# Do roaches leave eggs behind when you squash them?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-roaches-leave-eggs-behind-when-you-squash-them/137496>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 19, 2002, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-roaches-leave-eggs-behind-when-you-squash-them/137496 "2002-11-19T10:47:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![carnun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc8723/32.png) [@carnun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnun)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-roaches-leave-eggs-behind-when-you-squash-them/137496/1 "2002-11-19T10:47:51Z")

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I’ve been fed this line so many times: “Don’t squash coackroaches because they leave eggs behind and then you’re worse off than when you started!” I like squashing the buggers even if I have to clean up the mess afterwards, but it doesn’t seem likely that they all leave eggs behind…

Another question related to roaches: Why do they seem to like night time better? I very rarely see them during the day, if at all. The only time I seem to spot them is when we’re both looking for a midnight snack.

Ciao  
-H

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**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2002, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-roaches-leave-eggs-behind-when-you-squash-them/137496/2 "2002-11-19T12:23:15Z")

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If you squash one and she lays eggs, you’ll easily be able to see the case the eggs are in. Here’s a picture of one with the case still attached to it so you can see how big they are:

[http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/selhome/gbu/blattella\_w\_eggcase.gif](http://www.sel.barc.usda.gov/selhome/gbu/blattella_w_eggcase.gif)

So they aren’t leaving invisible eggs behind.