They will sip milk, nibble at cheese, meats, pastry, flour, meal, chocolate, and many other foods. They can feed just as freely on book bindings, inner lining of shoes, dead insects, other cockroaches, human waste, and the finger and toenails of sleeping humans. They feed at night when they are not likely to be disturbed by human activities. Cockroaches have the habit of dropping their feces wherever they go. Believe it or not, cockroaches find this foul smell very attractive.
Cockroaches occur throughout the world but are largely tropical.
Some species are found everywhere in the world because they infest trading ships as well as the goods the ships carry. Although there are about 3,500 kinds of cockroaches, only a few are troublesome to humans. It is possible for a house to be infested with more than one kind of cockroach. If there are plenty of food, water, and hiding places available, several different cockroaches can live together. Five species of cockroaches are known to infest homes.