We often encounter a situation where cockroaches start up in the house. As practice proves, it can be difficult from them, so the “glory” of a very viable species has been assigned to these animals. They can exist for quite a long time without food and even water, in addition, they are able to withstand radiation levels that are 15 times higher than the lethal dose for humans.
In this article, we will find out how long cockroaches live and what are the features of their life cycle.
How many years do red house cockroaches live?
An incomplete development cycle is considered a property of all representatives of this family, which means that this species does not have the stage of transformation of larvae into pupae. After fertilization, female cockroaches carry eggs for some time on their stomachs, in a container specially designed for this - ootheca.
As the eggs begin to grow, the ootheca becomes more swollen and heavy. After about 2-4 weeks, female cockroaches throw off their offspring, hiding it in an inaccessible place, most often warm and humid.
After that, nymphs hatch from the eggs - small cockroaches (up to 3 mm) of white color.
Females of some species of cockroaches carry offspring in the oothec until the very moment of birth and even take care of them for some time.
Over time, the nymphs begin to become darker, their "shell" hardens, but in order to turn into an adult, the cockroach must go through several molts. Depending on the temperature regime, this may take a different time.
Red cockroaches turn from nymphs into adults for such a period:
- 2 months in the summer, if the air temperature is above 30 degrees;
- 6 months, at a temperature of about 20 degrees.
An adult cockroach is called an imago, its average life span varies between 20-30 weeks.
Therefore, without obstacles, red cockroaches live for about 12 months!
Black cockroaches can live much longer, up to two years, as their development periods are slower.
Under certain conditions, the life cycle of these insects can be significantly reduced.
How long do cockroaches live without food?
As with other creatures, food plays an important role in cockroach survival, but not as important as it does for humans. The fact is that cockroaches are cold-blooded creatures, so they do not spend energy savings on maintaining their body temperature. The metabolism of these insects is 20 times slower than ours, which allows them to not feel hungry for a long time.
Red cockroaches can survive without food for 40 days!
True, this ability has a downside - cockroaches cannot stand the cold. Since they are not able to independently heat the body, the temperature affects them much more. At low temperatures, the number of cockroaches rapidly decreases.
How long do cockroaches live without water?
Water is a much more necessary substance for maintaining life, since the most important processes in the body of a creature occur with its participation.
If you cut off a cockroach's access to water, he can live no more than a week!
Cockroaches usually feed on wet food because it provides better digestibility. In addition, water plays an important role in the functioning of the circulatory system - it protects the body from overheating.
Interesting! Cockroaches have an open circulatory system, thanks to which they can live for some time, even without a head. Therefore, if you decide to swat this insect, do it as hard as possible, as it is not so easy to kill it.
Now you know that cockroaches are most dependent on water, so to avoid their appearance and spread in your home, you need to ensure that access to water is closed. How long domestic cockroaches live in your apartment depends on you!
Cockroaches are among the most unpleasant insects, but information about them is of interest. The details of the existence of arthropods are so amazing that they become the basis for various myths. More often than others, the question is asked: how long do cockroaches live without food and water. Incredibly hardy representatives of the fauna are able to do even without a head.
How long do domestic cockroaches live
Representatives of the cockroach order are extremely hardy. They inhabited every continent except Antarctica. Negative temperatures are the limiting factor for insects. In its development, the cockroach goes through 3 phases: egg, larva, adult. This is an incomplete transformation (no pupal stage). Reproduction occurs with characteristic features. A fertilized female lays her eggs in a special chitinous capsule - an ootheca. In a cocoon, they are protected from temperature changes, mechanical stress, and insecticides.
Interesting fact. The real centenarians are Australian burrowing cockroaches or rhinos. Large insects weighing 35 g reach the age of 10 years.
In most species, the female carries an ootheca inside her abdomen almost until the birth of the larvae. The offspring is safe, which increases the survival rate. Larvae are mobile, live and feed near adults. Due to their miniature size, they are able to penetrate into any gap. There are about 30 species of synanthropic cockroaches in the world. In Russia, there are much fewer such species - 5. All of them were imported from other countries. In the conditions of the street they cannot survive, a comfortable temperature is 25-30 °. Insects live in colonies, rapidly increasing its numbers.
