Types of Roaches in Houston: How to Identify Them and What to Do

Texas A&M calls the American cockroach the largest cockroach in Texas and one of the most common. Adults are 1 1/2 to 2 inches long and reddish-brown, with a pale yellow band around the edge of the shield behind the head. The University of Florida notes it is often called a palmetto bug.

It likes humid places. Outdoors it lives under tree bark and in leaf litter, and it is one of the most common roaches in sewer systems, where it can travel up drain pipes into kitchens and bathrooms. Indoors it settles near furnaces, heating ducts and pipes. Adults have full wings and can fly, but Texas A&M's urban entomology program says they seldom do and describes their flight as gliding.

This is the small roach in kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Adults are 1/2 to 5/8 inch long and light brown, with two dark stripes running lengthwise on the shield behind the head. They have full wings but rarely fly.

Texas A&M says German cockroaches do not live outdoors in Texas. They come in on groceries and in boxes, spread between apartments, and spend about three quarters of their lives in narrow cracks close to food and water. The female carries her egg case until it is ready to hatch, and the young can reach adulthood in about 50 to 60 days at normal indoor temperatures. Texas A&M calls them the most prolific indoor roach.

Texas A&M says the smokybrown cockroach is common outdoors, especially in the more humid parts of Texas. Adults are 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches long and one solid, shiny color, mahogany brown to black, with no pale band behind the head. The wings reach past the tip of the body, and the antennae are at least as long as the body.

It needs moist, warm, sheltered spots out of moving air: mulch, tree holes, palm fronds, woodpiles, soffits and the eaves of the attic. It is a good flier, it is drawn to light and comes in through lit openings, usually at night, and once inside it tends to end up in the attic or near a fireplace. A leaky roof can draw it in. The youngest nymphs look different from the adults: they are black, with two white bands and white-tipped antennae.

Texas A&M lists the oriental cockroach among the four most common cockroaches in Texas. It is glossy dark brown to black. Males are about 1 inch long, with wings that cover most of the body. Females are nearly 1 1/4 inches long, and their wings are only short pads. Neither one can fly.

It is slow, even when disturbed, and can't climb slick surfaces. Outdoors it lives in cool, damp places: under leaves, under porches and in compost. It gets in through cracks in the foundation, along sewer pipes and under doors, and inside it stays low, under refrigerators, sinks and washing machines and in crawl spaces and other wet spots at ground level. Texas A&M notes that more adults turn up in late spring and early fall.

About the size of a German cockroach, 1/2 to 5/8 inch, but with pale yellowish bands across the wings and abdomen instead of two stripes behind the head. The color runs from light gold to glossy dark brown. Males have wings that cover the abdomen and can fly; females have wings shorter than the body.

LSU AgCenter says it is well distributed across the southern U.S. It appears to need less water than other roaches and lives in drier, warmer spots, so you find it away from the kitchen: high on walls and ceilings in dim rooms, behind picture frames, in light switches, high in cabinets and closets, inside upholstered furniture, and in the warm motors of appliances and electronics. LSU calls it the furniture roach. Females carry their purse-shaped egg cases for a while and then attach them to surfaces.

The Asian cockroach looks almost exactly like a German cockroach: 1/2 to 5/8 inch long, with the same two dark stripes on the shield behind the head. Texas A&M says that for practical purposes the two are identical in appearance, and that Asian cockroaches can be found outdoors in some areas of Texas.

The difference is where it lives and how it moves. It lives outside, in lawns, leaf litter and grassy areas, and it is a strong flier. Texas A&M says it becomes very active at dusk and is drawn to light reflected off light-colored walls, doors and windows, and the ones that get inside follow the lights from room to room. The University of Florida notes that thousands can gather on porches and windows at certain times of year, and that homeowners often run into them after mulching flower beds in spring.