Similar in appearance to the baby American cockroach, the baby Australian roach is reddish-brown, and wingless until mature. Unlike the American baby roach however, the Australian baby roach has a pattern of distinctive light yellow spots. Australian cockroach nymphs can be as small as 1/8 inch in length.
The fastest way to identify between baby cockroaches and adult ones is to look for wings. During the nymph stage cockroaches will not have these wings, typically until 6 months to a year after hatching. Roaches that are white in coloration means they are just freshly hatched.
Common Species of Baby Cockroaches
When they first hatch, roach babies are pale and white-grey, but over the next few hours, they change color to a reddish brown. Baby American cockroaches are easy to spot because their shells have a reddish-brown color and they have a halo-shaped mark behind their heads.
What do australian cockroaches look like? The australian cockroach is brown with a yellow line around its head and is often confused with the american cockroach. However, this australian cockroach is smaller with a body length between 23-35 mm long.
Physically Seeing a Roach
You may be wondering: "I saw one cockroach, should I be worried?" If you spot even one roach during the daytime, it can mean the infestation has been going on for some time or that it has progressed to the point where drastic action must be taken immediately.
Cockroaches are a common pest, infesting both indoor and outdoor areas. Effective control of pest cockroaches involves thorough inspection, reducing sources of food, water and shelter, pesticides or baits, and ongoing maintenance. Several species of cockroach are common in Victoria.
The presence of baby cockroaches usually indicates there is a nest nearby. Once a nest is established in or near your home, the odds are likely that you either have a full blown infestation already or one is in the process of starting.
Boric acid is a powerful natural home remedy for getting rid of roaches overnight. Mix equal amounts of boric acid, flour, and sugar until it becomes a dough-like consistency. Place small pieces where the roaches can feed on them.
Peppermint oil, cedarwood oil, and cypress oil are essential oils that effectively keep cockroaches at bay. Additionally, these insects hate the smell of crushed bay leaves and steer clear of coffee grounds. If you want to try a natural way to kill them, combine powdered sugar and boric acid.
Baby Roaches Can Be Harmful
And the babies carry the same risks as their adult counterparts. They spend their time crawling around revoltingly dirty places and eating rotten and awful things. As a result, they pick up all sorts of bacteria, viruses, mold, fungi, and worms, which they then deposit elsewhere.
Baby Cockroach vs Bed Bug: Shape
Baby cockroaches are cylindrical, but bed bugs are oval-shaped insects. The shape of these bugs is one of the easiest ways to tell these creatures apart from each other. For example, if the bug's body is round instead of long, it's probably a bed bug.
Small cockroaches include different species that are commonly known as German cockroaches, Asian cockroaches, brown-banded cockroaches and the Pennsylvania wood cockroaches. Small cockroaches are 1/4” to 1/2” long and generally hide in the daytime. After dark, cockroaches come out to mate and forage for food.
Their nests can often be found near plumbing fixtures in bathrooms and kitchens, in cupboard cracks or under drawers, inside appliances or underneath the fridge. You may also notice cockroach droppings around the nest's location or your nose will help you sniff it out — most have a strong, foul odour.
Beetle. Our first cockroach lookalike is the beetle. Although there is a huge diversity of beetles (over 400,000 species), some of them are similar to roaches in shape, size and coloring. A few species of ground beetle and a type of scarab beetle called the June bug tend to look an awful lot like roaches.
The Baby White Roach
These are roaches that are either newly hatched, or are in the process of a molt, having just shed their old shell. Looking something like a worm, a larva, or even a strange, wingless albino cockroach, these temporarily pure white roaches are easy to identify when you understand what you've found.
You may love the smell of fresh citrus, but cockroaches hate the scent. That means you can use citrus scented cleaners in your kitchen and bathroom to chase any lingering roaches away. You can also keep a few citrus peels around your home in strategic places.
When alert overnight, cockroaches will begin their endless hunt for food. They will eat just about everything and can navigate your dark kitchen to seek out any crumbs they can find. Research has shown that nighttime cockroach activity happens primarily during the hours just before midnight.
Scents that are pleasing to humans can actually repel cockroaches. In the kitchen, certain aromas such as cinnamon, bay leaves, garlic, peppermint, and coffee grounds can be used as deterrents. In the bathroom and garage, using strong-smelling disinfectants like vinegar or bleach can help keep these pests at bay.
If you think you have cockroaches, do not panic. Finding roaches is not a sign that your house is dirty. Even if you clean regularly and maintain a tidy home, cockroaches can usually find food and water without much trouble. This allows them to thrive in many environments.
If you're seeing baby cockroaches in the bedroom, adults have found their way in there from other rooms in the building. The cockroach infestation likely stems from the kitchen and is spreading from that room to the next.
Cockroaches in food can cause second-hand poisoning
If you consume this poison second-hand through a cockroach, you could be in danger. The more so if you consume the entire pest by accident. Keep an eye out for poisoning symptoms such as dizziness, confusion, lack of concentration, and stomach pain.
The Australian cockroach drops the ootheca in sheltered areas of your home, close to food sources. The female hides the egg casings in holes and tight crevices.