The lifespan of a cockroach depends on the species:
Blattella germanica
The red cockroach or Prussian comes from Central Asia, came to Russia from Germany, for which he received the nickname "Prussian". Imagoes are small (9-13 mm), reddish-brown, winged. They have long bristle-like antennae, and long suckers on their tarsi between the claws. The embryonic period takes 38-50 days, nymphs need from 75 to 130 days to grow up. Adults live 9-16 months.
Information. Hardy insects are quickly killed by negative temperatures, they die at -5 ° and below. The thermophilicity of synanthropes also has a limit of 45 °.
Blatta orientalis
The black cockroach is a cosmopolitan that appeared in Europe 350 years ago. Adults are large, body length 18-30 mm. Black glossy finish. The wings are poorly developed, because of the small sucker they move poorly on smooth surfaces. The duration of the development of the nymph depends on the environmental conditions. At a temperature of 27 °, they reach sexual maturity in 5 months, if the conditions of unfavorable processes are delayed for 5 years. The larvae go through 6 instars and molt 5 times. Imago reach the age of 1.5-2 years.
Information. Among the representatives of the species, cannibalism is observed, even with an abundance of food, they eat weak larvae and their own egg capsules.
Supella longipalpa
The furniture cockroach is similar in appearance and size to the Prusak. Females shed ootheca 36 hours after laying eggs. Capsules are left in the sink, on the bed or furniture. Embryonic development at room temperature takes 3 months. Larvae develop 4-5 months. The life span of adults is 3-4 months.
Information. Insects appeared in Russia in the 70s. 20th century. Distribution began with large cities - Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Periplaneta Americana
The American cockroach is a large species with a brownish or yellow-brown color. Adult sizes are 27-44 mm. Insects are able to fly due to their developed wings. The egg cocoon contains 10-28 embryos. Larvae go through 13 instars, reaching the state of adults in 1 year. The life expectancy of males is 1.5 years, females are 2 times longer.
How long do cockroaches live without food and water
Pests do not voluntarily leave warm rooms. Even in conditions when they have to starve. According to scientists, insects are able to do without food for a long time:
The ability for such a long fast is due to a slow metabolism and the lack of the need to maintain body temperature. Arthropods reduce activity, cannibalism may begin. The need of the organism of arthropods for moisture is much higher. Water is essential for the chemical processes that sustain life. Their digestion is impossible without moisture; they certainly moisten dry food. Without replenishment of fluid reserves, after 5-9 days, the insect dries up. By completely blocking access to water for insects, you can get rid of pests.
A live cockroach without a head is not a myth.
An amazing fact, but insects are able to live without a head. For humans and animals, this is impossible, their respiratory organs are located on the head. Arthropods have special stigma openings on the abdomen connected to the trachea. A system of tubes braids the internal organs and supplies them with oxygen. The circulatory system is designed in such a way that the blood quickly coagulates in the vessels of the neck. They go for weeks without food.
The decapitated body retains reflex functions, it reacts to touch, and can move. The most detrimental factor for the insect will be the inability to drink. The body regularly loses fluid through the chitinous covering. Without moisture, it will dry out.
As a result of the experiments, it was found that the cockroach lives without a head for 9 days.
The endurance of domestic cockroaches is high, but not unlimited. Knowing the vulnerabilities of insects, they can be successfully dealt with. Pests are destroyed with the help of insecticides, lowering the temperature or setting traps.
Many are familiar with cockroaches firsthand. These insects can be seen both in a village house and in a city apartment. How long do cockroaches live? They are able to live without food and water for a long time. Even radiation exposure that is fatal to humans is harmless to cockroaches. They freely tolerate a dose of radiation that is 15 times higher than the lethal one for humans.
