Just the mention of a cockroach is enough to give anyone the chills. These large insects are fast, sneaky, and notoriously difficult to kill. There are three different types of cockroaches that are common in the Southern Utah area. These species of cockroach are German Cockroaches, Oriental Cockroaches, and American Cockroaches. While these cockroaches share many similarities, there are a few key characteristics that set them apart.

German Cockroaches: These small cockroaches are light brown and have two pronounced black stripes on their thorax. They have two small wings, but they do not fly. Their speed and ability to hide in small spaces make them very hard to kill, especially by hand. They are known for invading kitchen spaces and prefer to live in warm, damp, dark areas. This makes underneath the sink or behind cabinets a great place for them to live. A sign that an infestation is serious is seeing German cockroaches in the daylight, as they tend to stay out of sight and live in darkness.

Oriental Roaches: Many people call Oriental cockroaches water bugs, due to their desire to live in wet areas. Their preferred habitat is cool, dark, and damp. These insects use sewer pipes to travel along, which allows them to reach many different areas. They are about an inch long and are very dark brown, almost black. They can usually be found under rocks, in meter boxes, or in many other cool, wet, and dark places. A good indication that you have an Oriental cockroach infestation is a foul odor coming from the area of suspected infestation.

American Roaches:  The American cockroach is very similar to the Oriental cockroach. They also prefer cool, damp, dark areas and use sewers to travel. They are slightly larger than Oriental cockroaches, at about 1 ½ inches long and are a reddish-brown color.

These cockroaches can be a very irritating pest to have in the home. Since they are difficult to kill and tend to come back time and again, setting up an initial treatment with Morgan Pest Control and having the area treated regularly is vital to their extermination.