Are you looking for an answer to this question: Can cockroach eggs stick to your clothes? If it is so, then you have found the proper essay.
In this unit, I will tell you why cockroaches lay eggs on our clothes and how we can protect our clothes from these tiny insects.
Here you will find only valid information as I have been working on cockroaches for a long time, and believe me, you will not be disappointed.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s get started, as there is much more to discover!
Can Cockroach Eggs Stick to Your Clothes?
Cockroaches produce an egg mass carrying more than one egg. This egg mass is often referred to as ootheca or egg bag. Although ootheca is composed of a material that lacks the property of glue, some female roaches use their mouth-watering to stick their eggs to your clothes. Moreover, cockroaches can also lay eggs on your clothes.
Moreover, cockroaches love to hide in wardrobes as they are dark and have piles of clothes creating a warm environment for cockroaches.
High temperatures increase the development of eggs; therefore, roaches prefer such an environment for breeding and stick their egg cases to our clothes.
Introduction to Cockroaches?
Before moving, I would like to briefly introduce these tiny horrible creatures.
Cockroaches belong to one of the groups of insects having a large number of species. Each species has its distinctive characteristics.
About 40 species out of 4,600 are those we see in our homes. Based on evidence that proves their disease-causing ability, they are also called parasites.
So be aware of them as they can also cause diseases. Cockroaches are more likely to be attracted to dirty things.
Please properly clean your kitchen before going to bed, and also make sure to wash the dirty dishes.
Furthermore, they depend on water for their living, just like humans. Therefore you have often seen them in bathrooms, behind water pipes, etc.
Can Cockroaches Use Our Clothes as Their Habitat?
Based on my experience, the answer to this question is yes. The selection of habitat depends on some conditions.
Roaches decide their habitat based on suitable temperature and moisture. Therefore, there is a danger if you have just washed your clothes and placed them in your wardrobe without drying them.
Cockroaches prefer dark places such as our closed wardrobe, and If they get wet clothes there, it is the cherry on top for them as they need moisture for their survival.
Moreover, cockroaches can also find our wardrobe a suitable place to reproduce. The closed wardrobe provides the required warm temperature, and darkness and wet clothes provide moisture.
Therefore, I advise you to always dry your clothes in the dryer before placing them in the wardrobe. Moreover, consider washing your clothes after some time.
What to Do If There are Cockroach Eggs on Clothes
If you don’t keep a check on your wardrobe, you will likely develop a cockroach pandemic. Cockroaches are tiny insects that lay tiny eggs that can be called microscopic.
It is challenging to see cockroach eggs, so you can take assistance from a professional pest controller. A professional person can detect cockroaches’ eggs in your wardrobe with special devices.
Moreover, the removal of eggs is also a complex process due to their extremely small size, so what you have to do is,
- Take your clothes out of your wardrobe.
- Wash them in the washing machine.
- Use a dryer to dry wet clothes.
- Consider using high temperatures to dry clothes as extremely high temperatures can help to kill eggs inside ootheca.
- Make sure to use hot water in the cleaning and drying process. This will ensure the complete removal of eggs.
Why Do Cockroaches Prefer Our Clothes to Live on?
As I mentioned earlier, cockroaches can live on our clothes and lay eggs, so now a question must have arisen in your mind: why is it so?
I have stated some reasons below, so let’s find out!
- Cockroaches use dark places to live. They do so to protect themselves from predators that use cockroaches as their food; therefore, they choose a dark place for their living.
- Reproducing is a part of their lifecycle, and they prefer a peaceful place. Therefore if you leave your wardrobe unchecked, it is more likely that they will reproduce there.
- Cockroaches are attracted to starch, sugar, and fats, so if you don’t wash your clothes properly, they will smell through tiny hairs present on their legs.
- Some soaps contain starch in them, and starch is one of the favorite foods for roaches, so they can be attracted to washed clothes and live there to get food.
- Cockroaches need water for their survival, so clothes that are not properly dried can be a good choice for roaches.
How Long Do Cockroach Eggs Last?
Cockroaches develop an egg-carrying bag called ootheca. A single ootheca can contain up to 16 eggs. The development of eggs within an ootheca depends on the species of cockroach.
Some cockroaches develop their babies inside their bodies, and in some, the egg is developed outside the female body. The female carries its responsibility for one or two days.
After two days, the female roach detaches ootheca from her body and hides her eggs somewhere in the dark.
Egg Size of Different Cockroaches
Cockroaches have almost 4000 species, each with different characteristics like color, size of their body, and even the size of an egg laid by them.
I have listed some roaches and their egg size so you can easily distinguish between them.
| NO | Cockroaches | Egg size |
| 1 | German cockroach | 6 to 9mm |
| 2 | American cockroach | 8 mm |
| 3 | Brown banded cockroach | 5 mm |
| 4 | Oriental cockroach | 8 to 10 mm |
Things that Make Cockroaches Love Our Clothes
There are some factors that help cockroaches to fall in love with their clothes. I have mentioned all the risk factors and the ways to avoid them, so let’s find out.
1. Sugary or Fatty Foods and Drinks
Cockroaches are known as remarkable survival species, and the reason for this title is their ability to eat everything and try to survive in almost every condition.
Cockroaches eat everything that humans do, which includes sugar, protein, fat, and starch. They need nutrients for their regular body functioning, just like humans.
Moreover, cockroaches also follow a like-and-dislike pattern like humans; they highly prefer foods and drinks containing sugar and fats.
So, if your clothes contain sugary food particles, cockroaches will be attracted to them.
Similarly, a single drop of sugary and fatty drink works in a similar way for roaches.
2. Dirty Areas
Some species of roaches are more attracted to dirty places, such as places containing trash, dirt, and debris, such as trash boxes, basements, and any other place which is dirty.
The reason for their attraction towards dirty places is that they find food to eat at such places as they use debris, dirt, and degraded material as their food.
Moreover, these places provide favorable conditions for roaches to survive and breed.
So this is the reason why dirty clothes attract roaches more as compared to those that are clean and washed correctly.
3. Trash Boxes
As I have mentioned above, cockroaches love decayed food that is left uneaten by humans.
I experimented on roaches to check the extent of their attraction toward trash boxes.
I put rotten bananas and some other fruits that were about to decay (and some of them wholly decayed) in a dustbin and waited till night.
The roaches usually come at night to find food for them. At night a roach came and found its favorite food in the trash box that was placed in me.
After some time, I observed a group of roaches around the trash box. I repeated the same thing for about 3 days, and the result was that the roaches made the trash box their habitat.
So, I concluded that cockroaches were attracted to trash boxes because of the presence of decayed food, and they made it their permanent home due to the presence of warmth and absence of light.
Wind-up Lines:
If you have a widespread outbreak of cockroaches in your home, a question may have arisen in your mind, which is, Can cockroach eggs stick to your clothes?
Even Though they don’t have a sticky nature, there are many reasons which can force roaches to lay eggs on your clothes; I have stated all of them.
You can also keep roaches away from your clothes by following the above methods. I hope you will find this article helpful. Good luck!
FAQs
Do Cockroach Eggs Stick to Your Shoes?
The answer to this question is yes. In some species of roaches, the baby roaches are capable of coming out of ootheca even if the parent died.
Are Cockroach Eggs Visible to the Eye?
The cockroach eggs are tiny, so they are not prominent, but we can see them with the aid of our eyes. Most roaches lay eggs that are 5 to 13mm long.
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