Harbouring and moving behavior of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica (Linne)

Abstract

Observations of the nocturnal behavior of the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, were carried out using single or mixed populations of males, gravid females, ungravid females and nymphs.
In captivity adult males were very active, did not concentrate on the feeding site, and spread widely in the walking area. Gravid females, in contrast, were quite different in their moving pattern from males. The majority of them never came out to the walking area, and only a few individuals gathered around the feeding place. The behavior of the roaches was also observed in the mixed populations.
In a separate field study of capturing cockroaches by setting adhesive traps on the open space in a restaurant, the proportion of adult males, ungravid females and gravid females was 64%, 32%, 4%, respectively. The result was same as the above mentioned experiments.