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Finding even a single cockroach in your home can mean a serious situation. If you’ve discovered one, you’ll want to move fast, beginning with the crucial first step: Identification.

In this short guide, you’ll learn about the 6 types of roaches (with pictures for easy identification) likely to have invaded your home – step #1 in your cockroach battle plan.

Ready? Let’s get to work.

The Different Types of Cockroaches

German Cockroaches

German cockroach pictures

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About:

The German cockroach, Blattella germanica, is the most common nuisance cockroach that people find in their homes. It prefers houses and buildings to any other habitat and reproduces faster than other cockroach species. It’s especially problematic in apartments and other types of shared living spaces.

Though they have wings, they don’t fly; instead, they use their wings to glide. German cockroaches are dangerous in homes because they can spread disease by contaminating food and cooking surfaces. Furthermore, they shed periodically and leave behind egg casings that can cause asthma attacks and trigger allergies.

Appearance:

German roaches are relatively small—approximately 0.5 inches long. An adult German cockroach is light brown and has two dark stripes running down its thorax (the middle section of its body). A juvenile  (called a nymph), on the other hand, is smaller, darker colored, and has a tan stripe running down its back.

Geographic Range

German cockroaches live in many environments worldwide. They can live outdoors in the tropics but prefer to find shelter in people’s homes in cooler climates.

Mode of Entry

Often, German cockroaches are accidentally brought into homes on furniture or in grocery bags, shipping boxes, and drink cartons. In apartment buildings, they can crawl through shared pipes and ducts to infest additional units and quickly become a widespread problem.

Preferred Locations

You’ll most likely find German cockroaches hanging out in your kitchen, bathroom, or any place where food is stored or prepared. They are especially fond of humid areas with temperatures between 70 and 75^oF.

These roaches can squeeze into cracks and crevices to hide near food, water, and sources of heat. If their populations become too large, you might begin to find them in other parts of your home, including bedrooms and closets.

Habits and Reproduction

German cockroaches eat a variety of household items, including book bindings, crumbs, soap, toothpaste, and other scavenged items.

Female German cockroaches lay egg cases, called oothecae, that can contain 30 to 40 eggs each. They produce these egg cases every few weeks (more often during warm weather). On average, a German cockroach lays between 4 and 8 oothecae in its lifetime.

Don’t expect to find these egg cases easily, though: females carry them around until 1 to 2 days before they hatch. Sometimes, a female estimates incorrectly and the eggs hatch while she’s still carrying the ootheca.

A single German cockroach can be responsible for the births of more than 30,000 babies in one year. Typically, nymphs mature in 40 and 125 days. Though not all will survive to adulthood, these cockroaches’ rapid cycles of growth and reproduction can cause infestations to grow and spread quickly. Making proper roach control extremely important.

American Cockroaches

American cockroach pictures

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About

The American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, (also known as the palmetto bug or sewer roach) is also quite common in homes and apartments. However, this roach species prefers the outdoors and is less likely to infest living spaces than German cockroaches. Like German cockroaches, the American roach can spread disease and trigger allergies and asthma. They move rapidly but don’t often use their wings to fly.

Appearance

At up to 2 inches in length, American cockroaches are the largest of the common roaches. Their color is reddish-brown, with a light yellow band outlining their thorax. It’s easy to tell the difference between adults and nymphs because the adults are larger and have wings, while nymphs don’t have wings.

Geographic Range

Despite their name, American cockroaches are native to the African tropics. Today, however, they’re located throughout the United States.

Mode of Entry

American cockroaches typically enter homes through piping from sewers or similar locations. They can crawl through small gaps around windows, doors, or vents to find shelter. They can also enter homes as stowaways in piles of firewood.

Preferred Locations

American cockroaches often live in sewers, storm drains, steam tunnels, water meter boxes, gardens, trash bins, and facilities that raise animals. They like warmth and humidity, especially temperatures above 82 F. Indoors, they hide in laundry rooms, boiler rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. Though they sometimes infiltrate homes, it’s more common to find infestations in grocery stores and restaurants.

