Cockroach - Super Pest Survivalist

           Cockroaches have inhabited the earth for more than 250 million years. There are over 4,000 kinds with only 30 being the kind to be near human dwellings. There are American ones, Asian (perhaps the most destructive), German, Surinamian, Peruvian, and Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches... Brown Cockroaches, Wingless Cockroaches... and they are all coming to eat your Cheerios and Cornflakes because they love your cereal even more than you do. More money is spent to control cockroaches in the United States than any other pest. They are the number one urban pest throughout the world.

                The average roach-infested household contains more than 20,000 roaches.Roaches can live up to 20 days without food and 14 days without water.They can flatten their bodies and crawl through a crack thinner than a dime.Cockroaches can survive radiation up to 12 time greater than humans.Cockroaches are startled by the smallest of air movements and can run for cover in less than .05 seconds.        

          

Among the dirt and filth
Roaches may transmit a wide variety of diseases and cause common allergic reactions previously thought to be caused by dust. They have been implicated in the spread of tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera, dysentery and typhoid. However, they are not considered to be disease vectors, that is they do not actively transmit any virus or bacteria. If they come out of the sewer for example, they may carry pathogens on their bodies and passively transmit those pathogens by close contact. They frequently enter buildings by coming up through drains.

True Survivors
Cockroaches will eat anything - food, leather, hair, and the glue in book bindings. They can live off the toothpaste residue in your toothbrush. They are cannibals and take a particular liking to each others' excrement. In extreme cases roaches will feed off people.