Cockroaches just like any other pests go through stages of development. It starts with the egg, nymphs and finally the adult. Baby roaches are the ones in their nymph stage. Do you know how baby roaches look like?
What Do Baby Cockroach Look Like?
Baby roaches look like their adults but tend to appear smaller. In terms of color, depending on the type of roach species, it could be black- brown as in the case of American cockroaches. With time, as they grow, baby roaches shed their exoskeletons and the color changes to reddish-brown.
Baby cockroach or the nymph of different types of cockroaches tend to vary in length ranging from an eighth of an inch long as in the case of German cockroach babies to approximately three-eighths as in the case of a nymph of a smoky brown cockroach.
There is so much to learn about babies roaches including their diet, if the fly, whether they bite, and bugs mistaken for baby roaches. Learn more in this post.
Baby Roaches Pictures
To understand how baby roaches look like, carefully look at the following pictures. There are more throughout the post.
Where Do Baby Roaches Come From?
The nymphs are hatches from eggs produced by the female roaches in cases called ootheca. Each egg hatches a single nymph. In some cases, the egg might not hatch as a result of both environmental and biological factors.
Do Baby Roaches Fly?
Obviously No! The baby roaches are still in development stage therefore cannot fly. The wings of a nymph are underdeveloped or do not exist at all. Some adult roaches have the ability to use their wings to fly or even glide.
Can Baby Roaches Jump?
It is not possible for baby roaches to jump since their legs are not adapted to do so. In fact, no single cockroach species is able to leap up to 50 lengths of its body.
What Do Baby Cockroaches Eat?
Just like the adult roaches, the nymphs feed on almost anything. This include rotten food and anything they find in trash and garbage. As soon as they are hatched, they begin fending for themselves. In most cases, the female cockroach will hatch the nymph near the source of food. Such places include the kitchen drawers, cabinets, near or under the fridge, pantry etc.
Do Baby Roaches Move Fast?
Are baby roaches fast? Baby roaches do move quickly. In fact, they are almost as fast as their parents. The movement is to help them to run and hide from impending danger and search for food just like the adults.
How Long Do Baby Roaches Stay Babies?
Just like many other insects, roaches go through several molting processes at different stages to reach adulthood. The nymph hatch from their eggs from the 20th to 60th day. The nymphs will develop wings through a series of molts before they fully develop into adults.
In between the molting process, there is a transitional phase called an instar. Here, the nymph will go up to 6 – 7 instar before finally becoming an adult. The whole process takes about 40 and 160 days. This however, depends on the species of the cockroach and the external factors such as temperature.
How Big Are Baby Roaches?
The size of baby roach depends on the type of roach species. It ranges between an eight and three-eighth inches in length.
For a German cockroach, the nymph are around an eighth of an inch long while for American roach the nymph is slightly bigger, about a quarter of an inch.
When you look at the hissing roaches, the nymph is one-quarter of an inch long whereas in the case of Oriental cockroaches, they are also a quarter of an inch in length.
What Do Different Type of Baby Roaches Look Like?
Here, let’s look how different types of baby roaches look like.
Nymphs of a German Cockroach
How does the baby roach of a German cockroach look like? The nymphs are usually dark-brown almost black in color. The nymph is flat, has hard-shelled body, nearly oval in shape. Just like most insects, the baby roach has 6 legs with a distinct separate head and 2 long antennae. The nymph do not have wings.
Baby American Cockroach
In terms of color, the nymph of an American cockroach is black-brown. Their shape is oblong. The body is flattened, hard-shelled; have 6 legs and 2 long antennae. They too do not have wings.
Baby Australian Cockroach
The nymph from Australian roaches are much smaller than the adults. They have yellow spots along their backs. The baby roaches too do not have wings just like the other different species.
Smoky Brown Baby Roach
In terms of color, the nymph are much darker than the adults. They also two white stripes on their body. The tip of their antennas are also whitish.
Baby Hissing Cockroach
At birth, the nymph of a baby hissing roach is completely white. But as they grow and this happen when the exoskeleton begins to harden just in a few hours, the nymph darkens. At birth when the nymph is still whitish, you can clearly see the big, black eyes of the baby roach.
Brown-Banded Cockroach Baby
The nymphs of a brown-branded cockroach resemble the adult. They have a brown body; two wide light bands behind the head. Their body is oblong with 3 pairs of legs and 2 slim antennae. The body is shiny and a hard-shelled.
Bugs that can be mistaken for Baby Cockroaches
A baby roach can be mistaken in most case for bed bugs especially the nymph of a German cockroach. There are no other bugs that can be mistaken for baby roaches mainly because of the difference in size.
Baby Cockroach vs Bed Bug
You cannot possibly mistake an adult cockroach for a bed bug. However, in some cases one can mistake a baby roach for a bed bug. It is important to know the difference. Here are the differences that will help you differentiate a bed bug and a baby roach
In terms of size, baby cockroaches are usually smaller then bed bugs. The bodies of bed bugs appear flatter and more oval with a shorter antennae in comparison to a nymph.
A bed bug has distinct eyes that tend to stick out from the rest of the body.
