Pest Control and Bug Exterminator Blog

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…

Leapingroach wins Award for New Species 2011

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 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

My name is Luke and this story is about my first day on the job 2 years ago. I was an eager young lad ready for some hard work and had just been hired by the Atlanta Branch as a field technician. Like most employees on their first day out in the field, I was both nervous and excited. One of my advisors, Ben Montez, had just taught me how to drive a stick shift and I was ready to conquer the world. Picking up my paper work, I read through for the challenges of the next day so I could make sure I had everything I needed. A couple exterior sprays, a couple of ant mounds, and a German Cockroach account in Cumming. Sounds easy.

The next day went pretty smoothly – I was a new face for the company so there plenty of people to meet. The day went by very fast – it was relatively hot outside and was around 4 p.m. before I arrived at my last home, just on time. I walked up to the door and knocked when a young woman and her husband answered the door. “Hi! I’m here to help with the cockroach problem!” They smiled politely and welcomed me into their home. I took off my shoes and they proceeded to take me into the kitchen. A warm and curious smell entered my nostrils.  Mmm, I thought to myself…chicken.

They offered me a glass of juice and began to tell me a little bit about their problem. “I see a lot of roaches around the sink area, and if I wake up in the middle of the night to grab something, they are like everywhere, you know?” I nodded to myself. That would make sense, the kitchen is an area with heavy moisture and most roaches are nocturnal. According to my manual, roaches need moisture to survive and it’s likely they have infiltrated the cabinets. I pulled up my sleeves and prepared for an inspection. Armed with a flashlight and special bait formula, I decided to check under the sink first. Between the brillo pads and Windex bottle, I saw the yellow orange glow of what appeared to be some sort of shell. Being new to the job, this was a discovery the likes of which only Sherlock could have appreciated … my first egg capsule! I was getting closer to the source …

After I was done reviewing the immediate area around the sink, I had to stand up and stretch. I reached for my glass of juice and took a sip. What is that wonderful smell? As I set my glass down I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. Standing between the sugar and some coffee filters was a tiny little cockroach staring back at me – I felt my heart skip a beat. If I can follow this thing, I’ll know exactly where they are coming from. As I moved in closer, the little guy scuttled behind a blender at the edge of the counter top. Happy to follow, I slowly picked up the blender and was surprised to find five more underneath. I was about to explode with excitement when all of them took off the counter and onto the wall behind the fridge. “Aha!” I thought to myself. I recruited the woman’s husband to help me pull out the fridge and grabbed my flashlight. What I was about to see has haunted me in my dreams ever since.

I couldn’t understand what was happening at first, but I’ll try my best to explain it. I poked my head behind the fridge and pointed the flashlight down. A large black vibrating mass began to scatter as about a hundred or so cockroches looked back up at me. In absolute shock and horror, I took a step back to catch up with my mind. That was when the walls started to move. I thought I was hallucinating at first and wondered if the family had put something in my juice. The lights began to flicker and to make matters worse, the woman began shouting nervously in her native language which really freaked me out. I took a couple steps back and heard a thick series of ‘crunches’ beneath the weight of my foot. I looked down to find previous white socks now covered with roaches. The woman continued to yell and started scooping up her crying children from the kitchen table as I looked around nervously for something to grab. I found a broom and began sweeping furiously against the flow of roaches as they made their way across the kitchen floor. Eventually the strength and size of the mass dwindled, as they began to scuttle back to various hiding places throughout the kitchen and cabinetry. The family had began to calm down and the blood was slowly returning to my face when I decided to step out and call some of the other technicians for advice.

Long story short, I scheduled a free follow-up visit after treating the residence and the family’s problem was solved. I however, have a harder time sleeping at night and can no longer stomach the smell of the chicken.