Wood Roach

bugman

April 1st, 2010 at 12:22 am

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Thinking the worst, hoping for the best.
March 31, 2010
When I first saw this bug it was at night & it flew from my hallway to my livingroom. By the time I went to get a container to catch it to find out what it was, it was gone. About ten minutes later it was flying towards one of my livingroom lights. As I attempted to catch it, it ran pretty quickly on the floor. My husband has tried to calm my nerves by saying that it’s just a water bug that’s come in the house. We live in the country & we recently had high water & our septic backed up in the yard because of the creek behind the house. I don’t believe him & think that it’s a type of roach. This is the largest one that I’ve seen in the house. & the last time that I saw a similar bug was over 2 years ago when we had high water & our septic pipes f ell. I have two young children & am worried that I may have the start of an infestation. I put a 32v standard auto fuse (sorry no coins near by) beside it to show you how big it is.
Nervous Ninny
Eastern Ohio

Wood Roach

Dear Nervous Ninny,
Calm your nerves. Yes it is a Cockroach, but luckily it is not a species that infests homes. This is a Wood Roach in the genus Parcoblatta. Wood Roaches are much happier outside in the woods, but they are attracted to light. Again, let us reiterate that Wood Roaches do not infest homes. You can read more about them on BugGuide. You are our third letter today from Ohio, including one from our home town Youngstown. We wonder, perhaps, if there was some local publicity.

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Comments 1

joeybean424 wrote:
I was also wondering what kind of bug this was. I live in Cincinnati, Ohio and within the past 2 weeks, my garage has become infested with them. I thought we had some how gotten cockroaches, I never heard of the wood one’s before. Then, tonight, a HUGE one was on our wall and when I went to kill it, it took off flying……….scarey! We don’t have any firewood or wood around our house, but a few months ago, I bought about 10 bags of dog food……I was wondering if they could have been brought in with them.
Posted 21 May 2010 at 12:05 am ¶