3 Types of Roach Egg Pictures: How to Destroy Them?

Cockroaches are pests – everyone hates them. No one has ever said, “I’m glad roaches are running around my house.” And if you’re trying to get rid of them, it’s important to know how to kill roach larvae.

Do Cockroaches Lay Eggs?

Female cockroach laying an ootheca egg case.

Yes. Cockroach eggs are a little different than what you would expect from a chicken, for example. See, cockroaches actually make egg cases, which are called oothecae. These oothecae are casings that contain many eggs.

So, one casing can result in dozens of cockroaches being born.

The issue is that the female roaches can produce hundreds of offspring, which allows them to multiply into a serious issue in your home. A pregnant cockroach in your home can form:

  • 6 – 90 oothecae

So, if you’re trying to kill cockroaches and notice that they just keep coming back, there is a chance that there are roach eggs hiding somewhere.

What Do Roach Eggs Look Like?

Before we discuss how to kill roach eggs, it’s important to know what they look like (scroll down for pictures). The problem is that there are different “looking” eggs for different types of roaches, which will make your job trying to find these eggs a little harder.

Cockroach Egg Pictures

Wondering what cockroach eggs look like? We’ve provided a few pictures for you to see for yourself.

1. American Cockroach Eggs

The American cockroach will produce a dark brown oothecae that will be approximately 8mm in length. The American cockroach will be able to produce 6 – 90 of these cockroach egg cases during their lifetime.

The American cockroach’s casing will hold 15 embryos on average.

So, doing the math, one female can produce:

  • 90 babies on the low end
  • 1,350 babies on the high end

Now you don’t need to wonder why you keep getting more roaches even though you thought you killed them all off. Cockroaches from these egg sacks will be hatched in 24 – 38 days.

2. Oriental Cockroach Eggs

The Oriental roach eggs are different, and the roach egg sack for these types of roaches will be a dark reddish-brown color. The length will be 8 – 10mm (much larger than their American counterparts).

What’s interesting is that these sacks will look inflated.

Most of the oothecae will contain 16 eggs in total. After the case is produced, the roach will move it to a desirable environment so that it’s safe. This is often a cold, dark place where the eggs will not suffer from any human interference.

The good thing is that Oriental roaches will only produce 1 – 18 egg cases in their lifetime, so one female may produce:

  • 16 babies on the low end
  • 288 babies on the high-end

And another interesting fact is that these roaches will develop faster, depending on their environmental factors. Babies can take 600 days to become adults.

3. German Cockroach Eggs

German cockroach eggs are brown in color with lengths of 6 – 9mm, although the length may be slightly smaller in some cases, too. What’s interesting is that the oothecae is not kept in a safe hiding place.

Female German roaches will actually carry their cockroach eggs with them until they’re ready to hatch. This means you might squash a roach that is carrying their eggs with them, which will make it a little easier to kill them all at one time.

The problem is that one oothecae can produce 50 eggs.

But all it takes is 103 days for all of these babies to mature to an adult. This leads to massive infestations that can grow wildly out of control in a short period of time.

These roaches will produce 4 – 6 cases during their lifetime, so they may produce:

  • 200 babies on the low end
  • 300 babies on the high end

The casing is eventually placed off of the female about 1 – 2 days before they hatch. German cockroaches live, on average, 100 – 200 days, so their very short life span and their ability to produce 200 – 300 babies in just 100 – 200 days allows them to multiply out of control.

How to Destroy Roach Eggs

Cockroach eggs can be destroyed or killed, but you need to be able to find them first, which is the hard part. Why? They can be anywhere really. Roaches will want to deposit their egg sacks in a safe place, but since every home is different, no one knows for sure where these sacks may be deposited.

But people have been dealing with cockroaches forever, so we do know some of the “ideal” environments where roaches may think their babies are safe.

The Preferred Environment for a Roach

Cockroaches don’t like light, and they like moisture, which means they’ll try their best to stay away from human activity. You’re also a predator, so the roaches will want to steer clear of you. This is why when you turn on your kitchen light, you’ll see these pests skitter across the floor when you didn’t even realize you had a roach problem to begin with.

We’re going to tell you 10 Cockroach Hiding Places – places where the eggs may be:

  1. Appliances
  2. Basement
  3. Bathrooms
  4. Baseboard
  5. Ceilings
  6. Cupboards
  7. Electronics
  8. Furniture
  9. Pipes
  10. Paper / garbage

Roaches may even get into walls or cracks of the home. What does this all mean? You really need to do a thorough investigation if you plan on finding the eggs and killing them.

And if you think a squashed cockroach may solve the problem, it will work only in the short-term.

If you see a German cockroach and step on her, you may have been able to step on the eggs she was carrying, meaning you put an end to the family line. The worst thing you can do from here is leave the dead body lying around.

