Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

While a number of venomous animals paralyze prey as live food for their young, the Emerald Cockroach wasp is slightly different, in that it initially leaves it’s cockroach victim mobile; and modifies it’s victim’s behavior in a very unique way.

As early as the 1940s, female Emerald Cockroach wasps have been used as natural exterminators, against cockroach pests. When it attacks, this natural pest control provider will sting the cockroach two times, delivering a powerful venom. In 2003, a study showed that the wasp is able to sting directly into specific ganglia of the cockroach, paralyzing the front legs. This strike allows for a second venomous sting, which is delivered to a carefully chosen area in the cockroach’s brain; specifically the region that controls the escape reflex. As a result of this second attack, the cockroach will become sluggish, and fail to show normal escape responses.

At this point, the Emerald Cockroach wasp will proceed to chew off half of each of the cockroach’s antennae. It is believed that this is done to replenish fluids, or to regulate the amount of venom released; by the natural pest control provider. The wasp, which is obviously too small to carry the paralyzed cockroach, then leads it’s hapless victim back to the wasp’s burrow, by pulling on one of the roach’s antennae. Much like walking a dog, on a leash. Once the two have reached the burrow, the Emerald Cockroach wasp will lay a single white egg (approx. 2 mm long), on the cockroach’s abdomen. It then leaves the burrow and fills in the entrance with pebbles, more to keep other predators out; than to keep it’s helpless victim in.

With the escape reflex disabled, the helpless cockroach lays in the burrow, while the Emerald Cockroach wasp’s egg hatches; in approximately three days. The hatched larva then lives and feeds for up to 5 days on the cockroach, chewing its way into it’s victim’s abdomen. Over the next eight days, the Emerald Cockroach wasp larva will consume the victim’s internal organs, in an systematic manner which will guarantee that the cockroach remains alive until the larva enters the pupal stage; and forms a cocoon inside the hollowed-out body. Eventually, the fully grown wasp will emerge from the cockroach’s carcass, and begins its adult life as an exterminator of cockroaches; and provider of natural insect control services.

The End.

Related articles

• Revenge of the Zombifying Wasp (blogs.scientificamerican.com)
• Can Cockroaches Jump? Meet the Leaproach. (blogpestcontrol.com)
• Roach Control Services (bulwarkpestcontrol.om)

Yes. The cockroach can jump… well at lest the Leaproach can jump, and up to 50 times it’s own length!

 

But this unique roach is the only 1 of ~4000 known roach species that can jump. While a few roach cousins like the American Cockroach are equipped with wings and do fly, the Leaproach has no wings. The secret to the roach jumpers success lies in it’s knees, modified with rubber-band-like resilin. Other differences from most cockroach species are in the antennae and eyes. The antennae also have an additional fixation point to apparently help with navigation. The eye’s are more rounded, perhaps an aerodynamic feature, and larger, possibly helping in sight for better landing. Oh one more distinction of honor for this particular roach…

Leaproach Awarded Top 10 New Species of 2011

According to the local Phoenix school of Arizona State University, the Jumping Roach made the top 10 New Species list for 2011! Who would of ever thought that cockroach would win a popularity contest? Hats off the this modern bug who is setting a new precedents for roaches everywhere.

And if you need Phoenix Roach Control then try Bulwark Exterminating… Shameless I know.

Make it a great day!

Related articles

• Leaping Cockroach Gets Around on Spring-Loaded Knees (wired.com)
• Leaping cockroach jumps as high as a grasshopper (newscientist.com)
• Cockroach Infestation Takes Police Cruisers Off The Road (boston.cbslocal.com)

Transcript from Roach Control-How Roaches get in your sink:

“The roaches come in from out here; they shoot up underneath the J-rail, and start infesting inside the walls.”

“Roaches are thigmatropic, thigmatropic. You can say that however you want to say, thigmatropic, however you want to say it. I believe that’s the correct spelling, if it’s not, you know, who cares. But, this word right here means that they prefer to have pressure on three sides of their body at all times. It’s the way that they feel safe”.

“I’ll give you an example: Mammals, we use our vision to feel safe. If we put a blind fold over Riley’s head. And tell him to walk across, the freeway? He’s going to take that blind fold off before he walks across the freeway. He doesn’t feel safe. Well, most invertebrates like roaches, scorpions, crickets; they don’t feel safe unless they have pressure on three sides of their bodies, it’s how they’ve survived for so long. They stay in cracks and crevices. It’s different with mammals, we rely in vision. I tell you this because it’s not normal for the roaches to come out. They prefer to never come out. They would prefer never to see the homeowner. Just never, ever come out. They always want to stay; they don’t want to walk across that freeway with a blind fold on, okay? I’m trying to explain this.”

