What Do Roaches Eat?

What do cockroaches eat? Well the truth is, they are omnivores, which means that they eat both vegetation and meat products. The purpose of the cockroach in this world is to be a scavenger, and to clean up the world by eating all of the bits of dust and decay that it finds. Let's explore all of the things which a roach feeds upon...

Roaches feed upon skin cells, dirt, and other roaches. Yes, they are cannibalistic. That's why you should clean them up when you find them lying around the house, even the dead bodies. That is also why you see less of them right after you vacuum your floor. They have to go somewhere else for food.

Cockroaches are busy little creatures, but fortunately, they can be outsmarted. They are not the brightest things in the world, and they take bait quite easily. Roaches have a longing for liquids and places were liquid is most likely to be found, such as the kitchen, the bathroom and any outside faucets.

There are certain things, besides roach poison, that cockroaches are unable to eat. One of them is baking soda. It causes a roach to develop internal gas which kills it. There is an added benefit to baking soda. It kills off smell, which causes roaches to better find food particles. Baking soda mixed with sugar and placed in a small dish or lid in corners is a common homemade roach trap. Also, boric acid is lethal to roaches and is commonly used to wipe them out, especially in apartments. However, since they reproduce quickly, it is important to get regular sprayings.

Roaches need liquid even more than they need food. Though they can notoriously go long periods of time without food, they can only go a short period of time without water. They also enjoy anything that is sweet. Fill a glass jar ¾ of the way to the top, add a tablespoon of juice to sweeten and make the jar more findable to the roaches, and then put an inch wide layer of Vaseline or petroleum jelly near the inside edge of the jar. This trap can catch as many as 200 roaches in a week.