Habits and Reproduction

Female American cockroaches carry their oothecae for around 6 days before attaching them to the inner surface of a crack or crevice. Each ootheca contains about 12 to 16 eggs, which might not hatch for 2 months or longer. In a single year, a female can be responsible for more than 800 individuals.

The nymphs mature more slowly than those of other roach species, taking between 65 and 400 days.

American cockroaches prefer a diet of decaying organic matter, but will also eat just about anything, including crumbs and household scraps. Outdoors, they feed on leaves, wood, fungi, algae, and smaller insects.

Oriental Cockroaches

Oriental cockroach pictures

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About

The Oriental cockroach, Blatta orientalis is a dangerous pest that mostly lives outdoors. They are most common in homes that have a lot of vegetation around them. They don’t move as fast as other kinds of roaches and don’t fly. Unable to climb smooth vertical surfaces, they often become trapped in sinks and bathtubs.

Oriental cockroaches are even more unpleasant than other cockroach species because of their diet: garbage, feces, and decaying plant and animal matter.

They stink, too. They spend a lot of time crawling over fecal matter, rotting things, and other bacteria-laden material as they search for food (making them potentially more dangerous than other types of cockroaches). They’ll contaminate food, food preparation areas, and utensils simply by walking over them. Luckily, their odor is strong enough to warn you that your food has been contaminated.

Appearance

Oriental cockroaches are larger than German cockroaches but smaller than American cockroaches, measuring about an inch in length. They’re shiny, and dark brown to black in color. While both males and females possess wings, the wings of female Oriental cockroaches are rudimentary. Males’ wings, meanwhile, are about 25% shorter than their bodies. Nymphs look like small, wingless females.

Geographic Range

The Oriental roach lives in coastal areas worldwide. In the United States, it’s predominantly found in southern, northwestern, and Midwestern states.

Mode of Entry

Oriental cockroaches typically enter homes through gaps around windows, doors, and vents. Some come in through sewer pipes or drains that run through walls to the outside. They might also ride along on firewood from a woodpile they’ve been living in.

Preferred Locations

Oriental cockroaches are often found in cool (below 84 F), damp, dark locations, including woodpiles, trash bins, garages, and basements. They also live among ivy and ground cover, inside meter boxes, and in sewers and drains. These roaches are resilient, and can survive quite well in cooler temperatures.

Indoors, you might find Oriental cockroaches in sink cabinets (especially if pipes are leaking), beneath appliances, and within floors⁵.

Habits and Reproduction

During the day, they tend to remain outside, sometimes entering homes at night to forage.

Oriental cockroaches mature slowly—sometimes, it takes over two years for a nymph to reach adulthood. However, they only live around 180 days. Females carry their ootheca for about a day before depositing it in debris or food. An Oriental cockroach ootheca contains about 16 eggs. Altogether, one female can produce up to eight egg cases, and up to 200 new roaches in a year.

Wood cockroaches

Wood cockroach pictures

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About

There are 12 species of wood cockroach (Parcoblatta), including the Pennsylvania wood cockroach, the Virginia wood cockroach, the Boll’s wood cockroach, and the Broad wood cockroach. All thrive in moist woodlands but can also be found in homes occasionally. Houses situated near forests are especially at risk during the spring and summer. Since they feed on dead wood and other materials, these cockroaches are sometimes brought inside with firewood. However, they can’t survive for long indoors.

Wood cockroaches are different from other cockroach breeds in their attraction to light. Only the males can fly short distances. Like other types of roaches, wood cockroaches can contaminate food and trigger allergies and asthma.

Appearance

Wood cockroaches are about 1 inch long and brown. The edges of some wood cockroaches’ wings are white. Females’ wings are shorter than males’—only about 0.5 inch long. Nymphs, which are smaller than adults, completely lack wings.

Geographic Range

Native to North America, the wood cockroach is found across much of the United States, though it’s less likely to be found in the central part of the country. It also lives in Canada and Mexico.

