Bed bugs vs cockroaches. Bed bugs and roach infestations are among the most irritating things in the world, and they’ll irritate you more than anything else.
A roach infestation might cause a variety of severe health issues, such as Lyme disease and hygiene problems if it isn’t handled.
Bed bugs infestation may cause severe allergies, secondary skin infections, and even mental illness, but it can also do so.
But, a roach war versus ants is not won. It’s difficult to say which type of bed bug is more harmful since all of them are.
As a result, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about bed bugs and cockroaches in this article, so that you can take simple steps to get rid of them for good.
What Is A Bed Bug?
Reddish-brown color and a flattened oval shape are signs of bed bugs. Regardless of their age, they are typically the size of poppy seeds.
Babies are smaller in size and have a lighter color than adults. They have short, thick antennas on their heads. The back of bed bugs has wing-like features, but they do not fly.
What Is a Cockroach?
Blattodea is an order of insects that includes cockroaches, and it contains termites. Just four roach species are widespread across North America, despite the fact that there are almost 4,500 species worldwide.
Brown-banded cockroaches, Oriental cockroaches, German cockroaches, and American cockroaches are the Australian and Oriental types of cockroach.
The American cockroach is the biggest of all the common roaches, and it is scientifically known as Periplaneta Americana. The average length of an adult American cockroach is 4 cm (1.5 in). These creatures are most commonly seen around places where food is being kept. Restaurants, bakeries, and food retailers are all included in this.
Black, brown, black, tan, or reddish-orange cockroaches exist. A pair of thin, long antennae and six extended, spiny legs characterize all cockroach species.
They hunt for food, understand smells, negotiate barriers, detect predators, and select prospective partners with their antennae.
Can Bed Bugs and Roaches Live Together?
It’s bad enough having one pest in the house. However, both pests may be present at the same time. Neither bug gets in the way of the other. Bed bugs and cockroaches may both be found here, so why?
-Live in a variety of locales. Cockroaches prefer the kitchen, whereas bed bugs prefer your bed.
-Poor hygiene makes them worse.
Garbage is a source of food for cockroaches. If you don’t change and treat your bedding, and if your room is messy, bed bug infestations will worsen.
-Different animals are eaten. Cockroaches eat waste and leftovers, while bed bugs feed on blood. They aren’t competing with each other.
-It’s possible to have both infections at the same time. This may be quite anxiety-producing at times. Yet, the same permethrin-based sprays may both kill them.
Bed bugs vs cockroaches
Size, form, and antennae are the most significant distinctions between bed bugs and cockroaches. In a short amount of time, baby cockroaches grow slightly bigger than adult cockroaches.
The difference between baby cockroaches and bed bugs is simple to see: baby cockroaches are cylindrical, whereas bed bugs are oval-shaped.
Bed bugs have short antennae, whereas baby cockroaches have antennalike bodies. It should be simple to distinguish between these insects based on the other distinctions we’ve discussed. Despite this, we’ll look into the various distinctions we’ve already identified.
Bed bugs vs cockroaches: Do They Bite Humans?
Since they feed on blood, pests like bed bugs bite humans, although baby cockroaches seldom bite humans when they are in dire need of it.
Cockroaches are attracted to a location by abundant food sources. As a result, they are likely to come into touch with humans only when they have more than enough food.
Cockroaches, on the whole, bite humans only when the colony is huge, food is scarce, or a person has died.
Cockroaches have a longer lifespan than bed bugs.
An adult cockroach can survive up to 400 days in under normal circumstances. In comparison to males, female cockroaches have a longer life expectancy.
Roaches have been on Earth for 50 million years, according to studies, making them the world’s oldest insect. Bed bugs, on the other hand, have a lifespan of only 2 to 4 months.
Baby Cockroach vs Bed Bug: Size.
In the majority of cases, baby cockroaches are larger than bed bugs. The length of a newborn cockroach ranges from ¼ to ½ inch.
Adults will reach a length of 2 inches, making them significantly bigger than bed bugs. The difference in size between adults and nymphs may be a way to differentiate between them.
Yet, because insects are so similar in appearance, size is seldom enough to identify them.
Bed bugs don’t need water; cockroaches do.
Bed bugs have no need for water or any other liquid. Instead, they suck blood to get water. Without food, they can survive for up to 400 days. Roaches, on the other hand, can survive for more than a month without eating. If they don’t drink water for a week, they will die of dehydration.
Bed bugs vs cockroaches: Shape.
Bed bugs are oval-shaped insects, but baby cockroaches are cylindrical. One of the simplest ways to identify these insects is by their form. It’s likely a bed bug if the bug’s body is spherical, rather than lengthy.
They have different bite effects.
You may not be woken if a bed bug attacks you while sleeping. By injecting a little quantity of saliva and an anesthetic drug into your skin, bed bugs suck blood.
This will cause a numbing sensation, hence you won’t notice it. Cockroach stings, on the other hand, are immediate but not particularly painful.
Baby Cockroach vs Bed bug: Coloration.
White cockroaches may be either newly hatched or freshly molted throughout their development phase.
Many infant cockroaches, on the other hand, will be reddish-brown when they are still nymphs. They too are similar to bed bugs.
You can tell the difference between immature and adult insects if you catch them when they’re young or after a molt. Otherwise, the color will be uniform.
They have different survival modes in water.
When immersed in water, bed bugs and roaches do not die immediately. Bed bugs can actually live for up to 24 hours after being drowned. Most roach species, on the other hand, can only hold their breath for 40 minutes underwater.