There are more than 4 thousand species of cockroaches in the world. Some of them live next to a person. The most common of them are black and red. Redheads are also called Prussians. These insects are 10-15 mm long. They have large wings and long whiskers that help them navigate and communicate with other insects. The insect has developed legs, on which it moves very quickly. It lives in warm conditions, most often in people's homes.
The black species can be up to 5 cm long. The wings of females are short, those of males are long. Females are 5 cm long, while males are much smaller - only 2-3 cm. They live in warmth, often next to a person. American cockroaches are similar in color to Prussians. These insects are up to 5 cm long. Females are larger than males.
It has a size of up to 9 cm. It can hiss quite loudly. Lives in the bark of some trees in the Amazon. It is completely harmless to humans, a rather shy insect. It comes to our country with parcels. These insects live in houses and apartments. Its large size does not allow it to hide in the cracks, so the fight against it does not present any difficulties.
Habitat and habits
This question is of interest to many. The owners of apartments and houses in which these guests live are especially interested in them. These insects are unusually tenacious creatures. They go 40 days without food. And absolutely everything serves as food for them, even concrete and brick. The main condition for their life is the presence of water. Therefore, they settle closer to its sources.
In the apartment, such a place is a bathroom and a kitchen. When water is found, insects start looking for food. Their digestive system is designed in such a way that it digests a wide variety of products of organic origin.
After about 2-4 weeks, the females throw off the offspring, hiding it in an inaccessible place.
A common feature of the representatives of this family is an incomplete cycle of their biological development. They do not have a stage of transformation of larvae into pupae. Females carry fertilized eggs on their stomachs in a special container called an ootheca. The eggs grow over time, the ootheca also swells and becomes heavier.
After 2, maximum after 4 weeks, the offspring are shed in a warm place with sufficient humidity. Nymphs hatch from the ootheca. These are small (up to 2-3 mm) white cockroaches. Nymphs gradually turn black, their shell hardens. Before the transformation of the nymph into an adult cockroach, several molts pass.
The life expectancy of an adult is 20-30 weeks.
For their habitat, insects usually prefer secluded corners in hard-to-reach places. They can be found behind the refrigerator or under it, under the sink, baseboard, in various crevices. In their corners they live in fairly large groups. During the day, they try not to crawl out of their minks, since their mode of life is nocturnal. At night and early in the morning, when everyone in the house is sleeping, they have time to eat crumbs and small pieces of food that they find on the floor or on the kitchen table. In daylight, they appear only when their burrows do not accommodate all individuals. Their appearance during the day is a signal to take measures to exterminate insects.
For a more fruitful fight against cockroaches, you need to know the places of their resettlement. Insects to look for:
- under the fridge
- Behind the refrigerator
- Under the sink
- Under the bath
- Behind heating appliances and pipes
- Under skirting boards
- Behind kitchen cabinets
- In the mechanisms of hanging cabinet doors
- In trash cans.
These are the most favorite places of their settlement.
Whether a cockroach lives in a particular place is easy to determine by the smell and by the black dots of feces remaining in places of active life of insects.
Without food, they live for several weeks, without water for no more than a week.
They feed mainly on foods high in organic matter:
- Sweets and sugar
- Beer
- Khebny crumbs and flour products
- toilet paper and tissues
- meat
- Wallpaper and glue
- Spoiled and rotting food
- Stockings, socks and underwear
- Books, magazines, newspapers
Life span and vitality
The red cockroach from a nymph turns into an adult in summer at a temperature of about 30 ° C after 2 months. If the temperature is 20°C, this transformation takes up to 6 months.
The red cockroach lives in a house or apartment for 9-10 months. Of these, adults live for 20-30 weeks, the rest of the time larvae develop. lives less than red for a couple of months. Without food and drink, the life expectancy of cockroaches is reduced. Without food, the red cockroach lives for about 50 days. The life of a black cockroach without food can be 70 days. This is due to the fact that domestic cockroaches are cold-blooded creatures. They do not expend energy maintaining a constant body temperature. In the absence of food, they can simply hide and wait for food to appear.