Mode of Entry

Wood cockroaches infiltrate homes through gaps around windows, doors, and vents during the spring and summer. In the cooler months, they hitch rides on firewood. It’s important to always check your firewood for roach eggs before bringing it into your home.

Preferred Locations

Wood cockroaches are most often found in woodpiles and under the bark of fallen logs and dead trees. Sometimes they congregate near homes in gutters and crawl spaces.

Habits and Reproduction

The diet of wood cockroaches primarily consists of decaying organic matter.

Females deposit their oothecae under the bark of dead trees and fallen logs. The eggs hatch about a month later. Wood cockroaches typically only live for a few months.

Smokybrown Cockroaches

Smokybrown Cockroach Pictures

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About

The smoky brown cockroach, Periplaneta fulginosa, is very sensitive to dehydration and must live near a reliable source of water. It’s a nocturnal creature and will fly away if disturbed. Like the wood cockroach, smoky brown cockroaches are attracted to light.

Appearance

Smokybrown cockroaches are relatively large—approximately 1.5 inches long. They are dark brown to mahogany-colored with a thorax that looks almost black. You can distinguish them from some other types of roaches by looking at their wings, which are longer than their bodies.

Geographic Range

Smokybrown cockroaches are found in the southeastern United States.

Mode of Entry

Smokybrown cockroaches typically climb into homes through vents and plumbing, especially where vegetation touches the home.

Preferred Locations

An outdoor type of roach, they prefer to hang out in gutters, planter boxes, and woodpiles. They also live beneath shingles and siding, inside water meter boxes, in garages, and amongst trees, shrubs, and other vegetation. Sometimes, they even live in sewers. It’s rare but these cockroaches do occasionally enter homes. Then, they’re typically found in attics.

Habits and Reproduction

Females carry their oothecae for a day before depositing them. It takes about 45 days for the 20 or so nymphs to hatch.

Brownbanded Cockroaches

Brownbanded cockroach pictures

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About

The brown banded cockroach, Supella longipalpa, prefers indoor spaces, but is less common than the German cockroach. While females can’t fly, males sometimes flying away from disturbances (though they’re more likely to jump).

Brownbanded cockroaches have a wide-ranging diet, consuming garbage as well as human food. They’re a dangerous pest inside homes because they’re likely to spread bacteria and other contaminants to food and food preparation areas. They also leave behind old skin and egg cases that can trigger allergies and asthma attacks.

Appearance

Brown banded cockroaches have narrow bodies. They’re about 0.5 inches in length (the adult males longer than the females) and have light brown or yellow bands on their abdomens, wings, and the sides of the thorax. Males and females are different colors: males appear to be golden-tan while females are a darker brown.

Males’ wings are longer than their bodies, while females’ wings cover only part of the abdomen. The nymphs are smaller and have two light horizontal bands on their bodies⁵.

Geographic Range

Brown banded cockroaches live across most of the United States.

Mode of Entry

Like German cockroaches, brown banded cockroaches typically get into homes through furniture, grocery bags, food containers, and electronics. They can move between apartment units via shared duct work and piping and can quickly become a serious problem in apartment complexes.

Preferred Locations

You’re most likely to encounter brown banded cockroaches in locations that are warm (around 80^oF), dry, sheltered and higher up, often out of reach. You should inspect around electrical appliances (often in kitchens), beneath clutter, behind wall decorations, and within hollow furniture legs.

Brown banded cockroaches live most commonly in homes that lack air conditioning. They’re also frequently a nuisance in offices or places where lots of paper is stored.

Habits and Reproduction

Brown banded cockroaches and German cockroaches don’t get along; they typically don’t share habitats. Brown banded roaches are nocturnal and don’t seem to care about what they eat, consuming a wide variety of materials, from human food and garbage to fabric (including clothing and curtains), to glue, and even wallpaper.

Brown banded cockroach oothecae contain between 13 and 18 eggs each. Females carry them for about a day to a day and a half, then attach them to ceilings (often in closets) or the undersides of furniture. The oothecae then remain for around 50 days until the eggs hatch.