Even if you chop their heads off, cockroaches may continue to live for up to a week.
Bed bugs vs cockroaches: Antennae.
The antennae of baby cockroaches are almost as long as the rest of their body. Bed bugs have antennae that are shorter than those of cockroaches, but not as short as those of fleas.
Baby Cockroach vs Bed bug: Eyes.
When you look at bed bugs head-on, their eyes are unusually prominent. Cockroach eyes are big black patches that do not protrude from the side as much as run from the top of their head to the bottom. They protrude outward from the sides of their skull.
Bed bugs vs cockroaches: Hiding Spots.
Warm, humid spots like the kitchen or bathroom, where food is plentiful, are ideal places for baby cockroaches. Bed bugs can be found in furniture, mattresses, clothes, and other places as the name implies.
Because baby cockroaches need food and water to survive, they are less likely to enter a room if there is no food or drink for them. Since bed bugs feed on blood, they may find a nice meal by staying near the furniture that people and their pets sit on.
During certain times, baby cockroaches and bed bugs may have a similar color, but that is the only thing these animals have in common.
You’ll immediately see how different these insects are from one another by studying their size, form, eyes, antennae, and hiding spots.
Baby Cockroach vs Bed Bug: Wings.
Baby cockroaches need several molting cycles to acquire their wings, which aren’t visible until late in their juvenile stage.
As nymphs or adults, bed bugs do not have wings. As a result, the differences between juvenile cockroaches and bed bugs may be seen on their wings.
Do Bed Bugs Feed on Cockroaches?
Human-feeding bed bugs aren’t the only ones. Any mammal may be eaten by them. Pets like cats and dogs are possible prey for them.
They may even feed on rats if they dwell in an abandoned residence. Even when it’s a mystery how they did it, populations can survive.
Bed bugs can’t, however, feed on other bed bugs. They’re tougher than bed bugs and can’t be bitten through by them. Our skin is more delicate and allows them to create holes with relative ease.
Bugs don’t have the same kind of blood as we do, even if they could. The fluid known as ‘hemolymph’ is blue-green in color, not red like vertebrate blood. It includes bugs, cockroaches, and bed bugs.
What Are the Similarities Between Bed Bugs and Roaches?
Apart from being extremely bothersome creatures, bed bugs and roaches have a few things in common. The following are a few of them:
Both of them are cold-blooded.
Cold-blooded (poikilothermic) insects include bed bugs and roaches. As a result, neither of them can control their body temperatures or use energy to warm themselves. These naturally tropical animals like to hibernate or live in warm areas during the winter. During the summer, they are also more active.
Both of them have the same life cycle.
The egg, nymph, and adult stages of the life cycle are passed through by bed bugs and cockroaches. A female bed bug can lay up to 7 eggs and up to 250 eggs throughout her lifetime.
A roach egg case, on the other hand, contains 16 to 50 eggs. In her lifetime, a female cockroach may create 18 egg cases.
Both of them can die in extreme weather conditions.
Bed bugs and roaches generally endure the winter. They will, however, perish at temperatures exceeding 120 degrees Fahrenheit or 0 degrees Celsius.
They can’t reproduce or lay eggs under these circumstances. Yet, they must be kept in constant temperatures and subject to lengthy periods of exposure in order to be killed.
Both of them hate certain smells.
Bay leaves, cinnamon, garlic, lavender, and peppermint are all scents that roaches and bed bugs hate. Diatomaceous earth (DE) is odorless, but it can also destroy both of their exoskeletons, killing them.
It is worth noting, however, that pest control might necessitate diverse deterrent techniques as well as expert help.
Both of them are generally nocturnal.
Nocturnal insects like cockroaches and bed bugs. As a result, both of them are most active at night and sleep during the day.
Hungry bed bugs, on the other hand, might attack sleeping people during the day. Cockroaches are occasionally active during the day, but they flee the light and hide in the dark.
Do They Spread Disease?
Your blood is the food of bed bugs. You might think they have the potential to transmit illnesses from person to person. Some of them might be rather dangerous.
Bed bugs have not been shown to transmit illness, however. “Public health records have yet to find proof that important infectious disease outbreaks are linked to bed bugs, according to the Archives of Dermatological Research,” says the article.
The primary advantage is that they digest after just one feeding. Any blood that is consumed during digestion is either utilized or wiped away. There is no chance of contamination.
They also prefer to feed on just one individual. They’re probably a couple if they feed on two people, and they may already have any diseases that can be transmitted via bodily fluids.
Cockroaches, on the other hand, can transmit illness. They crawl over fresh food, leaving behind bacteria if you eat any of it.
They’ll also crawl across kitchen counters and table tops. Dysentery and salmonella are two diseases that they transmit. Dysentery is particularly dangerous.
Asthma and allergies are also possible side effects.
Which Is Worse, Bed Bugs or Roaches?
Both bed bugs and roaches are pests that need to be exterminated. Bed bug bites, on the other hand, are more distressing than cockroach bites.
Cockroaches, on the other hand, are more damaging since they may devour paper, photos, filthy clothes, and toothpaste. Needless to say, as soon as a cockroach sits on your meal, you will no longer consume it.
Cockroaches are more dangerous than bed bugs because they can transmit infectious diseases to people.
Bed bug feces (not bites) may, however, transmit Chagas disease, according to a research.
Bed bugs, on the other hand, are more difficult to eliminate. As a result, they are worse than roaches.