I get it – another animal may eat it.

But hungry roaches don’t have an issue eating other dead roaches. This means if you left the roach dead on the floor, you may have just provided a free meal to dozens of other roaches.

The moral of the story? Clean up all of the dead roaches you find.

I‘ve Found the Eggs. Now What?

Roaches killing products pointing the roach.

You’ve found the elusive cockroach eggs, and now you have no idea what to do next. The good news is that you’ve found the eggs, but the bad news is that these eggs may hatch at any moment, causing countless roaches to swarm your home and take it over.

How do you kill the eggs?

Put on your boots and begin to stomp them to the ground – really. People seem to think that the eggs won’t be able to hatch without their mother present, but this isn’t the case. So, if you think of throwing the eggs in the garbage or just tossing them in your backyard, think again.

You’ll need to stomp on the eggs to keep the babies from hatching.

The real issue is that many professionals aren’t able to find roach eggs, so you’ll be very lucky to find the eggs in the first place to kill them.

Is there another way?

Sadly, yes. We really were hoping you would stomp them out, but it can be messy, so we will tell you a few other ways to kill these roach eggs.

  • Boric Acid: You’ll find boric acid in most stores, and this acid is great when trying to kill adult roaches. The acid will kill roaches even when they’re babies, but you’ll need to cover the eggs in the acid. Even if the eggs hatch, they won’t be able to avoid the boric acid, which will eventually be ingested and lead to death.
  • Pesticides: Commercial roach killers are another great method. Spray the eggs with these pesticides and it will often kill the embryo, especially if the egg isn’t close to hatching.
  • Bait: Commercial baits can be placed in the area where the eggs are found. The goal is to get the babies to eventually take the bait once the egg hatches so that they all die.

Some people also recommend using a vacuum to suck up the eggs and kill all of the roaches. The issue with this is that the eggs can simply hatch inside of the vacuum. If you do follow this method, you’ll leave a lot of the roaches to hatch in the future.

If killing is your desired result, you’ll need to stomp them out with your shoes or use another method to squish them. Please, as tempting as it may be, do not try to set the cockroach eggs on fire – not in your home. They may all die, but you may also burn down your house, which is never a desired end result.

There is also something called insect growth regulators.

What are these? This is a third-party product that you’ll have no problem finding online. This is normally a liquid that can be placed on the eggs to make them abort as a result. The great thing is that these liquids can travel deep into walls or cracks to kill a variety of household pets.

And if a German cockroach is carrying their egg nest with them, they’ll abandon it if this liquid comes in contact with them.

The concentrate will also attach itself to the food source of roaches, which will cause them to come in contact with it. People also add this to a fogging agent to amplify the results, but it’s important to remember that these substances may have a negative effect on animals, so keep the substance away from any furry friends that you may own.

Killing Roaches That Are Born

Roaches that are born in trap.

Unless you’re really good, you may find that there are some eggs that you missed, which has led to roaches swarming your home. This is an issue that can be corrected with the right approach. And this is something you want to do anyway because if roaches found a way in the home initially, there will be more that will eventually call your home their own.

A few precautions that everyone will want to take to get rid of cockroaches are:

Clean the Entire Home

You need to clean up everything so that there are no food sources present for the roaches to eat. If you have kids, they could easily have left a cookie or piece of candy behind the couch that is just welcoming pests to come and eat.

Clean everything:

  • Floors
  • Kitchen counters
  • Basements
  • Cupboards
  • Behind furniture
  • Under furniture

Any and all garbage needs to be removed from the home quickly. You don’t want to leave garbage outside of the home either – it needs to be removed as a food source.

Fill Cracks and Holes

Roaches didn’t ring the doorbell and get invited into your home – I hope. So, they must have found a way inside. There are often small cracks in the foundation or around windows and doors that may be large enough for the roaches to enter.

And if roaches enter, you can be sure ants and other pests will come through these same entryways into the home.

You need to fill in any cracks and holes that you have. Also, make sure there is no way into the home from the attic. Many people have a tendency to store boxes in the attic and not open it for years only to find hundreds of dead and alive roaches in the place.

Fix Any Leaks

Any and all leaks in the home will cause moisture, which roaches love. You need to fix any of these leaks or drips pronto. Leaks can also be found in the attic of a home, so make sure you search far and wide for any leaks.

Leaking sinks (under the cabinet) or leaks in the basement will also need to be repaired.

If you’ve done all of the above, you’ve done everything you can to prepare your home to be roach-free. There is still a chance that for all of your efforts, roaches will still be seen running across the floor.

If you live in a condo or apartment, the source of the issue could be one of your neighbors, which will make ridding yourself of them nearly impossible.

Professional exterminators will need to be called in if the problem does not subside.

 

Leave a Comment