Pub. 1 2016 Issue 4

10 www.ctaahq.org 䌀吀䄀䄀 吀䠀䔀䌀伀一一䔀䌀吀䤀䌀唀吀䄀倀䄀刀吀䴀䔀一吀䄀匀匀伀䌀䤀䄀吀䤀伀一  T here’s a good chance that when you got into the business of managing apartments, you were not thinking about cockroaches. Since then, however, there’s an equally good chance one or more tenants have told you that cockroaches have moved in. The world has thousands of different cockroach species. Approximately 30 species are considered to be pests; the rest are not. e bad cockroaches you are most likely to see in the U.S. are: • American • German • Oriental • Brown-banded Facts About Cockroaches • Cockroaches have been around for more than 200 million years. Scientists think some cockroach fossils are 350 million years old. • Cockroaches can be found on every continent on earth except one: Antarctica. ey are good at adapting and can survive almost anywhere. • e size of a roach can vary. Some are small, and others are large. No matter what size they are, however, cockroaches can carry bacteria. Cockroaches also make proteins that are allergens and that can a ect people who have asthma. In addition, they leave trails made of fecal matter and they also discard molted exoskeletons that make their allergens more potent. • Some cockroaches can y, some can only use their wings to stabilize themselves while jumping, and others cannot y at all. • Although some live only a couple of months, other species can live as long as a couple of years. • Cockroaches need access to water — they can be dead in a week if they don’t get it — but they can survive as long as a month without any food. • If you cut o the head of a cockroach, it will die of dehydration after about a week. It doesn’t need its head to breathe, because it has holes for that in the body. e circulation system can still work without the head, too. • A nuclear bomb would destroy cockroaches, but cockroaches can survive ten times as much radiation as a person. • ey breathe oxygen, but some cockroaches can survive 40 minutes without breathing, and others can survive 30 minutes when submerged in water. According to scientists, cockroaches breathe through spiracles that also allow cockroaches to get rid of water vapor, and it is possible that cockroaches hold their breath to prevent water loss. • Cockroaches can crawl more than three miles an hour, even when they are nymphs. • Cockroaches have natural enemies. Some animals and insects such as centipedes and some kinds of wasps prey on cockroaches. Add to that the animosity of people who nd cockroaches in their homes. • Cockroaches will eat anything even remotely edible: any kind of food, including plants; dead skin cells; feces; and garbage. • ey like dirty homes because it is easier to nd food and water there, but cockroaches will enter clean homes, too. What they want is access to food and water, and sometimes those are both readily available in the cleanest of homes. is is why it is important to COCKROACHES