Brown-banded cockroach

The brown-banded cockroach is a small indoor roach, about the size of a German cockroach, with two pale bands across its wings. It breeds indoors like the German roach but hides in warm, dry, high spots such as bedrooms, furniture and electronics rather than under the sink, and it adds to indoor allergens. The one thing to do: bait and check bedrooms and living rooms too, not just the kitchen.

This page covers how to identify a brown-banded cockroach, tell it from a German cockroach and find where it hides. It rests on University of Kentucky and UC IPM guidance.

How to Identify a Brown-Banded Cockroach: Pale Bands Across the Body

• About 1/2 inch long.
• Two pale yellowish bands run across the wings and abdomen, with light edges on the shield behind the head (UC IPM).
• A dark, bell-shaped mark on the shield behind the head, instead of the German roach’s two lengthwise stripes (University of Kentucky).
• Males are golden tan and sometimes fly when disturbed, especially above 85°F; females are darker brown and can’t fly.
• Egg cases about 1/4 inch, light brown, glued to hidden surfaces, sometimes several stuck together.

A brown-banded cockroach nymph on a plastic tub; look for the two light bands across its back. Photo: Bigcee007 (CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Brown-Banded vs. Look-Alikes: Bands or Stripes

A small roach isn’t always a baby: adult German and brown-banded cockroaches are only about 1/2 inch long. If you’re unsure, compare the nymphs in baby cockroach.

Where Brown-Banded Cockroaches Hide: High, Warm and Away From the Kitchen

They prefer about 80°F, 5 to 10 degrees warmer than German roaches, and don’t need much moisture (UC IPM). Look high on walls and ceilings, in the upper parts of cabinets and closets, behind picture frames and wall decorations, inside or under furniture, in hollow furniture legs, in clutter, and in crevices in or near electrical appliances. They can turn up in any room, including bedrooms and offices.

They favor starchy food, even the glue on stamps and envelopes. UC IPM says they cause only about 1% of indoor infestations in California, far fewer than German roaches.

Are Brown-Banded Cockroaches Harmful? Mainly Allergens

Like other indoor roaches, their droppings and shed skins add to indoor allergens that can cause sneezing, congestion and asthma, and they can contaminate food (University of Kentucky). A female and her offspring can produce over 600 roaches in a year (UC IPM), fewer than German roaches but enough to fill a home.

How to Confirm It’s Brown-Banded Cockroaches

1. Look for the bands across the wings, not stripes behind the head.
2. Check under furniture for pea-size egg cases glued to the undersides of dressers, tables and shelves; see cockroach eggs.
3. Note where you see them: in bedrooms, behind frames or around electronics rather than near the sink.
4. Set sticky traps high on shelves and in closets as well as on the floor.

What to Do: Bait Every Room, Scrape the Egg Cases

Because they live throughout the home, place baits and traps in bedrooms and living areas, not just the kitchen, and scrape off glued egg cases you find. UC IPM warns that brown-banded roaches are especially hard to control with baits, so a professional is worth calling if traps keep filling after a few rounds. The full plan is in how to get rid of roaches. For other pests, browse all pest guides.