Brown banded cockroaches have an average lifespan of 13 to 45 weeks. A single female will produce about 14 oothecae in her lifetime, each containing about 13 eggs.

Australian cockroach

Australian cockroach pictures

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About

The Australian cockroach, Periplaneta australasiae, is a species of cockroaches that typically lives outdoors but does occasionally invade people’s homes. It’s large and has long wings that let it fly short distances. Due to its appetite for dead and decaying things, it can pick up bacteria and contaminate your counter tops and pantry foods if it gets inside.

Appearance

Australian cockroaches are similar in size to American cockroaches. You can tell them apart by looking for the distinctive tan ring-like pattern on an Australian roach’s back, just below its head.

These cockroaches grow to about 1 ¼ inches long. They’re one of the biggest bugs you’re likely to find crawling around your house. Don’t be scared—they’re not out to hurt you! They spend almost all of their time hiding.

Geographic Range

The Australian cockroach is distributed globally. In the U.S., the largest populations are located in southern states. They’ll build colonies in tree trunks, piles of wood, water pipes and other damp areas.

Mode of Entry

Australian cockroaches come into homes and other buildings through tiny holes in exterior walls and spaces where a pipe or wiring enters. They hang out in garden mulch and piles of leaves, so they’re already close to your house. As soon as temperatures drop, they’ll look for ways inside.

Preferred Locations

Australian cockroaches mostly live outdoors in warm climates. Their favorite habitats have lots of humidity and high temperatures. Sometimes, they infest greenhouses but don’t pose much of a threat to crops.

They’ll come indoors when temperatures drop too low outside. You might find them in sinks and bathtubs or hiding in cabinets and drains.

Habits and Reproduction

Females hide their egg cases in wet woodpiles and crevices near food and water. Nymphs grow over a period of 6 months to a year. As they grow larger, they molt their old exoskeleton and grow a new one.

They go through several molting stages before reaching adulthood. Adult Australian cockroaches live up six months. A single roach can lay over 20 egg cases and produce hundreds of nymphs in its short lifespan.

Asian cockroach

Asian cockroach pictures

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About

The Asian cockroach, Blattella asahinai, is kind of like the secret twin of the German cockroach. They’re so similar in appearance that even professionals mistook them for German roaches when they were first discovered. Sometimes, they still do!

Appearance

The Australian cockroach is a tiny bug (a little over 1/2 inch long) whose color is mostly light brown. It also has a noticeable pair of dark (almost black) stripes running down its back from its head to the tip of its abdomen. Around these dark strips, it’s body looks like it’s bordered in white.

Geographic Range

The Asian cockroach is a southern species in the U.S. Its biggest populations are in Florida and the surrounding states. Like many people who move to those states, it lives there because of the warmth and humidity.

Mode of Entry

Asian cockroaches are crazy about lights and use their powerful wings to fly toward any nearby light sources. This is the most common reason they enter homes. Otherwise, they’re generally pretty happy staying outside.

You might also run into these cockroaches in your garage or shed since they can easily fit through the gap beneath a garage door or a hole in a shed wall.

Preferred Locations

Asian cockroaches mostly live outdoors in mulch and the shaded areas of people’s lawns. Like other roaches, they feed on decomposing material and garbage, among other things. This leads them to compost piles and landscaping cluttered with leaves or damp mulch.

If they come indoors, they’ll fly toward lights and TV screens. They’ll usually hide close to food sources or in areas with the highest humidity.

Habits and Reproduction

The Asian cockroach feeds on just about anything, from food and garbage to decomposing leaves and other dead insects. Once Asian cockroaches infest an area, they quickly push out any other cockroach species.

Female Asian cockroaches lay about 37 eggs in each egg case they produce. Despite an average lifespan of under 6 months, these roaches still manage to reproduce and spread quickly.

Adult populations are largest during the late summer. In some parts of Florida, hundreds of thousands of Asian cockroaches have been found in a single acre.

