Pest Species

Misa_oma

First Instar
Hey, I am Misa :)

I have a few questions that I cant seem to find.

I found a roach which at first I thought was a german. It is still a nymph from the looks but it had the two stripes on its protonum. (Which is why I assumed German) Its a pretty golden color. I will post a photo when I get off work.

I don't think its a german since it can't climb smooth surfaces and its not too fast either. I actually stored it in my empty gummy vitamin container. The ones where you have to push down and twist to open. So its pretty secure right now.

It is pretty cute :)

The maintenance men today recently removed all the dead pine leaves off the room of the townhome so I figured it may be a reason I found it in the house. I am not too worried xD I am more curious tif anything

 
Blattela vaga "field cockroach" perhaps? Not sure about the glass climbing
They climb glass very well throughout their life

Just saw the pic of the specimen and it is undoubtedly a Blattella sp. Most likely B. germanica

 
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Are there adult germans without wings? I was wondering if it recently molted since I read somewhere that they are flat and circular after molting and it definitely is pretty flat. It seemed to like the oats I put in there and I gave it a apple slice.

I moved it into a old betta container. The ones you place sick bettas in with vaseline on the top. Not glass but inside is a little scratched so it could explain why it could climb that surface but not the vitamin jar. I could test and place it in a old gallon betta bowl and see how how well it does in that.

How often do you see wingless germans? The townhomes I stay at do pest control but I think they skipped mine in september or just did the outside. So I am hoping it was just a stray seeing that I have yet to see a single roach in the house except a couple Periplaneta Fuliginosa. We are near small patch of woods and my kitten kills bugs like no tomorrow. You would think I would find more roach corpses but all I end up finding are dead black beatles. -.-

I am not too worried yet but I do plan to keep it. If it is a german I will definitely be moving it back to the vitamin jar to keep it secure until I get a escape proof container.

I will see if it darkens up more or not but it looks like it has a brown face. Its actually cute >.< I am glad it doesnt have wings

 
Wingless germans are not normal, this one probably had a bad molt, or is just simply deformed. It does not look that freshly molted, so it probably will not darken up anymore.

 
Pretty sure it's just a subadult getting somewhat close to molt as the wing buds look a bit swollen. We'll see how it turns out within a week :)

 
It looks like a subadult Asian Cockroach (Blattella asahinai) to me. It probably couldn't climb the inside of the vitamin jar if there was a residual layer of vitamin dust that remained or a petroleum film embedded in the plastic to prevent the pills from sticking.

This roach has been reported as an outdoor pest (peridomestic) in South Carolina and the remaining southeast/south-central states. Subadults tend to have a slightly lighter coloring than the typical German Cockroach populations. If it's environment was disturbed during the roof cleaning, it may had accidentally found its way inside.

 
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I will say the roach has fattened up since I caught it.

I still have it in the betta container since it can't get over the vaseline. I watched it go around every inch trying to get over but no luck. I feel like it gave up now since I haven't seen it attempt to climb the walls half the day.

I don't know about dust being in the vitamin jar seeing as they were gummy vitamims but it is extremely smooth on the inside.

http://imgur.com/3JaXD1b

Side view

http://imgur.com/sL3IsuM

Frontal View

I did notice it is seems to be missing a couple of feet from its legs

 
Looking at the new images I agree that it is most likely subadult, if you're lucky you might get to see it molt to adulthood! :)

 
I hope so :) its so cute too, if it recently molted, which I will safely assume since it has become a little darker, then it may be a little while until it molts again. I will definitely measure it if it doesnt die.

 
Well seeing as it is probably a german roach, I don't think you have to worry about it dying lol! ;)

 
You're right, it probably is a German Cockroach. For some reason, I misread Misa_oma's location being South Carolina, not NC. There are only a few scattered records of Asian Cockroaches being found in the southern part of NC so it likely isn't that after all. Sorry for the confusion.

 
XD its funny because I never expected to have two of the pest variety as my first roaches lol I was planning on hissers, dubias, or the skunk roach as one of my first :) I find the german more entertaining right now than my Smoky Brown who is always hiding lol

 
Update: It definitely is a Blattella Germanica and molted into a adult a few days ago. It definitely had a mismolt as it wings arent laying nicely on its body. I am assuming it may have crossed pesticide before it got to me and that potentially caused the mismolt.

It doesn't seem affected though so she should be fine. She is fun to watch :)

 
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