Household Insect Identification - Ask Extension
We are in a rented home in northern Michigan. We are about to leave and have been seeing the attached insect in the house we rented. We are concerned ...
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Household Insect Identification #839558
Asked July 07, 2023, 10:35 PM EDT
We are in a rented home in northern Michigan. We are about to leave and have been seeing the attached insect in the house we rented. We are concerned it is a cockroach, but it doesn't look like any of the cockroaches we have seen native to northern Michigan (or Minnesota either). We have seen the bug in the day and at night, light and dark. We don't see many out walking around. We have been trying to keep it out of our stuff but want another layer of knowledge with identification.
Dakota County Minnesota
Expert Response
Thank you for writing.
It is not a cockroach.
It could be a camel cricket but the picture is too blurred to tell.
http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2008/05/10/camel-cricket/
It is not a cockroach.
It could be a camel cricket but the picture is too blurred to tell.
http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/2008/05/10/camel-cricket/
Thanks for the quick response. I wasn't able to get the clearest picture with my phone. I have attached additional pictures. We don't think it's that cricket, it doesn't look very similar. The big question we have is could this be a household pest that could become an issue? Are you certain it isn't any kind of cockroach? These pictures probably parent any better though.
Ryan Benedict
Thank you for writing back.
What do you think of a Wood Cockroach.
https://extension.psu.edu/wood-cockroaches#:~:text=Wood%20cockroaches%20are%20typically%20found,feed%20on%20decaying%20plant%20matter.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/2210925/bgimage
What do you think of a Wood Cockroach.
https://extension.psu.edu/wood-cockroaches#:~:text=Wood%20cockroaches%20are%20typically%20found,feed%20on%20decaying%20plant%20matter.
https://bugguide.net/node/view/2210925/bgimage
There is a picture in one of the links that could be it. The size is about right (about 1 inch). We never saw one fly, it would be hard to think we only saw males, not females.
The pictures do look like roaches though, right? With the head, prothorax, shape, legs, and everything, this does look like a roach versus some other type of insect, right?
The big thing, if it is a wood roach, it seems easy to control if somehow we did transport it back home with us.
Thank you for writing back.
I am stuck here so I have to turf this back to you. Cockroaches and crickets can look a lot alike. Here are three sites discussing the differences. What do you think?
https://roachguide.com/crickets-vs-cockroaches/
https://cockroachfacts.com/bugs-that-look-like-roaches-but-aren-t/#:~:text=Cockroach%20vs.,-Cricket&text=Crickets%20range%20in%20color%20from,which%20they%20do%20when%20disturbed.
https://sciencing.com/differences-between-crickets-cockroaches-12570862.html
I am stuck here so I have to turf this back to you. Cockroaches and crickets can look a lot alike. Here are three sites discussing the differences. What do you think?
https://roachguide.com/crickets-vs-cockroaches/
https://cockroachfacts.com/bugs-that-look-like-roaches-but-aren-t/#:~:text=Cockroach%20vs.,-Cricket&text=Crickets%20range%20in%20color%20from,which%20they%20do%20when%20disturbed.
https://sciencing.com/differences-between-crickets-cockroaches-12570862.html