Suggested Products If You Have a Roach Problem

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Recommended for German cockroaches and Brown banded cockroaches, as well as American cockroaches (Palmetto bugs, Water bugs, Tree roaches, Sewer roaches), and Oriental cockroaches when they enter in large numbers.

To Kill Cockroaches Outdoors Before They Have a Chance to Get Inside

Recommended for American cockroaches (Palmetto bugs, Water bugs, Tree roaches, Sewer roaches), Oriental cockroaches, and Smokybrown cockroaches.

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Conclusion

The first step in any pest control strategy is to find out exactly what you’re up against. Here, we’ve covered important details about the six different types of cockroaches you’re most likely to run into in or around your home.

With this information, you’ll be able to identify the types of roaches you see and find where they’re hiding. You’ll also know how dangerous they might be and how serious the problem is. Armed with this knowledge, you’re ready to tackle your cockroach problem head-on.

Good luck!

Frequently Asked Questions

Written by Andrew Martin. Reviewed by Rae Osborn, PhD.

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Sources:

1. Rust, M.K. and Reierson, D.A. (2007) Cockroaches. Pests of Homes, Structures, People, and Pets. Retrieved from http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7467.html.
2. Potter, Michael F. (2018) Cockroach Elimination in Homes and Apartments. Entomology at the University of Kentucky. Retrieved from https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef614.
3. Hahn, Jeffrey and Ascerno, Mark. (2018) Cockroaches. University of Minnesota Extension. Retrieved from https://extension.umn.edu/insects-infest-homes/cockroaches.
4. McLeod, Robin. (2005) Genus Parcoblatta – Wood Cockroaches. BugGuide. Retrieved from https://bugguide.net/node/view/31624.
5. Wood Cockroach (n.d.) Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Retrieved from https://hortnews.extension.iastate.edu/wood-cockroach
6. University of Georgia’s Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health (Bugwood Images collection).

Cockroach Facts is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Introduction

Lots of bugs find their way into our homes. And many look a lot alike. So it’s not unusual to mistake harmless bugs for harmful ones, or to find a harmful bug and be unsure.

Baby roaches are bugs that fall into the harmful category. And if you find them, they need to be dealt with quickly. But to do that, you’ll want to know what you’re dealing with. What do baby roaches look like? Let’s see.

Also see: “Found a Baby Cockroach? Here’s What To Do,” and “Baby Roach Pictures: An Easy Visual Guide,” and “What Does a Cockroach Look Like?“

How to Recognize a Baby Cockroach

Though most people are familiar with one or two cockroach species, there are about thirty that typically invade our homes. Of those, only a handful are considered harmful pests. All of them have common characteristics that can help you to identify them as cockroaches – and that goes for the babies as well the adults.

What do baby roaches look like? In a general way (or a very specific way if you’re dealing with the baby German roach below) roach babies will look like this:

All baby roaches will have:

1. Two long, thin antennae.
2. A head bent downward, along with mouth parts that point backwards.
3. Six spiny legs (with feet that allow them to climb walls and climb along the undersides of things).
4. Two small appendages at the base of their body called cerci (which on tiny baby cockroaches, may be all but impossible to see).
5. A flattened, hard-shelled body, without wings (Many cockroach species do have wings, but only develop them later, as they’re about to enter adulthood).

Identifying the Most Common Baby Roaches

The Baby German Cockroach

What do baby German roaches look like?

Nearly oval in shape, the baby German cockroach will have a flat, hard-shelled body, six spiny legs, a distinctly separate head, and the appearance of horizontal bands or segments across its body (when you look very closely). Like adult German cockroaches, it has two long, thin antennae, but unlike the adult, doesn’t have wings.

It’s usually dark brown in color, with a lighter brown color down the middle of its back. The brown you see is the darkest the German cockroach nymph will ever get. Over the next sixty days, it will molt several times, initially appearing white as it emerges from its old shell, and then darkening (to lighter shades of brown) as the new shell hardens.

