RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

We saw some big roaches in the basement... ya think! The good old American Cockroach (Americana blatanica) and he is VERY common in major cities. The older the building the better chance you have of seeing this guy. The are BIG roaches! Many people call them the water bug or palmetto bug.

(click image to enlarge)

Despite their pronounced wings they are not great flyers, they sort of flutter for short distances. They inundate city sewer, septic, steam, etc. pipes and get into buildings this way. In really urban sections they walk the streets on hot and humid days having come out of the underground street pipes. You can treat and suppress their activity but the real solution in those inaccessible pipes.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Being in the pest control trenches you get to see some pretty cool stuff!!! OK, it’s cool to us pest control people but to “normal” people it’s utterly disgusting! What you see it a juvenile (nymph) American Cockroach molting out of its exoskeleton to go to its next growth stage. They go through 6-14 growth stages from egg to adult. Newly molted roaches are white in color but quickly turn to their normal color (reddish-brown) within a hour or so. To many people these things are called the “water bug” or “palmetto bug.”

(click images to enlarge)

They are common in commercial buildings as they often enter structures from city steam and sewer pipes. EHS are experts when it comes to cockroach elimination.

Brandon Desilva
Service Specialist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

All American pest roaches--like most American humans--were immigrants.

• Roaches wear their skeletons on the outside of their bodies.
• Cockroaches bleed white blood.
• Roach mouths work sideways.
• Roaches use their feelers as noses.
• Cockroaches have 6 legs and least 18 knees.
• Pregnant for life? It doesn't sound like much fun, but some female cockroaches mate once and are pregnant for the rest of their lives.
• No food for a month--not even a crumb? Roaches can go without eating for a month but will only live a week without water.

George Williams
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA