The largest cockroach ever

[AndyD]

Visited a friend of mine who lives in one of the Cape Town suburbs which overlooks the city. Half way through our second G&T a massive cockroach ambles across the center of the room. I couldn't believe the size of the bugger, it was about 2 1/2 inches long in the body, brown in colour and it had wings. I got up and stamped on it, by the time I'd sat down again it had scuttled off. He said they're quite common in that particular suburb and there was nothing they could do to get rid of them. I immediately suggested a 12 gauge pump action and some salt shells would be the entertaining way to address the infestation but he expressed doubts about the yellow-wood flooring being up to the onslaught. Just wondered if there was a more mundain way of getting rid of these things. I also was interested if they're actually a cockroach, I thought that given their size they might actually be some kind of mutant beetle. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the damn thing so I appreciate any info will be best-guess.

[Dave A]

Was it perhaps the American cockroach - Periplaneta americana?

[AndyD]

Yep that's the one. I've seen similar sized critters when I lived in Miami but they were black in colour and I don't remember them having wings......although they possibly did and I just didn't notice, I tried not to get intimate enough with one to study its anatomy. I've never seen anything that size in Cape Town before, just the 'German' type.

[Perform Computers]

Male cockroaches have wings. Females do not.

[Dave A]

Male cockroaches have wings. Females do not.

It's more a species thing as to just how developed the wings are. In the case of the American cockroach, I assure you both male and female are strong fliers.

[BryanCasson]

Wash your dishes!

[AndyD]

You're right, if we ever got an infestation in our house the kitchen sink would probably be ground zero (or maybe the kids bedrooms..... it's a tough call). His place on the other hand is immaculate. I bought him some roach killer stuff from Pick & Pay, Can't recall the brand name but it was made by Bayer and came in a small plastic syringe. He tried it and said that for a week there were more big-assed roaches stumbling around than he'd ever seen. Now he says he's only seen one in the last two months so it seems to have worked. The million dollar question is for how long.

[pcspestcon]

American cockroaches (Periplanetaamericana) are approximately 4 cm long as adults; German cockroaches (Blattella germanica) measure 1.6 cm in length as adults. Asian cockroach adults (Blattellaasahinai) grow up to 1.6 cm in length, while Oriental cockroach adult females can be longer than 2.5 cm.