Laboratory Feeding Activity and Bait Preferences of Four Species of Cockroaches (Orthoptera: Blattaria)

Abstract

Feeding preferences of individual American cockroaches (Periplaneta americana (L.)), smokybrown cockroaches (P. fuliginosa (Serville)), brownbanded cockroaches (Supella longipalpa (F.)), and Eurycotis floridana (Walker) were examined in the laboratory to test the hypothesis that dry distiller's grain is as attractive as dry cat chow, laboratory rat chow, or distiller's grain with uric acid. Except for E. floridana, females typically spent more time on baits than did males. Only the brownbanded cockroach showed a significant preference for cat chow. Data were variable for the other three species, but showed that adults readily accept dry distiller's grain. We conclude that this bait is preferable to the others for field studies of cockroach population dynamics.