Cockroaches are known to eat almost anything. But they can also survive for a quite a while without food. Do you really what roaches eat? What do cockroaches eat in the wild? Do roaches eat dog food, mold and poop? Learn more in this post about roaches preferred diet.
What do roaches eat? Cockroaches can be categorized as omnivorous. They eat both plant and animal source of food. They also feed on any organic food and decaying matter. Roaches as described can eat anything including books, cardboard boxes and hair. This makes them able to survive any environment. They are also known to survive in the wild by eat food found in the wild. Let’s discuss more.
Read also: What Attracts Cockroaches to Your Home?
Different Types of Cockroaches and What They Eat
Read also: Different Types of Cockroaches, Identification Pictures, Behaviors & Characteristics
There are quite a number of cockroaches in the world. What do they eat? Here is a list of the roaches:
- German Cockroach
- Madagascar Hissing Cockroach
- Flying Roaches
- American Cockroach
- Oriental Cockroach
What Do Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches Eat in the Wild?
Due to the nature of the habitat, Madagascar Hissing roaches eat decaying plant, dead small insects and decaying fallen fruit. In short, they are fond of eating decomposing matter.
What Do German Cockroaches Eat?
German cockroaches, are omnivorous in nature. They tend to scavenge on insect, meat, sugar, fatty foods and starch. They can also eat other delicacies in case there is shortage of food. Imagine German roaches can even eat soap and toothpaste. Strange as it may sound these reaches can even eat each other.
German roaches can eat other bugs such as bed bugs. In fact, German roaches and bed bugs are considered enemies. But you cannot use them to get rid of a bed bug infestation. Bed bugs tend to increase in population faster than roaches do.
What Do Flying Roaches Eat?
Some of the flying roaches include the Brown branded and Asian Cockroaches. They are some of the great roach flyers. They are not different from any other type of roaches. Basically, their diet is no different from the other roaches. They are omnivorous and tend to feed on any available source of food.
What Do Cockroaches Really Eat?
Here are some of the foods/things that roaches eat:
1. Bed bugs
Roaches tend to eat insects and other bugs. Since roaches are omnivorous, they can as well eat bed bugs. American, Oriental and Brown-banded roaches are the most likely species of roaches to feat on bed bugs.
2. Ants
Do cockroaches eat ants? Roaches will eat both dead and alive insects and ants are included.
3. Wood
Do roaches eat wood? Roaches tend to feed on decaying plant matter such as rotting wood and dead trees.
4. Poop
Do cockroaches eat poop? The fact is that roaches will feed on poop. It is palatable and a source of food for roaches. Poop provides a rich source of nutrients and roaches find it edible. They will obviously ingest on any type of feces especially where there is shortage of food.
5. Hair
Do cockroaches eat hair? Like we’ve described roaches eat almost anything. If these insects are left with no option such that they are starving, they will eat hair. It could possibly be a reason other than water in the bathroom, roaches will begin to feed on air found in your drain.
6. Fleas
Do Cockroaches eat fleas? It is quite impossible for roaches to feed on fleas while they are alive, but roaches can comfortably eat dead fleas.
7. Mouse Bait
Do roaches eat mouse bait? Since mouse bait have fatty foods, roaches can eat them as long they don’t affect them like they would affect the mouse.
8. Plastic Bags?
Do roaches eat through plastic bags? Roaches have the ability to eat through light plastic bags and even some containers.
9. Fruits
Do roaches eat fruits? Roaches are known to eat all kinds of fruits. It is not surprising to find them eating the fruits and peels traded in bins.
10. Do Roaches Eat Dog & Cat Food?
Cockroaches can eat dog food and generally any kind of pet food. Just like they can eat dog food, they also can eat cat food.
11. Garden Plants
It is almost impossible for roaches to feed on garden plants, if they do, they will only focus on fruits, vegetables and dead decaying plants.
12. Paper
Do roaches eat paper? Yes, roaches can eat paper. It is not uncommon to find roaches shredding pages of books. It is also a common phenomenon to find roaches in between books and shelves where books are kept.
13. Mold
Roaches can feed on mold although mold is not their kind of food source. Mold helps in most to breakdown the paper they might have eaten initially.
14. Cardboard
Do roaches eat cardboard? It is quite often to find roaches eating cardboard. They find cardboard as an excellent source of food especially if the cardboard has glue.
15. Leather
Do roaches eat leather? Roaches are fond of eating animal skin especially if the inside part of the leather which is usually soft.
16. Sugar
Sugar is one of the roach’s attractant at home. Roaches live eating sugar and any type of sugary food. Most DIY baits is made of sugar and poison such as boric acid and baking soda.
17. Termites, Crickets
Roaches tend to feed on other insects such as termites, crickets etc. But rarely do they eat alive insects, they will most likely feed on dead insects.
18. Tomatoes
Do roaches eat tomatoes? Yes, they will eat not just tomatoes but plenty of other vegetables too including fruits.
What Do Cockroaches Eat In the Wild?
From the discussion and throughout the post, it is clear roaches can eat anything they can find. In the wild, roaches feed on decaying plants and animal matter. In the wild, they feed on dead insects, dead tree, backs, dead ants and carcasses. Cockroaches rarely hunt but prefer to move where there is plenty of food source. Remember they can feed on almost anything they find, they are not picky.
What Do Cockroaches Eat In the House?
Cockroaches are not choosy. They eat almost anything. Roaches invade in houses where there is plenty source of food. This includes breads, sugar, meat, fatty foods, crumbs, cheese, milk and among others. Remember, roaches can also feed on your fingernails and hair.
Other than food, roaches in the house will drink also water. It is common to find roaches near the kitchen sink, bathroom and in drains.
How Do Cockroaches Feed?
What is the mode of eating roaches have? Different types of insects have different form of eating. For instance, mosquitoes tend to pierce to suck blood while roaches tend to chew food. They bite and grind solid foods before swallowing. Roaches just like termites, dragonflies, beetle chew their food.