“But, it gets so crowded back there and so populous that they start coming out. They start to be forced out. They’re cannibalistic. They’ll eat each other. The weaker ones are going to flee. So, they won’t run out along this pipeline and hang out inside the cabinet, a lot of times, they’ll, they’ll, there’s a backing to the actual cabinetry. It’s not the sheetrock, in most cabinetry, there’s a backing. And it’s maybe just an eighth of an inch between the sheetrock and the backing of the cabinet, and that backing is a great location for roaches to hang out, between the cabinets and the wall itself. So, they’ll hang out in between there, and at night when it’s dark, they might run up around up onto the sink, looking for soap scum, looking for toothpaste, things like that, okay- Hair follicles off the, you know, off of a hair brush.”

“Every now and then, one falls into the sink at night and runs around, but cannot get out because the sides are too slick. Eventually, the sun starts coming up and he says I’ve got to get out of here, so he shoots down the drain and hangs out right by the water; he’s like cool, new place, going to inhabit this place, okay? He can’t get all the way down into the sewer because this is what’s called a P-trap right here, it’s always filled with water, that’s what the green represents. The water prevents gases from the sewer lines and pests like roaches and mice from coming up the drain.”

“These roaches will never come up the drain. And then Betsy comes in, in the morning time, turns on the water, she sees no roaches, right? And she turns on the water; the water comes out of the spicket, out of the spicket, into the drain and starts to flood this guy, so he comes running out and she thinks she thinks roaches are coming out of her drain. But, they’re not. The roaches are infested in her wall. One fell into her drain and was hiding there for her because he couldn’t get back out.

- Bulwark Exterminating Roach Control

Transcript from How Roaches Infest-Roach Control:

Roach Control Professional: “- storm drain system: Because the fact is, is that the roaches in every metropolitan city in the United States, these roaches, American roaches and oriental cockroaches, called “water bugs”, breed and thrive in the sewer lines. But, the problem that we have here in the desert is that- these sewer lines- we go a long time without rain, and they dry out. In the heat of the summer, the sewer lines will dry out.” “These water bugs require water, right? They don’t swim in it, but they need to be in a moist environment, a warm, damp, moist environment, preferably dark. So they, at a very warm period of time, in the summer, they start exiting through the storm drains, that’s this right here, or through the actual sewer manhole. And they run because the street is hot, a lot of times exodus is at nighttime, and if you’re out at night, sometimes you can actually see them do this. If you watch and become aware, they exodus, they make this big exodus off the hot pavement, looking for some place to hide, right? They go right into the rock. You know how the rock out here in the yard is, it’s easy to get under it.” “So they get up underneath the rock where there’s some moisture in the soil up underneath the rock until they find a plant with a water dripper on it. Now, that’s what this little red thing is, its a little water dripper.” “We’ve talked about how plants need water and how they’re fed, they’re watered every two to three days, and how the moisture underneath the plant is always there.” “So, now our water bugs left the sewer because of a lack of water and the heat of the summer, came into the yards, and have infested all of the yards in your neighborhood. This is the reason you guys see water bugs when you walk around outside in the evening time, or your evening walks. Because your neighborhood is infested, all of the yards in the neighborhood are infested with water bugs.” “Now, they breed out here and they do really well and they thrive, but expanding populations always do just that, expand. And in the very dead of the summer, when we’re talking one hundred and ten, one hundred and fifteen degrees, these rocks are in direct sunlight right here, and they get so hot that the roaches start looking for better places to live. It gets actually too hot for them. So, they proceed to look for a shady place, and often find places next to the house shady; this purple stuff you see coming out of the wall here is moist air.” “We talked about how there’s condensation on the exterior walls of stucco homes and how there’s a J-rail here, and how it’s open, and how moist air escapes so that we don’t get black mold in the wall? Well, this moist air escaping, not visible to the eye but sensible to an insect, draws these roaches, plus the darkness and the shade, up into the J-rail, up into the wall.” - Bulwark Exterminating Roach Control

Transcript from How Roaches Infest-Roach Control:

Roach Control Professional:

“- storm drain system: Because the fact is, is that the roaches in every metropolitan city in the United States, these roaches, American roaches and oriental cockroaches, called “water bugs”, breed and thrive in the sewer lines. But, the problem that we have here in the desert is that- these sewer lines- we go a long time without rain, and they dry out. In the heat of the summer, the sewer lines will dry out.”

“These water bugs require water, right? They don’t swim in it, but they need to be in a moist environment, a warm, damp, moist environment, preferably dark. So they, at a very warm period of time, in the summer, they start exiting through the storm drains, that’s this right here, or through the actual sewer manhole. And they run because the street is hot, a lot of times exodus is at nighttime, and if you’re out at night, sometimes you can actually see them do this. If you watch and become aware, they exodus, they make this big exodus off the hot pavement, looking for some place to hide, right? They go right into the rock. You know how the rock out here in the yard is, it’s easy to get under it.”

“So they get up underneath the rock where there’s some moisture in the soil up underneath the rock until they find a plant with a water dripper on it. Now, that’s what this little red thing is, its a little water dripper.”