Baby German Roach Images:

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The Baby American Cockroach

What do baby American roaches look like?

Oblong in shape, the baby American cockroach will have six spiny legs, long thin antennae, and a flattened, hard-shelled body divided into three sections. Like American cockroach adults, they have appendages called cerci at the base of their bodies (similar to but smaller than those of earwigs), but unlike adults, have no wings.

They’re reddish brown in color and when examined closely, can be seen to have darker shaded edging on the segments across their backs.

How big is a baby American Cockroach? Nymphs will be as small or smaller than the diameter of a penny (under 2cm) and grow on average to 4cm long.

Baby American Roach Images:

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The Baby Oriental Cockroach

What do baby Oriental roaches look like?

Oblong in shape, the baby Oriental cockroach will have six spiny legs, medium-length antennae, and a shiny, flattened, hard-shelled body. They have cerci like adult Oriental cockroaches, but don’t have wings.

They’re reddish-brown in color and their bodies have a distinct pattern of light and somewhat darker colored bands.

How big is a baby Oriental Cockroach? Nymphs will be about 6mm before their first molt – about the size of a grain of rice.

Baby Oriental Roach Images:

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The Baby Brown-Banded Cockroach

What do baby Brown-Banded roaches look like?

Squatly oblong, the baby brown-banded cockroach will have six spiny legs, long slender antennae, and a shiny, hard-shelled body. They’re tan to dark brown in color and are distinctive in the cockroach world for two broad brownish bands that run across their abdomens.

How big is a baby brown-banded cockroach? Even the adult brown-banded cockroach is quite small. Nymphs will be about 3mm before their first molt – about the size of a small grain of rice.

Baby Brown-Banded Roach Images:

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The Baby White Roach

What do baby white roaches look like?

Though not a separate species, you may rarely come across a baby white cockroach. These are roaches that are either newly hatched, or are in the process of a molt, having just shed their old shell. Looking something like a worm, a larva, or even a strange, wingless albino cockroach, these temporarily pure white roaches are easy to identify when you understand what you’ve found.

Baby White Roach Images:

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Suggested Products If You Have a Baby Roach Problem

To Find Cockroach Hiding Spots and Kill Adults and Nymphs Quickly When You Have Just a Few

Recommended for all cockroaches

To Kill Baby and Adult Cockroaches When You Have a Serious Problem

Recommended for German cockroaches and Brown banded cockroaches, as well as American cockroaches (Palmetto bugs, Water bugs, Tree roaches, Sewer roaches), and Oriental cockroaches when they enter in large numbers.

To Kill Cockroaches Outdoors Before They Have a Chance to Get Inside

Recommended for American cockroaches (Palmetto bugs, Water bugs, Tree roaches, Sewer roaches), Oriental cockroaches, and Smokybrown cockroaches.

Baby Roaches vs. Other Bugs

Some bugs resemble baby roaches, and can easily be mistaken for them. Here, we’ll cover some bugs that look like baby roaches and point out the way they differ.

Crickets

What do baby roaches look like vs. Crickets?

Crickets, because they are small, dark in color, and have spiny legs, can be confused for cockroaches. However, crickets have very large, strong back legs that extend above their bodies. They use these to jump to heights a cockroach never could. If the bug you’ve discovered has these large powerful back legs and jumps extraordinarily high, it’s a cricket, not a baby cockroach.

Crickets are also loud and are known for their high-pitched chirping. Cockroaches, by comparison, are very quiet.

Beetles

What do baby cockroaches look like vs. beetles?

It’s also easy to mistake cockroaches for beetles. Both have a squat, oval frame. However, the over 350,000 species of beetles often have more colorful and varied markings than the few species of cockroaches you’re likely to encounter. Brown or black beetles pose an identification problem, though.

Fortunately, beetles share a few characteristics that distinguish them from cockroaches. With the exception of the longhorn beetle, their legs and antennae are shorter than those of the cockroach and their protective top wings are harder. They don’t have the filament-like rear appendages called cerci roaches do.

