Cockroaches through the Ages

What's over 300 million years old and hasn't changed much? No, not Dick Clark, cockroaches! They are far older than flies and butterflies. These little critters are a marvel in design when it comes to surviving, multiplying and adapting to changes in the environment.

Our four major cockroach species - American, Oriental, German, and brown banded - despite their names, all originated in North and West Africa. They hitched rides on early ships and appeared first in major shipping ports. The German and Oriental roaches found their way from Africa to Europe in the Middle Ages and reached America several centuries later.

Sailing ships became so infested with cockroaches that sometimes the entire store of provisions was in danger of being eaten or spoiled by these scavangers. In a desperate but usually futile attempt to deal with the little buggers, cockroach hunts were sometimes held. The prize for a thousand roaches was a bottle of brandy. The Danish Navy Annals of 1611 A.D. record a single hunt of this sort bringing in 32,500 cockroaches!

Today cockroaches are the #1 indoor pest problem in the country. Besides being a nuisance and embarassment, they spoil food, can carry various diseases, and cause serious allergies among some individuals. Because of their habit of crawling into warm, tight places, they also cause various other problems such as real computer "bugs", resulting in equipment malfunctions.

If you'd like to go on a cockroach hunt yourself, they are most likely to be out searching for food between 10PM and 2AM. So the next time you can't sleep, grab a flashlight and a rubber mallet, get down on your hands and knees and ambush a few. Or, cash in our coupon for discounted monthly service and let us ambush them all!