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Can american cockroaches infest a house?


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I have always liked this species, and i was wondering if they can infest houses, or do they just come from outside? Thanks in advance!

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No they cannot infest an average house. It is like me or you going to Walmart, we get what we need and get out, we dont stay for long unless you like to people watch ;)

I have a pretty warm and some what humid basement and had one escape by accident and it died within 3 weeks.

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Being an exterminator gives me some good insight on "pests" here in the northeast. Around here, Periplaneta americana rarely infests homes. I've only ever encountered them in the city, only in basements and mostly when they are doing construction outside that disturbs the sewer areas. As said, P. americana will not survive long without adequate water sources. I've never come across a breeding colony in a home.

That being said. I have kept them as pets for something like 4 years now. I've never had an issue with them and they are still one of my favorite roaches.

If you're down south where the temps are higher and the humidity a bit more constant then you can expect them to be more prevalent.

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I have lived in two buildings that were infested with Periplaneta americana and they were both apartment buildings. One was in the Northern U.S. and one was in the Southern U.S. When I arrived there were roaches in both apartments. I sealed my apartment door and put 10-15 tubes of caulk in the walls and ceiling to seal every hole. There were literally no holes into the inner walls which was were the vast majority of the roaches were living and hiding. They would come out at night to get food and water. I kept my apartment clean and fixed the water leaks. I never saw them in my apartment again but saw them outside and everyone else had them in their apartments. True story... :)

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Whoa! It's Vfox! Dude I have been trying to contact you for at least a year! Anyways, Vfox is right on point as expected from an exterminator :)

I've been around, lurking mostly. You can always email or pm me. :)

To be honest I'm hoping to find an infested apartment building so I can restock my colony with a third blood line. Lol. :D

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Thanks for the info guys! I live in idaho, and it is quite arid here, I don't have any leaky faucets ( that I know of....) , and I keep the house pretty clean when it comes to food. For some reason my favorite roaches are the ones that look "roachy", lol.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the info guys! I live in idaho, and it is quite arid here, I don't have any leaky faucets ( that I know of....) , and I keep the house pretty clean when it comes to food. For some reason my favorite roaches are the ones that look "roachy", lol.

I was a licensed pest control operator in the past and I only saw them in big buildings. The real difference though is how many there are. When you find Americans somewhere you might see three running around when you turn on the lights in a room. Whereas with German Cockroaches you can find hundreds inside one drawer or behind one picture frame.
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  • 3 weeks later...

I live pretty far south and I've never seen them really "infest." However, in the summer months, they're all over the place and get into homes very frequently. My house has a traditional chimney and, at night in the summer, P. americana and fulginosa will utilize it to come in and out, along with the occasional house gecko.

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Lol, free geckos! I used to live in FL, and house geckos would come in often. Unfortunately, my cat loved to murder them, and finding a mutilated gecko on the floor is not a pleasant sight. Thanks for the info! :)

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  • 1 month later...

I live in a apartment building in China and can see 1~3 Periplaneta americanas or Periplaneta australasiaes when I turn on the lights during midnight. Though they are considered as pests, I don't kill them when I see them. I love Periplaneta very much. Just my parents, they hate cockroaches very much and kill them every time when they see them. My parents always think that cockroaches are worth dying because of their pest identity. So I can't prevent my parents from killing them.

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  • 11 months later...

Reviving this thread... but with slightly different question... are Australian Roaches (Periplaneta australasiae) considered to be a species that can infest? I have a growing colony of them, and I found an adult out (I was horrified that it had escaped without my knowing) and now I am a bit concerned.

So, can Australians infest?

Also, are they more or less infestive than the Americans mentioned elsewhere on this thread?

Thanks.

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Reviving this thread... but with slightly different question... are Australian Roaches (Periplaneta australasiae) considered to be a species that can infest? I have a growing colony of them, and I found an adult out (I was horrified that it had escaped without my knowing) and now I am a bit concerned.

So, can Australians infest?

Also, are they more or less infestive than the Americans mentioned elsewhere on this thread?

Thanks.

There are australians that've been breeding for at least one generation in my room. They get into other roach containers to acquire moisture and steal food and seek shelter then they crawly around everywhere at night :(

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I remember treating in the basement of a penitentiary in Oh that had Americans. It was 90 degrees year round, the humidity was unreal, puddles of water on the floor and the lights on 24/7. They hung out on the massive pillars that supported the floor above and would just run to the back side when you approached. You could spend hours spraying them directly and see the same amount next week and no dead bodies the following week. The temps and humidity must have degraded the chemical quickly because I assumed they ate the dead bodies.

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