There are 5,000 species but only about 20 are pests. Females mate only once in their lifetime, producing more than 280 offspring. Over the centuries, ground-up cockroaches have been used in sauces and condiments and brewed for medicinal teas. If you cut off a cockroach's head, it will continue to live but eventually it will die of thirst. There are more than 3,500 roach-killing products.
Cockroaches carry at least two kinds of bacteria that cause food poisoning.
The Tampa bay area has a body of water named for the bug - Cockroach Bay. A roach's leg hairs sense the slightest air movement. From the files of The Tampa Tribune. Originally published June 24, 1996.