Among pets there are representatives who are not averse to feasting on these pests, we will tell about them in our article.
Who eats cockroaches
You will be surprised when you find out how many animals in nature eat cockroaches. It is a natural protein product for birds, rodents and amphibians.
Even pets, cats, dogs, do not hesitate to taste the insect.
To understand the importance and place in the chain, you need to know who feeds on them. As food zoologists use any species: red, black, large Madagascar, American. The largest (up to 9 cm long) are the tastiest species, because they contain more meat, so they are juicier.
In nature
The cockroach is not the main food for any animal; rather, it is a favorite delicacy, a delicacy that is eaten with pleasure. In nature, there are natural enemies that hunt them.
A feature of these insects is excellent survival. This is a practically non-disappearing type of food, it is not afraid of changes in high and low temperatures, high humidity, drought, and radioactive radiation.
If a nuclear war breaks out, cockroaches will survive, serving other animals and humans as a food source.
Social structure and reproduction
Photo: Black and white cockroach
Cockroaches breed very actively and in large numbers.
To do this, they need:
- food;
- water;
- darkness;
- heat.
Insects die at low temperatures. Tall ones tolerate much better. Up to 50 days a cockroach can do without food, without water 5. But if we talk about the breeding period, then at this time much more nutrients are required. Each sexually mature female reproduces up to 5 times in her life. Each she gives birth to up to 50 individuals. When the female reaches maturity, she begins to thin out a kind of scent to attract males. In turn, they find and fertilize the female.
The female reaches sexual maturity at about six months. In the process of mating, all accumulated eggs are fertilized. After that, a cocoon begins to actively form, in which the larvae are stored for about 3 weeks. When they get stronger, the female dumps it in a secluded place, where the larvae continue to actively develop and go outside after a couple of weeks. Newborn cockroaches are white in color. After a few hours, they will darken.
Interesting fact: In some exotic species, pregnancy can last up to six months.
Virtually no toxic substances have an effect on the egg clutch. Therefore, you need to process the house several times in order to destroy the hatched individuals.
Reptiles
The main enemies of cockroaches are reptiles. Some people, having found these insects at home, buy a lizard, iguana, a small snake.The lizard especially loves red individuals, and is able to eat everyone in a few days, until there is not a trace left.
If there is no more food, it will start looking for new sources and may go to neighbors along the ventilation hole.
What do not eat
These arthropods do not tolerate foods with a pungent strong odor. It can be black and red pepper, washing powder, essential oils, aromatic herbs, spices.
Although the parasites readily eat vegetables and fruits, they do not like cucumbers. They do not like the smell of these vegetables, and they are also low in calories. Therefore, cucumbers are sometimes used to repel pests. You can grate the vegetable and let the juice drain. Then generously moisten a sponge with it and wipe the baseboards and floor around the kitchen, bathroom, toilet. Until the smell disappears, the parasites will bypass these premises.
Birds
Surprisingly, birds love to eat cockroaches. Ravens, sparrows, domestic chickens will enjoy protein meat with pleasure.
Songbirds living at home (robin, nightingale) do not refuse the marble look and eat it.
Some owners have gotten used to not buying expensive feed, but growing it at home inside containers.
Rodents
Hamsters and rats in nature belong to those rodents that are natural enemies of cockroaches, eat small insects. But at home, do not rush to eat, because the insect can be dangerous.
He is a carrier of various diseases, and if the neighbors have decomposed the poison, they can bring the poison into the cell with a rodent.
There were times when a cockroach calmly climbed into the cage with a hamster, but he did not touch him.
For domestic rodents, it makes no sense to specially buy insects, they have a different diet: cereals, grains, fruits or vegetables.
Insects
It is also interesting to know which insects are dangerous to the cockroach. For example, the emerald wasp. For her, this is an opportunity to lay eggs. The wasp injects poison into the insect's body, paralyzes, then drags it inside the nest.
In the body of a paralyzed, but still living cockroach, the wasp calmly lays its eggs, after a week the larvae hatch, which eat the Prusak from the inside. After another week, pupae form, from which formed wasps subsequently hatch.
Thus, these insects eat cockroaches.
The ants will happily drag the dead insect back to their burrows.
They will divide it into small parts and transfer it to the nest to store it for the winter, for feeding the larvae and the uterus.
Morphology
Imago
... Insects of various sizes (from 4-5 mm to 7-7.5 cm) with a flat oval body.
The body is of various colors, usually reddish, brownish, gray or almost black. Due to the predominantly secretive lifestyle and the need to disguise themselves as the environment, the covers are almost never brightly colored, however, some insects, under the influence of interspecific mimicry, acquired the color of the species under which they are disguised. So, cockroaches of the genus Prosoplecta "pretend" to be ladybirds, which is why they have a yellow or red body color with dark stripes and spots.
