The smoky brown cockroach is a large cockroach species that is very sensitive to environmental changes and tends to look for areas with high humidity levels
In addition, this cockroach prefers dark, poorly ventilated, and protected areas, for instance, in tree holes or around wooded areas.
Unlike other cockroach species like the American cockroach, which spend much of their lives indoors, the smoky brown cockroach prefers to live outdoors.
However, smoky brown cockroaches can infest homes looking for warmth and shelter during colder seasons. They will stick around and make themselves comfortable in your home if they find ample water and food sources.
What’s more, smoky brown cockroaches bite people and feed on dead insects too. Smoky brown cockroaches also tend to infest garbage areas found in sewers, making them dangerous for human health.
Keep reading this article to know what smoky brown cockroaches look like, what they eat, where they live, and more key information.
Identifying the Smoky Brown Cockroach
Smoky brown cockroaches are larger roaches with a uniform color. They look like American cockroaches but with a uniform color and don’t have yellow accents.
As its name suggests, this cockroach species has a dark brown or mahogany color that is constant on its back and underside.
The male and female smoky brown cockroaches are strong fliers and can quickly fly from tree holes onto your house.
The smoky brown cockroach grows to about 1.49 inches long and has long wings extending beyond its body, making it a frequent and ready flier. In addition to flying in search of food and shelter, the smoky brown cockroach can fly in search of a mate.
During the night, you will likely find smoky brown cockroaches flying around lights as they are attracted to brightness.
Habitat and Distribution of Smoky Brown Roaches
Smoky brown cockroaches are a common pest in the United States, especially in zones with high humidity and moisture, in general, warmer climates.
They live outdoors but sometimes enter homes in cold climates, searching for warmth, food, and water.
They are most commonly found in the southeastern United States, from central Texas to Florida. However, there have been incidences of smoky brown roaches in greenhouses in the Midwest.
Outside, the smoky brown roach tends to live in wood piles, leaf litter and planter boxes, and other similar moist and warm habitats.
In addition, these insects can live near your home, especially in rain gutters, shed, roof shingles, and water meter box.
In the southern states, the smoky brown roach can be found outside in holes and palm tree canopies. Greenhouses, leaf litter, crawl spaces, attics, gardens, mulched areas, and wood piles are other known harborage areas.
What Smoky Brown Cockroaches Eat
Smokybrown cockroaches tend to feed early in the morning or evening when they leave their hiding places to seek water and food.
Like American cockroaches, smoky brown cockroaches are opportunistic feeders, meaning they can consume anything available to them like:
- Sweets
- Meat
- Other insects
- Fecal matter
- Starches
- Decaying organic material
Dangers Posed by Smoky Brown Cockroach
Like many other roaches, smoky brown cockroaches are a dangerous pest despite being known to live outdoors.
Besides, they live in filthy places like near leaf litter and wet mulch, sewers, and storm drain. They can also feed on anything, for example, bird droppings in rain gutters.
That said, they carry disease-causing germs and will contaminate food preparation areas on their quest to search for food.
The Life Cycle of Smoky Brown Cockroaches
Like any other cockroach species, the smoky brown cockroach goes through three stages of life: egg, nymph, and adult.
Their average life span is eight months, and the female smoky brown cockroach can lay as many as 30 eggs during that time.
The female then carries the egg capsule to a safe location until the eggs hatch. Once they hatch, the nymphs will take an estimated 320 days to become adult cockroaches.
At their early stage, the nymphs have a much darker color than their parents and feature double white stripes on their thorax and antenna tips.
On their way to adulthood, the smoky brown nymphs take on a more reddish color.
Cockroach Control
Smokybrown roaches are not the worst roach species; however, that doesn’t mean that you should just stare at them while they enter your home.
Some signs of smoky brown roach infestation are egg capsules, roach droppings, shed exoskeleton, and baby roaches.
Preventing Smoky Brown Cockroaches From Infesting Your Home
Below are a few steps to prevent smokybrown cockroaches from infesting your home.
- Make sure that the smokybrown roaches don’t get easy access to water and food sources in your home.
- Get rid of indoor stuff where they can live. Start by getting rid of storage containers and old boxes in your attic.
- Declutter your home and ventilate all moist areas
- Smoky brown roaches can hitchhike in your firewood. So, before bringing firewood into your home, ensure no roaches are hiding there.
- Lessen the use of mulch in your garden
Getting Rid of Smoky Brown Cockroaches
Usually, most smoky brown roach control measures focus on the exterior of buildings and the entry points. This is called barrier or perimeter treatment.
Therefore, if you’re trying to get rid of smoky brown cockroaches, consider applying cockroach control products around your home. However, before using any products, read the warnings, especially if you have kids and pets.
Smoky Brown Cockroaches Can Live in Your Home
If you live in an area with a tropical wet climate, there is a higher chance that smoky brown roaches will enter your garden or home or fly from nearby trees to your attic.
So, don’t give them a chance to enter your home, contaminate your food, and spread illnesses. Start preventing an infestation as soon as possible.
If you suspect you have an infestation, use the above elimination methods or get the help of a professional.
