Forest cockroaches in the apartment: disgusting, but harmless
Created: 08/30/2022, 16:00
By: Joana Lück
Small, fast and disgusting: wood cockroaches are increasingly found in Germany due to climate change.
But they are not pests.
"What's that crawling on the ground?" Many people are currently asking themselves when they see the light-brown forest cockroach.
Especially those who live near forests, parks and trees have certainly seen the small insect.
But is the forest cockroach a pest and even dangerous?
Forest cockroaches in the apartment: disgusting, but harmless
The amber cockroach is not a pest.
© Steffen Schellhorn/Imago
The amber cockroach can be recognized by the fact that, unlike the German cockroach, it lacks the two black stripes behind the neck and is active during the day.
While the animal used to be mainly found in the Alpine region, rising temperatures have helped the insect to feel more and more at home further north.
According to
Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR)
, however, there is no need to worry if you discover the six-legged friend in your four walls.
Because the amber cockroach is completely harmless to humans.
The animals do not belong to the storage pests either, since they feed exclusively on decomposing plant material, as the
BR
emphasizes.
If the animals do not find food in the apartment, they starve to death or wither within a few days.
What will reassure many: Reproduction takes place exclusively outdoors, as experts suspect.
You can still do this to keep the creepy crawlies away:
Install fly screens on doors and/or windows.
Only ventilate sporadically during the day, as the animals are more likely to be looking for food there and can get lost in apartments.
Avoid unnecessary lighting in the garden and apartment, as this also attracts the animals.
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If you do spot an animal, use a jar and a piece of cardboard to catch it, much like a spider, and take it outside.
By the way, you can keep spiders away with lavender spray.