Red representatives turn from nymphs into adults in 2 months in summer and 6 months in winter
The survivability of cockroaches drops sharply along with a decrease in ambient temperature. The Prussians begin to die already at a temperature of -1 ° C. Therefore, cold is a good method of dealing with these creatures. How many years do insects of this species live without water? Water is the main thing in the life of cockroaches. Without non-viability lasts up to 7 days. Moisture evaporates intensively from the surface of the shell, and the insects dry out and die. That is why the Prussians are more willing to eat moist food or its waste. It is easier to digest in the body and contains enough moisture.
Can an insect live without a head?
Yes, a cockroach lives without a head
Weird question. But after a series of experiments, American scientists were able to prove that a headless cockroach also continues to live (up to 9 days). The thing is that their circulatory system is not closed. They do not lose blood and therefore continue to live. But in this case, they cannot get food and water.
The respiratory process occurs not with the help of the head, but with the help of holes, spiracles on the body and small tracheas.
The brain is not involved in breathing. It is not particularly needed for life, since all parts of the body have ganglia - nerve knots. They are fully responsible for all reflexes. The insect can move its paws, get up and move.
Effect of Temperature on Insects
The activity of cold-blooded insects depends on temperature. Cockroaches love warmth. The optimum temperature for them is from +2 to +28°C. It is at this level that it is always maintained in residential premises. Therefore, cockroaches often become our neighbors.
At what temperature does death occur? At 0°C, insects slow down all vital functions, including reproduction processes. At temperatures from -5 to -10 ° C, insects die in 30-40 minutes. With a subsequent decrease in air temperature, cockroaches die even faster.
The high temperature of the surrounding air is also detrimental to them. With heat above 28 ° C, cockroaches lose a large amount of moisture, which they really need. Upon reaching 50°C, death occurs within a few hours. This can be used in the fight against hated neighbors in the kitchen. It is worth remembering that cockroaches are afraid of boiling water. It can also be used to control insects. Boiling water is simply poured a little into the cracks where the pests nest.
Popular Pest Control Products
You can fight these red and black pests with cold, heat and many other means:
- Boric acid
- Disinfectants
- Folk methods.
Boric acid has long been used as a cockroach killer. It shows very good results in practice. Boric acid powder is used to make insect baits. Pests die after testing the composition and infect their fellows. For people living indoors, boric acid is absolutely safe.
Of the disinfectants can be called preparations in the form of gels, sticks and aerosols. When used correctly, they are capable of destroying entire colonies of pests. Their disadvantage is that they are harmful to human health. Therefore, before using these products, you need to hide all food and utensils.
Sometimes it seems that these household pests are immortal! No matter how much you try to get rid of them, they survive everything: poisons, cold, and hunger strike. But, in fact, the answer to the question of how long cockroaches live will not be able to hit your mind: for an ordinary red cockroach, this figure varies 9 to 12 months And then if he's lucky. Of course, life expectancy is highly dependent on the type of insect: for example, black cockroaches, as well as large tropical species, can live on average 2 years, and the Madagascar cockroach, which is lucky with the owner, can generally live in captivity for 3-4 years! But back to our Prussians: are they as tenacious as it seems to us?
Cycle of life in favorable conditions
If we immediately say how long a cockroach can survive in extreme conditions, this figure will be difficult to estimate. In order to understand whether this is a lot or a little, you need to understand how long red cockroaches live under normal conditions, with, so to speak, an ideal scenario for the development of events for them.
- The nest usually begins immediately with several individuals wandering into your apartment and deciding that you can live happily ever after. But one fertilized female will be enough. And the process of fertilization, for your information, in cockroaches occurs once upon reaching puberty, and this is enough for a lifetime. You know, it doesn't bode well.
- The eggs laid by a fertilized female develop for some time in an ootheca - a special protective sac. This is where the Prusak is the hardest to get! Firstly, ootheca is impervious to most chemicals, and eggs do not suffer when baited. And secondly, eggs in the ootheca can themselves regulate how many days the development process will take, slowing it down in an unfavorable external environment. An indispensable mechanism to guarantee the continuation of the family!
