Are Cockroaches Really Immortal or Invincible?

Have you heard stories about cockroaches being immortal and immune to the effects of radiation? There is a popular myth that cockroaches would be one of the only surviving animals on the planet in the event of a nuclear war. Although this makes for an interesting story, the truth is that although cockroaches are very hardy animals, they’re hardly invincible.

If you have ever experienced a cockroach infestation then you know how difficult it can be to kill them. Cockroaches are so hardy, elusive, and ever-present that it may seem impossible to ever completely eradicate them.

To prove that cockroaches are not immortal, simply place any cockroach control product throughout your home and you will see in a matter of hours that they are quite susceptible to death. For example, if you have a roach problem in your home, sprinkle some boric roach powder along the baseboards of your kitchen or bath and you will quickly see just how indestructible roaches are. Within hours, you will start to see dead roaches.

That being said, we do need to give credit where it is due. Roaches are highly adaptable to almost any type of environment and can survive in the harshest of conditions. Thus, cockroaches thrive in nearly every ecosystem on the planet. They can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Many unique species have adapted to survive in quite harsh and unique conditions.

The cockroach can live in almost any climate on earth because of their uncanny ability to eat almost any organic substance for food. Roaches can eat many unusual substances such as cardboard, sloughed skin particles, and hair. They are a sort of super-omnivore that can eat any plant or animal-based substance. Also, roaches can live for about a month without consuming any food, proving they are much more resilient to hardship than most other insects.

Do you know that roaches are 8 to 15 times more tolerant of nuclear radiation than are humans? They are not completely immune to radiation, however, and if exposed to a high enough dose they will perish. So the popular story is true that if there is a nuclear catastrophe in the future, roaches are far more likely to survive than are humans and most other animals.

A cockroach may seem invincible because of his ability to subsist on very little. It has a resistance to disease and a tolerance for hardship that would kill other animals. But the popular notion of a cockroach being completely immortal is definitely a myth based on exaggeration and not on fact.

It is true that roaches have existed for far longer than humans and will probably outlast us as well. Their requirements for life are much less than people’s which gives them a stronger resiliency and adaptability.

Do you have a crazy story about cockroaches being impossible to kill? If so, please let me know about it in the comment section below.