N
InsightHorizon Digest

What other bugs look like roaches

Author

Isabella Browning

Updated on April 12, 2026

Crickets. Crickets are approximately the size of cockroaches, but their coloring is much darker, with many appearing all black. … Giant Water Bugs. … June Bugs/May Beetles. … Asian Longhorned Beetle.

What bugs can be mistaken for roaches?

Common bugs that look like cockroaches, and, therefore, are often mistaken for roaches, are crickets and water bugs as well as beetles such as the ground beetle, wood-boring beetle, Palto Verde beetle, and Asian Long-Horned beetle.

How do you tell if it's a cockroach or a beetle?

Cockroaches have flat, oval-shaped bodies with long legs and antennae. Most beetles have shorter legs and antennae. Beetles have a hard exoskeleton and make a definite “crunch” when squashed.

How do you tell if a bug is a roach?

So, how do you know if it’s a beetle or a cockroach? First, cockroaches tend to have longer legs and antennae than beetles. Further, their wings, which come in two pairs like those of beetles (a top and bottom pair), are leathery on top, unlike the beetle’s which are hard.

How do I get rid of palmetto bugs in my house?

The easiest treatment method for getting rid of palmetto bugs is to spray the house with a broad spectrum insecticide such as D-Fense SC. Best results are achieved by spraying the exterior walls of the structure including the foundation. On the interior, spray in the cracks and crevices throughout the house.

How can you tell a cockroach from a water bug?

Cockroaches are typically light tan to dark brown in color, while waterbugs are tan to black, but their colors won’t be of much help. Their bodies are oval-shaped and flat, and both species have antennae and wings. Waterbugs have piercing mouth parts and a short, pointed beak on the underside of the head.

What are the big black bugs that look like roaches?

Black Ground Beetles. Also black in color, but larger than carpet beetles, ground beetles look sort of like black roaches, but have squatter, rounded bodies, shorter antennae, and thick, un-cockroach-like protruding jaws.

Whats a cockroach look like?

What Does a Cockroach Look Like? Most cockroaches have flat, oval-shaped bodies with long, spiny legs and two antennae. … Native to nearby forests, the wood cockroach is tan with a pale white stripe on the outer edge of its body. The American cockroach is reddish-brown with a yellow band where the head and back meet.

What does an earwig look like?

What Do Earwigs Look Like? Earwigs range in size from ¼-1 inch long. They have elongated, flattened bodies that vary in color from pale brown with dark markings to reddish brown to black. … Earwigs also have two pairs of wings, with their hind wings usually folding underneath their front wings.

Are roaches black or brown?

Most roaches are a reddish-brown to black in color, except for when they molt. Roaches that have recently molted, or shed their exoskeleton to grow, tend to be temporarily whitish. They have oval-shaped bodies which often appear flattened.

Article first time published on

What smells do roaches hate?

Cockroaches have an incredible sense of smell that they use to find food. You can take advantage of this fact by using scents they dislike such as thyme, citrus, basil, mint, and citronella to repel them from your home.

How do I know what kind of cockroach I have?

  1. Each one has the telltale oval-shaped body, which is common to all cockroaches.
  2. The bodies appear flattened and range between ¾ inch and 3 inches in length.
  3. Most are reddish-brown but will look whitish for a short period of time just after molting.

Are palmetto bugs bad?

Health Concerns. Just like cockroaches, palmetto bugs can pose health risks. They can spread several harmful pathogens, including salmonella which can contaminate food. As they walk across your counters and floors, they leave behind feces and sheddings that can cause allergic reactions and asthma attacks in some people …

What do palmetto bugs hate?

Also, be aware that in general, these cockroaches are able to resist chemical insecticides. The ideal is thus to use plants that the palmetto bugs hate such as catnip, mint, or laurel.

How do you permanently get rid of palmetto bugs?

  1. Strategically Place Roach Glue Traps. …
  2. Make Deathly Boric Acid Roach Baits. …
  3. Kill the Bugs with Food-Grade Diatomaceous Earth. …
  4. Seal all the Cracks and Gaps in the House. …
  5. Consider Getting a Cat.

What do black roaches look like?