- From the ootheca, nymphs immediately hatch - larvae that resemble a reduced adult. This usually happens 2-4 weeks after laying, and the growth process starts. After 6-8 molts, the insect will become sexually mature, but how often these molts occur depends on the temperature. At room temperature, the nymph will be ready to give birth in 2 months, but if the room is cooler, the process may be delayed.
- How many years do adults live? Their potential varies in the region of 9-12 months, but they rarely exhaust it completely, especially with active human intervention in their lives. But until death, the imago produces offspring, increasing the number of the nest exponentially.
It is interesting!
If you were impressed by the information about how long Madagascar cockroaches live, you should know: very often a law operates in nature: the smaller the species of one genus, the less it lives, and vice versa.
It seems that Prussians do not live that long in favorable conditions, but let's see how long red cockroaches live in conditions that are far from optimal.
How long does a cockroach live without food and water?
How long do cockroaches live without food and water - in fact, these are two completely different questions with a huge difference in the answers.
The digestive system of insects is very different from the human one: having received food, their body can expend energy extremely slowly. Metabolism in Prussians is slowed down 20 times compared to a human, plus energy is not spent on maintaining body temperature, since they are not warm-blooded - this is where the unimaginable figure of 40 or even 50 days comes from.
Black cockroaches are generally able to live without food for 80 days. And we thought that they are so dependent on the crumbs that we scatter around the apartment!
At the same time, the Prussian will last only 3-5 days without water. Not so much different from a human, right? And all because water is the basis of all cellular processes, and both we and cockroaches are made of cells. This is why having sources of food and water is not equally important.
Can cockroaches live in the cold?
How often do you see insects outside in winter? We think that during the winter you manage to forget what mosquitoes, flies and forest ants look like. Here, in principle, is the answer to the question of how long cockroaches live without heat - not at all! At temperatures below zero, the Prussians fall into suspended animation, and at -5 ° C both adults, nymphs, and eggs die. Less pampered species can hold out in a sub-zero environment for several hours, but their death is inevitable, since they live only in warm places, and they cannot keep the body warm on their own.
Can a cockroach survive in radiation?
The myths that cockroaches survive even with a strong radiation background are not myths. But it's not just their superpower. Many insects are less sensitive to radiation than humans, but in cockroaches this indicator of survivability exceeds ours by as much as 15 times.
How long does a cockroach live without a head?
The answer to the question of how long a cockroach lives without a head is close to the figure from the question about water. And yes, the fact that they do not die immediately is absolutely true! Having lost its head, the cockroach will not die from blood loss, because the vessels will be sealed with clots and the system inside the body will continue to work. Also, he will not suffocate, because cockroaches breathe with their bodies, not their heads. They will not lose their nervous system either: nerve nodes are scattered all over their body, which are enough for basic reflexes. So the body will live without a head for as long as water resources allow, which will be impossible to renew without a head.
It seems that this information about cockroaches gives reason to argue with the assertion that man is the crown of creation, and to think: why didn’t mother nature bother to reward us with the same impressive survival abilities?
A cockroach ... The word itself evokes not the most pleasant associations for most people, not to mention the sight of a Prusak crawling on a wall or table, when it appears, as a rule, the first thing you want to do is immediately take off your slippers and slam a nasty insect. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that cockroaches are very interesting creatures with an ancient history and almost incredible abilities that help them survive in almost any extreme conditions. What are these abilities? This is what we will talk about today.
Description of the insect
It is perhaps difficult to find a person who does not know what an ordinary domestic cockroach looks like. Even if fate saved someone from personal acquaintance with these insects, then, probably, everyone in childhood read the fairy tale "Cockroach" or watched a cartoon based on it.
So, what does an ordinary domestic cockroach look like and what is it? First of all, a cockroach is an insect belonging to the order of cockroaches. In addition to it, termites also belong to the same detachment, and in total there are more than 7570 species in it. Moreover, there are more than 4640 species of real cockroaches in it. 
