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American Cockroach

  • Scientific Name: Periplaneta americana
  • Nicknames: Palmetto Bugs or Bombay Canary
  • Length: 1 3/8 - 2 1/8"
  • Color: Reddish Brown with Yellow Stripes
  • Aggressive? No
  • Do They Bite? Accidently They Can
  • Poisonous/Venomous? No
  • Disease Carrying? Yes
  • Invasive Species? No

The American Cockroach

American cockroach adults are 1 and 1/2 inches long (38mm), making them the largest of the house-infesting cockroaches. With reddish brown, fully developed wings, the American cockroaches have a yellowish margin on the thorax or body region behind the head. When disturbed, they may run rapidly and adults may fly. Immature cockroaches resemble adults except that they are wingless.

American cockroaches generally live in moist areas, but can survive in dry areas if they have access to water. In residential areas, these cockroaches live in basements, around pipes and sewers, and may move outdoors into yards during warm weather. These cockroaches are common in basements, crawl spaces, cracks and crevices of porches, foundations, and walkways adjacent to buildings. Many times, the American cockroach can be found under decks, under mulching materials, inside hollow block construction, or in any cool and damp area. They feed on a wide variety of plant and animal material.

Living Spaces

Crawl Spaces, Garages, Unfinished Basements, Exterior Perimeter, Moist Areas

Diet Choices

Varies Greatly, Not Picky Eaters

Fun Fact

Males have larger wing pads than females

How Do We Remove Them?

One of the pest management experts at McMahon Exterminating will visit your home and provide a proper assessment and ID the bugs that are infesting your home or property to better understand the type of insects or pests that they are dealing with to properly coordinate a plan that will work best for you.

We help educate the customer on things that they might be able to do to help deter the pests as well, and will try to prevent this from becoming a reocurring infestation.

The treatment will begin and we will monitor the situtaion closely to make sure that the numbers are being depleted in the area. We want to try to deter the insects from coming to your area as opposed to just chemically treating them, as that will only be a short term solution for you but with McMahon's C.A.N. initiative and our three easy steps — Canvas the area, Act on those results, and Negate re-entry for the pest, we can work to getting your home to pest free status.