Brown Banded Cockroach

Brown banded cockroaches are far less common than German cockroaches and are usually found in apartments, motels, and long-term care facilities. Like German cockroaches, these will be found in kitchens and bathrooms. However, because brown banded cockroaches can survive in drier areas, they will also be found in bedrooms, living rooms, closets, bookcases, etc. This behavior can make the brown banded cockroach a bit more difficult to control.

Adults are about 1/2-inch in length. The male roach is light brown. The female roach may have dark brown wings. Both sexes, however, have the lighter-colored bands running across the wings directly behind the prothorax.

Like all cockroaches that invade buildings, this species prefers to spend much of its time resting in cracks and voids. Most of its activity will occur at night when it feels safe to move about in search of food and water. The brown banded cockroach does not seem to require as much moisture as German cockroaches, and therefore may be found in rooms other than kitchens and bathrooms. Brown banded cockroaches are omnivorous and will eat anything that possesses organic matter, even organic glues used in books and cabinets. Because brownbanded roaches commonly hitchhike into the house, it is important to inspect sacks, cartons and boxes, etc., brought into the house and destroy any roaches. It is common to find them hiding nearer the ceiling than the floor and away from water sources. Accurate identification is paramount to controlling brownbanded cockroaches. Control strategies for other cockroaches will not be efficacious for brownbanded cockroaches.

Brown-banded cockroaches can conceal themselves in many places that are inaccessible to larger species. Making structural modifications such as caulking (in cracks, crevices; around ducts, molding, etc.) is necessary in bedrooms, bathrooms, dining rooms, and other areas of the house. Brownbanded cockroaches can be detected by examining the premises after dark with a flashlight. During the day, probing hiding places with a wire will expose roaches. Look beneath tables, chairs, dressers and chests, behind pictures, on rough plaster walls and ceilings. One may find tiny black droppings or castoff skins where they have fallen from above onto shelves or ledges. They dislike light and are not normally seen during the day. Household sprays of pyrethrins applied to hiding places will flush out roaches, sometimes killing them if they contact the spray.