The largest cockroaches in the world live in Colombia and reach a length of 97 mm and a width of 45 mm. These giants crawl faster than all insects - at a speed of over 4 km / h.
Three hundred million years ago, cockroaches already lived on our planet. They crawled among the giant horsetails and club mosses of the Carboniferous, and now some of these unimaginably ancient creatures live next to people. 
During the day they hide in crevices, and at night they crawl out for their prey - bread crumbs, kitchen waste, not necessarily fresh. They can gnaw for lack of a better dry rag, shoe cream, drink ink. Like their relatives, the termites, they have protozoa in their intestines that help them digest this non-nutritious food.
Types of cockroaches
The most common “lodgers” in human housing are the red cockroach (Prussian) and the black cockroach, whose population had greatly thinned by the beginning of the 21st century.
red cockroach
Also known as Prussian. This insect got its middle name because in Russia it was considered a native of Prussia, which is not at all true. In fact, the homeland of red cockroaches is not Germany or even Europe, but ... South Asia. It was from there that this insect came to European countries in the 18th century and, having chosen human dwellings as its habitat, began to actively multiply, so much so that it soon pushed its main “competitor” - the black cockroach.
The body length of an adult is from 1 to 1.6 cm. Both males and females of this species have very well developed wings, thanks to which cockroaches can plan, although they cannot really fly. 
The body of males is narrower than that of females, and the wings of males do not cover the last segments of the abdomen. The color of the red cockroach, strictly speaking, is not quite red, but rather brownish in a variety of shades, sometimes they can even be almost black.
The Prussians are omnivorous: in addition to the “traditional” cockroach food - the remains of human food, they can eat paper, leather, textiles, wood glue, they will not even refuse ordinary soap if they don’t come across any other food. But their most favorite delicacies are bread, pastries, as well as sugar and various sweets. The cockroach does not disdain meat or porridge, but he does not like fruits too much, although he eats them if there is nothing else from the products, while the freshness and quality of the fruit do not worry him too much.
Black beetle
Now it is not such a frequent guest in our homes, but in the past it was very common. Noticeably larger than a red cockroach: the length of an adult insect can be from 2 to 8 cm. The color is either black-brown or tar-brown with a pronounced metallic sheen. The wings of males of this species are longer than those of females, but black cockroaches cannot fly or even plan. But they run very fast. So fast that before you have time to look back, he’s already gone. 
IT IS INTERESTING! In Germany and the Czech Republic, black cockroaches are called "Swabians", as they believe that these insects were brought from Swabia, a region in southern Germany.
Life stages of a cockroach
Cockroaches are characterized by an incomplete development cycle, which includes the following phases of insect maturation:
- larva or otherwise nymph
- adult or adult
The life of a young cockroach begins, as they would say in Ancient Rome, “ab ovo”, that is, with an egg. It is from it that the larva hatches, differing from its parents only in size and color, or rather in its absence, since newborn cockroaches are born white due to the fact that they do not yet have a chitinous cover. 
In total, the female cockroach lays 20-30, and sometimes up to 50 eggs and bears them in a special ootheca capsule located at the end of the abdomen, while she herself can regulate the number of offspring, so sometimes the number of eggs laid differs sharply from the number of hatched cockroaches. By the way, they, albeit rarely, but there are cases of the appearance of twins, when two larvae develop in one egg. The "pregnancy" of the cockroach lasts from 2 to 4 weeks, after which it leaves the ootheca somewhere in a secluded, damp place. And then for 2 weeks she looks after her offspring, who have not yet had time to acquire chitinous “fur coats” and are therefore very vulnerable.
IT IS INTERESTING! It happens that under adverse conditions, the female cockroach has a “miscarriage”: she sheds the oocyst ahead of schedule. In this case, her offspring either die or hatch underdeveloped.