“We’ve talked about how plants need water and how they’re fed, they’re watered every two to three days, and how the moisture underneath the plant is always there.”

“So, now our water bugs left the sewer because of a lack of water and the heat of the summer, came into the yards, and have infested all of the yards in your neighborhood. This is the reason you guys see water bugs when you walk around outside in the evening time, or your evening walks. Because your neighborhood is infested, all of the yards in the neighborhood are infested with water bugs.”

“Now, they breed out here and they do really well and they thrive, but expanding populations always do just that, expand. And in the very dead of the summer, when we’re talking one hundred and ten, one hundred and fifteen degrees, these rocks are in direct sunlight right here, and they get so hot that the roaches start looking for better places to live. It gets actually too hot for them. So, they proceed to look for a shady place, and often find places next to the house shady; this purple stuff you see coming out of the wall here is moist air.”

“We talked about how there’s condensation on the exterior walls of stucco homes and how there’s a J-rail here, and how it’s open, and how moist air escapes so that we don’t get black mold in the wall? Well, this moist air escaping, not visible to the eye but sensible to an insect, draws these roaches, plus the darkness and the shade, up into the J-rail, up into the wall.”

- Bulwark Exterminating Roach Control

You haven’t really made it big in a place like Hollywood or New York City until you’ve been a guest on any of the late-night talk shows. Leno, Letterman and Conan, among others, are the milestones to many up-and-comers and been-there-done-thats that keep those names relevant to us, the wanting public.

This week a very special and well-deserved guest made his, or her, debut to late-night television. The Madagascar Hissing Cockroach made a guest appearance on Chelsea Handler’s “Chelsea Lately” show. Chelsea herself was actually absent, so funnyman and Leno sidekick Ross Matthews filled in as host. Animal enthusiast Mireya Mayor couldn’t get it to actually hiss, but it did a great job of scaring the laughs out of Mr. Matthews.

This about mirrored our first encounter with our very own Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. We bought him, or her, online from an online pest farm based in Ohio. We only assume that they (we bought 2) were imported straight from Madagascar. At least we like to think so. And we got ours to really hiss though!

*Did You Know: The head portion of the Madagascar Cockroach is said to be what George Lucas used to patten the design of Darth Vader’s helmet.

May the Hiss be with you!

In all honesty, Who wants a roach named after them? On Valentine's day or any other day of the year? If you want to save this species or learn more about them then go buy one online. Yes, you can buy one online, an for a cheaper price then naming one.

Flowers Wilt. Chocolates Melt. And you better not invite Bulwark Exterminating over to ruin your forever Roaches.

National Cockroach Race Day is Wednesday, Jan. 26th.  To honor this absolutely fabulous day, Bulwark Exterminating is sponsoring its first ever #RoachRace on Twitter.  What exactly is a #RoachRace you ask?

It’s actually quite simple.  Sponsors (Contestants) will claim a specific cockroach species.  German Cockroach.  Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.  American Cockroach. Etc, etc.

Sponsors will then be assigned a corresponding hashtag. #BulwarkGermanRoach. #BulwarkHissingRoach. #BulwarkAmericanRoach. Etc, etc.

That assigned roach hashtag  will be coupled with the hashtag #RoachRace

Now comes the race.  Contestants will have the task on Wednesday to see how many tweets and retweets they can get with their assigned hashtag.  The contestant with the most mentions of their hashtag…wins!

What’s the prize?  Well, since we’re not really in a position to take bets and disclose odds and spreads and stuff like that, we’re giving away one of @tshirtSEO’s famed and highly coveted t-shirts.  These shirts were recently featured on ABC’s Now@9 morning show in Phoenix.

All sponsors will receive a Roach Pest Control t-shirt, featuring our super cool roach logo.  We’ll also throw in a 10-pack of glue traps from PestProJoe.com.  And of course they will get lots of props, mentions, and thank you’s.  This is all stuff money can’t buy, folks!

And if you happen to be in the Phoenix area, we’ll even treat you to a nice lunch.

Last but not least, don’t forget to follow us on twitter and like us on facebook.

There are a number of reasons to use baits over sprays.  One of which is that many insects (i.e. cockroaches, crickets, spiders, and ticks) may have quicker reflexes then you. So trying to spray them with a can of RAD may not hit them. But there is even a better reason to use baits. Baits have a great transfer rate. And if the family of bugs shares the bait then you will knock out the entire colony! So baits are often the better choice. Just sit back and relax. Let the bait do its magic. Sure it may take a little longer for that roach to turn upside, but when dealing with a roach problem wouldn’t rather have 1000 dead roaches over 1 sprayed roach? Just thought you’d like to know.

Thanks for visiting and if you need more pest control tips, then don’t hesitate to ask.

Try Joe’s for your Do it Yourself Pest Control needs.