Dark brown about one inch long common outdoors often enter buildings through sewer pipes tend to live near the ground and in warm damp areas eat anything, but found often feeding on garbage, sewage, and decaying organic matter seem to prefer starches if available adults can live up to 180 days more sluggish than other species give off distinctive unpleasant odor
- Females may be nearly 1-1/4 inches long, while males are 1 inch long. The male's wings cover most of the body, while the female's shorter wings are reduced to mere lobes. Neither sex can fly, and in fact, these cockroaches are rather sluggish and do not move very fast even when disturbed. Nymphal cockroaches are smaller than adults, dark brown to black, and have wing stubs without definite veins.
- The adult female oriental cockroach usually carries her egg capsule for about a day, then drops it or attaches it to a protected surface near a food supply. These cockroaches appear to have a seasonal cycle in their development. They overwinter as large nymphs or adults, and are usually noticed in the spring when they mate. In the spring of the year, they migrate from buildings to the out of doors where they spend the summer months. In the fall, the next generation tries to find shelter indoors where they can spend the winter. Natural mortality usually reduces the number of adults in the population during the summer, fall and winter.