The Oriental cockroach is shiny black and is about 1.25 inches long. They have wings, but the male or female roach can not fly. … The females have small nonfunctional wings while the males have wings that cover about ¾ of the abdomen, neither the female nor male can fly. Adults are very dark brown or black.

What are these big black bugs in my house?

Black beetles are commonly found on the property of most any home. … These beetles will range in size from less than 1/4 inch to almost 2 inches long. Generally dark brown to black, their bodies are tough like armor and they are quite resilient. You’ll notice a large sounding “crunch” when stepping on one.

What is a June bug look like?

Like other scarab beetles, June bugs are oval-shaped, with six stout legs and fat antennae. They are generally between 1/2 and 1 inch long, and may be brown, black or maroon, without any discernible patterns. According to the Missouri Department of Conservation Online, their undersides are hairy.

What's the difference between roaches and cockroaches?

A Roach is a very generalized term for those cockroaches that have a habitation near the human population, while as far as a cockroach is concerned, it might be any species belonging to this particular order.

Are Waterbugs and roaches the same?

Is a Water Bug a Cockroach? The water bug is a bug that looks like a cockroach, but isn’t technically part of the roach family. A true water bug is—true to name—an aquatic insect that lives in the water. Waterbugs hold their breath for a long time without resurfacing.

What is the best roach killer?

  • Our pick. Terro T500 Multi-Surface Roach Baits. Best roach killer. …
  • Runner-up. Advion 68663 Cockroach Bait Arena. Similar, but harder to find. …
  • Also great. Combat Max Roach Killing Gel. A more-targeted gel. …
  • Also great. Terro T530 Roach Bait Powder. A powder for larger infestations.

What is a long skinny bug?

Earwigs – The Scary Looking Long Skinny Black Bug In House Those pincers trick many people into thinking of them as a scorpion. We’re talking about earwigs. Earwigs are thin, long, and many of them are blackish.

How do I identify a bug?

  1. Does it have six legs? All insects do.
  2. Are there three distinct body regions—head, thorax, and abdomen? If not, it’s not a true insect.
  3. Do you see a pair of antennae? Antennae are a necessary insect feature.
  4. Does it have a pair of wings?

Where do earwigs hide during the day?

Earwigs are active at night. During the day they hide in cracks in damp areas. They live under rocks and logs and in mulch in flowerbeds.

What happens if you squish a cockroach?

Squashing a cockroach will not release its eggs. Cockroaches use an ootheca—or hard case—to bundle their eggs. The ootheca is deposited and attached to numerous surfaces around a home. When they’re ready to hatch, they do so.

Can roaches be black?

What Do Oriental Cockroaches Look Like? Oriental cockroaches exhibit a shiny black to a dark reddish-brown color. As adults, the male and female cockroaches, though both large in size, are quite different in appearance.

Why am I seeing big roaches all of a sudden?

Most of the time, when someone “suddenly” sees a cockroach, it’s not quite as sudden as it seems. In other words, they’ve probably been in the home for a while, and you seeing them is more related to luck than anything else. Maybe you moved whatever they’ve been hiding under for the last several weeks.

Does Pine Sol keep roaches away?

Pine-Sol and Fabuloso are strong, all-purpose household cleaners. Similar to bleach, these products kill roaches on contact. Some homeowners suggest spraying Pine-Sol around the outside of your house to keep cockroaches away.

What kills roaches instantly?

Borax is a readily-available laundry product that’s excellent for killing roaches. For best results, combine equal parts borax and white table sugar. Dust the mixture any place you’ve seen roach activity. When the roaches consume the borax, it will dehydrate them and kill them rapidly.

How do you find a roach nest?

Nests are often found behind refrigerators, in kitchen cabinets, crawl spaces, in corners and other compact places. Telltale signs of a nest include mounds of cast skins, egg cases, dark spots or smears and live or dead cockroaches. Egg cases can even be found on the underside of your furniture.

What bug looks like a baby cockroach?

If there’s any bug that resemble baby roaches the most, it’s the bed bugs. And bed bugs look like baby German roaches, ditto. The similarity in their colors and their oval-shaped bodies, it’s easy to think one as the other. But there’s one critical difference between baby roaches and bed bugs.