Why Do Cockroaches Fly Towards You? (Updated For 2023)

Last Updated March 7th, 2023: What is more terrifying than you house being filled with cockroaches? Cockroaches that have the audacity to fly towards you! Well unfortunately, there are some cockroaches that will attempt to scare you off by flying at you full force! In this article, we’re going to be covering why do cockroaches fly towards you and what you can do about it!

Why Do Cockroaches Fly Towards You?

Cockroaches might fly towards you in an attempt to intimidate you, or to protect themselves. Although cockroaches are little creatures, they will occasionally try to scare you away in order to protect themselves or their nest.

why do cockroaches fly towards you

Generally speaking cockroaches are very timid and would much rather run away than try to fight back, especially against a much larger predator like a human. That being said, if you run into a cockroach near their nest, or near their eggs, they’ll be much more willing to put up a fight rather than run away. So if a cockroach flies towards you, it could mean you were close to their nest, or their eggs and they were flying towards you to try to scare you off and protect their nest.

This means this area in your home or business would be a great place to start treating for cockroaches. If cockroaches are flying towards you, it definitely means they are trying to protect something important to them!

Can All Cockroaches Fly?

No, not all types of cockroaches can fly, most common household roaches actually can’t fly at all. Most species of cockroaches technically have wings but they either don’t work at all, or only work in the right circumstances. Here are some of the different species of cockroaches that are known to fly:

  • Asian Cockroach
  • Brown Cockroach
  • Smokybrown Cockroach
  • Wood Cockroach
  • American Cockroach

Cockroach wings require external heat to provide them with enough excess energy to fly, so if they can fly they’ll generally only fly in extreme circumstances and during the summer. But this isn’t always the case.

That being said, if a cockroach is flying towards you, it generally is a flight or fight response from the roaches, and they are looking to protect themselves or their nest.

What To Do If Cockroaches Are Flying Towards You

If roaches are flying at you, it probably means you got to close to something important to them, generally their nest or some roach eggs.

This means you should spend some more time in that area trying to identify what they were protecting. It’s generally a good idea to start some cockroach treatments in that area since that area is worth protecting by the cockroach.

I would start by cleaning the area and making it less appealing for roaches to call it home. From there I would immediately use a cockroach bait system such as this Hot Shot Liquid Roach Bait. This will attract cockroaches to the bait station and deliver the poison bait to the rest of the colony so that you end up killing the entire colony not just the individual cockroach that first sees the bait.

Resources:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/resources/american-cockroach

About The Author:

David Floyd has 20 years of experience working as a pest control technician as well as running his own pest control company. His main goal is to provide accurate and helpful DIY tips to keep your home pest-free and how to identify different types of household pests!