Newborn larvae are white, but after a few days they darken noticeably, and their body cover becomes hard. Now, in order to grow, the insect is often forced to shed its chitinous “skin”, this process is called molting, and on average, a cockroach molts 6 to 10 times in its life. In the warm season, cockroaches become adults in 2 months, but with a noticeable decrease in temperature, this process can take up to 6 months.
After the last, no matter what the molt, the insect stops growing and turns from a larva into an adult. Which, having given birth to numerous offspring, will either leave this world in due time, or in the wrong time - having ended its days under the sole of a slipper or having swallowed some kind of poison.
How long can they exist
If we do not consider the unfavorable course of events, when the untimely end of a cockroach's life comes for reasons completely independent of the insect - whether it be the notorious slipper, poison, or some predator, such as a toad, a bird, or even an ordinary cat who decided to dine with our barbel , then these insects live for quite a long time - at least 7-9 months after reaching sexual maturity.
IT IS INTERESTING! The lifespan of each subsequent generation of cockroaches in a single house or apartment is longer than the lifespan of their predecessors and can be a maximum of 4 years.
How long can a cockroach live without food and water?
Like any living creature, a cockroach cannot do without water and food. And, if you find that he is almost always able to “chew”, then, being far from water sources, the insect is probably doomed to death. 
But why is water so important to a cockroach? It turns out that it is important for its thermoregulation. If the cockroach overheats, then the surface of its chitinous cover will be covered with moisture evaporated by the body. If there is nowhere to replenish water supplies, then the insect will die in 7 days literally drying up. High humidity and coolness will slow down this process somewhat, but not for long.
IMPORTANT! When fighting cockroaches, the main thing is to deprive them of access to water and to those products from which they could receive moisture, then they will not have a single chance of survival.
As for food, it is not so important for cockroaches, since they are cold-blooded creatures and not very active. Even if they are completely deprived of food, they will simply hide somewhere in a secluded place and wait there until the conditions become more favorable for their existence. However, sooner or later, without food, they will die. Only this will not happen very soon - about 50 days after the start of a total hunger strike.
How fast does a headless cockroach die?
A cockroach that has lost its head does not die immediately, but after 9 days. At first glance, it seems incredible that a headless creature can live so long. However, such an incredible vitality of cockroaches is explained by the fact that they have an open circulation cycle, and therefore death from blood loss is clearly not threatened even in this case. The fact that nerve endings are literally everywhere in their body contributes to the preservation of motor reflexes and, as a result, the continuation of life.
In the end, the cockroach, left without a head, will die, but this will only happen due to the lack of water and food, since it simply cannot eat or drink.
IT IS INTERESTING! Not only a cockroach that has lost its head can live for a few more days after that, but a head that has been left without a cockroach can also survive for quite a long time. To do this, it is enough to place it in a cool place and feed it with a special solution.
The life of cockroaches in other extreme conditions
Radiation
The assertion that cockroaches can live in places with any level of radiation without harm to themselves can be considered controversial. Yes, of course, these insects are incredibly tenacious and adapted to any, it would seem, the most unfavorable conditions.
However, with very strong radiation, cockroaches will certainly die. Another thing is that the safe dose of radiation that they can endure without harm to themselves is quite large. It exceeds 15 times the maximum allowable dose for humans.
Low temperatures
It is they who are the "Achilles heel" of these almost indestructible creatures. It would seem that they should not care about frost, but no! Already at a temperature of -5 °, cockroaches die. This is due to their cold-bloodedness, which, being incredibly useful in the absence or lack of food, in this case plays a bad joke on them, lowering the resistance of cockroaches to temperature extremes.
IT IS INTERESTING! All insects of the Cockroach order can live either in a heated dwelling or in a tropical climate.
As you can see, cockroaches are incredibly tenacious creatures, but still they are not immortal. These insects can easily endure a long hunger strike and a lethal dose of radiation for humans, and even, left without a head, they will live for several more days. But at the same time, they do not tolerate low temperatures at all, and even without water they die quite quickly. These two unbearable conditions should be of help in the fight against cockroaches. Well, in combination with pesticides or mechanical traps, they will not leave them a single chance of survival at all.
