What Does Cockroach Eat in Your Home?

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No one wants to find a single cockroach in the house. Cockroach infestation can be a serious problem for many households, because they can contaminate our daily food and drinks with their waste and saliva which contains bacteria that can cause a set of serious health problems, such as food poisoning, diarrhea, and Staphylococcus infections.

Cockroaches are omnivorous and considered opportunistic feeders, which means they will eat almost anything - wherever and whenever they find it. Cockroaches enjoyed delicious human foods to pet food, from waste materials to dead plants or animals which all these can be easily found at your home.

Learn more on what causes cockroach in the first place and how to prevent this unwanted pest to taint your food at home:

• What attracts cockroaches to your home?
• What do cockroaches eat?
• What do American cockroaches eat?
• What do German cockroaches eat?
• How to prevent cockroaches from coming into your home?

Do you really want to share your food with them?

What attracts cockroaches to your home?

Before understanding what do cockroaches eat in your home, you have to get the idea of what attracts cockroaches to your home.

The main reasons cockroaches enter your home is more or less the same as the other pests like ants, rats and termites do. The reasons why roaches are attracted to your home are:

• Perfect place for breeding
• Accessible source of water
• Plenty of food sources

Point number three above is pretty obvious. Foods become one of three reasons what attracts cockroaches to our home. Cockroaches can easily find food sources in your home from various things including:

• Crumbs laying on the floor or counters
• Dirty dishes in the sink
• Overnight garbage
• Pets food
• Uncovered human’s food

What do cockroaches eat?

Although cockroaches will feed on a variety of foods available to them, they do have some good appetite and food preferences that has a nutritional value such as:

• Sweet and sugary foods
• Starchy foods
• Meat

Some cockroaches can survive several months without food and for two weeks without water - there have even been cases where a cockroach without a head lived for a week.

Be aware that cockroaches are known to consume many other items that you would not consider to be ‘food’ such as paper, leather, grease or fabrics. In most worse cases, when the cockroach infestation has become so severe and their food supply is running low, cockroaches have even been known to bite humans.

However, do take note that although they will consume the same type of foods, yet each cockroach species like German and/or American cockroaches have their own food preferences over some things. Let’s take a look at what do German and American cockroaches eat below!

What do German cockroaches eat?

The German cockroach is a type of cockroach that commonly found inside the home area, rather than outside. It prefers to live in a humid, warm, secluded area and near to food sources, which is why they are most common in kitchens, dining rooms, and bathrooms.

Although German cockroaches will feed on almost anything, yet they are very attracted to these foods at your home, including:

• Bread or cereals
• Sweets like sugar, soda or juice
• Meat products
• Pet’s food

What do American cockroaches eat?

The American cockroach is primarily can be found outside your home in warm, dark and damp places. However, during their search for food, it’s not uncommon to see them also come indoors especially when it is hot or dry outside and live in a place like a sewer, floor drains or bathtub.

In outdoor area American cockroaches will eat things like:

• Dead or wounded cockroach
• Small insects
• Decaying leaves
• Fungi
• Wood particles

When they get inside your home, the American cockroach is attracted to eat:

• Food crumbs on the floor
• Spilled food in the sinks
• Tea and milk
• Fermented foods like cheese
• Bakery foods

How to prevent cockroaches from coming into your home?

Cockroaches are attracted to food available in your home. The best way to keep cockroaches away out of your home is by keeping your home clean and inhospitable to cockroaches.

There are some simple measures you can take at home. Follow these 10 tips to make cockroach stop coming, eating and contaminating our food at home:

1. Wash your dirty dishes daily and do no leave it unclean overnight.
2. Restrict yourself and family members not to eat and drink in many places, such as a bedroom or living room.
3. Empty your garbage on a regular basis.
4. Do not leave food sitting out on counters.
5. Store foods in tightly sealed containers.
6. Wipe kitchen counters with the disinfectant cleaner to wipe down all crumbs, spills and grease on it.
7. Deep clean your cooking appliances every night (stove, oven and/or refrigerators) by cleaning any narrowed gaps from grease and spilled food.
8. Rinse cans, bottles and plastics before putting them in recycling bins.
9. Empty your pet's water and food bowl.
10. Sweep, mop and vacuum the floor regularly to remove any spilled food and drinks on the floor.

If you suspect you have a serious cockroach infestation, you should contact a cockroach control specialist immediately. And remember to practice good sanitation afterward to prevent a re-infestation.