Menus for cockroaches can feature just about anything: rotting plants and animals, old clothes, shoe polish, ink, electric cords, toenails – you get the idea. Not surprisingly, these bugs aren’t fussy about where they live, either. Depending on the species, roaches hang out in soil, under plant litter, in caves, down old mine shafts — even inside city sewers.

Of the more than 3,500 species (new ones are discovered each year), most prefer the hot, moist tropics, but several live in temperate North America. Four species — originally from warmer climates — commonly live inside heated buildings. One of them, the brown-banded cockroach, was nicknamed the TV cockroach because it’s drawn to the extra warmth inside electrical appliances, such as TV sets.

Roaches usually hide when it’s light, but if you happen to spot one, don’t bother trying to catch it. Hairs on its back-end prongs, or cerci, sense the slightest pressure from air moving their way. These hairs have a direct communication link with the bug’s legs — bypassing even a quick trip to the brain — and can spur the cockroach into instant action. What’s more, the roach can cross slippery surfaces and even run straight up with help from its claws and the sticky pads on its feet and front legs.

Reproducing is no problem, either. Members of some cockroach species lay thousands of eggs during their short lifetimes. A few give birth to live young, even caring for their offspring. The moms of one cockroach species in Thailand carry their young around for a month, meeting danger by rolling themselves into balls with their little ones tucked inside. No roach shortage is expected any time soon.

Originally published in YES Mag #13, Spring 1999