The subject of today’s article isn’t a nice one: cockroaches. But if you’re suffering with roaches right now, or you’re just interested to learn more about this critter, one of the most important things you’ll need to know is how quickly a cockroach population can grow. 

Trust us, today’s article isn’t going to be a comfortable read, but it’s one you’ll need to know about. So, just how many eggs does a cockroach lay?

You’ll usually find around 50 to 90 eggs. However, this number isn’t always accurate because the number of eggs a cockroach lays varies between each female cockroach and each species of cockroach.

Believe it or not, cockroaches don’t actually lay eggs at all in the traditional sense. In fact, they lay something known as an ootheca. For those of you who hate creepie crawlies, this next bit of info isn’t going to be pleasant, because an ootheca is actually a capsule that contains multiple eggs. 

Our answer above only scratches the surface though, so if you want to learn everything there is to know about cockroaches and their eggs, stick around for the rest of our post!

How Often Do Cockroaches Lay Eggs?

As we touched on above, the species of cockroach is important when it comes to egg production. In order to understand the frequency with which they lay eggs, we’ll discuss some of the most common cockroach species in greater depth below.

German Cockroach

One thing you need to understand about every cockroach species we’ll look at today is that although most have place names like ‘German Cockroach’ or ‘American Cockroach’, they aren’t exclusive to these locations. German cockroaches are found in the US, too, and vice versa.

Cockroaches are inherently strong critters, being able to survive in almost any conditions, almost anywhere in the world. It’s not unusual for a cockroach to travel in ship containers or food packages to other parts of the world and then start a thriving population there instead. 

Certainly, American Cockroaches are the most common here in the US, but there have been cases of every cockroach on today’s list being found in the US too.

Now, on to how frequently they lay eggs. Starting, of course, with the German Cockroach.

German cockroaches only produce an ootheca (or egg sac) every 3-4 weeks, so although they produce many eggs at a time in a single ootheca, they don’t lay eggs as frequently as most people believe. Once laid, German Cockroach eggs take around 4 weeks to hatch.

American Cockroaches

As for a female American Cockroach, they tend to produce ootheca much slower than their German counterparts, usually laying every 2-3 months. Once laid, it’ll take 8 weeks before the nymphs, or young cockroaches, emerge from their eggs.

Oriental Cockroach

Oriental Cockroaches are, again, different. A female Oriental cockroach tends to only produce an ootheca once a month, which is more similar to German Cockroaches.

But the number of eggs in the egg sac differ again – more on this later. In terms of how long it takes for Oriental Cockroach to hatch, it’s actually similar to American Cockroaches – around 8 weeks.

Brown-Banded Cockroach

Brown-Banded Cockroaches lay between 14 and 20 ootheca in their lifetime, and it takes between 6 and 7 weeks for the young cockroaches to hatch after the egg sac is deposited somewhere safely.

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

This is probably the rarest cockroach on the list in the US, but we include it mostly for reference. Interestingly, the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach doesn’t lay an ootheca at all. Instead, the female cockroach keeps the ootheca, or egg sac, in her body the entire time, until the eggs are ready to hatch. 

From here, she gives birth to her young, and they emerge alive as nymphs. This takes 60 days after mating, and they’ll usually have 3 litters a year.

Where Do Cockroaches Lay Eggs?

Knowing how often they lay eggs and how many eggs are produced each time is important when you’re dealing with a potential cockroach infestation. But perhaps even more important, is knowing exactly where cockroaches like to lay their eggs.

Of course, this following section doesn’t apply to the Madagascar Hissing Cockroach because they keep their eggs protected inside their bodies until they’re ready to hatch. 

All the other common cockroach species we’ve spoken about today need to find the perfect place for their eggs to be protected until they hatch, as typically they take between 4 and 8 weeks to do so, so they need a safe hiding place during this time.

Often, cockroaches will look for holes, cracks, and all manner of nooks and crannies to hide their eggs, making sure they’re protected until they’re ready to hatch. Below are some of the most common places:

• Crevices
• Cracks in walls
• Behind or near appliances in the kitchen and bathroom
• Inside pipes and plumbing
• Food waste piles
• Old wood

Generally, if a cockroach can find a place that’s protected from other insects or predators, can’t be reached easily by light, and is textured enough for them to lay their oothecae stably, then they’ll do so. They’re resourceful critters that know how to reproduce quickly and effectively.

How Quickly Do Cockroaches Multiply?

Although it’s difficult to say exactly how quickly cockroaches multiply, because it’s difficult to know how many females are in the infestation, we can tell you how many young each female cockroach in each species produces in their lifetime. 

This will give you some idea about how quickly cockroaches can multiply if left untreated in your home.

German Cockroach

German Cockroaches will produce around 200 young in their lifetime, which typically lasts less than 200 days – so as you can see, German Cockroaches are very adept at multiplying quickly.

American Cockroach

American Cockroaches can produce up to 264 young in their lifetime, which can last up to 700 days for females, and 362 for males. Although they don’t reproduce as quickly as their German counterparts, they’re still very quick when it comes to their numbers multiplying out of control.

Oriental Cockroach

Female Oriental Cockroaches produce 128 offspring in their adult life stage, which lasts 180 days (and 160 for males).

Brown-Banded Cockroach

Brown-Banded Cockroaches produce around 192 offspring in their life and live for around 206 days, both males and females.

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach

Madagascar Hissing Cockroach females are much more difficult to calculate. They can live anywhere between 2 and 5 years and can give birth to between 30 and 60 nymph roaches at a time and have 3 litters a year. That means she could produce anywhere from 180 to 900 offspring in her lifetime.

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, our post today hasn’t made you feel too uncomfortable. Like them or loathe them, there’s no denying that cockroaches are impressive and their reproductive behaviors are certainly fascinating. 

Admittedly, they’re less fascinating if you have a cockroach infestation at home, but even the information about how quickly they reproduce can be useful here to help you deal with the problem you’re facing. 

Either way, cockroaches are formidable critters and we hope you’ve managed to learn something new about them today!