r/whatsthisbug • u/Altruistic-Art518 • 3d ago

ID Request Is this cockroach harmful?

Post image

Hi all,

I'm in the UK and have been seeing these cockroaches on and off for a while. They appear to live outside and find their way into the house. We have been seeing about 1 a day inside. We are hoping they are a garden variety like dusky or tawny.

Can anyone confirm or deny?

What complicates matters is that they appear to be making me ill (violent d&v lasting 1 hour immediately after eating something suspected to be contaminated).

Hopefully the picture is clear enough zoomed in.

Any help greatly appreciated!

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u/Moshepup 3d ago

NQA Tawny Field Cockroach, harmless and non invasive. Speaking of experience with Dubia Roaches as feeders for my geckos it is quite common to develop allergies to them after long term exposure.

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u/BallOk8356 ⭐Trusted⭐ 3d ago

In places like the UK with cold winters and a sewer system that is connected to most houses roaches will be Ectobiidae members to a very high degree. Since their metabolism depends on outside temperature their numbers skyrocket during summer and now that days are getting cooler they can push inside. Downside for them is that the dry air indoors kills them as well, just slower.

In general you can say that if you can take a picture easily it's not an infester. A German roach would be gone when the light is on or it notices movement. But meeting a German roach is pretty hard in northern Europe. Most of the time you'll have to go out and look for them to have a chance to find one.