About Tree Roaches

Although they look like household roaches, tree roaches are different than the typical cockroaches you discover scurrying on your kitchen floors and countertops when getting up for a midnight snack. Rather than nocturnal creatures, they are active during daylight hours, as well as sometimes at night. They usually don't run to hide until lights are on. Because they need a moist environment, they thrive outdoors wherever they can find wood to devour.

Identification

Tree roaches, also known as wood cockroaches, come from the American cockroach species and are usually found in the woods. They can't bite or spray. Unlike household pests as the German, Oriental or American cockroaches, wood roaches aren't as threatening if they happen to come indoors, but are bigger menaces outside wherever there are trees, woods or woodpiles.

Size

Similar to the American cockroachs, tree roaches are oval-shaped with spiny legs and long antennae. They are just under an inch long with coloring varying from light to dark brown. Adult males are tan with long wings extending beyond their abdomen, while females have shorter wings. Adults and larger nymphs have a pale white or transparent stripe running alongside the outward edges of their wings, behind their head. Smaller nymphs are harder to identify and need to be examined under a microscope.

Geography

Most often tree roaches are found in the eastern, southern and Midwestern regions of the United States. An outdoor insect, they usually only come inside through doors and windows that aren't sealed.

Effects

Tree roaches damage trees by feeding on decaying organic materials as rotting trees or fallen logs. They also live in firewood piles where they eat wood shingles. Rather than living trees, they favor dead or dying wood and are known for killing a healthy tree, turning it into a dead one for a feast. Similar to termites, they absorb cellulose making up the tree's cell walls. With the special microorganisms within their guts they are able to digest cellulose. Besides damaging trees, they also carry diseases and other pests, causing more harm.

Prevention and Treatment

There are a few precautions to take to keep these nasty critters away. Commercial household sprays and dusts don't work with tree roaches as they do with household cockroaches. Inside tree roaches just need to be picked up and killed, just as you would do to ones found outdoors. Use outdoor insecticides around all doors and windows, including firewood piles. However, don't spray directly to firewood but to the foundation of the firewood pile. For a severe infestation, hire a licensed pest control professional. Keep doors sealed and closed without any gaps or entry points. Keep outdoor lights off. Unlike most roaches that run from light, they gravitates to it. Therefore, keep your property dark, especially in the summer beginning in May as this is when they fly. Female wood roaches rarely come inside houses. Nymphs normally enter homes around wooded areas for protection from the winter and usually it's older homes lacking wood siding. Keep the moisture level in your house down and don't store firewood near your house.

Misconceptions

Often people worry that once tree roaches enter through an unsealed window or door, they will reproduce in the house. However, they don't reproduce inside but in woodpiles or decaying logs.

Warnings

Keep pets away from any area you spray. If using a poison, check labels for warnings about exposing pets to the product as many poisons can be fatal to pets. Also keep small children way from any treated areas until the insecticides have totally dried. Insect foggers are more popular than poisons. However, there will be a layer of the insecticide on everything that is sprayed, causing a threat to the health of anyone inhaling it. You can also use glue traps to catch them.

Resources

• Information about wood cockroaches
• About cockroaches
• More about wood roaches