Cockroaches and bed bugs are two of the most common and unwelcome pests found in households. Bed bugs are nocturnal parasites that exclusively feed on the blood of warm-blooded hosts, while cockroaches are known for their resilience and ability to thrive in various environments. The presence of both pests often prompts a curious question: will one of these household insects prey upon the other? This inquiry seeks to understand the potential biological interaction between these two common structural pests.
Cockroaches Are Opportunistic Predators
The straightforward answer to whether cockroaches consume bed bugs is yes, they will when the opportunity arises. This behavior is not a deliberate hunting strategy, but rather a result of the cockroach’s highly generalized feeding habits. Larger species, such as the American cockroach, or the smaller German cockroach, are the ones most likely to engage in this behavior. They may consume bed bugs, particularly vulnerable nymphs or eggs, if they stumble upon them in a common foraging path.
The interaction is a simple case of a mobile scavenger encountering a smaller, slower insect. Since both pests are active primarily at night, they occasionally cross paths while the cockroach is foraging for food. The predation is random, depending entirely on a chance meeting rather than a sustained pursuit. A hungry cockroach views the bed bug as another small source of organic matter it can easily overpower and consume.
The Generalized Diet that Includes Bed Bugs
This occasional consumption is rooted in the cockroach’s biology as an extreme omnivore and scavenger. Cockroaches have chewing mouthparts, enabling them to process nearly any organic material they encounter. Their natural diet in a human environment includes crumbs, grease, dead insects, shed skin flakes, glue, and starch found in book bindings. This ability to digest a vast array of materials makes them highly adaptable survivors.
In contrast, the bed bug is a highly specialized parasite that feeds solely on blood. Bed bugs are not equipped to consume solid food, making them immune to the baited traps that often work on cockroaches. The bed bug represents a unique food source from the cockroach’s perspective, simply another piece of organic protein available in the environment. This biological contrast highlights the bed bug’s specialization versus the cockroach’s dietary generalization.
Why This Predation Does Not Solve the Problem
Despite the occasional act of consumption, relying on cockroaches to control a bed bug infestation is not a viable strategy for homeowners. The rate of predation by cockroaches is statistically insignificant when compared to the reproductive rate of a bed bug population. A single female bed bug can lay hundreds of eggs in her lifetime, resulting in a population growth that far outpaces the random scavenging of a cockroach. Therefore, the presence of cockroaches does not lead to a noticeable decline in the number of blood-feeding pests.
Furthermore, tolerating a cockroach infestation introduces severe secondary public health and sanitation concerns. Cockroaches are known to passively transport pathogenic microbes on their bodies, potentially spreading bacteria that cause gastroenteritis and other diseases. They also produce allergens in their shed skins and feces, which can exacerbate asthma, particularly in children. Both bed bugs and cockroaches require separate, targeted professional control methods, as one pest cannot be used to effectively mitigate the risks of the other.