The fact that homes remain sealed and the inside environment not subject to normal degradative processes allows pesticides to remain active for longer periods than if they were applied outdoors. Over the past few years the general public has become keenly aware of the need for a clean and uncontaminated living environment. There is a need for alternative means of insect control, especially in the home. The following are several key points necessary for the control of cockroaches without the use of insecticides. Immatures, or nymphs, are smaller, wingless and dark brown with a series of white sections along the margins of the abdominal segments.
German cockroaches are the most prolific of the pest cockroach species.
The remaining 5 species are more closely related to each other than they are the German cockroach. There are many differences between this group of related cockroaches and the German cockroach. First, the size, both weight and length, of these cockroaches is many times that of the German cockroach. These 5 larger species do not normally breed indoors, however, in some situations they will establish breeding populations in attics and wall voids. Some of these larger species can live up to 2 years in the adult stage.