Eastern Woodland Roach: IDENTIFICATION & CONTROL

Eastern Woodland roaches bear some sorta resemblance to the American roach; flat, oval body, spiny legs, long antennae, chestnut brown color. They are a tad smaller than the American roach, about ¾ to 1 ¼ inch long.

Adults (most males appear tan because of their wing color). You can spot an adult and large nymphs wood cockroach by a pale, creamy white or transparent stripe on their outer edge. The pale edge extends onto the first 1/3 of the front wings of the adults.

Eastern Woodland Roach Diet

Wood roaches feed on decaying organic material

Habits and Biology of Woods Cockroaches

Unlike other roaches, the wood cockroach is attracted to light. Females lay around 950 eggs per year, with one generation.

The eggs then hatch in summer and mature in spring that follows. A lifecycle can reach up to 2 years. Adult are mostly seen May through early October.

The roaches cannot thrive inside buildings. In wooded areas, the wood land cockroaches can be seen in the headlights of automobiles at dusk. The males are easily attracted to light.

During winter, they are highly active and can be found in firewood they have come in contact with. They spend most of their days in woodland areas. They do not like to get inside your home unless carried inside with firewood or they may wander in on their own.

These roaches are not startled and begin running around when approached by humans. These outside woody roaches do not reproduce like the German roach. They require moist conditions in their environment as under wood piles, decaying logs or loose park. If they are inside, it is only a temporary condition.

Recommendations for Woods Roach Control

Since woods cockroaches do not like to be indoors with you and their presence is often short term (a couple of weeks) during the spring, we do not recommend chemical control measures. If you are facing a larger or persistent infestation, you should contact us.

Exclusion

The typical insecticides used to control other roach species are of almost no use against wood roaches. We advise using exclusion techniques that prevent wood roach entry.

• Maintain tight fitting windows, doors, and screens
• Seal off any gaps, opening or cracks with caulking compound, plastic or putty wood.
• Stash firewood far away from your home.
• Avoid carrying over large quantities of firewood from season to season to reduce potential breeding sites.
• Take away rotting leaves from window wells
• Take out garbage cans out of preferred moist habitat.
• Caulk all entry via ground level walls.
• Stop water leaks, screen equipment overflow drains, and take overflow water away from buildings; keep drain traps capped or full.
• When possible, take in only enough firewood indoors for 24/48 hours to prevent insects from later breeding in the house.
• Limit your usage of lights at night, since males fly to them when it is time to mate. Females will crawl into areas around yard lights or porch lights, resulting in more males coming to your house.
• Individual roaches found inside can be collected with a broom or a vacuum cleaner and dustpan and discarded.

We do not recommend treating firewood or other areas away from the dwelling because males can fly in from a distance. Plus, you should limit the risk of exposure to toxic chemical fumes when burning firewood, non-chemical preventive practices are preferred.

If you want to use any Insecticide control measures, ensure it is concentrated on the outside of the building and points of entry. This control measure is known as “perimeter or barrier” treatment.