Head
elongated, wide or pear-shaped, with the mouth pointing down and back. From above, it is usually poorly visible, since it is covered by the pronotum. The fronto-clypeal region in some cases lacks a suture; the clypeus is often divided into two parts. There are simple eyes; in full-winged individuals, large kidney-shaped eyes are located on the sides of the head, between which there is a well-defined interocular space. Short-winged eyes are smaller, less often they are absent. The mouth apparatus is a gnawing type. Antennae are bristle-shaped, long, articulated, there are antennal fossae in the places of their attachment.
Chest
, like in other insects, consists of three segments, the pronotum being the most significant in size.The surface of the pronotum is smooth, convex, shaped like a hexagon. Sometimes on its sides there are protuberances for nesting the base of the elytra. The sides and anterior part of the pronotum are often paler, even transparent. Mesoscutum and metanotum covered with wings, but triangular scutellum adjacent to pronotum. The sclerites of the breast are hidden under the large coxae of the legs.
Legs
running type. The coxae are long, sometimes reaching half the length of the femur; trochanters are small. The thighs are slender, on their underside there are often pointed edges (anterior and posterior) in the form of ribs, with a row of spines located on them. The legs also always have long, noticeable spines. The tarsi are five-segmented, on the first four segments there are often pads, on the fifth there are claws (1 or 2, symmetrical or asymmetrical) with a suction cup located between them.
Wings
... As a rule, adults have two pairs of wings. The elytra (the first pair) are usually leathery, devoid of hairs, but in the family Corydiidae, a row of cilia is located on their anterior margin. The second pair is membranous or leathery only at the base, does not reach the length of the elytra in length. Some species have shortened wing plates, or they do not have them at all.
Abdomen
usually significantly flattened, its segments are well distinguishable from each other. In its primary form, it includes 11 segments, but the number of visible sternites always turns out to be no more than 9, and tergites - no more than 10. The tenth tergite, which covers the anus, is called the anal plate, which can be triangular or transverse. Cerci are usually pronounced, clearly segmented.
Ooteca
... The egg cocoon looks like an oblong capsule with rounded or almost chopped ends. Its length can be different, in many respects it depends on the size of the body of the insect, which has significant differences in representatives of different genera and species. As a rule, the ootheca is embossed, bulges are located above the egg locations. In its upper and lower parts there is a scallop - either even, or with rounded or distinct thickenings. Less often, the ooteca takes on a different shape - for example, in the Lapland cockroach (subgenus Ectobius), it is bent in the form of a comma. The color of the capsule, as a rule, is from light beige to almost black, sometimes it is greenish, as, for example, in a furniture cockroach. As the eggs ripen, the walls of the egg cocoon often dry out, become thinner and become translucent, due to which the contours of the formed larvae can be seen through them.
Mammals
In nature, mammals also love cockroaches. For example, small monkeys will gladly feast on insects and treat their young.
Eating the meat of the marble cockroach, they replenish their body with nutrients, breeders include them in their daily diet.
But there is a peculiarity: despite the fact that these insects are not aggressive, fearful, they can also eat mammals. If there is no alternative food for a long time, they attack the hibernating animal, since it does not pose a threat to them.
Damage to electrical appliances
Cockroaches love to bask inside household electrical appliances. They especially love tube TVs and radios. Nowadays, such devices are gradually being phased out. If they are not thrown away, they are kept only as rarities. But even 25-30 years ago, tube TVs were at a great price. The breakdown of the TV was considered a real disaster. And often it was caused by cockroaches that "short-circuited" the signal. Nowadays, "mustachioed" can also provoke a short circuit. The strength of their jaws is enough to gnaw through the insulation of electrical wiring. Modern standards of European-quality repair for cockroaches to taste - almost all wires and communications are hidden from view. The spaces under the decorative panels are dark, warm and safe. Ideal habitat for a cockroach!
Pets
When red or black cockroaches appear in the apartment, you can notice how dogs or cats begin to hunt for them. Most do it for fun, pleasure, bring to show the owner.
But scientists say that cats love these insects, chitin is good for them, especially after surgery (castration, sterilization).
Who else is eating:
- if a lizard lives at home, you can let it go for a walk, it also feeds on domestic cockroaches.
- Spiders living in every home hunt for insects. They weave a web and wait for one of them to fall into the net. The spider releases its poison with acid into the body, which paralyzes and digests the insides, which later becomes an excellent food. A dried cockroach from the inside becomes a bait for its other relatives.
- The domestic hedgehog also eats small insects. He hunts them in the corners and catches colonies.
As you can see, the list of lovers of eating unpleasant insects is very extensive. Therefore, at home, you can successfully fight them, for this it is enough to have pets.
Eat a lot?
How much cockroaches eat - this question is also of interest to many. They eat little - about 20-50 mg of food per individual. In addition, males eat much less than females. This is because the female bears offspring.
Yes, of course, the amount of food for one barbel is small. However, if there are millions of them? The omnivorous nature of these arthropods is interestingly used in China. There are waste disposal facilities in this country, where the main “workers” are cockroaches. Their army of many millions recycles tons of waste per day.