Beetles also move much more slowly than baby roaches, which can run at extraordinary speeds.

Bed Bugs

What do baby roaches look like vs. bed bugs?

Bed bugs also look a bit like a cockroach nymph. They are both often reddish brown, wingless, and rather oval-shaped. To distinguish a baby cockroach vs bed bug, take a closer look at the body shape and the antennae. Bed bugs tend to be shorter and rounder than cockroach babies. Bed bugs also have shorter antennae than cockroaches.

Tips for Identifying Baby Roaches

If you suspect there are baby roaches in your home, slip on a pair of gloves and try to catch or kill one if you can. Since German roaches and Brown-banded roaches are very small even as adults, size (as in being very tiny) is a good first clue that it may be one of those. Next look at color, along with some of the distinctive markings described above and elsewhere.

Finally, it’s important that you not only identify the bug you’ve found, but take steps to protect your home, if it does turn out to be a cockroach. Because when everything’s said and done, what do baby roaches look like?

Trouble.

Written by Andrew Martin. Reviewed by Rae Osborn, PhD.

Introduction

If you’ve discovered a bug you suspect to be a baby roach, you’ll want to identify it quickly, then make plans to deal with it – fast. To help you do that, we’ve assembled a collection of baby roach pictures to use as a handy DIY guide.

The images are arranged in sets to make identification easier, and include brief descriptions about the most common baby roaches (German, American, Oriental, Brown-Banded and Smoky Brown) that you’re likely to encounter.

Also see: “Found a Baby Cockroach? Here’s What To Do,” and ” What Do Baby Roaches Look Like?“

Baby German Roach Pictures

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Baby German roaches are among the smallest that invade our homes. Even when mature, German roaches are quite small. But at early stages of development the babies (known as nymphs) are absolutely tiny – as small as the head of a pin when they first hatch.

Like all cockroaches, baby German roaches are white at hatching, but quickly darken and turn brown, with a banded appearance and a light-colored splotch that runs partially up the center of their backs. Baby German roaches are mostly oval-shaped, and differ from adults in color (they’re darker), markings, and the fact that they don’t yet have wings.

Baby American Cockroach Pictures

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Baby American roaches are much larger than their German cousins, measuring about 1/8″ long when hatched. The nymphs are white after hatching, then turn grayish-brown until their second growth phase (known as an instar), when their bodies become reddish-brown. Like the baby German cockroach, the bodies of American cockroach nymphs have a banded appearance, and they remain wingless until mature.

Baby Oriental Roach Pictures

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Baby Oriental cockroaches are white when newly hatched, but soon turn a pale brown color, which eventually darkens as they mature. Their bodies have a banded appearance, which becomes less pronounced the darker they become. Newly hatched Oriental roaches can be up to 6mm long – about the size of a grain of rice. Click on the baby roach pictures above for an expanded view, and more detail.

Baby Brown-Banded Cockroach Pictures

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Like baby German cockroaches, baby Brown-Banded roaches are quite small – just 1/8″ long at birth. They have dark-colored heads, light-colored bodies, and a banded appearance, with bodies that broaden at the base. Baby Brown-Banded roaches have two white bands between their head and midsection, that make them easy to identify.

Baby Smoky Brown Roach Pictures

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While Smoky Brown roach adults are uniformly brown, baby Smoky Brown roaches start off white (right after hatching), turn black, then become brown-colored with a prominent white segment just before their midsection. As they grow older, they lose their pattern. Though Smoky Brown roach adults grow large, nymphs (as in the baby roach pictures above) can be as small as a single millimeter in length.

Baby Australian Roach Pictures

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Similar in appearance to the baby American cockroach, the baby Australian roach is reddish-brown, and wingless until mature. Unlike the American baby roach however, the Australian baby roach has a pattern of distinctive light yellow spots. Australian cockroach nymphs can be as small as 1/8 inch in length.

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Written by Andrew Martin. Reviewed by James Miksanek, PhD.