If you’ve ever used the weapon of a shoe or wiper to crush a cockroach and noticed that it released its eggs while dying, you’ve come to the right place.
The common belief suggests that pregnant cockroaches release their hundreds of eggs when they are being killed.
Due to this fact, some offer the advice to catch, not kill. But this is completely unnecessary. The pressing question remains: do cockroaches lay eggs when they die?
Here’s what we know:
- Killing a pregnant cockroach causes its eggs to die too
- Eggs let out by the cockroach will not hatch in the future
- These eggs will not have a high chance of survival
Rarely, some of these eggs may survive depending on your chosen method to kill the cockroach.
If you used insecticide spray to spray your roach, it is more likely that the eggs will survive. This is if they haven’t been disposed of.
On the other hand, if you crush the eggs, they will also reach their end before having the chance to hatch.
Do Cockroaches Lay Eggs When They Die?
As stated above, cockroaches operate on the instinct of laying a mature egg when killed. But it depends on how you go about killing the roach.
If you poison it, it won’t be able to lay any eggs.
Regardless of the killing technique, ensure you have disposed of all cockroach carcasses. It’s a good idea to put them in an airtight sealed bag.
The timeline involved is integral. Naturally, cockroaches will not lay eggs after they die. That is when all capabilities of performing any functions cease to exist.
But, there is the likelihood that these cockroaches will lay eggs when they feel endangered as an instinct.
It is not an automatic reaction for cockroaches to lay eggs when killed. However, the imagination of a younger version of our victim being released to avenge their mother’s death seems convenient. Is it true? Probably not.
It is not an automatic reaction for cockroaches to lay eggs when killed.
What Happens If Your Dying Cockroach Lays Eggs?
Luckily, even if your dying cockroach lays eggs, the likelihood of those eggs leading to an infestation in your home is close to zero. This is because these creatures do not have that skill.
You don’t need to worry about these eggs surviving. Even if they are on a mission to avenge their mother’s death, there is a high chance that crushing a pregnant cockroach will also crush its eggs.
The force it takes to crush a pregnant cockroach will also be enough to smash the egg sac. Cockroaches have a tough exoskeleton. This makes it possible for them to endure forces that are more than 300 times their body weight.
Thus, if a cockroach is crushed or compressed, it can survive up to 900 times its body weight in force. This is due to its tough, thick exoskeleton. This armor has the core purpose of redirecting impact and resisting damage.
What Will It Take To Kill A Cockroach’s Eggs?
The hard exterior of these cockroaches is why sometimes you have to swat at least 2 to 3 times before you’ve properly managed to crush a cockroach. However, the egg sacs within these small yet tough bodies have less durability and, therefore, are much easier to crush.
Cockroach egg sacs are less durable than fully grown cockroaches. They are covered in numerous calcium oxalate crystals. This contributes to hardening them and making them durable against damage.
Additionally, researches show that some of the basic components within the roach exoskeleton are also found in the egg sac.
Despite all these measures, though, you as a human being have more power than that tiny cockroach egg sac. So, a strong shoe attack is likely to damage the eggs even before damaging the parent cockroach.
This will cause the future children to die. As well as lose the ability to hatch, regardless of their mother’s reaction to the damage.
Remember: the egg sac is small but not invincible. So, the same approach to killing an adult will kill a younger cockroach.
Do Cockroaches Give Birth While Dying?
The idea that pregnant cockroaches lay eggs when killed is nothing but hearsay.
Although it has prevailed for decades, it was possibly a result of a misunderstanding about how a cockroach’s egg sac operates. As possible as it may seem, the egg sac within a cockroach doesn’t roll up its sleeves. It gets ready to burst out when observing danger. However, it does happen.
The cockroach eggs are held in a series of long eggs inside the tough egg sac shell. Thus, they stay there until the mother connects the egg sac to a safe place, i.e., your wardrobe or beneath your fridge.
These eggs are likely to develop for a few more days. And then hatch, possibly leading to a cockroach infestation within your home.
That’s how you get an infestation. Not from dead cockroaches leaving eggs of vengeance like some video game, but all the hidden, successful cockroaches reproducing where you’re not looking.
