of roaches. I'll have to find out what the other two types are and determine if they are pest for future purchases.

[EffeCi]

I'm a professional Pest Control Operator and a roach breeder...

Blatta lateralis grows and breeds very slow under 24-26°C (and does not reproduce under 20°C)... I confirm that some well positioned glue traps are enough to control escapees...

[RS68]

Thanks for the help. Can some one point me to a list where pest roaches are identified?

[mlc]

the biggest mistake would be in letting your mistake shy you away from using lats as a feeder. Your creature is probaly giving you the finger right now for taking his lats away. there are probaly and endless amount of solutions to your problem. If your going to keep them for a couple days as feedes than transfer them out of the plastic generic pet store bag into something more solid. Problem solved.

[Roachsmith]

Cool. Free range roaches!!

I think you'll be ok. I had a few lats escape and they died very quickly. Sticky traps should help though.